Anyhow, I spent the day organizing my fanzine collection and came across all of my "What Goes On" newsletters from the St. Louis Beatles Fan Club. I spotted this story about a fan meeting Ringo Starr in the April 1996 issue. It was written by Paul Costanzo of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
![]() |
Ringo signs for Paul. |
![]() |
Barbara and Ringo at the gift shop in Mitchell Airport. |
We met Ringo
Paul Costanzo, Milwaukee, WI
The day after the St. Louis show (7/2/95), Ringo and his
All-Starr Band traveled to Milwaukee to play at Summerfest ’95. That Monday, my friend Brian Savasta called
me at work and asked if I wanted to take off and go to the Pfister hotel and
track down Ringo for an autograph. I
said no. That night (7/3) Ringo’s
entourage showed up at the 10 p.m. scheduled concert time and backstage, there’s
Brian! Earlier in the day, he met Billy
Preston and john Entwistle at the Pfister – bought them a drink – and when
Billy said, “Thanks” and had to leave to catch a cab to meet a Milwaukee friend,
Brian offered to drive him. Brian took
him around, which led to Billy returning a favor by asking Brian to come along
in one of the limos to the concert venue at Summerfest that night. Billy and john freely gave Brian their
autographs and let Brian to meet Ringo backstage for his autograph too!
So, where do I get into the picture? Brian came out and sat in
the front row with us until the last song when he went back in Billy Preston’s
limo! He never saw Ringo again, but Billy
said that they had a flight at around 2-2:30 on July 4th. Brian was busy that day, but my wife Claudia
and I did a little research. Ringo’s
next concert was Minneapolis and we figured out the airline and gate area he’d
probably be walking toward. We went to
Mitchell International Airport, found the area, and were quite pleased at the
lack of people in that area. Only one
other obvious Starr-tracker was in sight.
I told Claudia to be cool if Ringo shows up, or he won’t sign. He’s been rushed for over 30 years.
Then it happened.
Ringo, Barbara Bach and another lady came walking down the narrow
corridor past security. He had a
baseball cap down below his eyes and needed to lift his head once in a while to
check things out. He had that bopping n
bobbin Ringo walk (like the “This Boy” scene in A Hard Day’s Night) and they
walking into a gift shop. Claudia and I
slowly walked over to him and Barbara and before I could extend the Goodnight
Vienna album for him to sign, ol “Starr-Tracker” pushes his way past me for an
autograph. Ringo was miffed, “Can’t a
fellow do a little shopping like a regular person?” he said. His agent or bodyguard asked us to leave him
alone. Ok. Ok, I understand. Give him
some privacy. But come on, there were
only two of us. Claudia did get a nice photo
of Ringo and Barbara at the gift shop (cheeseheads in the background too!) So
we waited. Ringo was led into a private
area but he still had to go past us again in 25 minutes to board his plane. After a few minutes Billy Preston came out
for a walk and we took pictures, got an autograph and talked about my friend
Brian giving him a ride. Really a nice
guy! Very real. He’s only about 5 foot 8 or 9. We waited a bit more. Then they all came out…Felix, john, Zak, etc
etc. Ringo once again with Barbara and
another lady. I told Claudia to take
pictures regardless and I stood on one sides of the aisle and Claudia on the other. With my back to the wall as they came within
10-20 feet, I said, “Thanks for coming to Milwaukee, Happy Birthday this week,
and do you have a moment?” Ringo looked
at me and said, “Let’s have it” in a positive, friendly manner. Claudia took a picture of him signing the
album. I thanked him and Barbara and he
left.
Hello. I'm trying to find contact info on Paul Costanzo. We were friends in the late 80's to mid 90's have have lost track of each other. Paul had sent me copies of these Ringo photos back when he met Ringo. Thanks, Leo
ReplyDelete