Starr Trek (1980)

Photo from this trip (Nancy Andrews collection)

 

Starr Trek

By Susin Shipiro

Sunday News Magazine

September 7, 1980

    Ringo Starr has finished a movie in Mexico called Caveman. He has been there before in Blindman, a spaghetti western. "In every scene, I went from hello to madness. I raped a girl, stabbed her father, shot people left and right," he says of Blindman. In Caveman, he grunts a lot. His cave lady turns out to be Barbara Bach, whom he is marrying.

     I can't say I'm overly thrilled about the match, since my introduction to him was via his former fiancée, an Alabamian named Nancy Andrews, alias my oldest friend. 

    Four months after I met Ringo, I rendezvoused with him and Nancy in Mexico, where he neither grunted nor killed anybody, but he did save my life---kind of. We were puttering around Cozumel when news of a solar eclipse came over the radio. Ringo decided to see the Mayan ruins that lay on the other side of the Yucatan, and four of us climbed into a rented Jeep with maracas and wonky drums with balls attached to strings that bonk against the hollow skins when you shake your wrists. Ringo was playing the things while driving. He is a better drummer than driver. He had already been banned in Monte Carlo for his "daring do" behind the wheel. 

    The paved road gave out 30 miles from the hotel. The Solar Eclipse was warming up. The sky was fuchsia as we chugged along the bumps. "A long way from Liverpool", said Ringo, with his usual firm grasp on the obvious. We passed two men setting up a tripod on the roadside to shoot the Eclipse. "Pardon me", said Ringo, "Are you the Mayan ruins?" The men stare into the Jeep, see this guy wearing racing shades and a lady's tank top on his head, secured with a button that reads, "Watch out for the booga rooga." some caveman.

     A few minutes later, we pass a cow and a bull by a sharp curve. "Are you the Mayan ruins?" Ringo asks which way to Itza. Then the Jeep stalls. After a little coddling, it starts up, then it rolls over and dies. 

    We inspect the beach and the solar descent. Ringo finds a cracked doll's head, a tin can, shells, and seaweed. The night is filled with strange noises far away, grunts. We start to walk back to the main road. The path is strewn with branches and unidentified objects. Bat circle, we hear the steady pound of cows' hoofs in the brush. "Let's sing," Ringo suggests, "or else, cry, whatever."

     After about four hours, we spy a flicker of light. It is the two men with their tripod! They have set up a candlelit plank across two tree stumps, swiping a fresh coconut off a nearby palm, hacked it open with a mini machete, and placed a bottle of tequila at our disposal. They joined us on the star trek, but it was Ringo on automatic pilot who got us through the underbrush and prickly overheads. Eventually, we find the main road. Ringo, doing a knock-me-down tango with inexhaustible energy, fetches a cab, which takes us back to the hotel gratis. 

    A famous face is a famous face. "I knew we'd make it," Ringo says the following afternoon. "I'm going to live till I'm 87." I heard a flash at that moment, a flash of lightning, a rumble of thunder, Mexico's first rain in three months. We pile into a new Jeep, pockets packed with pesos to celebrate our emergence from the jungle intact. There are survivors and survivors, but there is only one Ringo Starr and once upon a time in Mexico, he saved my life --kind of.

Mexican Soundcheck

 May 28, 2010

Ringo in Mexico

 

May 8, 1975

Love at first sight

 

March 1980 - In Mexico on the set of Caveman -- Ringo and Barb meet and the rest is history! 

Two bass players

Photo by Fernando Aceves

 Paul with famed Mexican bass player, Abraham Laboriel who also happens to be the father of Paul's drummer, Abe!  (Okay -- so I didn't know that!) 

Don't mess with Ringo

Photo taken by Donny Wightman

 June 7, 2024  in Mexico City -- Ringo's security there looks a little menacing.  I wouldn't want to get on his bad side.   Glad to see that Ringo has guards looking after him.   

Soundcheck in Mexico

 Have any of you seen Paul's tour in Mexico?   How is it?  (Why do I ask -- I know that if you were there, it was amazing!) 

Happy Cinco De Mayo!

Caveman

40 years ago -- March of 1980 in Mexico Ringo was filming the movie, Caveman.   I know this film has some fans, but I am NOT one of them.  But one good thing did come out of the film and this is that Ringo met Barbara.   So happy anniversary of first meeting one another, Ringo & Barb! 

Luis has his dream come true!

One of the long time readers of this blog is Luis from Mexico.   Luis has emailed me from time to time over years and has shared some photos that the took of Ringo when he was last in Mexico.   So a little while back when Luis emailed me and said that Ringo was returning to his country and he and his wife were going to try to meet the man, I wished him luck.    However, I did not think it would really happen.   Well let me saw officially that I have never been happier to have been proven wrong!   Congratulations to Luis and his lovely wife for meeting Richy himself backstage on November 14, 2013!!   

Thank you for sharing your story with Meet the Beatles...for Real!   I am very honored to share your photo and story with the world!

 I was in the right place at the right time after so many hours going from here to there, out of hotels and backstage and it paid off.

 

It was, as the picture "says"November 14th 2013 at his dressing room(very big dressing room) before the concert. at national auditorium in Mexico City. We were with him  for almost 12 minutes.  Just we 3 and  nobody else. Just a guy (who I think is his secretary or assistant?) came in to take 2 pictures.One of the pics turned out blurry.

Ringo open the door of his dressing room and told us to come in.  He had to repeated it twice. Once we had entered, he closed the door.  We (Ringo and me) shook hands and he hugged my wife and gave her a kiss on her cheek.

The first thing I told him was" Ringo it took me 40 years to get to you, it's very hard to get to you" He said "I know I know" then the standard chat, how much we like his and his fellows music and how great it was to be with him.

 

Then while I looked for a pen(you know what for) my wife told him she is from Nicaragua.  He told us he has never been there, but he'd like to.I explained him that there's no concert industry in Nicaragua and he told us he was in Peru last week and he had a great time.

 

By this time I had the pen in my hand with good night vienna lp waiting in my other hand. I told him, "Ringo I know you don't sign anymore but can you sign my record?" he answered " No sorry I don't sign anymore, just for charity" I told him"I don't going to sell it on ebay, I'm a real fan, I have a theory about people selling your signs in ebay, they're radio people and press guys who  are not real fans and is easy for them to get to you and don't appreciate it" he told me " I know that's why I don't sign in press conference anymore"

 

At this moment his secretary or assistant came in and I asked him to take our picture  and Ringo said "yeah your picture".  The secretary or assistant took 1 picture and Ringo says "another one", The secretary or assistant gave me the camera back and I said "let me check the picture" Ringo said "yeah if it's not ok you can have it taken again" we looked at them and Ringo said "very good takes" at first sight they looked good but when I got home and put them in my pc, 1 turned out blurry.  The guy left and then we thanked Ringo and say goodbye we(Ringo and me) shook  hands again and my wife told him" you're a very good person" he hugged my wife and kiss her on her cheek again and we left.

 

We saw the guy who took the picture outside and thanked him too.

We went to our seats  later I asked my wife " why  did we leave the dressing room? nobody asked  us to leave" Well maybe we felt it was the right time to leave. We knew there was  another couple waiting to see him because we saw them waiting back of us before we entered the dressing room.

 

Ringo yesterday

Blog reader, Luis, had a brush with a Beatle just yesterday and lucky for all of us, he took a photograph of it and sent it to me just a mere 3 hours after it happened! Luis saw Ringo and Barbara in Mexico for just 3-4 minutes as they were walking to catch their plane to Santiago de Chile. Sadly he didn't get a photograph with Ringo or an autograph but he was able to see him and snap this close-up shot. Thanks Luis for sharing you great photo with us! Ringo looks awesome for a 71 year old!!!

Ringo in Mexico

I recently spent a large sum of money (for me anyhow) on a dozen or so issues of the totally fab Beatles fanzine, "the Write Thing." Being home sick today, I spent a large amount of time reading these fanzines. How I enjoyed this opportunity to "time-travel' back to the mid-late 1970's in a time where people complained that Linda was surgically attached to Paul's arm and that John was being too much of a recluse. I wish we could have these complaints about them in 2011. For some reason, as I read the articles in these magazines (which I hope will be okay to share with you all in the near future), I couldn't help but think of what a much more simpler time it was to be a Beatles fan. The stories made it sound like getting tickets to a Paul concert wasn't too difficult or expensive. That Beatles conventions were popping up all over the place with awesome collectibles for sale at a decent price. And they sold fan photos for under a $1 each! The same fan photos that are being sold just this past August at Beatlefest Chicago for $20 a pop! (overpriced for mass-produced fan photos if you ask me...)

Anyhow the first of the stories I would like to share is from the Write Thing Issue # 31 which is the Nov/Dec 1980 issue (okay so that face alone makes me really sad....the last issue of innocence I guess). The thing that strikes me about the article is the photograph. We have seen this type of fan photo before. The fans do not want to bother the Beatle for a posed photo, so they look like they are snapping a photo of their friends, but make sure that the photographer has the Beatle in question nicely framed up in the background. I love it! Brilliant! This was written by Mexican Beatles fan, Manuel Magana. Ringo was in Mexico filming the movie, Caveman, at the time.

March 1, 1980: I flew to Durango especially to see Ringo. It was the first time I ever could see a Beatle in person. Ringo was having dinner in the restaurant at his hotel, EL Presidente. He was sittingn with a group of actors from the film. All the people that have been as lucky as me, will agree -- actually seeing one of the Beatles is great!

The next day, Sunday, Ricardo Rodriguez, Enrique Bojas and me waited for Ringo to appear by the swimming pool of the hotel. He finally came out and stayed near the pool, but never went in. He wore a red t-shirt with the words, "Durango" on it, blue pants and Huraches
(Mexican leather sandals).

We stayed very near him, waiting for the right moment. Four reporters wanted to talk to him but he said, 'No thank you, it's my one day off." He was playing dice with his friends and taking in the sun.

We decided finally, this was our moment and started to edge closer. We greeted him, and he jokingly greeted u with just a forefinger to shake instead of his whole hand. We showed him photos of various Beatles' record sleeves and one of George Martin and me, and photos of the Capitol Records tower in LA. He said, "I've seen all of this!" And I said, "No, you're kidding!"

We showed him Beatles Monthly #45, with him on the cover. He tried to imitate the same toothy smile of 13 years ago. He was making comments at all the old pictures. On page 18, he began to read one of the letters from a fan"Dear Beatles, what can we say? Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields is simply fantastic!" He shouted the word, "FANTASTIC!" !! About a picture of Paul playing the drums he said, "I never played." Then a picture of David Crosby form the Byrds surprised him, 'David Crosby!! Did he come to that session?" When he saw the serious looking picture of George on the back cover he said, "Look out, I'm a mystic!"

He seemed to study the list of top 200 rare records (pg. 28 Record Collector part) very intently and made the other actors guess which records were on it. He was almost ready to go when I asked him for an autograph. I opened the Beatles Monthly to the original cover and asked him to sign.

I asked him, "do you know my name? (silly question) and of course he said, "No!" "It's the same as your name in 'Candy'" He said, " Can you spell it?" When I said yes, he said, "then you put it on here." I said please and he told me he didn't sign names, but at least he autographed it 'Best Wishes, Ringo Starr".

After that he began to dance with another actor and sang a slow version of the song "Reach Out, I'll be there." And then said, "He left the stage."

After he left one of the other actors told us that Ringo had said it was no use him ever starting another band because he had already been "part of the best group ever!" It was well worth the trip all the way to Durango to see him. I did get a chance to see him two more times when he came to Mexico City in April. He was with Barbara Bach then and they were on their way to a party. We waited by his hotel and he wave and said hello.