Happy birthday to Eric Idle

 

I am unsure what year these photos were taken (late 1980s/early 1990s?) , but they show George and Olivia at a party celebrating Eric Idle's birthday.  Eric's birthday is March 29, so I thought it was a good time to share them. 

Breath Away From Heaven

 

I knew that George and Olivia enjoyed visiting Fiji in the late 1990s/early 2000s (see photo), but I never heard this story about George's last public performance before.   While I do think most of this story is true, I have a really difficult time believing that the songs George played were "In Spite of All of the Danger" and "Cry for a Shadow."  It sounds like someone got a copy of Anthology 1 and just named the first two songs credited to 'Harrison'  off Disc 1.   I don't know ---  What do you think?

Breath Away From Heaven (Was George's Last Public Performance Near To Heaven?)

By Patti Murawski

The Harrison Alliance Issue #105

March-April 2002

Ex-patriate Collin McKenny lives and works in Lomalagi, a resort she owns on Vanua Levu in Figi. A refugee from corporate America, Collin acted on a dream in 1996, and after finding just the right site in Fiji, built a beautiful resort which so aptly reflects its name which means "heaven" in Fijian. Just a few short years after the resort opened, her life crossed with George's and Olivia's in a way she couldn't have imagined. 

For quite some time, the Harrison had been visiting Fiji as a stopping point between their homes in Maui and Australia. The local media was bursting with stories that the Harrisons were visiting various spots on this island nation, talking to developers, and looking to buy property in Fiji. 

Collin shared her experiences with me [The Harrison Alliance], a story of George's generosity and, remarkably, a story about a gathering in a small village that just may have been George's last public performance.

George and Olivia went for a stay in Fiji at Lomalagi (lo-muh-LONG-ee), a small resort situated on a working coconut plantation overlooking Natewa Bay on Vanua Levu. Lomalagi has spectacular views and is quite secluded, the latter being a quality that wasn't wasted on the Harrisons. 

"It was April or May 1999, for five nights. They visited Fiji at least once a year and were considering buying property here, " said Collin. But up until that point, the Harrisons hadn't invested in land. "They had been disappointed a couple of times, feeling that the settings weren't tropical and green enough. This was their first trip to Vanua Levu, which is much more lush than most other parts of Fiji.

"George and Olivia were looking at real estate in Fiji because they liked the idea of having property halfway between their homes in Hawaii and Australia. 

"They found us through our website! Goerge's secretary made the booking through a travel agent," she recalled. 

"I got a call at 6:30AM on the morning they were due in on the domestic airline they were scheduled on. They had decided to charter a plane from them because they didn't want to wait around for the scheduled flight at 8:00AM. By the time they scurried around fueling the plane and locating a pilot, they got to Savusavu airport about 20 minutes before they would have arrived on the scheduled flight. 

"Everybody in Savusavu knew they were going to be at Lomalagi," she said. "But privacy is very much respected here. Celebrities who come here are never bothered in any way."

Collin said the Harrisons were the only visitors to the resort for part of their stay, and although they were enjoying their quiet time, they often joined her for lunch and dinner.  "For several meals, it was just the three of us. We had many nice conversations at lunch and dinner."

"They took a lot of walks on the beach. All beaches in Fiji are public, and at low tide, you can walk for miles. Our beach is a mix of coral sand, shale, and lava, fun for beachcombing."

The Harrisons had friends staying in Fiji at the same time they were there. Actor Tom Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson, as well as Gavin DeBecker, were in the area.

"Hanks was in Fiji filming the first part of Cast Away.  George and Olivia made plans to have lunch with Tom and his wife on their last day here. I tried to subtly suggest that they all have lunch here at Lomalagi, but there was a guy here from LA, Gavin DeBecker, who does security work for celebrities, so they had lunch at his house instead. George and Tom were good friends. I don't know how far the friendship goes back, but I do know it was a strong one."

Collis also recalls Dhani phoning and asking to speak to his parents. "Their son was at college at the time, somewhere on the east coast. One afternoon, he called for them (the villas don't have phones), but they weren't close by, so his message was, "Just tell my mom and dad that I called and that I love them very much." I thought that was so special. "

After a few days at Lomalagi, George and Olivia asked if they could visit the local village of Nasinu, about 3 km from the resort by beach and 15 km by car. "The chief asked if he could tell the people in the village who he was. Everybody knows the Beatles, even in a remote Fijian village! George graciously said yes, but asked that there be no photos taken. 

"When we arrived, they had a big area set up, with mats and cushions for all of us. Tea was served. The Fijian men performed a meke, a beautiful choreographed Fijian war dance, complete with warrior costumes and war paint. They looked very fierce! The meke lasted for about 30 minutes. 

"George didn't stick around for tea! As soon as the Lomalagi Band Boys (a group of local musicians that regularly entertain at the resort) sat down with their guitars and ukelele, Geroge immediately jumped up from where we were sitting and joined the boys on the mat-covered ground. 

"The first thing he did was to take the ukulele and start playing a Beatles song! The villagers went crazy! He then played chords with them while they played and sang Fijian songs. A bit later, he borrowed one of the guitars and again played some Beatles music. George played with the boys for more than an hour.

"The rugby coach went running off and when he came back, he was waving a Beatles cassette. Apparently, he had seen the Beatles perform in New Zealand many years ago. 

"The musicians' guitars and ukelele were very old and pretty beat up. About six weeks after George's visit, a huge box arrived containing three guitars, a ukelele, small percussion instruments for the band and for the school children, and lots of extra guitar and ukelele strings. 

"Later, two more packages arrived a couple of weeks after the guitars and ukelele. In one of them were a dozen Beatles cassettes for me; that was a fun surprise! George also sent a package of cassettes to the rugby coach!"

I asked Collin if she recalled any of the songs that George did at the village. She couldn't remember but asked the Lomalagi Band Boys if they did.  "Two songs they remember are 'Cry For a Shadow' and 'In Spite of All the Danger.'"  I told her those were pretty unique choices and probably were never performed publicly before. "Our lead guy found the two song names on some of the cassettes Geroge sent me! George sang some other songs as well, but those two, for sure, are remembered by Leraki!"

During our discussion, it occurred to me that this impromptu concert was probably George's last known live public performance. Later, I researched it carefully and discovered that with the exception of some private parties for the birthdays of a couple of friends, I had been correct in my assessment. Collin was stunned. "Wow, that gives me the goose bumps! Last public performance. What a legacy we'd have here."

Collin ran into George again at the airport in Savusavu about six months later. In the fall of 1999, the Harrisons were still looking to invest in property in Fiji. Accompanying George was Gavin DeBecker. 

"I was at the airport waiting for a flight, and he came in on a helicopter. He'd been looking at an island that was for sale," she recalled. They had made an offer on a 25-acre island between here and Savusavu town just before George was attacked in his home in England. After that, they withdrew the offer.

"He spotted me, walked over, and gave me a hug and a kiss! He was a lovely man."

Collin had one last story to relate about George. 

"Right after George died, the Lomalagi Band Boys had performed for our guests and were sitting on a platform down below the dining room. They frequently do this -- play and sing while we are at dinner. The ukulele George sent was on the deck, in front of one of the boys. All of a sudden, a coconut dropped from a tree high above and crunched down on the ukulele. We now have it hanging on the wall in the dinning room."

https://www.lomalagi.com/

George and Olivia Wogan Show interview (1990)

 

This is an interview with George and Olivia from June 1990 when they were on the Wogan program.  

W: This week, former Beatle George Harrison and his playmates in the Traveling Wilburys band released a new record, "Nobody's Child," a suitable title in view of the fact that it's in aid of the Romanian orphans. The Traveling Wilburys, "Nobody's child." It's an attempt to help thousands of abandoned, sick, and hopeless children who are the victims of Ceausescu's terrible regime in Romania. George's wife has been at the forefront of the Romanian Angel Appeal, which first marshaled public opinion to try and help the victims of this dreadful human tragedy. So, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Olivia and George Harrison. 

W: George, I know that wild horses couldn't normally drag you into a television studio, you are a private man; why did you decide to speak out on this particular issue?

G: Well, actually, I've been on television before, I do occasionally go on television, but...I know what you mean, yeah. 

W: It's jsut this program you probably don't want to appear on, I don't blame you. 

G: Partially because, you know, the wife asked me if I would do this song. 

W: Or told you to do it. 

G: Well, yes, she said, "or else..."  No, she asked if I could talk to the guys who are the Wilburys into doing the song. And partially because of what it is. I think when you see the photographs, and what's happening, babies in their cribs, it sort of, you know, we all have to do something occasionally. And I thought it was a good thing to do. 

W: Yes, it is, and obviously, it's a very moving thing and terribly disturbing, particularly to see children be treated so badly, and obviously, that's what motivated you to start. But what was the single factor that started you on this Romanian Angel Appeal?

O: I think it was a photograph in the newspaper, but it was sort of a gradual assault on my conscience. It was slowly wearing away at me, and I decided that perhaps we should try to contribute some money, and I began to write charities and try to see what we could do who was doing what, and in the end found myself responsible for lots of money and felt that I should go down and just see what we could do, what could be the most effective thing to do. Since Elton and Linda and Barbara and Ringo and Paul and Yoko had donated with us. I went down there and was just ... overwhelmed and devasted and shocked by the situation there. 

W: How many children do you think? The kind of figures we're getting is like 15,000. Do you think it's much more than that?

O: I think there's far more than that. I mean, I've heard of 40,000. I've heard of 50,000, I've heard 400,000. Virtually every few miles, there's an orphanage. We had a list of 400 and we didn't see any of them on the list. We just started to go to one, and they'd just point us to another and another and another. 

W: What are the conditions of these orphanages?

O: Shocking.

W: Somebody said it was like Auschwitz, I mean it's....

O: It's actually very bad, worse than you can imagine, especially now. I mean, this year, this point in time, everybody is enjoying such luxury in their lives, and nobody's ever had it better, and you go there and see children, and for 150 children, you have no sanitation. And on a practical level, that's what we're trying to do, make their lives more tolerable. It eases my frustration because I, basically, they need to be taken out of the orphanages, I think.  Every child needs a family and some love and nurturing. 

W: Let's establish how the children, why should there be so many children in the Romanian orphanages for a state?

O: Well, Ceausescu felt that if Romania had 30 million people it probably would give him more power and become a more formidable force in Europe. And women were forced to have five children at least. And abortion and birth control were illegal. So the lucky ones in the orphanages grew up to be in his army, the Securitate, but those were the lucky ones. 

W: They were known as his children, or he used to call them his children. 

O: That's right, that's right. And they were turned over to the state, they were like, um...I mean, I saw a trolley of babies, you know, like loves of bread. The sad thing is, you know, life goes on, politics change, but nothing changes in their lives. Day after day, year after year, their entire lives are spent in these institutions. 

W: And they've all got -- there's a lot of diseases, and mental handicap and physical handicap. Well, are you saying you'd like them to be adopted, and if so, there is a certain amount of resentment, isn't there, or reaction against the adoption of Romanian children over here. 

O: Yes, I've been steering clear of that question a bit because it is a difficult one, but I think if somebody -- I know a woman that just brought a baby back, and she felt she had to do that, and she went down, and she went through the system and was given the runaround, but she succeeded. I think that if you feel that in your heart, if that's really what you have to do, then that's a personal decision. 

W: How much money have you raised so far?

O: Through the Daily Mail, we've raised £835,000, I mean to the credit of the British public. Because there have been letters, I mean, they keep piling up, I'm gonna answer them right, but -- and form people who maybe whether it's £5, a pound, or £10, and there have been large donations, but I always remember Bob Geldof saying during the Live Aid thing, "pity, the man who did nothing because he could do so little." And really, the British public, you know, haven't been shy in donating a pound or £5. That's what's done it. 

W: We have the address that you can send your donation to: Romanian Angel Appeal, 32 Galena road, London W6 OLT. And no matter how big or small, you'd be delighted with the donation. 

O: Yes, absolutely. 

W: Now, your donation, in a sense, George, has been the record. How did you first come abreast of what was happening? Obviously, you read it in the papers, but Olivia called you, didn't she?

G: Well, I was in Los Angeles at the time, so I didn't really know about it til she told me by telephone. Then, to my amazement, she suddenly said, "I'm going to Bucharest tomorrow." I had a call from Bucharest, and then when she returned and brought back a lot of photographs and stuff, but she called me and said, "It'd be a nice idea if you would do a song. Maybe you could put a single out, help raise a bit more money." So I thought, well, that's easy enough for me, particularly at that point, because I was in a room with other musicians and a recording engineer, we had the tape machines and stuff, so, for me, that's quite easy at that point to do something. you know, I mean, plumbers can go down there and plumb in toilets, but I can pick up a guitar and make a song. As it happened, the other guys that I was working with, they said, "well, okay, we don't mind doing it" when I explained it to them. What song should we do?  That was the most difficult thing. Luckily I remembered this old song that, it's an old American song that Lonnie Donegan did in the Fifties called "Nobody's Child" which we just heard a little. And that seemed apt. 

W: Did you know the words of that, you recall Lonnie Donegan...

G: I remembered the chorus so when I called Joe, you know, Joe Brown, who I thought, "he's bound to know it."

W: He's the fount of all wisdom in country music.

G: He happened to give me the verse, the lyrics to the first verse. So I asked him, "Call me back, give me the second verse."   Meanwhile, we went into the studio and put down the track. I was waiting for the phone call for the second verse, so, um, it never came through. I realized it was already 5AM in London, so I thought, "Well, I'll just make up the lyrics to the second half," because I thought at that point it was just a traditional song anyway, which it wasn't. Turned out to be written by two guys. So that was the problem, then we had to chase up the publishrs and ask them if they minded us writing words to the second half of the song. And we just did it. We did it and sang. We decided Tom Petty should sing the first two lines, I'll sing the next two, Jeff Lynne sing the next two, and Bob Dylan sing the last two. 

W: And all the proceeds will go to this Romanian Angel Appeal?

G: Yeah. And since then, somebody had a bright idea, well, we had a song, or an instrumental from Dave Stewart to put on the B-side and then somebody suggested we make a few phone calls and make it into an album. There's a fellow who manages a couple of people in the States and does Dylan's tours. [it] was his suggestion, so within a couple of hours, we had Edie Brickell and a guy named Roc Ocasek in a band called the Cars. They volunteered a track, and so I got on the phone, and we have Eric Clapton and Elton John, as Elton said the other night, plus Stevie Wonder, Mike, and the Mechanics...

W: Wonderful line up...

G: all kinds of...Guns and Roses. So it's quite a fun album and...

W: Should make a great deal of money for the Appeal. Let's hope so. You've been back to Bucharest and have  you seen any of the effects of the money that you've already brought in? Have you seen it?

O: Yeah..

W: Any good being done with it?

O: Just the beginning, this last trip I took, during the earthquake, I went down to visit two orphanages we've started, and it's...I'm very emotional about the whole thing, but to walk in there and see them, little sinks with mirrors, don't forget these children have never seen themselves in a mirror, sinks with mirrors and showers with hot water heaters and bathtubs, so little for us, things that we wouldn't even think about. 

W: Do you hope to go there, George, to have a look and see what's happening?

G: Not particularly. I'm not saying that I wont' go there, but it's not part of my idea to go down and join in with plumbers and electricians, but in that respect, you know, I can do more in this way, to help get the money to people who actually know what they're doing. 

W: Well, let's hope. You're hopeful.

O: I'm very hopeful, yeah. I'd like to say that it's good news now, now that it's started happening. 

G: It's going to be better than it was, and it's just a matter of time to get 'round to all these places and get them all wash basins and toilets. 

O: He was going to be an electrician...

W: Yeah..or a plumber.

G: Or a plumber, yeah, yeah.

W: What did you eventually become?

G: I don't know, really. I don't know... just some object for the newspapers to make fun of, probably.

(Wogan and Oliva are laughing)

W:  I think what you do is very laudable and terrific, and I'm sure it's going to do an enormous amount of good; it already is. Thank you both for joining us. 

O: Thank you

G: Thanks a lot.

George Harrison exploring Australia incognito

 

This story about George in Australia in 1982 is from the Australian Women's Weekly and was first published on April 28, 1982.  It was written by Liane Maxfield. 

George Harrison --Exploring Australia incognito

By Liane Maxfield

He could have passed for a local fisherman in his shorts, thongs, and khaki bush hat. The only thing that might have given former Beatle George Harrison away was the Liverpudlian accent. 

But even that did not evoke interest among the holiday-makers strolling along the Shute Harbour jetty on Queensland's Whitsunday Coast. they were far more fascinated by the luxury $3 million cruisers at the wharf. 

George himself barely rated a glance as he jumped aboard and began stowing his gear. A few minutes later, the vessel pulled away. 

And that's the way George Harrison likes it, "I've spent the last 10 years trying to become un-famous. And I think that, just maybe, I have succeeded. Only two people have recognized me during my stay in Australia," he said. 

With the exception of a satellite broadcast for the TV show "Good Morning America" last year, George has not permitted an interview for six years. 

I was lucky enough to be invited to join George and his family on a cruise across the Whitsunday Passage to Hamilton Island as the guest of Queensland tourist entrepreneur Keith Williams. George and Keith met through a mutual friend, British racing driver Jackie Stewart. 

For three weeks, George, his wife Olivia, and their three-year-old son, Dhani, had been trekking around Australia as "typical tourists," visiting wildlife reserves, feeding kangaroos and koalas, and picnicking in national parks. 

For George, it's his first return visit since the days of Beatlemania. This time round he said with a smile, he is here as a "real person."

He loves Australia -- from the north Queensland tropics to the rugged beauty of Tasmania. 

"Everywhere I go I find myself thinking how happily I could live here. There's no tension," George said. 

And he stretched back in his deck chair to soak up yet more of the sun. 

"A lot of Australians don't know how lucky they are. It's a happy country.  In Britain, one almost feels guilty for feeling happy. Winter is so depressing. Strikes and more strikes. Everyone's miserable. It's a constant struggle not to let the attitude of others rub off on you."

But there is another reason George is not too keen on the British winters. He is unable to pursue what has become one of his grand passions -- gardening.

The Harrisons' home, Friar Park (a magnificent mansion built in the late 1880s by a millionaire Victorian eccentric), has a 14-hectare garden. 

"The gardens were a wilderness, " he said. "They had been unattended for about 40 years. And you know what they say about gardens -- for one year they are let, it takes three to restore them."

It took George and nine gardeners to accomplish the task. 

One of the garden's intriguing features is a series of three lakes, all built on different levels so that if a man crosses the middle lake on stepping stones from the house, he appears to be walking straight across the water. 

Because tropical plants cannot be cultivated with any great success in Britain's harsh climate, George is thinking of buying a home "somewhere in the South Pacific" to allow him to use his green thumb to its fullest advantage. 

Back home in the UK he loves pottering around the annual Chelsea flower show. Here in Australia, he has been visiting our botanic gardens, collecting ideas for the South Pacific hideaway he may buy one day. 

These days, record making is little more than a hobby.  George's priorities have changed dramatically. 

After the split up of the Beatles, he spent years "finding himself."  Devotional yoga helped him in the rough spots. 

His philosophy is simple. "It's a matter of finding out who I am, where I am coming from, and where I am going.

"I see life as a huge university. You come here to get knowledge to free the soul. The trick is to find out who you are before you kick the bucket."

Not that he sees "kicking the bucket" as the end. George believes in reincarnation. "I wouldn't mind coming back as a grain of sand," he grinned. "At least I'd never have to worry about the press hounding me again." 

Gone, along with the confusion, is the long, shaggy hair that caused such a sensation in the '60s. Today, George's locks look as if they have had a brief encounter with a blunt lawn mower. 

Olivia, his second wife, whom he married in 1978, is Mexican born.

She was working in his Los Angeles recording studio when they met. 

Both are semi-vegetarians. "We eat chicken and seafood," George explained as he tucked into freshly cooked prawns and mud crabs. Their son, by choice, is a total vegetarian.

Dhani (pronounced something like Danny) is a delight. His name is made up from two notes of the Indian musical scale, dha and ni, and doesn't mean "wealth" as was reported soon after his birth.

He is a bright, creative child, currently hooked on space toys. He speaks with a quaint upper-class English accent. Mum and Dad aren't quite sure how he picked it up. 

Perhaps it is the influence of his nanny, Rachael. Not that she is the plum-in-mouth, sensible-shoes type of nanny so often depicted in British films. She looks more like a flower child with her cheesecloth dress, flowing hair, and scrubbed, glowing skin. 

There is none of the relegate the child to the nursery where mama and papa will visit routine in the Harrison household. 

Olivia spends hours each day playing with Dhani, and George talks to him like an adult and patiently answers his never-ending stream of questions. 

Consequently, at three and a half, the boy prattles away in a manner that would put to shame children twice his age.

George feels they spoil Dhani, but admits he is drawing comparisons with his own childhood: "We were lucky to get one present at Christmas time."

Most of Dhani's toys are educational. When he outgrows them, they are passed on to charities.

According to friends, George's generosity is legendary. English comedian Eric Idle described him as "one of the few morally good people that rock and roll has produced. He's one of the people who have turned their attention to goodness. He's extremely generous and gives support you'll never hear of.

George stepped into the breach to put up a reported $4 million when Idle was having difficulty finding a backer for his Monty Python film, "The Life of Brian."

The stories go on. When George heard that another friend, Barry Sheene, was tryng to raise $280,000 to race Formula One cars, he promptly offered to pay the money for Barry NOT to do it because he was worried about the risk. 

Another recipient of Geoge's benevolence is the Hare Krishna religious sect, to whom he donated a magnificent manor in Hertfordshire, UK, estimated to be worth $500,000. 

George admits that if he doesn't work more than another hour again he will still have enough on which to live in comfort for the rest of his days. So, he is more than happy to help those less fortunate. 

Back in the early '70s, he raised $6 million for the child victims of the Bangladesh war by staging an all-star concert in New York. 

"I learned a lot from that exercise," he said. "Because of managerial bungling, we are still trying to get money from the concert into the right hands."

Now, he endeavors to keep news of his humanitarian endeavors on a very low key. 

But that's George Harrison today. He's unassuming, keeping a low profile, happy to be a family man, and, when weather permits, "mess around in the garden."

George ventures out in London!!

 

This is a story from the Summer 1989 (first issue) of the London Beatle Fan Cub fan magazine.  

George Ventures Out in London!!

On July 25th, 1989, for a mere  £50, one would have been able to attend the premiere of "How to Get Ahead in Advertising" and dine in the presence of the Great George Harrison. Alas, being paupers, we had to forego this pleasure and instead join that lower form of life known as the press photographers in an attempt to catch a glimpse of the Master himself. 

We arrived at the cinema about an hour before the premiere was due to start and immediately got in a ruck with the press corp. One of them in particular, "the Devil's Best Friend," kept pushing us aside attempting to obtain a better viewpoint for himself, obviously unaware of how resilient Harrison fans are. 

A number of cars began to arrive outside the cinema, raising our expectations that George might soon step out. However, we were to be disappointed time and time again as they only revealed lesser mortal not worth of mention. 

Finally, a blue Mercedes arrived. They Beatles juices started running, the knees went wobbling and we ran towards it. Indeed, there HE was!! George was handsome, suntanned, wearing shades but grimmed face, with Olivia at his side looking very lovely. We clicked away as they entered the foyer; George posed for the press but refused to sign our book. "Not now!" he said. 

The scene outside cinema had quieted down and the movie finally beginning, we decided to go to the pub to recover our senses aided by a glass of amber necter. 

At about 9:15pm, we decided it was time to head back to the cinema. All was quiet once agian but this soon changed as the first guests began to appear. George's car was right behind us, with his evidently inexperienced chauffeur smoking away. With his car there, we knew he could not get away ignoring us. Suddenly, while we were planning our strategic positions, Nelson Wilbury appeared. He had no shades this time around and was actually smiling, posing again for the photographers. 

As the scene outside the cinema got tougher, with the press pushing and shouting to George to talk to them and not us, he looked frantically for his driver and shouted to him to get to the car.  Once again we were face to face with him and begged him to sign "I Me Mine," a request which extracted this answer, "I can't love, not now, if I stop I will never get away."

ANd like surise doesn't last all morning, George floated away someplace else on his Cloud 9. 

Choose Love

 

Jeff Lynne looks like the third wheel

 

Look at the flowers

 

Gathering for the Concert for George film

 September 24, 2003

Newlyweds

 September 8, 1978

George and Olivia's wedding photo

 

September 2, 1978 

I have always been under the assumption that photos from George and Olivia's wedding were kept private and the public has never seen a photo from the day.    45 years later that photo, which was published in a newspaper the day after the wedding was shown on Facebook!   I wish it was in color -- I wish it wasn't so dark -- but I am thrilled to see a photo taken at their wedding after all these years!

Olivia and George

 

First photo of the new family of three

 August 2, 1978

Fun times at the races

 

Caught eating again

 

Beatle family gathering

 June 26, 2023

Linda's Memorial service

 

June 8, 1998 -  Linda's memorial service was a very difficult time for Beatle family.  These pictures aren't easy to look at because you can just see such sadness on Paul's (and the kids') faces.  But it warms my heart that George and Ringo (along with their wives) came to the memorial to not just honor Linda but to be there for Paul.   Most of the time, members of the Beatles don't attend high-profile memorial services because they want the focus to be on the person that passed away and not a media-circus because they are there.   I am glad that George and Ringo were there to support Paul.   I know the media was there (obvious -- we have these photos), but I don't remember it being a frenzie.  

Beautiful couple

 

The Beatle family show up to support Linda

 April 23, 2008

Celebrating the Concert for George Book

 March 15, 2003