Arrival in India

 February 16, 1968

Half of the group leave for India

 

February 15, 1968 -  So begins the adventure in India as John, George, Cynthia, Pattie, and Jenny leave London.  

The student

 

August 24, 1967 

I guess I never realized just how crowded it was when the Beatles went to the lecture in London to hear the Maharishi. 

Interesting time in India

 

Donovan's 75th today!

 

Jennifer Juniper - A book review

 

It has been a long time since I have written a Wednesday Review.   With remote teaching 28 first graders, working on my book, and trying to keep this site up to date, I really haven't had time to read.   Seeing my stack of Beatles books growing, I decided to spend some time in Jenny Boyd's autobiography,   Jennifer Juniper.

Jenny Boyd, of course, is the younger sister to Pattie Boyd.   If you have read Pattie's book, some of the family background stories are familiar, but with Jenny being 8 years younger than Pattie, her take on things is different.   

Jenny had to deal as a teenager as being known as "George Harrison's sister in law" and struggled to find her own identity.   I never thought about it, but it must have been quite challenging to meet genuine friends who don't want to be around just because of The Beatles.  As part of Jenny's search to find herself, she turned to meditation and spirituality.   She told her sister about her journey and turned Pattie onto it, and she then talked to her husband, George, about it, and the rest is Beatles history.    Interestingly, Jenny wasn't sure what she thought about TM and the Maharishi.  

In gaining her independence, Jenny booked a one-way ticket from London to San Francisco in 1967 and lived there during a time of free love and hippies.   She loved her time there and talked it up to Pattie and George.  By the time they arrived in August 1967, Haight Ashbury had gone from being a place of love and peace to a place full of drug addicts and beggars.    George basically told Jenny to pack up her things because she was coming home.   Since Jenny's visa was about to run out, she left with them. 

One thing that I really noticed is how George treated Jenny as his little sister and not just his wife's sister.   There was a time when Jenny was being taken advantage of and allowed a lot of people to crash at her London flat.  George pulled her aside and told her that they weren't paying rent and just taking advantage of her kindness, and she needed to tell them to leave.  I loved seeing how much George cared for Jenny.   His kindness towards her remained for his whole life. 

Jenny dated Mick Fleetwood on and off since she was a teenager.   They had the ultimate in an on again off again relationship.  She would date someone else but always ended up back with Mick, even though they had a very difficult relationship.    Jenny tried to date Donovan, who wrote the song Jennifer Juniper for her, but they just didn't click romantically (I think to Donovan's disappointment).    She ended up marrying Mick Fleetwood and moving to Los Angeles with him.   Mick was frequently on tour, and either Jenny joined him and lived the party life of alcohol and cocaine or was a recluse in their home while he was away.   They divorced, and true to how they were when they were dating, they got back together and re-married.    They had a toxic relationship, but she just couldn't find herself and end it. 

Jenny didn't really get her life together until she was almost 40 and went to college.  It is an amazing story about someone who was emotionally lost and eventually found her purpose.   Jenny's life is very inspiring. 

The only negative thing I can say about this book is that at times I was confused about the timeline of things.   I even thought at one point I had skipped a few pages on accident because time jumped so fast and I was left wondering what happened.   I never did understand why she and Mick had to get divorced the first time nor did I understand about the affair she had with one of Mick's bandmates.  

It would have been nice to have more information about her time in India or running the Apple Boutique, but then again -- this wasn't intended to be a Beatles book. 

This is a great book to read during this crazy time in life because it is such an inspirational story -- although it takes a long time to get to the part where Jenny decides to make a change in her life.  But it shows that is it never too late to take control of your life and make a change. 

The link below is the affiliate link to Amazon where you can purchase this book.   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/3P4yErY

The Virtual Fest For Beatle Fans Chicago -- A Review

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Things I did not like

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

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

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

Ringing in the New Year with your ex-wife

I love see George and Pattie posing so nicely together, don't you?

January 1995

Shopping in Chelsea

Jennifer Juniper

Happy campers

John's hair in this photo is making me laugh.    Was he trying to hide?

Jennifer Juniper

When the Saints go Marching in

Through the gates

When the Beatles first arrived in Rishikesh, they would travel down a pathway that was easy to see from outside of the camp.    There was a ton of photographers and reporters just waiting for them to walk along on that pathway and snap photos and try to get their attention.    There is some video footage of this as well as these snapshots.     Eventually everyone caught on and started using a different path.