Happy Valentine's Day

 

I hope you all have had a lovely Valentine's Day.  

Peace and Love this Christmas

 

Christmas 2020 

Sean does the honors

 

Daisies for Dad

 

Looking forward to 2021!

 Hello Beatle fans!

Usually, on New Year's Eve, I take a look back on things from the past year and comment on them.   I am not really in the mood to do that this year.   There really isn't a whole lot to comment on for 2020.   There were a few good things Beatles wise that went on:  the Yellow Submarine sing-a-long, 2 Beatlefest (virtually), the Meet the Beatles in India film, Ringo's virtual birthday party,  several great solo Beatles box sets (Flaming Pie, Gimmie Some Truth, Plastic Ono Band), an amazing new song from Ringo and a new album from Paul.       It still isn't a great list, but it is better than nothing.

I am looking forward to 2021.   I hope that things are able to open up again and we are back to getting together to see one another.   I miss spending time with my fellow Beatle fans more than anything else.   We know that 2021 is going to bring us the new Get Back film and I know all of us are super excited about that!   I hear that we are also going to get Let it Be (the film) on DVD/Bluray.   I won't believe it until I have it in my hand though because we've been tricked way too many times before.   As of right now, Ringo is still scheduled to tour in the summer of 2021.   I was supposed to go to Liverpool/London/Paris in 2020 and so I have a postponed trip waiting for me that I hope to still be able to do.   Things are still really up in the air, but if nothing else -- 2021 has a little more hope in it than there was in 2020. 

Lastly, I want to thank each of you for visiting this site.   I know that it helped me during the pandemic to keep up with my schedule and keep finding new and rare stories and photos to share with all of you.  The Beatles' music and their pictures and stories have always helped me in hard times and I know that I needed that during 2020 more than ever.    I hoped that the things I posted here this past year brought you a little bit of happiness as well.   I hope you had that little spark of joy that you feel when you see a photo of The Beatles you have never seen before or read a new little tidbit of information you didn't know.    I know that I cannot do much from my little house in southern Illinois to help the world, but keeping this site going is one small thing that I CAN do.  

Anyroad --  have a wonderful weekend and New Year's Eve.   And let's all look forward to 2021. 

Peace and Love

Sara S. (Starshyne) 

2020 holiday at St. Barts

 Paul and Nancy are back at St. Barts as they usually are after Christmas.    They arrived on a private plane but looks like a woman with a dog stopped them to talk to them.    I hope they have a nice, relaxing and safe holiday.   

Happy Christmas!

 Ringo posted this cute drawing of him as Santa riding the Yellow Submarine on his Twitter tonight.  It made me smile and I hope it made you smile as well.   Happy Christmas!   

McCartney III Media Blitz

 

Ringo Zooms in

 

I don't know about you, but I was totally blindsided by the new Ringo song, "Here's to the Night."  I had no clue that Ringo had a new song or that he has a new EP called "Zoom In"  The new song is really good, so if you haven't heard it yet.  Go to Youtube and check it out!  

Landing in NYC

 Photos taken at the airport in NYC on November 30, 2020 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Ringo posted this photo to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving.    He often has said that broccoli is one of his favorite foods. 

I also want to wish all of the Beatles fans everywhere a very Happy Thanksgiving.   I know that not all of you celebrate Thanksgiving, but it does not matter because we all have so much we can be thankful for.  

I am thankful for The Beatles' music,  I'm thankful for John, Paul, George and Ringo.   I am thankful for all of the friends I have made from around the globe because of The Beatles.   I am thankful that this site has made a few people happy along the way. 

Peace and Love!  

Ringo rocks the odd socks

 

Ringo posted this yesterday:  Peace, Love and Odd Socks - I'm wearing these in support of #OddSocksDay to celebrate individuality and Unite Against Bullying

#Thekidsareunited #Unitedagainstbullying #antibullyingweek

As someone that was bullied in middle/high school for being a Beatles fan (among a million other reasons), I appreciate Ringo standing up against bullying.    I also like to wear mismatched socks, just because I am strange and now I will just say it is because I am against bullies.  

Side note:   I will never get enough posts about Beatle member's socks.  

McCartney III

Photos taken by Mary McCartney

 It was bound to happen this week.   The one week that I take some time off from the Beatles world and put all my focus on my work and Paul McCartney decides to announce the release of McCartney III.  

I missed out on quite a bit of the excitement, but from what I gathered, some lucky fans were sent McCartney dice in the mail  (I was not one of those fans, but maybe one you were!).    I DID get several text messages from Paul this week and those were enjoyable.   I really like the text messages from Paul that we now get throughout the year.  It is sort of cool to see that Paul has sent you a message (even though I know it is his digital team and he has little to nothing to do about it).  

I wonder if the dice were just to announce the new album of it they mean something.  Is there a song about dice?   

I am excited for December 11 to get here to hear the new material.   It is so nice to have a date or something Paul McCartney that is brand new to look forward to.  Even if the album isn't his best, I am going to love it just because I've miss Paul so much this year. 

McCartney III

 I've heard that Paul is putting out McCartney III by the end of this year.    If I was Paul's band, I would be worried because he put out McCartney I at the end of the Beatles and McCartney II at the end of Wings.  

Ringo loves his bass drum, Mike.

 

Ringo said today:  I’m having a great time in the studio I love my bass drum Mike i’m in the middle of an EP peace and love

Come Sail away with Paul

 

August 22, 2020 

The Virtual Fest For Beatle Fans Chicago -- A Review

 

Usually on the Wednesday following the Fest for Beatle Fans in Chicago I would write up a review of my weekend.     Since we live in  a crazy time right now, the Fest was canceled.   Then a virtual Fest was scheduled.  

I had my doubts about having a virtual Fest.  I will be honest with you all.  I thought spending $44 (actually $48 when you added in the fees) was ridiculous.   I had watched other virtual events, including the NKOTB virtual cruise, and it didn't cost a thing.    I wasn't sure if I could justify spending that much money on something online.   And even now I am not sure about the price, but I will overlook that for now. 

The virtual Fest went above and beyond my expectations.  There were five different Zoom rooms.  The "Main" room was a webinar room.  This is where the headline people such as Peter Asher, Denny Laine,  Jenny Boyd, Donovan, etc spoke and performed.   You couldn't see anyone but the person doing the interviewing and the interviewee in this room.   There was a room for authors and panels.   Here you could see the others in the Zoom.   You listen to the presenter and can ask questions at the end. 

There was also a room where people were playing music and chatting.   Here are a few of my favorite highlights from the weekend.

• Ken Womack talking about his new book about John Lennon's music in 1980
• Learning that Lord Woodbine's nickname was NOT given to him after the cigarettes he smoked, but rather about a song he wrote about the cigarettes. 
• Jenny Boyd talking about her time in India with the Beatles 

• Donovan's bizarre puppet show
• Terry Crain's discussion on Beatles memorabilia
• Slide shows about Beatles art 
• Mark Lewisohn --- yeah just everything about Mark and his two presentations/ talks.  I could listen to him talk about The Beatles all day long. 

• Unboxing of Flaming Pie box set
• Jude Southerland Kesslers talk about John Lennon in the Bahamas during Help (using a story she originally found on this very site!)
• The panel I moderated with the Three Beatle Babes
• Seeing Beatles friends from literally around the world!
• The ability to re-watch the things that I missed in the Main room after the fact (I still need to watch what I missed on Sunday, which includes Freda Kelly and Klaus Voorman)

Things I did not like

• All of the tech issues.   Oh, so many tech issues!   Yes, I know that is to be expected when you are doing a live event online.   I tried to be alright with it all,  but yet it was so annoying!
• Donovan's long grey hair and the fact he didn't sing a single one of his songs but had his guitar with him the entire time.
• I couldn't hear Denny Laine
• I didn't really get to talk to my friends.  I saw them, but things were so hectic, that I never got to just chat with anyone.   Besides the fact that I simply miss being there in person with everyone.
• Seeing Liverpool on my computer isn't nearly as fun as seeing them in person.  I just couldn't get into it. 

As you see -- the good far outweighed the bad.   There some great discussions and speakers.  And surprisingly to me, I had that good Beatles feeling of peace and love and connection with others even though it was all virtual.   

I think it was worth my time, but I wouldn't recommend it unless you have the entire weekend free.  If I had to, I would go to another virtual Fest in the future.   However, I do not want Beatles conventions to become just virtual.   Nothing can compare to hearing the Beatles' music in person, talking to friends in person, and going to discussions in person.   I do think some virtual things s should happen during the live Fest so that more people from around the globe can get involved.   It would be nice if you couldn't make it there in person to have the choice to watch things happening live on your computer at home.   It is an exciting prospect as we continue to see Beatles conventions and festivals change to the times. 

Mike tries to cross Abbey Road

Mike McCartney over this weekend in Liverpool at the Linda McCartney photo exhibit. 

Anyone know the name of Paul and Nancy's dog?

Peace, Love and masks

I hope all of you Beatles fans out there are taking after Ringo and living with peace and love as well as wearing a mask when you are out around people.   Stay safe out there Beatle people!