Interview with George Harrison

 Interview with George Harrison

Beetle Magazine (1974)

The following is a transcript of George Harrison’s L.A. press conference given shortly before he embarked on his North American tour.  Out of those of you who saw him perform, some may have been elated, some disappointed and others merely interested in what an ex-Beatle looked like.  One thing we all know now is that Geoge sure ain’t the fab four in another incarnation.  He doesn’t want to be.  So what does he want?  Find out in retrospect.  Maybe it’ll shed a little light on what you saw, or didn’t see.

 

Q:  Why did you decide to return to America?

George:  I’ve been back here many times.  This is the first time I ‘ve been back to work, but it’s the first time I’ve had a H-1 visa since ’71.

Q:  What was the reason for not having the H-1?

George:  I had the same problem as John Lennon.  I was busted for marijuana way back in ’67 [sic]by Sergeant Pilcher who was in jail for six years for planting dope on people.

Q:  Would you ever consider touring Mexico?

George:  I wouldn’t mind.  I just believe there’s a bunch of loonies.  I mean I would go anywhere.  This is really a test, I either finish this tour ecstatically happy and I want to go on tour everywhere or I’ll end up just going back to my cave again for another five years.

 

Q:  Looking back, what do you consider so far the crowning glory of your career as a musician?

George:  As a musician, I don’t think I’ve got that yet, as an individual, just being able to sit here today, and be relatively sane.  That’s probably the biggest accomplishment to date.

Q:  What is the possibility that you and the rest of The Beatles will join together and become The Beatles again?

George:  It’s a very slim possibility at the moment, everybody’s enjoying being individuals.  We were boxed up together for ten years, and personally, I’m enjoying playing with this band.

Q:  You said in your bio in ’64 that meeting The Beatles was one of the biggest breaks in your musical life, in ’74 you said leaving The Beatles.

George:  I mean the biggest break in ’63 was meeting The Beatles, the biggest break since then, I mean in retrospect, was getting out of them.

Q:  George, could you tell us your feelings and expectations for the upcoming tour?

George:  I think if I had more time I’d be panic-stricken, but I don’t really have time to get worried about it.

Q:  Is there any reason why Keltner, Clapton and Voormann didn’t accompany you?

George:  Oh well, I mean Eric’s out on his own.  Klaus has been living in America so I haven’t seen him all year, and during that time I met Andy Numark and Willy Weeks.  It’s just a time for a change.

Q:  Why would they perform on an album and not a concert?

George:  They performed on the tracks on the album because they were there at the time, I didn’t meet Willy Weeks and Andy Numark, they’re bass and drums, until about July this year.

Q:  Are you getting divorced?

George:  No, I mean that’s as silly as marriage.

Q:  Allen Klein is suing The Beatles.  How is that affecting you?  Do you have to sell more albums now?

George:  No. No.  To tell you the truth there’s a whole lot of money which is in receivership since Paul McCartney sued us and actually it’s fortunate that he did sue us, because the money’s in receivership so at least nobody can spend it.  There’s a lot of millions of dollars form The Beatles partnership and we either give it to the lawyers or we give it to the revenue.

Q:  how do you see the role of the entertainer as concerned with causes and charities?

George:  Well, I don’t think that has any relation to cause and charities.  I don’t think that’s just particularly an entertainer’s job.  I think it’s up to each individual to do what he can.  I do what I can and I can do it through music, but I don’t think it’s particularly just isolated to musicians.

Q:  What are you hopes for Dark Horse records?

George:  I want it to be reasonably small.  To tell you the truth, I’ve been here just over a week and if I signed all the people who gave me tapes I’d be bigger than RCA, but fortunately I don’t’ have time to listen to them.

Q:  I’m writing for Womens Pages and you are married.  May I ask you?  Does your wife cook for you?

George:  First of all, I don’t have a wife anymore, so, but even when I did, she used to cook sometimes and I learned how to cook myself.  I cooked vegetarian Indian food.  Although I like other food as well, I’m a vegetarian.  I don’t eat fish.  I don’t’ eat chicken and I don’t’ eat meat.  That’s why I’m so pale and thin.

Q:  Are sales down for the concerts and all that?

George:  Oh no.

Q:  What’s your relationship with John and Paul?

George:  It’s very good actually.

Q:  Do you see them often?

George:  I haven’t seen John ‘cause he’s been in the States, although I’ve spoken to him quite a lot on the telephone and he sounds to me like he’s in great shape.  It’s as if we’ve gone right round the cycle and we’re back at the beginning again.  I just met Paul recently and he’s…    everybody’s really very very friendly.  But it doesn’t really mean we’re going to form a band.

Q:  Will the publicity from your tour lead to the re-release of Raga?

George:  I’m not too sure if it ever even got released, you know, complete…it may do, it depends on people’s interest.  The problem is with people who distribute movies.  It’s very difficult to get a look in there…the film industry, this is my personal opinion, needs a kick in the behind because it’s got too much control by people who own the theatres, who own the distribution networks, it’s like if you don’t work on Maggie’s farm you don’t get your movie on, y’know?

Q:  Can you still meditate?

George:  It’s too difficult a question to answer really because…I must say there’s a state of consciousness which is the goal of everybody…I haven’t sat down and done meditation like that for some time but at the same time I constantly think of the Lord in one fashion on another and so that’s really my thing is just to remember and to try to see him within all of you and that feeling itself is a meditation.

Q:  Can you foresee a time when you’ll give up musical objectives?

George:  I can see a time when I’d give up this sort of madness, but music, I mean everything is based upon music, I’ll never stop me music.

Q:  There’s a paradox there between lifestyles.

George:  It is difficult, yeah, but the point is it’s also like good practice in a way.  As they say ‘to be in the world, but not of the world.’  You can go through the Himalayas and miss it completely and you can be stuck in the middle of New York and be very spiritual.  I mean I noticed in certain places, like New York, it brings out a certain thing in myself.  If I go someplace like Switzerland, I find a lot of uptight people there because they’re living amongst so much beauty that there’s no urgency in trying to find the beauty within themselves.  If you’re stuck in New York you have to somehow look within yourself otherwise you go crackers.  So, in a way, it’s good to be able to go in and out of both situations.  Most people think when the world gets itself together, we’ll all be okay.  I don’t’ see that situation arriving. I think, one by one, we all free ourselves from the chains that we ourselves have chained ourselves to.  But I don’t think that suddenly some magic happens and the whole of us is all liberated in one throw.

Q:  What direction is your music going now?

George:  Haven’t got a clue. I mean it’s getting a bit funkier, especially with Willy Weeks and all them.

Q:  Do you pay attention to what the critics say?

George:  Oh, I canceled all my newspapers five years ago, to tell you the truth, so I don’t really know what people say.  If I do see a review of an album I’ll read it although it doesn’t really  make too much difference what they say because I am what I am whether they like it or not, y’know.

Q:  Are you ever amazed by how much The Beatles still mean to people today?

George:  Not really.  I mean I realize The Beatles did fill a space in the sixties and all the people The Beatles meant something to are all grown up now.  It’s like anything you grow up with, you get attached to it.  I mean, that’s one of the problems in our lives, become attached to things.  I can understand The Beatles, in many ways, did nice things and it’s just appreciated that people still like them.  The problem comes when they want to live in the past and they want to hold onto something.  People are afraid of change.

Q:  Would you ever want to live permanently in India?

George:  Yes.

Q:  When?

George:  When I get through with all this madness.  There’s a word that’s called karma and it means that whatever we are now we cause by our previous actions.  Whatever is going to be in the future is what we cause by our actions now.  I’d like to be able to cause my actions to lead me to end up sometime in India.

Q:  Who are some of the contemporary artists that you admire most?

George:  There’s so many…Smokey Robinson.  I am madly in love with Smokey Robinson.  To try to pick one or two. I mean Smokey Robinson is my favorite.  I like Dicky Betts.  There’s a lot of guitar players, Ry Cooder I think is sensational.

Q:  What about the big groups like the Rolling Stones?

George:  The Stones, yeah, they’re fine…y’know…they’re nice.  I like the Stones.   I think variety’s the spice of life.

Q:  Are you involved in any series negotiations to get the Beatles back together for one night?

George:  No.  No..you been reading Rolling Stone.  I thought the 50 million for one shot…after reading that I was a bit disappointed at Bill Graham saying he could make us 4 million especially as Crosby, Still, Nash and Young made 8.  I mean sure we could make more than that.  The point is, it’s all a fantasy the idea of putting The Beatles together again.  If we ever do that, I’ll tell you, the reason will be that everybody’s broke.  And even then, to play with The Beatles, I’d rather have Willy Weeks on bass than Paul McCartney.  That’s the truth, with all respect to Paul, the Beatles was like being in a box, it’s taken years after being out of The Beatles to get to play with other musicians ‘cause we were so isolated together.  It became very difficult playing the same old tunes day in, day out.  Since I made All Thing Must Pass, it was so nice for me to be able to play with other musicians, I don’t think The Beatles are that good.  I mean, they’re fine…fine.  Ringo’s got the best backbeat I’ve ever heard and he’ll play a great backbeat 24 hours a day.  He hated drum solos.  Paul is a fine bass player, he’s a little overpowering at times, and John has gone through his scene, but it feels to me like he’s come around, and we’re all at the point.  I mean, to tell you the truth, I’d join a band with John Lennon anyday, but I couldn’t join a band with Paul McCartney, but that’s nothing personal.  It’s just from a musical point of view.

Q:  What do you think of Lennon’s solo material?

George:  His new record I think’s lovely.

Q:  How is it you don’t want to do personal interviews?

George:  There’s nothing to say, really I’m a musician, I’m not a talker.  I mean, if you just get my album, it’s like Peyton Place, it’ll tell you exactly what I’ve been doing.

Q:  Did you do a musical rebuttal to Layla on that album?

George:  What do you mean musical rebuttal?  I mean that sounds nasty, don’t it?  I like to sort that one out.  I love Eric Clapton. He’s been a close friend for years.  I’m very happy, y’know, about it.  I’m very friendly with them.  Sure.

Q:  Why are you happy about it?

George:  Because he’s great.  I’d rather she was with him than some dope.

Q:  Is it conceivable you could get together the Beatles to generate some money for charity?

George:  Well, if you’re a promoter I’d say no.  I wouldn’t rule anything out in life.  People think we plan, ooo, we don’t plan anything, it’s all at the mercy of the Lord and I’m sorry to keep talking about Lord to y’all, but he’s there, I have experienced something in my life and I know he’s there.

Q:  What’s your attitude about drugs now?

George:  Drugs!  What drugs? Aspirins or what are you talking about?  I mean I think it’s awful when it ruins people. It’d be the same as it was ten years ago.  What do you define as a drug and what isn’t?  Like whiskey?  I don’t want to advocate it all because it’s so difficult to get into America, y’know?

Q:  You said you had an experience which made you believe in the Lord.  Was this a specific experience?

George:  Just certain things happened in my life which left me thinking “What it all about Alfie?”  and I just remembered Jesus said somewhere ‘knock and the door will be opened’ and I said (knock, knock) hellooo.  It’s very difficult.  From the Hindu point of view each soul is potentially divine, the goal is to manifest the divinity.  I mean yoga.  The word ‘yoga’ means union and the union is supposedly between the mind, the body and the spirit and yoga isn’t lying on nails or just standing on your head.  I mean there’s all various forms of yoga and they’re all branches on one big tree and the Lord or God has got a million names, whatever you want to call Him, it doesn’t matter as long as you call him.  Jesus is on the mainline, tell him what you want.  Nobody tries anything.  Going back to self-realization, one guru said he found no separation between man and God saving man’s spiritual unadventurous, and that’s the catch, everybody’s so unadventurous.  We’re all condition, our consciousness has been so polluted with material energy that it’s hard to try and pull it all away in order to really get at our true nature.  It’s like everyone of us has within us a drop of that ocean and we have the same qualities as God, just like a drop of the ocean has the same qualities as the whole ocean.  Everybody’s looking for something, we are it.  We don’t’ have to look anywhere, it’s right there within ourselves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

George in concert

 

Flying high with a Dark Horse

 

Hello George

Photo by Henry Grossman

 

A Seattle Welcome to the new couple

Photo by Harry Grossman

 

We're off to the see the Wizard...

 

Does anyone else get total "Wizard of Oz" vibes from this photo?

Ladies and Gentlemen -- Ravi Shankar!

 

George Harrison tour stories part 3

 This is the last part of the story of the fans that were going to various George Harrison concerts during his North American Tour in 1974.    This time they are at Madison Square Garden.  This was written by Pat Simmons.

And then there was New York….

Mysteriously enough, Kris, Marla, Deb and I had all come down with malaria that Friday (December 20^th) and were unable to go to work.   Beautiful blue skies awaited us in New York City and Mary Ann had volunteered to pick us up and take us into Manhattan.  The temperatures were well into the 40s and it looked like it was going to be an all-around beautiful weekend.  We just regretted that Joy wasn’t able to afford to come with us.  We just barely, by the time we’d landed and met Tempy and four Mary Ann’s car, had enough time to go to our hotel (Park Lane – and no, he didn’t stay there.  He stayed next door at the Plaza), dump our rubbish and bop over to the Plaza to try to see George depart for the concert.  We waited right up until ten minutes to four (the show started at 4:00).  We had seen Billy, Tom, Willie, and just about everyone else leaves, but not George.  We figured out later he must’ve bopped out the side door.  We all crammed into taxis (along with Jean and Cyn from Minnesota) and proceeded toward Madison Square Garden averaging about two miles an hour most of the way.  The crowds not only with the concert but with last minute Christmas shoppers were just unreal, considering NYC is usually a rat race anyway.  Not to mention that by the time we approached Madison Square.  It was also the beginning of rush hour with people leaving work!  The group in the other taxi gave up about ten blocks from Madison Square and ran the rest of the way.  They were smarter than we were.  We finally got there and were seated about halfway through the second song.  We were in the lower balcony about halfway back.  You could see beautifully (especially thanks to Mary Ann’s binoculars!) but if you own an Instamatic camera, forget it.  It seemed hard to believe that just 3 ½ years ago Bangla Desh had happened in that very place.  This time George was wearing plaid trousers and white shirt, looking as good as ever, but also looking very tired, about to fall over.  It’s been a LONG tour.  He changed the order of songs somewhat, doing “In My Life” as the 3^rd song in the first half instead of in the second half.  During that song, instead of singing “I love you more” he sang “Olivia more” which really blew our minds – pass THAT one on to Gloria Stavers, folks!   He introduced that song by saying, “The net song is about some old friends of ours.”  And during “Sue You Sue Me Blues” he sang, “Bring your lawyer, don’t bring Klein.”  And when Billy sang “Will it Go Round in Circles” he said, “I got no melody…gonna sing it to my George.”   George introduced Ravi by saying “I would like to introduce to you the man without whom my life would be a misery and very boring.”  Lakshmi had her Apple watch on – one of the watches Ringo sells – is that right?  Anyway, it seemed funny to see her wear it.  At one point George said that he, in his other NYC shows, had been getting knocked because during the Indian section people were shouting “ice cream!  Ice cream!” And he said, “So would the people selling ice creams please shout “ice cream” a little quieter?”  That cracked everybody up.  (They didn’t shout “ice cream” any softer by the way).  That was weird seeing people bop around the aisles selling ice cream and pop (pardon me, you New York people, SODA) during George’s concert!  IT was like being at a football game.  George said before introducing “Zoom Zoom Zoom,”  “I’d just like to say that as we’re finishing this tour, what there appears to be is a battle against people’s concept of what we’re supposed to be, and this plays a big part in the battle of concept.  So, the easiest way to enjoy anything in your life is not to try to pre-judge it.  And we’d like to continue with a piece of music called “Zoom Zoom Zoom.”  When George finished introducing the Indian musicians, Ravi stepped up to the microphone and finished the intros saying, “and the fifth one, George Shankar!”  It didn’t get much response.  And during “Dispute and Violence” during each beat, George would do things like kicking his leg or slide forward or lift his guitar – that man can’t keep still even during the Indian music part.  Shame on him.  When George introduced Jim Horn and all of them, he added, “You name it, they’ll blow it.”  He once in a while would look behind him as though remember he had an audience behind him and would say, “Forgive me.  I tend to forget about you.” 

He changed the order of the songs in the 2^nd half too.  He introduced “Tom Cat” by saying “It’s a pleasure to be playing in Tommy Scott’s band.”  During “Dark Horse” he was having amplifier trouble – kept giving off a high-pitched squeak.  He kept looking around and thought things, “somebody do something!”  Eventually, somebody did, because it was all right after that.  There was an extra-long version of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” with a long, long guitar duet between George and Robben.  He received tremendous applause afterwards, to which he said “Thank you.  Thank you.  God bless you all.”   During “Nothing From Nothing” George kept pitching in little comments, like Billy would sing “Nothing from nothing mean nothing, ain’t that right?” and George would say “Yeah, that’s right.”  Oh, when Tom did “Tom Cat,” he came up behind the unsuspecting George, who had his back to him and stood next to him.  When George finally realized someone was behind him, he turned around, grinned, put his arm around him, and proceeded to do the Harrison soft shoe!  And during the encore, he tried again to get the audience to participate saying that they’d be the back up band and the audience should be the singers.  “The Lord lives within all of us – we are a reflection of each other.  The sooner we discover ourselves within our hearts, the sooner we’ll have united nations, because it’s the same sap that runs thru the maple tree – whatever you like.  The message is to see God – it’s so hard, but it’s so easy.  And I’d just like to tell you that this band is a gas!  It didn’t take them long, did it?”  It brought the usual response, which wasn’t much, but oh well, we had fun anyway.   Just watching him on stage was worth the price of the ticket.

Between that show and the second, which would be the very last one of the tour, Cyn, Mary Ann and I went to scrounge up din-din at a coffee shop underneath Madison Square (*you’d have to see that place to believe it.  It’s fantastic!) Afterward, we ran into some scalpers who had 2nd-row seats for sale, which we promptly bought.  IT turned out that they were 2^nd row lower balcony about ¾ of the way back.  WE met up with everyone else.  Tempy and Deb had managed to get front row seats from a scalper!  Marla had one about ½ way back, the main floor, which she traded with me so that I could be on the main floor instead of the balcony.  Before the show started, while sitting there, I had itchy feet, so I bopped down to where the first half started to talk to Tempy and Deb.  Somehow, I managed to double-talk my way into the first half of the main floor.  There was an empty seat next to Deb and I managed to keep it until about halfway through the second or third song when the owner of the seat finally showed and the little man in the red coat kindly ushered me out.  I thought for a while he was planning on throwing me the rest of the way out.  I was scared to death.  Before being escorted away, dear Deb shoved her ticket at me so that I wouldn’t get thrown out altogether, and mumbled “come back during intermission and I’ll trade seats with you.”  I must have the nicest friends in the whole world or at least the most unselfish, which seems to be a rare trait in the “Beatle fans” today – generally, it seems “everyone for herself” which is rather sad.  Anyway, I wormed my way down an aisle to lose the ever-following little man in the red coat, and then wormed my way back.  Never having made a practice of this, I continued to be scared to death.  Eventually, I found an empty seat in the first section, about a third of the way back, and the seat was toward the middle where the usher couldn’t reach me, so I wormed my way in there and plonked myself down.  Still was a beautiful seat.  I noticed a couple of empty seats ahead of me a couple rows and only wished I could get the attention of Mar, Kris, Mary Ann, Cyn, and everybody else who were still back there in our super-gyp scalper seats.

I even had an extra scalper ticket for a seat up in peanut heaven which I hadn’t been able to sell at all.  People had approached me asking me to give it to them for free, which I wasn’t about to do, so it became a souvenir, an expensive one, but a souvenir.  Anyhow, I sat there in the middle of that section, terrified I would get chucked.  After a while, I got over that feeling and was finally able to enjoy the concert.

You could just feel the tension in the air because everyone, absolutely everyone it seemed was expecting Lennon to show.  But he never did.  I was really disappointed.  So were a lot of people.  We heard later that Lennon had been backstage but had decided not to join George onstage because he didn’t like the way George changed the lyrics to “In My Life” and George wouldn’t sing them the way they were supposed to be sung, so that was that.  John couldn’t have been overly mad at him though because he did show up at George’s after-tour party later that evening.

I forgot to mention that this show was a bit late in starting and guess how the extra time was filled in?  By a group of people singing Christmas carols.  And George wore this time the overalls and a yellow shirt and red tennis shoes!  He opened the show saying “Good evening, New York, take 3!”  He introduced “In My Life” this time “I’d like to do a song written by two old friends and one and a half new friends.  You figure out which is the half! (ooooh!) however we all live and learn, and the Lord bless us all.”  He again ended the song by saying, “God bless John, Paul, Ringo, and all the other x’s.”  The intro to “Sue You Sue Me Blues” – “I’d like to do a song off the Living in a Material World album which was born and bred in New York City.”  Introduction to the Indian musicians: “We’d like to enlarge the band or orchestra or whatever you want to call it and hopefully bring new preconceived ideas as to what the Lord should and should not do in our lives.  It’ll take a minute or two to plug Bushy Barkley pickups in, and hopefully, you may enjoy it depending on the kind of concept you like (Bushy Barkley pickups – what is that?).  When, one time, George went up to the mike to speak, at first it wouldn’t work and he looked panic-stricken.  He tapped at it, going “Hullo, hullo, hullo.”    Before one of the Indian songs, he mentioned “Shankar Family and Friends” album “on the Dark Horse label at your local deals now – plug, plug, plug again!”  This is called “Dispute and Violence” and you know all about that in New York!  Introducing the rest of the band: “Ace lunatic on percussion, Emil Richards!”  After introducing Robben, he announced that he was only 18!  And Jim Keltner threw his drumstick in the air, and as usual, he missed!   He introduced himself as Carl Marx.   The introduction to Maya Love was the topper when he said, “Not to be confused with My Love.”  Before “Tom Cat,” his amp broke once again and this time it really took them a while to fix it.  The band started up some background music while George inquired, “Well, anybody got any jokes?  No?  Well…”  During the Indian part, George introduced “Na Da Dani” by saying “It’s Swahili or Benga!”  Also during “I Am Missing you”; George and Kumar sang real loud and very off key trying to out-do each other and Lakshmi sounded very much like Yoko.  The two in a duet would’ve been far out.  But Yoko didn’t show up either!  Tempy did thinks she saw Julian to the side of the amps at one point.   Oh, it really took a while for that amp to get fixed and finally George plucked s trying and said “ahhh!” and the show was underway again. 

Anyway, George once said “I must tell you, since 1971, New York is much more patient and that’s a nice sign.  Thank you.”  During the encore, he tried again to get people to participate by asking them to blow the rafters off the place.  We didn’t do as bad as we thought, but in the very end George said, “See you in another 8 years.”  That was one bummer about this tour – he seemed to be totally intolerant of those who wouldn’t accept his religious beliefs, tried to shove it down your throat whether you wanted it or not, and was very sarcastic at times.  That kind of business turned me off, but it was hard staying mad at him, watching him bop around the stage and singing in what was left of his voice – a hoarse voice just ain’t too bad at times.  No sir.

During the intermission, I had bopped up front to talk with Tempy and Deb at which time Deb said “I’m switching seats with you.”  Just another little sample of how unselfish some people can be.  Turned out she was sure glad she did switch with me because after the show, while standing on Tempy’s coat, I felt this vise-like grip on my arm and there was Deb, dragging me off the chair saying “you aren’t gonna BELIEVE this…”  Turns out that just after intermission, when the house lights had gone off again, who should sit down in front of her, directly in front of her yet but Paul accompanied by Linda!  I wish you could have seen this poor kid – she was so excited.  It was her very first time ever seeing any of them close up, particularly Paul, who happens to be her fave-rave.   I was so glad it had happened to her – to someone who certainly deserved it, and to someone who had never had any kind of luck in seeing them before.  But I’ll let Debbie tell about that bit later on in this newsletter – I don’t think she’s recovered since!  Nothing, absolutely nothing, is ever quite like the first time seeing one of them close-up.

Very much elated, we bopped down the stairs of Madison Square, while I sang a rousing chorus of ’Give me Air, Give me Air…”  We were just unable to believe that the tour was over and that we wouldn’t be bopping off somewhere next weekend.  Even if Rolling Stone and the critics hadn’t liked the concerts, each one had a special meaning.

We had heard that there would be an after-tour party at a place called the Hippopotamus and we took a cab there in an effort to crash.  That bombed-out – would you believe TV nearly wasn’t let in and they didn’t let Robben in and was he mad!  We saw George arrive and when Lennon arrived, that was the REAL topper.  I heard Tempy say, “Lennon!” and I said “Lennon?”  And there he came bopping up from behind us with May Pang, grinning away, grinning even more when someone screamed.  I would’ve thought he would’ve been annoyed, but he didn’t seem to be.  When he came out he held up his arms and said “Keep cool, keep cool!”  (I did get a photo of him but it’s really blurry…blah).  Lennon was so cute.  George came out and looked very, very stoned with a blank, dull look in his eyes – it was frightening.  He was being assisted to his car.  His dad came out accompanied by a groupie!  His hair really is long.  And he used to complain about the length of his son’s hair?  Looks like George has brainwashed him into the Krishna bit because he wears those buttons and symbols all over his coat too and we hear Peter, George’s brother, who also accompanied him on part of the tour is very much into that too.  One of the best parts of the whole weekend had to be when Alla came out, you know the pudgy little bongo player in Bangla Desh and he was plowed!  Two people were helping him walk up and down the street to get some air.  He was that tanked – not realizing his problem was one too many.  I thought he was sick and walked up and asked him if he was all right.  He just grinned back and said “I’m all right.  I’m all right” and I caught a whiff of his breath and almost passed out.  That struck me so funny.  I thought their religion said they weren’t supposed to drink.  Come to think of it we never did see Ravi leave.  Anyway, that was THE perfect ending to a most perfect day. 

The next day we bopped over to the Stanhope where Paul was staying and after having a drink in the hotel’s pub in an effort to thaw out a bit, we whiled away the time fussing over every dog that trotted past.  We always seem to attract the dogs!  Mary Ann had waited with us at the Hippo but had caught the flu and couldn’t go with us to the Stanhope.  I was really sad about that.  I really wanted her to see Paul.  She had been one of the ones who’d never seen any of them either, until seeing George and John at the Hippo.  Anyhow, after about six hours of waiting, Paul and Linda finally bopped out and somehow when you see him, the waiting is always worth it and you suddenly forget that you were frozen solid just a minute ago.  They were dressed to kill, on their way to see the Sgt. Pepper play.  When he first came in, Paul’s mouth dropped open in mock astonishment and he exclaimed, “are all of you waiting for me?”  What a ham, but he was as gorgeous as ever.  There were even some older people hanging around waiting for him, wanting autographs.  Though he’d hate that, but the really loved the attention and was quite enjoying himself.  They were out there for about 10 minutes.  Don’t know how Paul could stand the cold win.  He just had a suitcoat on, no other coat, and it must have been in the 20s by then.

Sunday we spent hanging around the Plaza, having learned that George was supposed to leave that day, but after hours and hours of waiting in the freezing cold, we finally learned that he’d cut out at 6 that morning.  Leave it to George to think of something sneaky like that.  We hit the Stanhope briefly but decided we really didn’t have the time to wait because we did have to fly home and go to work the next day.  Just when we caught a cab in front of the Plaza, Kris, Mary Ann and I had gone precisely one block when we saw Jeff Raven out in front of the building and two limos slither up, so we shoved a dollar at the cab driver and wailed over, only to see Tom Scott leave. To think we paid a buck to go one block to see Tom Scott … then again, he ain't half bad!

Off to the Stanhope for about a half-hour where we finally split up, all going to our appointed airports to catch flights for home.  It was sad, breaking up the group!  Still, McCartney’s coming soon (so he says!).    We talked to Jeff a bit at the Plaza when we saw him, and when we mentioned that line George said at the last show, “See you in another 8 years,” he seemed very surprised and said that George had been saying he was very pleased with the way the tour went.  So to the people, especially the Clevelanders, that never got to see him, it seems he’ll be back again before long, and this time, maybe he’ll learn and tour in the summer.  It’s so weird being back to the “normal routine.”  Being at those concerts gave you a feeling you can’t explain in words…but you will find out when he comes back!

 

 

Following the Dark Horse Tour - part 2

The last time we read about the group of friends following George Harrison on the Dark Horse Tour.  In part 1, they saw him in Chicago and were on their way to see him in Cleveland when a snow storm came through and the Cleveland concert was canceled.   That is where the story picks up and they get a wild idea to see George in Detroit.   This part of the story was written by Pat Simmons. 

We went to drown our sorrows at McDonald's and then trudged on home, ending up amusing ourselves by looking thru photo albums and scrapbooks, listening to the Chicago concert tapes we had made, and realizing how fortunate we were to have seen George at all.  Then we were posing for insane pictures, singing obscene spontaneous songs, and just generally getting slap-happy in trying to cheer ourselves up.  Stephanie and the rest of the Cincinnati gang left for home later the next afternoon, Tuesday and Tempy left for Boston and I left for work.  I met Kris for lunch that day to cry over our Cokes – why Cleveland?  We kept moping.  It had finally stopped snowing (after 3 days of blinding blizzards) and the road had been salted and plowed and the airports finally opened the day after the concerts had been scheduled.  If only the concerts had been on December 3^rd instead of the 2^nd.  We got to wondering if Detroit’s road were cleared up like Cleveland’s now and if so, wouldn’t we just be stupid enough o drive up there, despite the show being on a weeknight and both of us having to get up at an ungodly hour for work the next day, to try to get scalper tickets, if the concerts there weren’t canceled.  Kris called the Olympia Stadium in Detroit later that afternoon and found out the shows were on one at 5:30 which we’d never made, and one at 10pm.  10PM???  Would we really be that sick?  I called the Cleveland Auto Club to find out how many miles it was to Detroit and learned it was only 177.  That’s only a 3-hour drive maybe.  Kris obtained directions to the Stadium by calling there for information.  By 6:00, armed with Howard Johnson’s popcorn and potato chips for supper, she and I and Joy and Deb were on our way to Detroit, never having been there before, hoping we had the right directions, realizing we’d only be getting there about an hour or less before the 10:00 show was to start, having no tickets and praying we’d be able to find scalpers, knowing we’d be up the entire night and Kris and I not only having to show up for full-time jobs the next morning but also both of us having to work part-time jobs that night, all with no sleep and only 3 nights ago, I’d had another night with no sleep and not more than 4 or 5 hours each night ever since Thanksgiving!  We only regretted that the Cincinnati girl and Tempy and Brenda had already left and couldn’t be insane along with us.

When we got there, we found the Olympia to be in a VERY bad area and there seemed to be no such thing as a parking space, so I invented one, on a side street practically in the middle of a snowdrift.  We found a scalper with 11^th row seats, learned that the first show had started over an hour late because George had still been stranded in Chicago and figured out show probably wouldn’t’ start until nearly midnight, so heaven only knew when we’d be getting home!  It was about a half hour after we arrived when people started to pour out of the stadium after the first show, and we waited over a half hour more for the doors to open to let us in, and over another half hour before everyone found their seats and sat down.  The crowd was very loud and rowdy and I was wondering how this concert was going to go – I’d heard of Ravi nearly getting booed off stage in some cities, which needless to say really upsets George, and I was praying that after all this, things would go well.  While waiting for everyone to sit down and while choking on that horrible smell of pot and feeling slightly ill as a result we artistically went about drawing up a sign signifying “CLEVELAND” thanks to some artistic talent and a magic marker, for which we were sure George would be most thrilled when and if he would see it.  Some guys in the row ahead of us were just incredulous we’d come all this way and that we’d also been in Chicago.  One of them had coincidentally been in Tulsa on business while George was there and he’d attended that concert and said that Leon Russel had joined George on stage and sang with him!  Anyway, these just were most impressed we’d come so far with no tickets and took such a chance, especially learning we’d have to go to work the next day as well and we received a round of applause from them for a moment.  That was most swift.

Finally the concert began.  George came on stage and said, “Good evening Detroit – take two!” and as usual George seemed a bit reserved at first, as if waiting for the audience’s reaction to him.  Billy Preston has seemed to outshine him in getting the audience enthused and participating in the concert and I think his feelings must be a little bruised that he can’t generate the excitement Billy can.  Once the audience is going, once Billy has gotten in a participating mood and enthusiastic and on their feet, then George is fantastic and seems to love the concert and generates just as much enthusiasm as Billy, but the audience has to respond to him before he seems to want to warm up the audience.  Tonight we was wearing light blue blue jeans and a white shirt.  He and Billy did the can-can again during “Outta Space” which George seems to really love.  George explained that Ravi was sick and back in Chicago, and he seemed at a loss without him.  Ravi’s sister had to direct the Indian musicians in place of Ravi and she was really nervous over how she would be accepted, it seemed, but everyone gave her a resounding burst of applause when George put his arm around her and said how she didn’t want to be doing this, but with Ravi sick, she had to.  The applause seemed to make her feel a little better and each number was patiently listened to by the audience and applauded to.  George was off to the side, beating a tambourine against his thigh, singing along and having himself a great time off in his own little corner as he looked on.  He thanked the audience profusely afterwards, saying he was glad we liked it.  His voice was even more horse tonight even though he hadn’t done a concert for four days, and now he was coughing.  He hadn’t done that in previous concerts.  He really sounded awful.   One time he had problems with the strap on his guitar again and had to put on foot up on a platform and balance the guitar on his knee so he could play it.  During one of Billy’s songs George and Billy continuously pulled faces at each other while George harmonized (or tried to with what was left of his voice) and they kept cracking up – George was changing the lyrics a bit but I don’t’ remember exactly what he was singing.  It sure was funny at the time!  The audience got more and more enthusiastic and were on their feet on top of their chairs clapping and in a permanent standing ovation from after Billy Preston’s songs – who seemed very surprised and pleased at the fantastic reception each of his songs got – and the enthusiasm never died down until the end of the concert.  George was enthused and excited by the audience and put everything he had into the last 5 songs – Maya Love, Give me Love (that one got a fantastic reception), Dark Horse, What is Life (really got the audience going – shouting for more) and of course the encore, My Sweet Lord.  He seemed to happy the way people were so enthused and involved. Well that is until he got them to try to shout the various names of the Lord during My Sweet Lord, which always seems to go over like a lead balloon, though he assures everyone he’s not swearing when he chants “Om Christ” and he said “call he Lord anything.  It doesn’t matter.  I don’t give a shit what you call him.  It’s not important.”  Oh, after In My Life he said “God blues Joh, Paul, Ringo and the ex-ex-exes.”  And during What is Life, the house lights came on and we stood up on our chairs, Joy and I, and held the Cleveland sign up and he looked directly at it, did a double take, a quick grin and said into the microphone “Yeah, sorry about that!”  And just as he went offstage for the last time, pulling Billy and Willie together in a quick hug, the audience was cheering so loud and demanding more and more, that he came on the speakers instead of Indian music as he usually has it and everyone began to pack up and leave, unable to believe it was all over.  It was really about the most exciting of the concerts I saw.

Somehow we stumbled down the street (the sidewalks were still covered with snow), managed to find the car and were on our way back home again, finally arriving at my house at quarter of 7AM, one half hour before I usually get up to go to work.  I just had time to change, take Kris to the rapid transit so she could go to work (she has to be at her job an hour before I do) and go to Joyce’s with Deb to eat breakfast and try to wake up enough to be able to function all day at work.  How I made it through that day until 9:30 that night after going to my part time job in the evening, I’ll never know.  But somehow, George makes it all worth it and you know that if I had to do it all over again, I sure would!

 

Following the Dark Horse Tour - Part 1

Tonight I am starting a three-part story about a group of fans that were able to go to several stops on George Harrison's 1974 Dark Horse tour.   As usual, it was more than just seeing George, but also the adventure that occurs that makes these stories so interesting. 

Written by Brenda Lo

With a Little Help From My Friends

December 1974

 

Well, by the time this gets into the newsletter, a month or more will have passed since the Chicago shows of Mr. Harrison.  But ohh, will the memories always be there! 

I couldn’t even imagine me at a “Beatle” concert, but when I finally realized I’d be seeing FOUR of George’s it was like a dream come true! (just for the record Paul is my fave!)

The day came to finally fly out to Chicago, about a 3-hour plane ride and we touched down in Chicago at O’Hare.  Plans were that about 25 of us would be staying at the Holiday Inn down on Lakeshore Drive by Lake Michigan.  Most of us had sent in our reservation to Barb so that was all set.

I got an airport bus right out of O’Hare which would be taking me right down to the Inn.  And on the way out of the terminal on the bus, I saw a mucky green airplane which I later discovered was George’s!  And by that time it was too late.  Oh well.

Being a stranger in town I finally got to my destination at the Inn.  I was a bit tired and wanted to get to my room, so I stood in line for two hours to get my room (I flew in alone) and when I finally got to the desk, they said there was no reservations under my name or Barb’s.  So, upset as I was, I put my suitcase down by a door in the lobby and waited.  There were so many people running around.  I didn’t have a clue if any of them were there for the concert or not.  After about 15 minutes a girl came in the door and I noticed a Yellow Submarine pin on her coat so I asked if she was there for the concerts and she said yeah.  I was so relieved!  Key was with the Cincinnati people (Barb, Sue and Stephanie) so we all stood around in the lobby and I had told them what the desk had told me about reservations, so we all stood confused and then Kathy and Chris came in and along about 5 Barb trudges in and gets our reservations all straightened out so we all got our rooms.

A few hours later some more kids from the Chicago area showed up and most of us were standing around in the lobby and someone said something about Ravi and the gang staying at our hotel. No sooner said than done, and I looked over by the elevators and there stood Mr. Shankar himself!   About that time alarms and bells started going off because an elevator had gotten stuck.

Well, Bonnie and I decided we wanted to get Ravi’s autograph, and about that time he stepped into the elevator and the door closed (we had found out he was in room 916 earlier).   So, Bonnie and I in desperation ran up 9 flights of stairs to try and catch him.  Bonnie was about 3 flights ahead of me and when I finally got to the 9^th floor, she came around the corner from the elevator and said “I got it.”  So, I walked around to the elevator and there he stood, so I got his autograph and we started talking to him about the tour and an elevator opened and we all got in (Ravi too) and headed for the lobby.  Ravi was very nice to us and when I told him I’d come from Oregon just for the concerts, he smiled and goes “Really?”  He seemed pleased.  Also said how long it had taken George to learn to play the sitar and stuff.

 

We got back to the lobby and Ravi got out (as we did) and went around to the front desk for something.  (Meanwhile, they had gotten the elevator unstuck and were taking a guy out on a stretcher).  Then he went back to the elevator and we were still standing there, so we rode back up with him and talked some more.  He was probably glad to get rid of us even if he was being nice to us!  I really don’t think Ravi could be mad at anyone.

 

Anyway, later on that night, well, into the evening, we were so sure that George was staying there too, so some of us waited in the lobby for a while.  There were some members from the band and road crew hanging around in the lobby too.  A guy from the India group were there, so I went over to him and talked to him for a while. His name was TV.  He really enjoyed talking to us and he was really great.  And of course, there were some guys from the crew wearing “Dark Horse” shirts and that’s how we knew they were part of the tour.

Long about 12:30am members of the band were still arriving, and we were so confident George would be along too.  So, this tall dude with blond hair looks at us all and goes “George Harrison is NOT staying at this hotel.  Will you kindly leave!”  HE had a British accent and we just stood there.  How the Hell could we leave when that’s where we were staying!  We had just as much right to be there as he did!  That was one thing we were all floored about.  Of all the Holiday Inns and other hotels in Chicago, Ravi and friends picked the one we did!  It wasn’t planned or anything because we didn’t know Ravi was there until we had our reservations!

Well most of us finally decided to go n up to our rooms, giving up hope for George’s arrival.  So about 1:00am the people from Cleveland arrived – Pat, Joy, Tempy, Maria, Deb and Deb’s sister Patti.  They were all beat after the seven hour drive and Pat had worked that day, so we called it a night and hit the sack.

 

The next day, Saturday November 30 was THE day!  I had managed to get a scalper ticket for the 3^rd row about 4 feet from George!  I had three cameras – an Instamatic, 35 mm, and a movie camera.  They were playing some new George songs before the concert over the amps and then the lights dimmed and they played “Lumberjack,” a funny little song.  So after that a guy walks out with a funny little hat on and sunglasses over the hat, with a scarf, obviously being the quiet lad, Mr. Harrison! The crowd roared as the rest of the band came out, and they started out with an instrumental.  I was so surprised that I wasn’t in hysteria since it was my first concert and second sitting of one of them.  I just kind of stared for a few minutes, pinching myself to make sure it wasn’t a dream, and then I started taking pics.  One time when I had my movie camera going, he looked into it as if to say “what the Hell’s she doing with so many cameras – and a movie one to boot!”  That look almost killed me!

I had gotten to be friends with a chap next to me, and he could never get a pic of George looking to his camera.  So, he kept holding his camera way up into the air so George would look over at him.  Well, George DID look over at him, and when he saw what this guy was doing, he held HIS hand up and looked at me and laughed. Of course, THAT sent me straight through the ceiling.  Wow!  I’ll never forget it!

Well – after about 45 minutes or so the Indian part came and George stayed on the stage the entire time Ravi played.  During the 2^nd show he was off to the side booging to the music and having a good time and he intruded the Indian musicians by saying “We’ll enlarge a bit and add 16 members to the band – well really there’s only 14 but I’m a liar.”   You can really get into the Indian music if you’re right in front where you can observe what is going on.  But if you are way up in the balcony and can’t see a bloody thing, you just kind of go to sleep.  I know because that’s where I got planted in the 2^nd show.  And the Indian music was rocked up a bit with electric guitars and the whole bit.  It really wasn’t too bad.

And I dunno how the rest of the concerts were, but when Billy Preston (or William Everett Preston as George called him!) came on, he really got the crowd rocking.  And that cute little dance George and Billy did!  Fantastic!  (I got it on my movie film!) It was so great!  And the end of Billy’s number, George smiles and goes, “That Billy – he’s a gas!”  It was so good.

In the first show, they started to play “Sue Me Sue You Blues” and George raked his fingers really hard over his guitar strings and one of the strings broke. He threw his hands up in the air and goes” Hold it! Hold it! “Then the music died out.  “I just snapped a string here.”  He then looks around for another guitar and shrugs – “Oh well, guess I’ll play without one string.”  So, he did!  And you couldn’t really tell. He also snapped a string at the evening show, plus nearly dropped a guitar once.  He didn’t have a strap on secretly enough and he caught his guitar just before it hit the floor and he had trouble keeping that strap onto the guitar throughout the rest of the concert.  Also, that scarf he was wearing, he said Emil knitted it for him, and he kept getting the scarf tangled up with his guitar strap.  He wasn’t too coordinated, but Yeah George!

And to sum the concerts up, about the only bitch most people had was all the songs, lyrics were changed around.  Such as “Something in the way she moves it,” “While my guitar gently smiles” and in the song “In my Life” he goes “I love God more.”   “My Sweet Lord” and “What is Life” were pretty good.  He also sang “Dark Horse” and “Maya Love” – great songs!  He also said after “In my Life” “God Bless Paul, John and Ringo and the ex-ex-ex’s” In the beginning of the second show he said, “Good evening, Chicago – and it’s windy, just like they said it was! 

I might add in the first show he had a t-shirt on that was promoting “Walls & Bridges” - it had John’s eyes (From the LP) across the front of it, and then “Walls & Bridges” around the sleeves.  It was really cute.  They also of course sold tour books at $2 a shot, all money from them going to the Appalachian Regional Hospital – that’s one thing about George – he’s always trying to help and aid the ones who don’t have it so good and show need help.  I’ll always admire that about him – his concern and thoughtfulness of others.

And for all f you who didn’t notice at the concert and otherwise, George does wear an earring in his right ear!  But as I was saying about the program – it has some NICE photos of George in it.  And then the rest of the members of the band.  And just for the record, outside of the concert hall, Krishna people were giving out Indian cake, or something like that.  No way was I going to eat any of it, but some of the other girls that had the courage to eat it said it was pretty good.

So after the concerts, we went back to the Holiday Inn and went to our rooms.  And about 15 minutes later, I was sitting on the can and a girl from outside the door goes “Where’s Brenda?  Where’s Brenda””  “A guy from the tour wants to talk to Brenda!”  I scrambled right out and went out in the hall, where everyone was standing around this guy.  So I walked up to him and someone goes, “He wants that pin of George you were wearing at the concert – the one that flashes on and off.” I said I hadn’t been wearing a pin, just a George shirt.  He’d mistaken me for someone else, but we all got to rapping with this guy, and his name was Jeff Raven and he did publicity for the tour and made the hotel arrangements.  He was telling us how George has a museum in his house in England, and that he collects old Beatles things and he wanted that button that flashed on and off.  So since we couldn’t give him that, everyone scrambled to their rooms and dug up something Beatle, ranging from a George coat hanger to a portrait of George.  So, Jeff said that we’d all been so nice to him, he was going to invite us all up to his room so we could preview George’s new album (which wasn’t out at the time).  So about 20 of us went up to his room and sat and listened to the new LP.  It has about 8 songs on it, but they are long ones.  And despite George’s hoarse voice, it’s pretty good.  About 1:30AM, we all split and thanked him. 

After that, most of us went to our rooms, rapped a while and then went to bed because some of us had to get up early and head for Cleveland.  So the next morning me, Tempy, Barb, Richie, Deb and Patti got up around 8:00 and went down and had breakfast.  The restaurant was always swamped for breakfast, so by the time we were done eating, the rest of the gang were just getting seats to eat. 

Around 11:30 (Sunday) the kids that were going back home to Cleveland and the Cincinnati kids and me that were headed for the Cleveland concerts had to get on the road.  We all met in the lobby and got a group picture of everyone that’d met there for the concerts.  After that, I noticed TV standing in the lobby watching us, so I went over and said goodbye to him and told him I’d see him in Cleveland at the concerts and he seemed really surprised I’d be at the Cleveland shows!  Then I made him pose for a pic and he smiled greatly as I snapped the photo.  And a sad goodbye as we headed to Cleveland.  There were three carloads of us altogether – Pat, Joyce, Kris and Marla were in Pat’s car and Deb, her sister, Tempy and me in another, and then the Cincinnati kids in their car – but they didn’t leave Chicago until a few hours after we did.

Well, after stopping at a truck stop in Gary, Indiana (blah- the food was rotten – yuck!) and eating we went on and the further east we got, the worse the weather got.  It was snowing like mad almost all the way to Cleveland.   We left Chicago at noon and pulled into Cleveland at 11:30 that night – over 11 hours on the road when it normally takes 6 hours to drive! So we pulled into Pat’s house and were all hungry and cold.  Her mom was good enough to fix spaghetti for us!  So we all ate spaghetti and watched an Elvis movie, “Speedway” (not Red Rose). 

Then we wondered if George would cancel out his Cleveland gigs because of the bad weather. So Monday morning (December 2) it was still snowing and a lot of airports had been shut down, including Chicago.  So Pat called Jeff Raven in Chicago and told him there was no way they could make it to Cleveland for the concerts because the roads were so bad and the weather was zilch for flying. So Raven said George definitely would NOT cancel, and they would fly to Columbus and go up to Cleveland by bus from there.  We were all worried and concerned about George’s safety trying to fly and drive, but there was nothing we could do but keep our toes and fingers and legs crossed.  So we headed off to the Coliseum around 2pm.  Halfway there, they announced over the air that George had canceled both of his Cleveland gigs.  We were relieved that they weren’t going to try to fly in and even if they had driven, there was no way they would have made it in time for the show and his equipment was already there.  But at the time we were relieved about the cancellation we felt sad because of so many Cleveland kids who were really counting on his shows and who were not fortunate enough to be able to get to Chicago or anywhere else for a concert. 

 

Billy & George '74

 I am certain that I have posted these photos of Billy Preston and George Harrison on an airplane traveling somewhere in the United States during the Dark Horse Day Tour in 1974 before.  However, I really like these photos and think it is time to show them again.  

I would have loved to have seen George in concert

 

The White House Visit

 

Hoarse and dark -- George's 1974 press conference

 

What do you call that hat?

The last show of the tour

December 20, 1974 --  Madison Square Garden

George and Rocky on stage

Waiting for the show to begin

Philly welcomes George with brotherly love

Nassau

December 15, 1974 -- Wasn't this the concert John was originally going to attend?