East meets West

Dark Horse Crew

Backstage at Salt Lake City

the Dark Horse at Long Beach

November 10, 1974

A Dark Horse Halloween

October 31, 1974

Happy Birthday Billy!

Ladies and Gentlemen: Billy Preston!

The tour plane

Billy and George

keyboards and guitar

The concert for George - a film review

In celebration of George Harrison's 75th birthday, The Concert for George was shown at a few theaters around the United States.     The concert was held on November 29, 2002, at the Royal Albert Hall in London.   It was in many ways a memorial service held for George.     Eric Clapton organized it and Olivia and Dhani Harrison invited George's friends to become involved and perform songs of George.

It isn't every day that you get the opportunity to watch a Beatles film on the big screen, and so when I learned that a theater in St. Louis was showing The Concert for George,  I was excited to attend.   When I got to the theatre and found out that they had reclining seats -- well what more could you ask for?   Kicking back, eating popcorn and watching some of the best musicians playing the music of George Harrison -- my way to spend a rainy Thursday night.

I had only watched the concert one time before -- when it was originally released.   Maybe when I saw it in 2003, it was too soon for me, because I recall that I just found it sad and I didn't have a desire to watch it again.    My feelings had nothing to do with not enjoying the tribute, but just an overwhelming sadness that George wouldn't have wanted a tribute concert in the first place and that he wasn't there with all of his friends.

But the years have passed now and I felt like George's 75th birthday was a good time to watch it again with fresh eyes.   This time I was able to enjoy it for what it has become:   A time capsule of what was going on in Beatles world in the 2000's.     So many of the performers, who were influential to the Beatles and especially George Harrison have now passed away.    Billy Preston, Tom Petty, and Ravi Shankar were the three big names that stood out.    However, through this film, we are able to travel back to the early 2000's and see them again.   We get to see Dhani Harrison for the first time since he was just George's little son and discover that he grew up to be quite a guitarist himself.  We get to see Paul McCartney play ukelele to "Something" for longer than he does in concert and remember that in 2002, it was something new that he had started to do. 

The concert is an amazing tribute to George Harrison.    It really touched upon all of the aspects of George as a person.    The Indian portion reminded us of George's spiritual life and his love for India and the instruments.   The performance of "The Inner Light" was especially lovely.     The Monthy Python Lumberjack Song was a great way to show George's humor and remind us that sometimes George was in the Lumberjack choir himself.    Ringo's "Honey Don't" reminds us that George loved the old rockers.     There really was a great variety of George songs performed from all aspects of George's career, even up to the song he released the year of his death, "Horse to the Water."

Some of my very favorites were Ringo's performance of "Photograph."    George wrote the song and as Ringo pointed out before he sang it, the lyrics have a different meaning now that George is no longer with us.     I liked Tom Petty's performance of  "I need you."    I was blown away by Paul's performance of "For You Blue."     Nothing can beat Eric Clapton doing his guitar solo on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps."   However, my very favorite was  Billy Preston's performance of "Isn't it a Pity."    I forgot how much I like  Billy Preston.   And while he sang, I thought about how George and Billy experienced a lot together.   They first met in the early 1960's while Billy was with Little Richard and George called Billy to join the Beatles on Get Back and Billy almost stole the show every night during the 1974 Dark Horse Tour.      Billy really put his heart for George into that performance and I am so glad that we have it to remember Billy.

There really was only one thing I disliked about the film.    It was nice that they showed some backstage banter and interviews with individuals about the concert and about their memories of George.  However, there was no need to interrupt in the middle of a song to add these things.   Right dab in the middle of my all time favorite song, "Handle with Care" they cut to Tom Petty telling the story of the Traveling Wilbury's and that song.    Ummm...I already know this story.  I want to hear the song!    They didn't do this on a lot of songs, but enough for it to bother me.


If you have never seen the Concert for George or if you haven't watched it since the original release, you need to watch it again in 2018.    It is a wonderful tribute to an amazing guy -- our sweet George.


The link below is the affiliate link to Amazon where you can purchase this film on DVD..   I get a small percentage of anything purchased through this link.  Money made from the Amazon Afflication is used to pay the annual fee to keep this site online.  Thank you for your support.  Sara

https://amzn.to/3V3TKKW

Preston and Harrison

Dark Horse over the White House

George and Billy

A Dark Horse and the commander in chief

All of these are from the creative commons of Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and taken by Fitz-Patrick

I found these photos of George, Olivia, Ravi, Billy Preston, Harry Harrison and others in the creative commons today!   If you click on them, you can see the photos much better.  I love the colored ones.   These are really awesome!

George visits the White House

40 years ago (yesterday) George Harrison became the first Beatle to meet the President of the United States---or in the spirit of this blog, I should saw the first President of the United States to meet a Beatle (for real).   So in celebration of this, I thought I would post some photos and this from the July-December 1994 double issue of The Harrison Alliance. 

George, his dad Harry, Billy Preston, Tom Scott and Ravi Shankar lunched at the White House on the afternoon of December 13, 1974 at the invitation of President Gerald Ford's son, Jack.  George was the first and only ex-Beatle to visit the White House.

Jack Ford said he invited George and friends to the White House because he had been invited  backstage at the Salt Lake City show.  "They were so hospitable to me I wanted to return the favor," he said.  Ford was attending school at Utah State in 1974.

A lunch of vegetables and beef was served in the solarium while George's Dark Horse album was played in the background.  It was reported George stuck to the vegetables.

After lunch the group had a tour of the White House mansion guided part of the way by the President's daughter, Susan.

Tom Scott recalled they were brought to a conference room outside the Oval Office to wait until the President became available.   "We walked into the presidents' conference room with the oval table and the chair and signs saying, 'Secretary of Defense,' 'Secretary of this and that' and we sat down in the chairs, clowning around."  Scott went on to say that George and Billy did some jamming on a piano in the room, but then it was time to meet the President.

George and the rest of the group met and spoke with President Gerald Ford in the Oval Office for about 20 minutes.  George gave the President an Om button, and in return the President presented him with a WIN (Whip Inflation Now) button.

Commenting on his meeting with President Ford, George said, "He seemed very relaxed.  He was much easier to meet than I would expect.  you can imagine the number of things he's got on his plate."  When asked if the President had heard his work in the past, he replied, "No, he's not all that familiar with my music." 

An Evening in Oakland

Have you ever imagined what it would have been like to go backstage and hang out with George Harrison?   Well in this fan's story that is exactly what happened.   This story comes from the November/December 1975 issue of the Harrison Alliance.   It is written by someone who at the time of submitting it into that fanzine wished to remain anonymous.   The names in the story have been changed.

As I was typing this one up, I have to admit that I found the whole thing hard to believe.   Just way too many amazing things happened!  Since the girl wished to have her name withheld and she did not get any photos (forgot her film....hmmmm?) or get an autograph, it is hard to prove that it is a true story and not a work of fan fiction.    I would LIKE to think that it was true and these fans were just extremely lucky and that George was truly a kind man.   Well I do believe that George was kind from everything I know about him, but I am not 100% convinced that all of this really happened this way.   But I will post it and leave it up to you all to decide.   Like I said, I really WANT this to be a true story.   Maybe the girl who sent it into the Harrison Alliance all those years ago (yes that is a pun) will come out and say that it was her.  That would clear things up a bit.

The photos do not go with the story but are two photos I recently found on ebay from the 1974 North American Dark Horse Tour.

It all started Friday afternoon (November 8, 1974); we (my friend Leigh and I) started on our way to the Oakland Coliseum early to be sure to get good seats.  It takes an hour to get there.  When we arrived I discovered I’d forgotten to bring the early show tickets.  (I was nervous).  So we had to go back to get them, then we were on our way to the Coliseum again.  When we arrived for the second time there was no one there, so we peeked into the Coliseum windows and as we looked, a guard at the entrance door asked if we’d like to wait inside as it was very windy that afternoon.   We certainly weren’t going to refuse this offer, so we went in.  We found our places behind the stage section that was being roped off.  As we made ourselves comfortable we noticed on the stage a lot of equipment, and people wearing Dark Horse sweatshirts and badges.  We came to the conclusion they were the tour stagehands.  Nobody paid any attention to us, so we sat and watched.  The most nerve-wracking thing to watch was the hanging of the Dark Horse scroll that was to hang above George and the band,.  That thing must have weighed tons because those poor guys were sweating and cursing it all the while they tried to hang it so it wouldn’t fall on anything or anyone.  After 2 ½ hours it was up to stay, everyone prayed!  AT 4:00pm sharp George and company were to arrive to test the mikes out.  At 5 to 4 in walked Ravi Shankar, behind him tom Scott, then Billy Preston.  By this time we were all prepared to see George.  It was now 2 minutes to 4; then with not even a minute away 2 new guards caught us and asked us to leave.  We argued politely for a few seconds, more like begging them just for a few more minutes, but the answer was no.  So out we went and in came George.  That was the saddest and sickest feeling, being so close to seeing him.  We then entered at 5:30 with hundreds of other people.  As we entered now we knew we had to look for our assigned seats.  To our disappointment they were too far away from the stage to take any decent pics.  So we waited til the show started and then off we went to the seats behind the stage.  There was no one there, only one of the tour people.  He gave us a “no-no” look but didn’t do anything about it.  After George sang awhile a guard came to us and we thought, “Well here goes.”  He was very nice; he told us as long as no one else joined us we could stay where we were, if we were super quiet.  We almost went on our knees with thank-yous.  So, we enjoyed Harrison from behind.  He’s great all around.  We then noticed a door opened next to us and out came 14 or 15 people taking off their shoes.  They were the Shankar people waiting for George’s introduction.  It was so funny to see 15 pairs of shoes sitting in front of us.  We knew from this little event that George  would have to pass us to get to the dressing room.  We got so excited and starting looking out for guards.  The music stopped and then began with Shankar alone.

George left the stage and was headed our way, one hand on his stomach.  Al we could do was smile.  He didn’t look too happy.  As he slowly walked past us, Leigh yelled, “What’s wrong?”  He just turned, looked, and went in the door.  We didn’t care; he had to come out sometime before the show was over.  After a few minutes he came out and came straight towards us.  Half smiling he asked, “What are you ladies doing back here?  The show is over there.”   All we could explain was it was too dark and difficult to find our seats and I’m too small to see anything out there anyway (I’m only 5’ tall).  He laughed and said, “I’m not feeling well.  The medication I’ve been given for my Dark Hoarse throat is making my stomach upset.”  He then looked down at my shoes and I began to laugh.  He looked and me and smiled, then said, “I’ve got to go back in.  See you ladies in a bit.”  He turned slowly and went through the swinging doors.  After Ravi Shankar’s set was finished a man went to get George and they both walked past us, George still with his hand on his stomach, not looking at all well.  But on with the show he went.   

As it was time for intermission, we got prepared to take pictures.  But stupid me forgot the film!  That really killed me.  I mean, how dumb can one be?  At least Leigh took some good film.  I sat so still waiting to get his attention for an autograph at least.  He came towards us being hugged by Bill Graham, both of them smiling, followed by the whole band.  Everyone was talking and wiping their faces.  As George walked past us he looked our way and said, “Well c’mon then if you’re comin’” We both jumped over the low railing like cattle in a stampede and joined everyone to walk through those swinging doors.  WE could not believe this was happening.  When we reached the room one of the Shankar people offered us chairs.  George wanted to know our names.  I told him I was Ann.  He introduced us to the band, he said, we wouldn’t know who’s who from behind.  He then offered us some juices to drink from a table with all types of fruit juices, and then something to eat from a table full of breads, pastries, candy, fruits, and vegetables.  He had a glass of orange juice so we said we would take orange juice too.  He then offered us a bag of chocolate cookies he said he helped make.  They were really good!  I tried to save one but it didn’t work!

As we sat there starting at George we listened to everyone talk about who messed upon what song and who made a good riff on another, and how George is going to break his neck if he tried to dance on Billy’s number again.  Everyone started laughing, especially George,; he thought that was very, very funny.  He got up and kicked both his legs high.  He landed by sitting down hard on the floor on purpose.  I think it was Robben Ford who said, “I’d like to see you do that and land in the front row of seats!”  Then Emil said, “No, Gosh!  No!”  That’s how he’s going to break his neck, then all the beads will go all over and we’ll all fall!”  George cut in and said, “They’ll think we’re really wailing then.”  Everyone laughed again.  Bill Graham went over to George and poured a little vodka in his glass, then orange juice.  George said, “Oh!” and sipped it at first, then drank it.  He looked at us as if asking our approval.

“Time to get the Express rolling and rockin’” said Billy.  Everyone started out the door.  George grabbed our hands and walked between us.  He kept looking down at me; then, before I went up to the rail, he said, “Are you going to make it?”  I said, “Sure I will!”  I went to the bar and looked at it.  Being only 5’ tall, things can become difficult, but to my advantage!  George said, “Let’s get over then” and put his hands on my waist and helped me over the bar!  I can’t describe the feeling that gave me!  Almost a numbness!  He turned and ran to the stage.  WE kept saying, “No one will believe us, no one!”  Don’t worry about George picking me up; I only weigh 92 pounds; I don’t think that’s too much for him to lift!  The show was coming to an end.  He left, then waited to go back on for the encore.  I said, “You look and sound great back here.”  He said, “Hare Krishna!”  and went back on.  He did this thing and the show came to an end.  We waited, but this time he just put his hands together toward us and said, “God bless you both!”  I just sat there amazed, and thought “we’ve got to sit here for the next performance!  I still haven’t gotten his autograph!”

We waited outside again and when I went back to my van, it was gone!  I panicked!  I looked all over for it.  It couldn’t miss it.  It had the AUM signs painted on each side of it.  WE looked all over for the parking lot for it.  I was really worried now.  It was only a few minutes before the doors opened for the second show.  Leigh said, “We’ll find it after the show.  If it’s stolen, it’s stolen.  We’ll get it back.  Don’t worry.”  I figured “Well if it’s gone now, looking for it and missing the show and not finding it will really make me upset, and I did lock it.”  On we went to the second show, me biting my nails thinking how were we going to get home, and what was I going to do?  I wanted to scream for help!

We waited again for the lights to go down and the show to begin, then off we went to our favorite seats.  The guard saw us and said, “again?”  We just smiled and nodded.  When George came offstage after his numbers with the Shankars, he was so surprised to see us again.  He clapped his hands and laughed.  He then said, “What happened, did you miss something the first show?,”  still laughing.  We said, “We came back to see if you’re feeling better.”  He then leaned over the bar and hugged us both!  Boy was that something!  He said, “I feel fine now; as long as Krishna is by my side and there are beautiful people like you!”  He then turned and sat on the rail and really got into the Indian music.  So did we.  I thought, “Now would be a good time to  ask for his autograph.”  Just as I got the nerve to ask he turned and told us to go into the back room and help ourselves to food and drink.  He’d join us later.  He left for the stage; we went into the room.

In there was this big fat guy with a black and yellow sweatshirt on and the number 1 on it, with a Dark Horse badge on.  He looked at us and said, “Hello, can I help you?”  We told him George had said we could come in to have something to drink.  He said, “Sure you can.  Help yourselves.”  We talked and told him about my missing van with the AUM signs painted on each door.  He told us if we could stick around he’d have security look out for it after the show.  This man they called “The Big 1” was George’s bodyguard.

Intermission time again and in they all came, joking around and surprised to see us.  George said, “They’ve returned to see if I break my neck this time.”  They all laughed.

Billy Preston took off his Dark Horse badge from his coat which was hanging up and pinned it on Leigh.  George took off his badge from his black silk shirt which was also hanging up and pinned it on me.  Billy said, “If we needed them they’ll have to stop the show to make sure they’ve got the right performers,” or something like that.

George told us the doctor had come in and had given him a strong penicillin shot and that he was feeling no pain, but that it was a waste of time, as long as he kept singing.  He doesn’t like shots or any strong medication he said, therefore he’d have to try harder to stay healthy.  We agreed.

Big 1 told George and everybody about the missing van  George seemed to take great concern and said he’d help look for it after the show.  We thought he was joking.

The show finally came to an end.  We were sitting in our “private” seats and hated to leave.  We sat for awhile and waited for the crowd to leave.  George peeked out of the door and called to us, but he said not to come where he was but to go to the backstage entrance where the equipment trucks were.  We nodded OK.

We ran out of the place and down the ramps to the garage.  We saw the trucks and behind the trucks was sitting so peacefully my van!  I was so shocked I just couldn’t figure it out!  Nothing was stolen and it was still locked.  We heard some people coming and turned to see Big 1, George, Billy, and Robben laughing, coming our way.  We just could not believe this night!  Big 1 said security had towed it in there because of the AUM signs (thinking it belonged to the tour), as it half blocked the exit way.  They thought that out of towners such as they would do something like that.  I was amazed!  I just apologized for all the trouble and thanked them all.

George looked in the van and touched the paintings and chanted, “Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare, Hare.”  I asked if he’d like to sit in it.  He excitedly agreed.  That made me so proud!  He opened the door and in he went.  I asked him if he’d like to back I tout.  I gave him my keys.   He looked like a pro, backing I out slowly, then facing it towards the exit.  He got out and complimented me on my artwork.  I told him I planned to put the Dark Horse on it.  He said, “I’ll be looking for it if you take a trip to L.A.”  I told him I’d be down there someday.    He then told us to wait one more minute and ran back to the door.  A few seconds later he came back with two boxes of Krishna incense and gave us each a box.  He told us it was his pleasure talking with us and he enjoyed our company very much because during that time we did not take pictures or want autographs.  He really doesn’t mind it, it’s just that it happens constantly and he wanted a time when it didn’t, so that stopped me from asking!

I gave him a kiss on the cheek good-bye and said Hare Krishna and so did Leigh.  He ran back with the others and off he went.  We were quiet all the way home, too shocked to do a thing.  I love George so very much; he’s worth every minutes of my life!

Stop and Smell the Carrot-Coloured Roses

This story comes from issue #12 (from 1995) of the Tokyo Beatles Fan Club Magazine.  When Ringo and the All Starr Band toured Japan in June of that year, the HMV Record Shop help a contest called "Meet! Ringo!"   To enter the contest you had to purchase a Ringo Cd from the HMV shop.  There were three prizes.  The "A" prize was an invitation to go backstage to meet Ringo before the concert on the 24th, 26th and 27th of June (there was one winner and a guest allowed per concert), the "B" prize was tickets to one of the concerts, and the "C" prize was an autographed program.  This story was written by Hirofumi Sasaki who won the "A" prize!   Well actually his sister won the prize, but he put her name on the ticket and both of them went backstage.   It must have been difficult meeting Ringo with the help of an interpreter, but it sounds like Hirofumi had a memorable meeting!

Stop and Smell the Carrot-coloured roses!

The Backstage Report, 24^th June 1995

By Hirofumi Sasaki

One of my friends told me on the phone about HMV’s campaign so I applied for the drawing with my sister’s name.  They informed us on 18^th of June that we had won the A prize, it was about only a week before the day.  On that day, the 18^th, I went all through the way from Saitama to Osaka to see Ringo’s show and I came back to my home at midnight.  When I returned home, there was a message from my sister saying that we got the A prize!  My heart was jumping.  A long time dream had come true, but I couldn’t imagine what to do.  Then the weeks passed by swiftly.

We were told to come to the hall buy 5:30pm, It was one and a half hours earlier than the opening time.  We went there with a bunch of roses, which my sister bought, she got them because she likes the “Stop and Smell the roses” album.  While we were waiting, we could hear an interesting story from a man in charge.  He said that the article in the paper which said, “Ringo is enthusiastic about eating carrots for health reasons” was true and that on that day there were 5 or 6 carrots piled up in Ringo’s room.  It is said that Ringo takes them as juice, salad or sometimes eats them raw.

Then came the time to go in.  When we were lead behind the door, I almost cried, “wow!  He’s John Entwistle!  Mark Farner is there!”  I was keyed up.   The place was the area for the performers to stand by.  I found three dressing rooms at the opposite side; the right room was for non-smokers (Max and Randy used it), the middle for was smokers (John and Zak used it) and the left room was for Ringo.  There was a piece of paper on the door which said, “Mr. Ringo Starr.”  They made us sit and wait in front of Ringo’s room for a while.  Then a big man came out of the room and said something to us but I didn’t understand what he said.  When I saw the direction he gesticulated, I found Ringo standing there!

We stood up surprisingly.  Ringo said gently, ‘how do you do?  Hi!” and stretched his hand.  My sister said, “Nice to meet you” or something like that.  All I could say was, “Ah, Domo (Well, hi).  Ringo wore a white shirt, black jeans and a red cap with a logo of “Ichiban (the first, or the greatest).”  My first impression was that he was of small stature.  Usually Japanese people are shorter than European people and I am a short man in comparison to other Japanese people.  But Ringo was as short as I am.  When I shook hands with him I thought his hand might be smaller than mine.  But his head was so small.  I think that is why he looks so great on stage.  After shaking hands, he spoke something that we couldn’t understand; it was kind of “congratulations on winning the HMV contest” according to an interpreter.  Then he asked, “Feeling good?”  of course I could understand it.  When I answered, “Yes, I’m feeling very good.  But I am not good at speaking English so I don’t know what to say.”  He said, “Me too, I wish I could speak Japanese!”  When I said that we had been fans for 20 years, he said, “Oh you’re not even 20 yet!”  I told him that my sister has a child.  Then Ringo said, “I think she is 16 or 17.”  I thought this was a big compliment but my sister was simply pleased to hear it and Ringo watched this and laughed.  When she complimented too, saying “You are very young too,” he answered, “But I have many children.”

Then we passed a bunch of flowers to him saying, “We wanted carrot cakes but we couldn’t ‘find them.” He said, “In Japan they don’t make much carrot cake.  But they are beautiful.  Thank you.”  She then said without delay, “We looked for carrot coloured roses instead” which made him laugh.  And when I said “Happy birthday,” he said “Thank you, Domo (thanks in Japanese).

Then I gave Ring copies of the Tokyo Beatles Fan Club Magazine, the 5^th and 10^th issues.  These were presents from TBFC staff.  When I showed him an article on his last tour in the 5^th issue, he received them with a surprised look.

Then he said, “I must go now.  Enjoy the show, okay?”  It seemed that time was running out so I asked him to give some autographs and produced 2 LP’s.  Ringo signed on them slowly, saying “Oh, this is a good record.”  When I said that I had been to his previous concerts, he said, “Oh wow, so you know exactly what we do.  Which song did you like?”  and I answered, “Photograph.”  Then he stepped with that familiar pose leaning forward and sang a bit of “Photograph” for us!  We asked permission to take a photo, he replied yes.   Ringo said, “Peace and love, ha ha ha…” with a peace sign.  After that he shook hand with us again saying, “Thank you.  Domo.” And was back again with a bunch of roses and copies of the TBFC magazine to his dressing room.

After we saw Ringo, we met Billy Preston who was sitting on a bench.  What I said that I had seen the previous shows, he clapped his hands for joy with an exaggerated gesture.  We took a photo with him too but the flash bulb didn’t explode.  Billy said in a loud voice, “No flaaaaash!”  I tried once again but it didn’t go off.  He said with a bewildered look, “Maybe it’s okay.”  We thanked him and left.

The concert began one hour after our encounter.  Ringo was singing with a microphone in his hand and Billy was playing as always.  When I watched them, I had a strange feeling and I had to ask myself if the encounter was real.  It was not an ordinary experience, it felt unreal but when I looked at the photo and the autograph they reminded me of the encounter.  

I thank all the staff who were always so kind to us, Billy an