Thumbs aloft for Paul

 

September 11, 1996

With George Emerson in Florida

 

December 12, 1996

The Extended Starkey Family

 

June 29, 1996 

Flowers in the dirt

Photo by Linda McCartney 

 

Ringo and his extended family

I always love how Ringo includes the daughter Maureen had with her second husband with the rest of the family.    Although isn't this incorrect?  Augusta is Lee and Zak's half-sister -- not their step-sister.

Plate signing

Back in 1996, Ringo signed a bunch of these plates for GartlanUSA (or at least that is my memory of the company's name).    They are really cute.  plates.    They have four pictures of Ringo on them---1964 era, Pepper era, 1970's era and 1990's era.       I dont' recall what they originally sold for but today you can snag one for about $350.

A brief meeting with George Martin

Over the past few days, I have seen online some of the nicest tribute to George Martin.     Fan have shared stories and all of them showed what a kind gentleman George Martin truly was.    One fan, Elliot Marx sent me his story about the time he briefly met George in 1996.   Thank you Elliot for sharing this with us---I know it will help many as we continue to mourn the death of our favorite producer.  

Written by Elliot marx

On March 19, 1996 (nearly 20 years ago today) I took the opportunity to meet the great George Martin at KCRW in Santa Monica, CA. I had been volunteering at the station for nearly two years. One morning, on my way to college, I heard that George Martin would be interviewed at 9 AM. Though I knew it would be nearly impossible to get to Santa Monica from the Valley in time, I had to try. As expected traffic on the 405 was virtually impenetrable. My battered, little hatchback veered between slow cars, and madly switched lanes in an attempt to quickly progress southward; meanwhile I pulled my hair out in frustration. Soon both my car and myself began to overheat. I listened to the interview begin in a bumper-to-bumper standstill. 

Somehow I swerved into the community college that housed the station just as the morning DJ was saying goodbye to Martin. I stepped into the long, narrow hallway that separated the on-air studio from the parking lot. At that very moment George Martin and his assistant strode toward the exit that I had just entered. Had I been stuck at just one more traffic light, or if I had hit my snooze alarm even once that morning, I would have missed meeting my all time hero. 

George Martin graciously posed for a photograph, shook my hand and signed my CD copy of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Then he was off. It was the briefest encounter possible. It is rare to meet one's all time hero and role model. In writing these remembrances I'm struck by a particular irony - I played hooky that day to meet George Martin, but it was because of George Martin that I even was in college. I was a music major and it was his genius that inspired me to begin with.

Thank you for letting me share my story with you.

Peter and Paul

For many years I have been curious about these photos of a man and Paul McCartney making music together at "The Mill."  Who is this guy?  What were they playing?   Was this a recording session?  Well, I should have know because it guy's name is one that I have heard of on many occasions.   I guess I just never put two and two together.   Anyhow, the guy is Peter Hodgson who is a Beatles fan.  And he has an amazing story.   I found an article in the Tokyo Beatles Fan club magazine (which I think really was the most profession fanzine ever published) from issue 16 from 1997 written by Kenji Maeda that tells it better than I can.  Although Peter if you are a reader of this blog, please feel free to chime in and add to your amazing story!

Peter and Paul just playing "Let it Be" together.   Photo taken by Geoff Baker

Peter met Paul again in 1996

The Liverpool convention was as exciting as ever, the most enthusiastic moment was when I met Peter Hodgson.  Peter was the owner of the early Beatles tapes from 1960.  As we wrote in the 13th issue of this magazine, Anthology 1 album had a mystery, the three songs from the tape - "Hallelujah, I love her so,"  "You'll be Mine" and"Cayenne" have been first released on the album but actually these have been available on bootleg for years.  Peter told me the following story, which may unravel the  mystery.  When Paul McCartney borrowed the Grundig tape recorder from Peter's grandfather, he made 2 or 3 copies of the tape for himself.  After he returned the tape and the tape recorder back to Hodgson, he brought the copies to Germany with him.  Many years have passed since then and eventually one of them was passed to a bootlegger.

The original tape included unusual tracks which Paul McCartney failed to copy.  They included the early versions of "Ask me Why" and "When I'm 64"!  Of course, they were not featured in any of the bootlegs.  It is well-known that they often played "When I'm 64" in the early 1960's but nobody ever heard it, it must be a valuable recording.

However, we may not have an opportunity to hear the songs for awhile, as the original tape is now owned by Paul McCartney.  Peter had a great experience whilst handing over the tape to the ex-Beatle.  He was invited to Paul's private studio in East Sussex on 27 March 1995 and he enjoyed talking about good old times and playing instruments with Paul.  Photos were taken by Paul's publicist, Geoff Baker while Peter was playing "Let it Be" on the piano with Paul.  Peter was also lucky enough to hear the rough mix of "Free as a bird" in the studio.

Robyn meets half of the Beatles

Robyn Flans was a writer from Modern Drummer magazine, but she also is a Beatles fan.   She was one of those girls met Paul in L.A. during the "dirty weekend."   She also interviewed Ringo in 1980 and 1996 for Modern Drummer magazine.    No word if she ever met John or George....

111196 - George Harrison

111196 - George Harrison, originally uploaded by csp1.

George in 1996.

Wrong guy!~

Taken from Beatlefan magazine Sept/Oct 1996 issue:
George Harrison showed up at Ravi Shankar's 78th birthday concert July 2 (1996) at London's Barbican, Simon Rogers reports. Harrison arrived on foot just after 7 p.m. casually dressed and still sporting a beard and ponytail. At first he denied to fans who he was, saying, "You got the wrong guy!" However, he did sign two autographs. He sat in the front row and left only briefly for the interval. HE greeted members of the Shankar family with the traditional Indian greeting and appeared to enjoy the night, apart from fans hassling him for autographs after the show (he departed via a side entrance). Shanker spent the summer in London working on his upcoming album that Harrison is producing. Angel Records says the album is due out next spring.