Sunday, August 14, 2011

Everything I do turns out exquisitelybetter than I would have ever planned!



This story first appeared in the March 1981 issue of the fanzine, The Harrison Alliance. It was written by Dorothy Morton of Los Gatos, California after her trip to England where she met George. It is a lovely story.

I planned my trip to England in 1980 during the month of September because I know that Paul McCartney always celebrates “Buddy Holly Week” in September for Buddy Holly’s birthday. Even though I looked all over London for Paul, I was very disappointed at not being able to find him. But I did have the good fortune of seeing George Harrison!
I was walking in the Underground of London on a Thursday night when I saw a large poster announcing a concert by Ravi Shankar, to celebrate his 60th birthday, to be given on September 20th, the next Saturday. I jumped for joy! Here I was spending all my time looking for Paul and this poster was telling me where I could find George. I just “knew” that if George was in the country he’d be at his concert or if he was out of the country he’d probably come back for it. I know he is a very good friend of Ravi’s and this was a very special occasion.
On Friday I was on the train to Sussex before the box office opened so I had to pick up the ticket when I returned to London that evening. When I got to the box office at the Royal Festival Hall, I walked the boy to show me where the best ticket they had left was. And he showed me one in the 6th row, center for 10 (pounds). I thought, ‘Go for it, Dorothy. You know George is going to be there and probably in the front row or at least very close.” I wanted to be as close as I could be so I bought that ticket.
On that Saturday I arrived at the hall early and found the stage door, just in case I needed to know where it was later. I then took my seat and started looking around the audience for familiar faces, one in particular.
While waiting for the concert to start, I noticed a girl who walked up the aisle to my left and told a woman sitting in the row in front of me that ‘George is here.” “See, “I told myself, “You are always right in trusting your innermost feelings.” I really “knew” that George would be there. There was no doubt in my mind. The girl then motioned to two empty seats at the end of my row, indicating that she thought George was going to sit there.
“George is going to sit in MY ROW” I thought. This was too good to be true. I had bought a 200mm lens for my camera for situations like this. I figured if I was too far away the lens would bring me closer.
More and more of the empty seats were filling up and it was nearing the start of the concert. I then saw George walking from the backstage area with another man (I don’t know who he was). He was smiling and saying hello to people he knew. To my surprise they walked right past the aisle that led to the two seats in my row. They walked past all the front row seats and up the aisle to my right. I then heard one of the say “Where are we sitting?” And before I knew it, George was taking his jacket off and sitting RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME! Funny, I never noticed those seats were empty.
The concert started right away. It was a fantastic concert. I love classical Indian music and have seen Ravi Shankar four times before in various parts of the world. So, as I was enjoying the wonderful sounds of the sitar, table and tempura I was also enjoying being about a foot form one of my four most favourite people in the whole world!
I could feel the good vibrations coming from him and the rest of the audience. I just thought wonderful, good thoughts about him and hoped he felt the same form me.
At the interval George and his friends went backstage and I went out to eh lobby. More to find out if I could still move than anything else. I felt more nervous then than I had felt sitting right behind him for about an hour and a half, looking at the back of his head. (The 200mm lens would have come in handy – if I wanted a close-up of his scalp!) I think I was so nervous because I was trying madly to figure out what I would say to him when he came back in. I was trying to figure out just the right way to ask for his autograph. I wanted to say the “right things.” I was driving myself crazy rehearsing, so I went back to my seat and waited as calmly as possible. Good thing, because he came back to his seat shortly after I sat down. I had my camera ready and shot a few photos, even though the lighting left a lot to be desired.
As he sat down I handed him my program and asked if he would sign it. And while he signed it I told him that I really enjoyed his book. He looked very surprised and said, ‘you must have ordered d it a long time ago.” I said I had and I was glad I had the opportunity to read it before I came over. He asked where I was from and I told him, California. He then started talking to the women who were sitting next to me, to my left. One of them said she had just had a shiatsu treatment and the conversation turned to Eastern healing techniques. George spoke of a Dr. Yu, I believe, who is in the Los Angeles area. I have been interested in Eastern forms of healing and Eastern philosophy for about 13 years so I was very comfortable in joining in the conversation. I asked George if he had heard of “Polarity Therapy.” A friend of mine had written a book about it, and it dealt with the energies of the body. He hadn’t heard of it but said that California is a great place for inventing new healing techniques. He then started talking to the man he came with and the woman he happened to know sitting next to him and then the second part of the concert started.
All my hard work in the lobby memorizing what to say went to waste because it just felt natural to be talking to George like this. Yet I was still thrilled beyond my wildest dreams. “You must be living your life right for something so wonderful like this to happen,” I told myself. I have a favorite positive thought I try to remember to myself a lot, which is “Everything I do always turns out exquisitely better than I would have ever planned it!” This was sure true in this case.
When the concert was over, George walked out with his friends. He looked very happy, was smiling a lot, gave a few autographs and generally looked very good. He had a mustache and his hair was natural and almost shoulder length. I was able to take a few more photos (these were the only two that came out).
I went backstage with quite a few other people to see Ravi and get his autograph also. George was there talking with more of his friends. When he turned to leave he walked right past me, noticed me and said, “Good-bye.” Dreams DO come true!

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