Beaucoup of Blue

50 years ago today Ringo Starr was in Nashville to start recording his county themed Beaucoup of Blue album.

Making an album

January 24, 1969 -  These are some of my favorite photos from the Get Back Sessions.   I do remember my first time seeing them, feeling a bit angry that Yoko was sitting there with the band as if she was a member.  But now I just appreciate the photos for what they are.

John and Yoko's day in court

Neil and Suzy's wedding

The bride and groom

50 years ago today, August 30, 1968 Neil Aspinall married his sweetheart, Suzy.     It was a quick wedding and the Chelsea Register's office in London with Magic Alex as the best man and Peter Brown giving the bride away.     Peter arranged a surprise reception for the happy couple.     Paul, Ringo (along with Maureen) were there as well as Magic Alex, Mal Evans,   Peter Asher, Derek Taylor, Tony Bramwell, Tony Barrow and Terry Doran. 

The Beatles with sandwich boards

It was 50 years ago this weekend that the Beatles universal song "All you Need is Love" was first heard.    I think the simple message of the song is still as important today as it was 50 years ago.   I have always loved these publicity photos of the guys with "All you need is love" sandwich boards in many different languages.    The ultimate advertisement for love.     Try to spread a little love to those around you this weekend.  

Rehearsal Time!

Who is this guy with Paul?  

Bonus George photo

I really like this George photo and so I thought I would post it as well.

All you need are these two fellows

If these photos of George and Ringo don't put a smile on your face, then I think you came to this blog by mistake.

A good day during the summer of love

This is one of my top 20 favorite fan photos.   I love that the fan here, a girl named Maureen, is holding out the Sgt. Pepper album for Paul to sign for her .  She also appears to have a gift to give to Paul---or is that her bag?     I love that Paul is wearing purple pants.   I love that Paul is going to the rehearsal and press event for All you Need is Love.     It was a good day.

All you need is food -- the Beatles at the canteen during All you Need is Love rehearsals

Sgt Pepper at the Saville Theater

It was 50 years ago today that Jimi Hendrix decided to play.....

I am sure that we have all heard the story about when Jimi Hendrix played "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" at the Saville Theater in 1967.   Paul McCartney was in the audience and he was so impressed that Jimi had learned the song so quickly and was willing to perform it in concert.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience on June 4, 1967

Paul says this in "Many Years from Now"  

It would be one of his first gigs in London. Jimi was a sweetie, a very nice guy. I remember him opening at the Saville on a Sunday night, 4 June 1967. Brian Epstein used to rent it when it was usually dark on the Sunday. Jimi opened, the curtains flew back and he came walking forward, playing 'Sgt. Pepper', and it had only been released on the Thursday so that was like the ultimate compliment. It's still obviously a shining memory for me, because I admired him so much anyway, he was so accomplished. To think that that album had meant so much to him as to actually do it by the Sunday night, three days after the release. He must have been so into it, because normally it might take a day for rehearsal and then you might wonder whether you'd put it in, but he just opened with it. It's a pretty major compliment in anyone's book. I put that down as one of the great honours of my career. I mean, I'm sure he wouldn't have thought of it as an honour, I'm sure he thought it was the other way round, but to me that was like a great boost.

Paul has told this story at just about every concert since 2010.  He adds to the story something about how Jimi  used the whammy bar on the song and his guitar got totally out of tune and he asked for help tuning it and Eric Clapton came and helped him out.


Let's take a little closer look at this classic story.....


1.  Was this really one of Jimi's first gigs in London?

No.    Jimi had been in London in January of 1967.     As a matter of fact, Paul had seen him at least twice during that time.    Once he and Ringo saw Jimi perform at the Bag o' Nails (January 11).   And on January 29, 1967 all of the Beatles and Mal and Cyn saw Jimi open for the The Who at the Saville Theater.

Many people claim this photo was from June 1967, but Paul has a mustache, which he had shaved off by June. 

So while it is true that June 4, 1967 was ONE of Jimi's first London performances, it wasn't the first time Paul had seen him perform.   Many assume that it was.


2.  Jimi had no idea that the Beatles would be there that night

No one really knows the answer to this one.    However, as Paul explains Brian Epstein would rent out the Saville on Sunday nights.   He had been doing this for several months.     Jimi would have known that Epstein owned the theater and that the members of the Beatles came to shows there frequently.    So while he wouldn't know for for certain if one or more of the Beatles would show up, he knew there was a chance.

So who did attend the show that night?  According to eye witness, Lizzie Bravo, who was there, Paul McCartney, Jane Asher, George Harrison, Pattie Boyd and Cynthia Lennon were at the concert.

Paul and Jane arrive for the concert 

3.  Did Jimi first hear "Sgt. Pepper" on a Friday and then perform it on a Sunday?

It makes for a great story.   Sgt. Pepper was released on June 1 and on the 4th Jimi Hendrix had memorized the entire song and worked it out well enough to perform it in front of an audience.   Sgt. Pepper was supposed to be released in the UK on June 1st.    However----for reasons that I am not 100% sure about, the release date was pushed up to May 26, 1967 and some fans even were able to purchase it on May 25.      Hendrix had been in London since October of 1966.   So he would have been able to get a copy of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club band anytime after May 26.   While learning the song in 8 days is still impressive, it isn't  the "3 days" that everyone always claims unless someone knows that June 1 was the date Jimi first heard the song.

Jimi shopping on Carnaby Street in June of 1967 

I am not even going to touch the whole "Eric Clapton tune my guitar" thing because Paul is the only person that has ever told that story.  

Beatles Cartoons 50 years later

For some fans, it wasn't the Ed Sullivan Show or A Hard Day's Night or even hearing the Beatles on the radio that got them into the band--it was the Beatles cartoons, which premiered 50 years ago.   The Beatles cartoon show was only broadcasted in the United States and was on ABC along side the likes of George of the Jungle (watch out for that tree), Casper the Friendly Ghost and Spiderman. 

The cartoons were over the top cheesy with cartoon gags and jokes.   The show typically showed the Beatles traveling to some country and getting chased by girls.    It pushed the Beatles' sterotype of their personalities, as first seen in A Hard Day's Night to the extreme.   George was the quiet one, John was the smart one,  Paul was the cute one and Ringo was the dim-witted but lovable one (remember his laugh...huh huh huh yeah).    The speaking voices weren't even the Beatles or for that matter even a close imitation.   However, there was one thing the Beatles Cartoon series had that was strong and memorable---it had real Beatles music.     Every week Beatles' songs sung by the Beatles was featured in the show and the most ingenious idea---there was a sing along section.   Usually George and Ringo introduced the sing along with a silly gag and then the real Beatles voices were heard with the words underneath.    This way the young fans got to learn the words to the Beatles' songs and even if you were "too old" to watch Saturday morning cartoons, if you were a Beatles fan, you couldn't resist watching the show in order to hear Beatles' music.

The Beatles' cartoons haven't held up as well over the past 50 years as their music or movies, but they are fun.      In the late 1980's, when I first became a Beatles fan, the cartoons were shown on Mtv on Saturday mornings.   Even these were edited versions, as by the late 1980's the cartoon were already dated.     This is most likely the reason why we have never seen the Beatles cartoons officially released by Apple (who bought the right to them).     There is a lot of humor in the cartoons that today would be considered "politically incorrect."   I recall there being a lot of jokes about the Chinese and Japanese, but I am sure there are more than that.    However, there have been a lot of cartoons from the 1960's and before that showed things that aren't socially acceptable today and they have been released on DVD with warnings, so I haven't given up hope for the loveable moptop cartoon quiet yet.

If you are interested in reading a book about the Beatles' cartoons, I highly recommend Mitch Axelrod's book called Beatletoons.      This book is well written and researched by a high respectable Beatles fan who is part of my favorite Beatles podcast, the Fab 4 Free For all.   If you haven't read Beatletoons, you should!   http://www.amazon.com/BeatleToons-Story-Behind-Cartoon-Beatles/dp/0964280876/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1443404094&sr=8-1&keywords=Beatletoons

Reports back from the press conference

This reporter has lived!

By Dorothy Renker

According to today’s standards. . . . this reporter has lived!

On Tuesday evening I was within two feet of the four Beatles and I have eight photographs to prove it.  I also came away with two pencils used by Ringo and George, matches that lay where John and had been sitting and a partially doodled head of a man, the work of one Paul McCartney.

The WHK arranged press conference held in the Empire Room at the Sheraton-Cleveland was packed to capacity when the stars made their appearance. 

Derek Taylor, the Beatles’ road manager had set forth rules for the members of the news media before their arrival and had irked many of those present with his ineffable manner.

Fortunately the Beatles were not the least bit like Taylor.  Quick to answer questions thrown by the reporters, the four sat patiently through the whole routine.  The endless pictures, the same old questions they have answered from coast to coast. 

Their educational background?  “Lousy,” they said in unions.   Do they ever reflect on their pasts?  “These thoughts only come when one is dying.” They quipped.

Having heard from a dyed-in-the-wool Beatle fan, 15 year old Bonnie Kamps of 903 Tuxedo Avenue, that everyone likes to hear about the clothes they wear, I herewith report the following:

• ·         Ringo was wearing a powder blue suit with a dark plaid shirt.
• ·         John, the handsomest of the group with really pretty reddish hair, long tho it was, was attired in a conservative black suit and matching tie.
• ·         George looked as under-nourished as his magazine pictures often show him, received his color form a pink shirt.  His suit was gray.
• ·         A dark blue suit and a light blue shirt is what Paul chose to wear for his appearance.

They all disapprove of their fans’ habit of throwing jellybeans to them on stage.  “An eye could be seriously injured in such a barrage,” they said.

Their favorite city in the U.S. is New York.  Cleveland’s police are “just fine.”  Jacksonville, Florida was not one of their high spots on the current tour.  It was much too windy when they were there, said Paul.

Do they ever quarrel?  Said John, “Of course, we argue the same as everyone else does at some time or another.”

What is the first thing they will seek when they get back to England?  “A jolly good cup of tea,” said Ringo.

The fellows were very cordial to pretty Debbie Deluca, 14, daughter of the mayor of Ashtabula, who presented them with the key to their city, but seemed to resent the chiding of a woman with a British accent who was aghast that they did not care for a game about which she inquired.

And then the press conference was over.  That was when I picked up the souvenirs and said adieu to the policemen who had patiently posed for me prior to the interviews while I experimented with various camera settings.

One of the boys in blue on duty at the Sheraton-Cleveland checking press credentials was Patrolman Ray L. Pope, husband of Parma’s Donna Pope, who ran for council last year in Ward 3.

It was fun seeing the Beatles first hand and they don’t seem like a bad lot.  Almost wish I had gotten tickets for their evening performance.

Vancouver memories

I was there… by an improbable connection between a father who bought 3 tickets for himself, his wife and daughter. The wife backed out, the dad knew my father and asked if I would like to go. I was 11 and already locked in as a lifetime fan. We traveled from Vernon BC to Vancouver to watch.

I remember good chunks of the concerts. – Fred

I was 14 and in the first row centre section on the field. Of course no one sat down and it was a near riot, lasting only 27 minutes. Yes, Red annoyed John, but his intervention was probably needed. To date then, the police had not encountered mass Beatlemania, espec. in young, LOUD, Canadian teenagers! Magical time. Noisy or what? No wonder we terrified George (his words). Imagine.   –suzki

I was at this concert. It was in Empire Stadium. They had clusters of horns on either side of the stage. This had to be a direct mike recording because there was a 30 minute riot going on while they played and the sound was barely audible through the deafening shrill of the mass scream.  –Willy

I was an18 year old kid just starting out in the music business. My first gig was playing in Dal Richards band as an opening act to this show. Aug22 1964. I got paid 22.15 for the show. At the time it was a big nothing but now my kids won't believe me. Ha Ha. Anyway just a bit of old trivia. I retired June 14th 2010 after 45 years.  –anonymous

Back at the hotel in Auckland....

Deidre Gribble (Aukland Regional Queen) gives Ringo a greenstone Maori tiki

Here is what Sally (age 16)  wrote in her diary about her meeting with Ringo and John:

I met Ringo and John!  Ringo shook hands with me and winked at me!  Just me!  Robyn and I took our lunch hour later and went to the hotel to see them returning from the civic reception.  When we got there, we had missed them, and the police wouldn't let us cross the road, but in the end we did.  Robyn was feeling vile, so we went up to the receptionists' room.  Jeannette took us along to see George who was evidently lying on his bed reading, but we looked into the wrong room and the security guard came and made us go.  Then we got talking to the compere of the show and one awfully nice person who we asked if he could get us a Coke and told him we were feeling vile.  He said he bet he knew what would make us feel better, and we said yes, and he said 'would two minutes satisfy us?' We said half a minute would satisfy us!  He said "Come with me."  He said George and Paul were asleep but the other two were there.  We went into the suite and there was Ringo!  Lying curled up on a pillow and he sat up looking tired and depressed.  He first shook Robyn's hand and then he shook mine!  honestly, I thought I was going to cry.  There were tears in my eyes!  When I shook hands I could feel his rings in the way.  He said "hello" and Robyn went across to John.  Ringo said hew as feeling very tired and I, in a fit of bravery said, 'You look it.'  Robyn asked John to take off his sunglasses, but he wouldn't.  She said she wanted to see his eyes and he said they were closed anyway.   We were told we had to leave the hotel; we didn't.  We went down to the Bristro where we met on of the Sounds Inc. who invited us to a party later that night.