Are Mop Tops Real? Yeah Yeah Yeah
By Allen Holbert
Star Tribune
August 22, 1965
The Beatles – the most Interesting
thing about England since Christine Keeler- held a press conference Saturday in
the Minnesota room of Metropolitan Stadium.
It was a 12-microphone and five TV
camera press conference with about 150 warm bodies crowded into an even warmer,
smoke-filled room. At 5:27 p.m., the Beatles walked into the room, led by five
policemen carrying wooden sticks that were 42 inches long.
First was Ringo Starr, still wearing his red
and white striped polo shirt with a brown coat over it. Then came John (the
poet and author) Lennon with a similar red and white polo shirt with a black
long-sleeved shirt over it and a blue cap with three brass buttons on it. Next
was Paul McCartney in a gray suit. Then George Harrison, who wore a suede coat
and jeans. All of them were smoking, except Paul, who was chewing gum.
The questions covered a number of significant
topics, including:
Disc jockey: Paul, would you hold up one of these shirts?
(The disc jockey thrust one onto the table in front of him.)
Paul: No.
Disc Jockey: Please! My station said, I have to have you do it.
Paul: Don't
do everything you're told, or you'll get in trouble.
Q: George, hold up this cigar.
George: I don't like cigars.
Q: John, how much was your hat?
John: I
got it free when I arrived in Minneapolis.
Q: Ringo, what do you think of your fans?
Ringo: The ones who scream and shout are a
bunch of idiotic lunatics.
Q: Is
your hair real?
George: Our hair's real, lady. What about yours?
Q: What
do you do with all your money?
Ringo: We bury it.
Q: When
you do a new song, how do you decide who sings the lead?
John: We
just get together, and whoever knows most of the words sings the lead.
Q: How
do you sleep with your hair that long?
George: How do you sleep with your arms and legs still
hooked on?
Q: I'm
such and so from wonderful rock and roll, such and so radio station.
George: How do you do? I'm wonderful George from
wonderful, WWW.
Q: I
understand you're all good friends of Elvis Presley.
Beatles (In unison): We've never met Elvis Presley.
After the Beatles, who mumbled to each other
and laughed throughout the press conference, had finished putting down all the
teenagers and disc jockeys, they ended the fun, but not until one blonde
teenager stood up and yelled, “If you ever come to Omaha, you can stay at my
house!” Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Replied The
Beatles.
No comments:
Post a Comment