Yeah Dutch!

 

Ringo Starr in Holland

 Ringo Starr in Holland

By Fenno Wekman

With a Little Help From My Friends

October 1977

 

One day Erik Bakker of Beatles Unlimited magazine phoned me and told me that Ringo Starr was coming on October 1, 1976, to Holland to promote his last record.   Erik asked me if I would like to come along with B.U. and to take some photos of Ringo at Schiphol airport.  I said yes and he knew that Ringo would arrive at 17.30 PM.  From Polydor, I heard that Ringo was going to promote his new long-play record, Rotogravure.

On October 1^st Erik and I went to Schiphol at 17.00 PM.  I went into the tax-free shop of Schiphol and found Ringo with two girlfriends while he was waiting for his luggage.   I went towards Ringo and told him that I was a fan of The Beatles and asked him for his autograph.  He gave me his autograph on a promotional paper which I carried with me.  I had more promotional papers with me and I gave them all to Nancy, who is Ringo’s girlfriend at the moment. 

I talked with Ringo for some moments and after that, Ringo stood up and went into the arrival-hall where Erik was waiting.  HE offered Nancy a bunch of flowers and Ringo a bottle of Dutch gin, and also gave him the B.U. magazines.   Ringo thanked Erik and went to his car and drove to the Okura Hotel in Amsterdam.  We followed him.

When we arrived at the Okura Hotel some people were waiting for Ringo:  Henk of B.U., Jan and Raymond of The Beatles Work Group.  They all asked Ringo for his autograph and some other things. Then Ringo went into the hotel and we followed, meanwhile taking pictures of Ringo and Nancy.  They went upstairs. B.U. offered Ringo’s driver a drink and we asked him what Ringo was planning to do during his stay in Holland, but the driver knew nothing about his plans.  B.U. informed the others and me about Ringo’s plan though.  I went home but the B.U. staff stayed behind in the Okura hotel.  Erik asked if B.U. could get an interview with Ringo.  The answer was yes – but not now!  One of the reasons for this answer was that the name of the magazine was wrong.  The word “Beatles” was not allowed as part of the name of the mag.

On Sunday evening Ringo went to The Hague to visit the Hollie’s concert.  I knew that, and phoned a friend of mine named Jos of The Beatles Work Group and asked him if he wanted to go with me to the Congrewgebouw where the Hollies’ concert was held that evening.  We went there, to the artists’ rooms.  When we arrived there, a guard was standing in front of the door and told us we were not allowed to go in.  But after 15 minutes of talking to him we persuaded him to let us in.  We had to wait for about 15 minutes for Ringo, then he arrived with Nancy.  Jos asked for an autograph and gave Ringo a huge colour picture of Paul McCartney which I took at the Wings concert in Rotterdam.    Ringo liked the picture but he couldn’t take it with him, so he asked us to bring it to his hotel.  I asked Nancy about an interview and she said it would be all right.  To take this interview, we needed a tape recorder, but the only one we knew who had one was Erik in Amsterdam in the Okura Hotel.  I phoned Erik to ask him if we could borrow the tape recorder, but he wasn’t there.  That was a great disappointment for me, but there was nothing I could do about it.  We sat for about two hours with Ringo and he was singing old Beatles songs (like Octopus’ Garden) and had a lot of drinks.   After that Ringo went into the hall where the Hollies would sing.  When he saw the Hollies, he shouted a lot of funny things to them like “we want the air that you breathe!”

During the concert, Jos and I sat right behind Ringo and when the concert was over, we went back to the artists’ room and went to the bar where we had another drink.  I was sitting there for about 10 minutes when Ringo’s friend Hillery Gerrard came towards me and asked what my opinion was about the Dutch record company.  He talked with the manager of Polydor-International and told him that he wanted him to help us with the promotion of Ringo’s records, so this man gave his word that he would do so.  Hillery gave us a sort of sheriff’s star, the same Ringo was wearing.

 

In the meantime, Jos went home because he had to work in the morning.  I stayed behind.  When Ringo went to the Bel Air Hotel in The Hague, I went with him.  I the hotel I talked with Nancy, Hillery and Ringo for about 15 minutes.  Ringo gave me a drink and said to me that he would like to see me the next day and that I could go home to sleep and develop the film I made that evening and that’s just what a did.

The next morning, I took the train to Hilversum where Ringo was going to give an interview for the Dutch Radio between 12.00 and 12.30 pm.  I had to wait for about 20 minutes and then Ringo arrived.  So did Erik.  I was wearing a star so all the people who worked for the radio station thought that I had come there together with Ringo.  I said nothing about it because everyone would let me follow him.  The radio programme was live and the disc jockey was Joost den Draaier.  He welcomed Ringo and friends and started the interview, and I started filming and taking pictures.

After the radio programme Ringo went to a press conference in Bussum.  Erik gave me a lift to the Okura hotel.  We went to the lounge waiting for Ringo.  I was writing a letter to Paul McCartney because Ringo had promised me he’d give it to Paul with the colour photo from Rotterdam.  After 30 minutes Erik said to me that he would phone Henk, fellow editor of B.U.  As he went to the phone booth, Ringo suddenly came back into the lounge.   I went to him and reminded him that he had promised to give an interview to Beatles Unlimited mag.  Ringo asked if the name had already been changed.  I told him yes and he agreed to give the interview to Unlimited.  Nancy told me their room number, so Erik and I followed.  We went into the room where Ringo was waiting for us.  While Erik started the interview, I continued my letter to Paul.  Erik was very angry with me because he couldn’t understand that I was writing a little to Paul in the same room where Ringo was.  My task was to take pictures and he couldn’t understand why I wasn’t doing so. 

 After the interview, I went home, and the next day Ringo did a TV program which was his last in Holland.  Unlimited was there of course.  After the interview, I went home.  The promotion activities of Ringo for his new album had almost ended.  He only visited on Tuesday evening the only Dutch talk show and had his talk again.  When the talk show started with the opening tune, Ringo played the drums in the orchestra.  Besides the promotion talk, a promo film of one of the songs (made for Germany) was shown.  Unlimited was also present and took many pictures and films.  But their activities also stopped because Ringo went holidaying. 

Ringo stayed another week in Holland to rest from the very tiring weeks he had promoting his album all over Europe.  His children visited him one day.  After this week, Ringo went away very silently and nobody noticed him again.

 

Wings Over Holland (Part 4)

 The 4th and final part of the story of when Wings came to Holland in March of 1976 from the point of the writers for the Beatles Unlimited Magazine (March/April 1976 issue).   This last part tells what happened after the concert and the next morning.  

I Can’t Tell You How I Feel

Paul was going to do an interview for the press and television after the concert.  After we had recovered from the concert, we drove to Alphen to get some more sets of Beatles Unlimited.  We planned to give these sets to Paul when we could.  At ease, we drove back to Amsterdam to the Hotel and we arrived there at about a quarter past midnight. 

We parked the car and started waiting again.  At one o’clock Koos came back and to our surprise, he said that Paul and company had already gone to sleep!  It seemed the interview was done right after the show and that the group had hurried to the hotel to get to the showers.  A big disappointment we went to bed.

Every Morning Brings a New Day

The next morning, we were back early at the hotel again.  We talked to Koos for a while and to Jan, the head of the security services.

As nothing happened at 10 o’clock and it didn’t look like something would happen, we went away to do some shopping for a ballpoint and flowers to give to Paul and company when they would leave the hotel.

When we came back to the hotel at 10.30, it appeared that the departure had been delayed again.  They would take a plane later and if they would miss that one too, the whole arrival in Paris would go wrong.

At last, a few minutes before 12 o’clock they seemed all in the hall of the hotel, and also the limousines were ready.

And there they came out:  First Denny and wife.  I gave him a bundle of flowers and he thanked me and shook my hand.   Then Paul came.  “Oh, this is wonderful!” he said as I gave him the flowers.  “Thanks for the very good concert,” I said.   “Thank YOU, sir,”   I said the same thing to Linda as I gave her the flowers.  “I’m glad you liked it,” she said.

“Joe, thanks for the very good concert yesterday.”  

“You liked it, ey?”

Jimmy said he would give his flowers to Linda, but when I told him she’s already had flowers he gave them to Myra Amiel, one of the fans outside the hotel and a subscriber to Beatles Unlimited.

 

Ride On My Fast City Line

Quickly we jumped into the car (again) and followed the limousine through Amsterdam to the airport.  Near the motorway, I passed the car Paul was in and drove ahead of the limousine to Schiphol Airport.  I stopped in front of the first door of the departure hall, but unfortunately, the limousine stopped in front of the second door.  Jan ran outside to the second door to shoot some pictures, while I went into the first door and ran across the hall.

It took some time before they entered the hall, so I was ready when at last they entered.  I took a pic of Paul coming through the door and as he passed me, I said, “Paul, I have another present for you.”   I gave him two sets of Beatles Unlimited and said, “Next issue will be called Wings Unlimited.”  “Are you publishing this?” he asked.  “Yes.”

Then I heard a female voice beside me: “You should do a Wings special now!”  It was Linda.  At that very moment, I was standing between Paul and Linda.  Apparently, she hadn’t heard what I said to Paul, and I told her we would do a Wings special now.”  “Here’s Jimmy, you should take a picture of him for the special,” Linda said.  But I tried to make one of Linda, but I had some trouble focusing on her.  I said something and Linda noticed that.

“Is it too close?” she asked and she stepped backward and gave me the possibility to focus.  At the same time the Wings party was walking slowly to the customs.  We were making pictures all the time and took a shot of Paul walking with Mary, holding the sets of Beatles Unlimited in his hands. (see cover of this issue)

Before they walked through the customs, they waved at us, and then they walked around the corner and disappeared.  Exactly 43 hours after they entered Holland they left again.   They left some very happy people behind who are proud to have experienced this. 

Wings over Hollard (part 3) - Concert Review

Here is part 3 of the Wings in Holland story from Beatles Unlimited from March 1976.   In this section, the BU Crew are at the concert and telling what happened.   Apparently, they are not fans of Linda's singing.  

 Sitting In the Stand Of The Sports Arena

The show was due at 20.00 hours, so at half-past seven we walked into the Ahoy Sports Palace, and with the house lights on we could take a close look at the impressive equipment Wings had on stage.  

The cruel, sadistic, mean, vicious security men of Acket-Mojo (the agency that promoted this gig) were already flocking together in front of the stage ad telling any photographer with a flash to watch out as flashing was not allowed during the show.

We were glad to notice Paul’s bodyguard Koos right in front of Paul’s place on the stage.  He apparently seemed to be in charge of this gang of bouncers, but he knew us and had a nice chat with us once again.  

As our seats had not such a favourable position as promised (some 20 metres away from the stage) we decided to sit in the aisle right in front of the stage and stay there for the rest of the show.   At ten past eight the moment was finally there:  the house lights went down and the electronic score-board of Ahoy read “Paul McCartney and Wings.” 

There they were:  Paul in black trousers and silk yellow and black jacket, Linda in what seemed to be an undergarment that had been put together in the wrong way, Denny in a white suit, and Jimmy and Joe in unpretentious clothes.

Tuning of guitars, plunk-plunk, and some deep bass notes – boom boom – then the intro of “Venus and Mars” with Linda on synthesizer.  When Paul started singing the first line the audience cheered and clapped loudly.  As on record, this song went straight into “Rockshow.”  Paul seemed to be a little bit hoarse but that didn’t matter.  The band was really cooking.  Paul’s bass was very prominent and those deep sounds went right through your body.   “Rockshow” went into “Jet” without pause.   Loud cheers again.  Paul crooning as if he were 22 instead of 33.  “Yeah yeah yeah” he screamed into the mic.  The harmonies were not always as tight as on record (Linda?), but it sounded great, it sounded real!

“Thank you, how are you doing?  Alright?” Paul said after this long first number.  Then the intro of “Let me Roll it.”  Paul’s voice had a lot of echo, but his voice didn’t sound half as much like John Lennon’s compared to the record-version.  After the first chorus, something seemed to go wrong, for Paul looked angrily at Jimmy and Denny, and the latter walked to the mike grinning and said “That was different.” 

The brass section sounded very good in this song.  Denny introduced the next song: “Rotterdam, nice to see you again.  This is a song from Venus and Mars and it’s called ‘Spirits of Ancient Egypt.’”

 

Followed by the first alteration of the programme as compared to the British and Australian tour:  Medicine Jar,” in the other tours played in the third part of the show.  Jimmy introduced it as an “a song I wrote” and they rocked away with some great guitar-solos by Jimmy.

Paul went to the piano and went into “Maybe I’m Amazed” with Jimmy beautifully soloing around Paul’s original solo. Paul sounded a bit “husky” again, but sang very soulfully.  Denny whispered some indistinguishable words into the mic and introduced “Call me Back Again.”  Paul switched from bass to piano again and said, “Listen, if anyone wants to clap their hands or stomp, or…here’s a good tune to do it to.”

And the audience went completely berserk as they heard the song “Lady Madonna”.  Beatlemania revived around me and in me.  The Beatleiest Beatle singing “Lady Madonna.”  After the song the people shouted and stamped until the band did a small encore of the last bit.

Jimmy, who had played bass on “Lady Madonna” stayed on bass for the next song, again a Beatle song:  “The Long and Winding Road.”  Again, thunderous reactions from the audience.  Although Wings are a very good band.  It is clear that the majority of the audience had come to hear the old Beatles songs, sung by the mast himself.  “Like to hand you over to my wife over here, Linda,”  Paul said after this beautiful song.  Loud cheers.  “Thank you very much,” Linda said.  “This next song I guess you all know.  It’s from the James Bond movie.  It’s called ‘Live and Let Die.’”   This song was truly one of the highlights of the show.  Not only was it a perfect rendition, but the show element was also very prominent:  smoke bombs exploded perfectly time and in that fast instrumental interlude the stage lights went out and a stroboscope lighted the group.  Denny (on bass this time) made all sorts of movements, which gave an odd effect. Sometimes it looked like an old silent movie.  Great!

The audience got the chance to recover from this spectacle for a few moments, for full stage lights went on and the band exchanged electric instruments for acoustic guitars.  Denny sang lead on the first lines of “Picasso’s Last words.”  Again the harmonies were not always perfect, but Paul’s showmanship and the musicianship of the rest of the band gave the overall impression of the most professional band I’ve ever seen.

“Drink to me” went straight into “Richard Corey” which still seems an odd choice for Wings, but Denny’s vocal was great and everyone enjoyed it, so why bother?

“Speed of Sound” someone called.  “You’re a bit too early,” Denny said.  “Hasn’t been released yet!”  “Ja ja schon” Linda said, probably trying to speak Dutch, but ended up in German.

“Have you heard a rhythm box?”  Paul asked.  “This is a rhythm box” and through the huge speaker, you heard a soft Latin-American rhythm.  Jimmy joined in on the guitar It was the introduction to “Bluebird.”  This version, although again not perfect in the vocals, sounded much better than on the record!  Howie played a wonderful solo and got a thunderous ovation for it.  “That’s Howie Casey on saxophone!” Paul said.   And introducing the next song: “Listen, do you wanna stomp your feet?  D’ya wanna do that?”  you just clap your hands, stomp your feet, you just rock away.”  Skiffle rhythm and cheers from Linda and Denny: it’s ‘I’ve Just Seen a Face,’ the oldest Beatle-song in the show together with “Yesterday”.  Denny played the solo on twelve-string guitar, standing up from his chair, Jimmy played bass on this one, while Joe came back to add a bit of drums.

The band left Paul alone on the stage who exchanged his twelve-string acoustic for a six-string acoustic, played a few riffs, and went into “Blackbird.”  After the first verse, someone broke the silence with a loud scream, followed by other loonies who started clapping along And Paul the eternal crowd-pleaser even joined in by stamping his feet, which altogether ruined this beautiful song.  Enormous crowd reaction again, Paul strumming his guitar a bit, saying “Thank you!”

 

Then the long-awaited highlight of the evening: “Tell you what, see if you remember this one.”  The first chords of “Yesterday” followed by the first line caused an indescribable roaring ovation of the 8000 in the hall.  Paul was appropriately accompanied by a string ensemble (a keyboard sounded like lots of violins) and the horn section   A beautiful song, and as far as I’m concerned, the show might have ended here.

 

But the show must go on and the band returned.  Pau went to the piano playing the intro of “You gave me the answer,” getting what sounded like a rather luke-warm applause after the reactions to “Yesterday” and “I’ve Just Seen a Face.”  The horn section played the parts just like on the LP, which made this rendition almost perfect, but for me, the spirit seemed to have disappeared.

“Are you having a good time anyway?”  Paul asked the audience.  Of course, we did.  Then Denny introduced the next song “Magneto and Titanium Man” a good clap-along song.

Paul stayed behind the piano for the next song, which was received with loud applause:  “A song for the lovers in the audience.  I hope there’s lots of you out there, alright?” and then he sang “And when I go away….” It was “My Love.”  Jimmy again HAD to play the solo Henry McCullough HAD to play on the original record, but he improvised some nice licks around this solo.  And although Paul’s introduction to the solo “O.K. Jim” sounded sympathetic, it would not do Jimmy much harm if he had the freedom to play his own solos, he is very capable of that, I’m sure. 

The next three songs were actually the most interesting for those who knew the British and Australian concerts, for here were three new songs from “Wings at The Speed of Sound,” put together in one block.  The songs they replaced were “Junior’s Farm”  “Go Now” and the “C’moon/Little Woman Love” medley.

“We like to do a couple of tunes now, from our new LP.  And its’ call, the LP is called “Wings at the Speed of Sound” and uh this here tune is called “Let ‘em in.”  Paul said.  And there was the ding-dong bell, just like on the new LP.  The song was played well and especially the horns sounded very good, with Tony on trombone and Stevie on flute. For the show-effect Denny played drum-band tympani, which was inaudible at the back of the hall.  I heard from people who sat at the back, not strange since Denny was not standing near a mic.  But close to the stage you could hear him drum a military-like rhythm.

Paul came from behind the piano and took up the bass again.  “This one’s from the new album.  Wanna shake your bum?”  Paul murmured, “Get up and let’s see you.”  Linda shouted, “This one’s call ‘Silly Love Songs’” Paul said and off they went with a very prominent bass-sound.  After the song Paul and Linda urged the audience to stand up and dance.  Denny introduced the next song as “Beware my love” and at last there was some real action in front of the stage.  The bodyguards had to allow the people a bit closer to the stage and dance to the rocking “Beware my love.”

It was strange to see the two groups you could divide the audience in:  people of over 20 or even 30, obviously the “original” Beatle-fans, but also many teenagers, the new Wings fans.   But it didn’t matter, everybody was shaking now, old or young.  Jimmy was almost pressing his wah-wah pedal through the floor.  Joe almost broke his ticks and Denny played a great rock n roll piano.

The Paul introduced the horn section: “First of all, starting first on the left over there we have Mr. Thaddeus Richard (Dixieland Sounds).  And then coming this way from the banks of the Mersey in Liverpool we got Howie Casey (Rawhide western tune).  And then swinging to our right a bit, we have from Texas, the one and only Slow Steve Howard (Thirties music and a low ‘Thank You.’).  And then last but not least we have Mr. Tony Dorsey! (church-bells).  OK we’re gonna play a little tune which is entitled “Letting Go.”  Jimmy played a great guitar again on this one, unfortunately, Linda was not capable of a controlled vocal (again…).  The next song “Listen to What the Man Said” was played a bit too fast but Thaddeus’ soprano-sax and Linda’s synthesizer sounded great.

“Listen, we got one more song, so thank you, you’re a nice audience, Rrrrrrrrotterdam” Paul said while Jimmy was fooling around in the back playing “Blackbird.”  The last song was “Band on the Run.”   Alas Linda sang out of tune again, but things got better as the song got faster.  There was a nice film projected on the screen behind the band, first showing the cover-photo of “Band on the Run,” which later had the people on the picture moving.  IT was just a short film of the photo-session for the LP.

“See you, thank you, bye bye” Paul shouted after finishing “Band on the Run,” but everyone knew that after a few minutes of clapping and “more more more” the band would return.  And yes, there they were “Do you wanna rock a bit” and Jimmy played the slide-guitar intro of “Hi Hi Hi.”

Again, the band left for the dressing room but returned some minutes later for another encore.  “Alright you got on more,” the Maestro said.  That song was the expected “Soiley,” a very heavy rocker and a great closer for the concert.

Although the house lights didn’t go on, the audience didn’t massively ask for more, but the preservers knew Paul would return with flowers if they kept shouting after a few minutes the clapping, stamping and shouting got louder again and finally the group returned:  “We haven’t got any more songs, but we got some flowers.  We’ll see you next time!”  And they threw flowers and pictures into the excited audience.

The end of a very memorable concert, great music, great show.  But I must say one thing:  although Linda turned out to be a very charming woman, who acts very natural to the fans, I still don’t’ understand why she is in this band.  Especially her singing is below par.  Sorry, but it’s true. 

Wings Over Holland (part 2)

 This is the 2nd part of the story from  Beatles Unlimited (March/April 1976) about a group of fans that spent the time Wings was in the Netherlands following them around and talking to them.  

I’ll Be Waiting For You Baby

The next morning we were there (Jan had been to the Neil Young concert, but had not seen Paul, who probably stayed backstage).  First, we went to buy some more film (in total our team shot over 800 photographs in two days!)

Back at the hotel, we talked to the day-porter who could give us no more information than that Paul was intending to leave at two o’clock.  Some time later we talked to Koos, who said Paul had been to see Neil Young, while he himself had gone to see Rory Gallagher.  He said Paul would be leaving at 2:30. 

As I went to the tobacconists to buy some chewing gum, Joe came out with Steve Howard who walked to walk to Amsterdam’s major shopping street the Kalverstraat as Steve wanted to buy a leather bag.  We still don’t’ understand why they didn’t talk a taxi or one of the hired limousines.

BU: “Hi Joe.  Do you think we could have a short interview with you?”

Joe:  “Well we’re going to be leaving at three-thirty and we’re not going to be back until about midnight tonight.”

BU:  You’re going to have a soundcheck in Rotterdam?

Joe: Yeah.

BU: Well, we’re going to Rotterdam, we’re going to follow you.  Do you think you could squeeze it in?

Joe:  Well, if it’s possible…if there’s time, yeah, who are you with?

BU:  Beatles Unlimited.

Joe:  Well, if there’s time, yeah.  I’ll do it, we’ll just have to wait and see.

 

Of course, I didn’t get a chance to talk to Joe again, which is a pity for I had some interesting questions in store, like “Are you a hired musician of Paul, paid a regular salary, or are you a member of the band with all financial risks involved?”

Joe and Steve went in the direction of the city, returning some minutes later wet from the rain and “not feeling like walking.”  Steve took a limousine and went to town and Joe went inside.

In the same period, Bob Ellie returned with a pile of pictures, but he answered my “Got any pictures?” with a hysterical “Nooooo!”

Thaddeus went out by taxi to have his instrument fixed at Dijkman’s musical store at the Rozengracht in Amsterdam.  We also talked to Henri Audier of Bovema again who said Paul had to be in Rotterdam at two thirty which we were sure they wouldn’t make, judging from Joe’s words.

In the afternoon, the minutes seemed to creep.  At about two – Paul, Linda, and the children were in the bar having a drink.  They went upstairs some time later and Joe, Jimmy, Denny, and other members of the band came down and waited in the lobby.   Koos came outside at about half-past three and ordered the limousines to be stand-by.

 

If I Ever Get Out of Here

It seemed according to Koos, that Joe and Jimmy were fed up with waiting for Paul and they decided to leave for Rotterdam. Thaddeus, tony Dorsey, Steve and Howie Casey came out, followed by Jimmy and Joe.

I went up to Jimmy to tape some more statements.

BU:  “Any new songs in the show?”

Jimmy:  Yeah, off the new album.

BU:  New songs by you too?

Jimmy:  Yeah..

BU:  Wino Junko?

Jimmy:  That’s right….

BU:  So no more Medicine Jar?

Jimmy:  Sorry???

Jimmy was called away by someone and left me with the problem of Wino Junko, which was not in the show.  The next car was for Brian and his companions, while Steve Ellis was called back to take another car (“Every minute counts!” he murmured). 

And then there they were:  Paul and Linda.

Paul came out with his hand folded as if in prayer, saying “Achtung, Achtung” (which is German for attention).  As a girl wanted him to sign a Venus and Mars cover I walked up to Linda, so said:

Linda:  Hi again.

Henk:  Hi, how were the Danish and German gigs?

Linda:  Beautiful, really nice…

Henk:  Any new songs?

Linda:  Three new songs…

Henk:   From the new LP?

Linda:  Yeah ….

Henk:  I heard it on Luxembourg

Linda:  Do you like it?

Henk:  Yeah, it’s great…

Linda:  Great …

And then Paul (who was fooling around with a little boy who shouted “It’s the Beatles!”) and Linda were ordered into one of the limousines.   Paul and Linda were in the back, with Denny and his wife in front of them.   We ran to Erik’s Daf ready to start the race to Rotterdam.

 

And When I Go Away

We managed to keep up with the limousine quite nicely in Amsterdam (incidentally passing the Amsterdam Hilton where John and Yoko spent their Bed-in in 1969), but as soon as we were on the motorway, we lost them in the busy traffic.

We managed to get quite close to them again once, but then their driver drove past a red traffic light at a very busy roundabout about halfway to Rotterdam   When the light went green again, Erik did his utmost to overtake them in the suburbs of Rotterdam and Linda waved at us.

We went in the direction of the Ahoy Sports Palace, but they suddenly overtook us, and the driver took a very strange sideway.

We managed to keep in touch, though Erik almost fainted behind the wheel as a result of the great pressure of driving 80km in a town and 125 on the very busy motorway.

When we got near the hall we were joined by two more cars with fans and when we got to the artist entrance about 20 fans were waiting there.  The driver used an old Beatles trick to get the fans away from the entrance:  he drove past the group of fans and then seemed to be heading for another direction.

The group of fans followed the car (as we and the other two cars did, Erik driving backwards very fast) and then in the parking ground the limousine turned around and went back to the entrance.

The three cars (including ours) following the Mercedes almost collided but Erik stopped.  We quickly got out and ran to the entrance.

I managed to say some words to Paul and Linda about the drive from Amsterdam, but it was too busy to tape interesting quotes.  After they went in, we went to have our dinner before the concert. 

August 1976

Paul, Linda and Heather walking from the printer back to the car.  Photo by Jan Slagt

 

Paul and Mary inside the printing room.  Photo by Jan Slagt

August 1976

By Erik M. Bakker and Henk Hager

(Beatles) Unlimited

September/October 1976

Monday, August 16 (1976) Erik got a phone call from Annemieke van Fulpen, wife of the chairman of the Dutch Beatles Fan Club.  She told him that she just had heard the news that Paul and Linda were coming to Holland to visit a printer at Deventer, where the book Linda's Pictures was printed.   The first thing Erik did was contact bodyguard/driver Jan Slagt who was reluctant in confirming the news, but finally admitted it was true, but stressed that all people concerned with the visit had strict orders not to disclose anything about this visit.  Strange, as a day later the visit was announced in a Deventer newspaper. 

But to keep good friends with Jan (and Paul and Linda) it was decided we would not "tail" them on this visit.  Jan promised to shoot some pix if possible and try to remember details for later. 

The next thing Erik did was rush to Henk's place to put a parcel together with some magazines, stickers, Bole gin and a letter.  Erik delivered it at the Slagt residence, where he arranged to return on September 2 to hear Jan's story:

Paul, Linda and the Kids arrived on August 19 at Schiphol Airport, a day later than expected.  They arrived straight from their Scottish farm where they had rested after their USA tour.  Paul told Jan he had not expected to see him again so soon after the Wings visit in March.  Paul decided to go straight to Deventer.  Linda was very anxious to see the first test prints of her book.

At Deventer they first looked around the printing rooms where the presses had just started rolling, printing the first page of the book.  They were presented with some expensive books on famous Dutch painters like Rembrandt and Van Gogh, in which Linda showed great interest. 

After that, they went on their way back to Amsterdam.  Linda told excitedly about their farm and their eight horses.  Then Paul asked if the radio could be turned on.  It was Thursday between 7 and 8 p.m. and Jan Slagt turned on Hilversum 3, the Dutch pop station.  And which program was on?  The Beatles Story!  In this show, the Manilla incident of 1966 was discussed.  Heather was listening and asked Paul if it was all true.  Paul said it was true, but that none of the Beatles got hurt.  Everybody was listening attentively to the program.  When it was over Paul said it had been very interesting. 

In Amsterdam, they drove to the house that allegedly belongs to Ringo, though Ringo claims it is not his.  As far as we know it belongs to a close friend of Ringo.  Anyway, Paul had heard the story from Jan in March and had asked Ringo if the family could stay there on this visit. Ringo, of course, agreed and had even taken the keys to Scottland and given information about the house.

After they got to the house they did some shopping.  The shop servants were looking at each other with looks of "are they or are they not?"  They bought some fruit and vegetables and went back to the house.  Later that night they did a short tour of the city

The next morning they also did a short tour of Amsterdam.  After that, they went back to Schiphol.  On the way, while Jan had to wait for traffic lights Paul and Linda saw old Dutch tiles on some houses.  They were delighted about them and decided next time they would like to buy some for their farm.  At 1:30 p.m. they left for London again. 

Taking a breather in Blokker

 

June 6, 1964

Jimmie wonders if he is mentioned in the newspaper

 

Backstage at Blokker

Sneaking in a photo

Paul with the TV guide

The girl from Bangkok in the Netherlands

I found an interesting story about a girl from Bangkok, Thailand  that wanted to see the Beatle so badly that she traveled to the Netherlands in June of 1964 to see them in concert.     Here is some of her story.

The story begins on June 6, 1964 when a newspaper in Holland talk about the reactions fans have upon learning that Ringo will not be going the Beatles on the tour due to illness.

The difficult decision has been made, Ringo Starr, surely in Holland the most loved Beatle, will be replaced during the period of his illness.  The Dutch teenagers will see the Beatles with a stranger in their midst, a virtually unknown drummer, who will have the very difficult task to take Ringo's place behind the drum set.   Yesterday evening The Beatles were rehearsing, with their new and temporary drummer, the numbers they are going to play today in Copenhagen and in the next few days in our Country.  At that moment Ringo was lying on his white hospital bed, separated, far away from loud teenage music, from the winding music and the fans, who have been ringing him up day in and day out for several months to make it impossible to have a quiet life.   But, in the hospital he will feel unhappy, as regardless, he will now find out, personally, what a hard world showbusinesss is; as The Beatles will be able to perform without him. 

 I believe that the appearance of The Beatles without Ringo Starr, has lost a substantial amount of its attraction, and questions have to be asked whether it was a good idea to replace him after all because the Beatles are no longer The Beatles without Ringo.     Our teenagers are therefore very disappointed that Ringo is not coming.  A 14 year old girl told me, "I cried when I heard."   A 16 year old girl told me, "I want to go and visit him, now that he is ill.  I can not enjoy the Beatles.

 A blond was seen earlier this week in this paper and she was happy then.  She had flown over from Bangkok to see The Beatles and to meet Ringo.  Trudy Bennick has, due to flight costs, paid fl.4000 for her Beatles-ticket.  Now she no longer appears happy.  Ringo, her favourite is ill. "I am still looking forward to going to Blokker, but the real excitement is no longer there" she said "I feel so sorry for Ringo, that he is lying there in the hospital."  The girls with her are Trudy and Marti Ziekman, the daughters of the family with whom Trudy is staying.  They too are going to see the Beatles, and they are also sad because of Ringo.  With them, thousands of Dutch teenagers are disappointed. 

 And here is the article from when she met them

Beatles Appearance set back for press and public

The problems started at Amsterdam airport where the police manhandled a reporter, who ended up with a few bruised ribs.  When everybody went in the direction of the VIP lounge for the press conference, it was found that they were in a waiting room.  The Beatles were obviously not important enough to get the VIP lounge. 

Fans were waiting for hours around the Delen hotel for the return of the Beatles from Hillegon.  There were no real problems, although a police officer was accidentally hit by an iron bar, there were also some minor acts of vandalism, such as a letterbox pulled out of the ground, and part of the pavement damaged.  The Beatles returned, and around 10pm appeared an number of times on their hotel balcony.  It remained relatively noisy around the hotel for some time. 

A girl came all the way from Bangkok, and she was allowed to ask some questions during the interview, but she would surely have had most pleasure from the personal meeting she had with the Beatles (see photograph)

 

 

 

 

The Beatles in The Netherlands (1964-1993) - A book Review

I reported on earlier this week, when I was in Holland last month, I went to the Beatles museum in Alkmaar.   The owner of the museum is a fan named Azing Moltmaker.  He has written countless books about the Beatles and is more than happy to sell them to you when you visit his museum.   His books are quite expensive outside of his place, but he has most of them for just 5 Euros each and so I decided to commemorate my trip, to buy Beatles in the Netherlands (1964-1993).   Similar to my book about the Beatles in St. Louis, this book tells the stories of the Beatles, as a group and solo, in the Netherlands.  

The first thing you all need to know about this book is that there are two versions.   The first one was written in Dutch.  The second one, which I am reviewing, was translated into English.    Any time I read a book that is translated into English from another language, I know that there are going to be some mistakes.    Sure enough, there were many syntactically errors in this book, but there were also many type-os that really should have been fixed before the book was printed.    Whenever I read that the Beatles were in "ondon" instead of "London" or that their name was the "Bealtes,"  I know there is a problem.      I realize that I am the queen of typing errors on this blog; however, I take a very laid-back approach on the blog and I don't a lot of editing.   When I write a book, or an article, I edit and re-edit and catch a lot of my typing mistakes.     Usually things like this don't take away from the book, but there were so many of errors, that it was difficult to read.     Also I found a few mistakes, such as the spelling of Jimmie Nicol's name and how the book states that Ringo was getting his tonsils taken out in June of 1964 (we know that he had tonsillitis and had them taken out in December).

While I am focusing on the things I disliked about this book, I will say that I did not like the author adding his personal opinion about things.   One example comes in the introduction:  "It is also known to us that Ringo had a house in Amsterdam, but his visits there are in my opinion of no importance."  Then why mention it in the first place?    If you are out to write the be all end all book about the four Beatles in Holland, then why overlook the fact that Ringo owned a home in Amsterdam?     Maybe Azing isn't interested, but what about the book's readers?   I would have liked to have read about it.   Similar comments are made about Linda's singing and his opinion about Wings.   That is fine and all if you are doing a review of a concert, but has no place in a book that is to be informational about the Beatles.

There are a lot of good things to mention about this book. I really enjoyed the translation of the Dutch newspaper clippings into English.  It was really great to see these rare clippings and be able to read what they said.  There are some great little stories hidden in these clippings that you aren't going to find elsewhere.

I also enjoyed the vast amount of photographs in the book, some even in color.    Not only were there plenty of photos of the Paul, John, George and Jimmie in the Netherlands, but there also are photos of John, Paul, George and Ringo during the times each of them came to the country any time before 1993.  The solo stories were really interesting as well, and I appreciated the transcripts of some of the interviews Paul and George gave in the 1980's-1990's on Dutch television.

The book started because Azing obtained the official documents on the Beatles' Holland tour from the promoter.  Having these documents gave him some inside information about this trip that would not have been known without them.  Thankfully, they are reproduced and translated into English in the book.  

The book was published in 1999, so it is a bit outdated when it comes to the solo year information.  Paul and Ringo have both returned to Holland since then, and so those experiences are not in the book.  When Paul McCartney returned to St. Louis last year, I wrote a "bonus" chapter to be downloaded so that my book would at least be a bit more complete.  There is nothing like that for this book, which is fine if you are especially interested in the time the Beatles came to Holland in 1964 (which is the bulk of the book).  

The book itself is beautifully printed in a bright orange hardback. Unfortunately there are a lot of mistakes on the inside of the book. However, it is the best book available about the Beatles tour in Holland, as well as most of the solo appearances. If you are at the museum in Alkmaar it is well worth the 5 Euros that he is asking and it makes for a great souvenir of the trip. I personally would not pay the 100s that it is being advertised for online.

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/430bLf3

Sara's Beatles travels in the Netherlands

Like many people, I enjoy to travel.   I just love seeing new places and experiencing the culture as well as meeting the people.    Part of my traveling experience is to track town Beatles things wherever I go.    

Last month I went to Liverpool, London and the Netherlands.    I have reported about Liverpool and London in the past, and so I am not sure if anyone wants the whole "what I did on my summer vacation" to those places again.    I can tell you that I had an amazing time.   We celebrated Paul's 75th birthday with a bus load of likeminded fans in Liverpool,  went to the Whirral,  spent time in the Cavern Club and the typical Beatles sites.    In London we crossed Abbey Road, went into the Abbey Road shop, had lunch with a Beatles friend, went on a great Beatles tour and got to go inside of 3 Savile row.   

The last part of our trip took us to Amsterdam and since it was a new experience, I thought I would share a little bit about Beatles traveling in Holland. 

The Netherlands is a very small country, especially if you are from the United States.     We stayed in Amsterdam, but I am pretty sure we saw the entire country.         It was fairly easy to get around in Amsterdam because they had a tram that you rode around the city.   As long as you knew where you were going once you got off the tram, you were all set.  

Everyone in Amsterdam rides a bike.    I have not been a bike since I was a kid.   Here in the United States, bikes are sort of thought of as a child's toy and is not a major mode of transportation for most adults.    There were bikes everywhere and they seem to have more rights than people walking.   Just something to remember if you are ever in Amsterdam.

There are a lot of museums in Amsterdam, but the only one that we went to was the Anne Franke House.    If you are ever in Holland, you must see the Anne Frank House.  It is an unforgettable experience.

 One of the first places we went was to the Amsterdam Hard Rock Cafe.    I make a point of going to the Hard Rock at any city where I am staying.      They did not have a lot of Beatles things on display, but they did have this box that John and Yoko gave out to friends for Christmas in 1980.  

If you are a Beatles fan in Amsterdam you have to go to the Amsterdam Hilton, right?     The outside of the hotel looks very much like it does in the photographs of the hotel from the 1969 Bedin.    I am told that room 702 is decorated in John and Yoko decor.    I tried to get into the room myself.   It costs over $1000 a night to stay there, so that was out of the question.    I went to the front desk and asked the woman there and she told me that they were too busy at the time to take guests up to the suite, but I could come back at 11pm.    It just wasn't possible for me to return so late.   I asked her if I could just go up to the door.   To use the life, you have to have a keycard.    She again told me no and so I left the Amsterdam Hilton with some disappointment.

Speaking of hotels, there was a record shop near ours that had a big Sgt. Pepper display in the front window.    Look what was #2 that week!   Who would have ever thought that the Beatles would be back on the charts after 50 years!

Something else we did that had a Beatles connection was go on a canal boat ride.   As I am sure you recall, the Beatles (without Ringo) did this in 1964 when they were on their world tour.    It was fun to imagine the streets and bridges filled with fans as we took our one hour boat trip around the canals. 

We also made a visit to Alkmaar.    Alkmaar is a quick train trip from Amsterdam--about 30 minutes.   Here is my advise if you want to go to Alkmaar from Amsterdam.   Don't use the ticket machines at the Central Station.   Go to a live person and purchase your ticket.    The machines are for people with the "Dutch card," which if you are from the Netherlands, you don't have. 

Why did we go to Alkmaar?   It wasn't for the cheese---it was for the Beatles museum!   There is a large Beatles museum in Alkmaar.   Once you leave the train station, look for blue signs that say "Beatles museum"  and follow them across a bridge and you are there. 

The Beatles Museum is the personal collection of the fan that runs that place.   I was impressed by how organized it was.    Everything is laid out by album.  So anything that has to do with " With the Beatles" is grouped together, etc.    There is just so much original Beatles memorabilia to look at.  If you go, plan on spending well over an hour to look at everything.    "Let it Be" was showing on a big screen in the back and there was a lot of stuff for sale, including a great selection of "Dutch imports" (which aren't imports since they are in Holland!  I got a good laugh out of that).      My only issue with the museum is that a few of the items on display there (Ringo's Abbey road jacket, Paul's Shea Stadium jacket and George's first guitar to name a few) were labeled as being the original, when I am certain that they are reproductions.    

The last day we were in the Netherlands, we spent on a tour with Guus and Gabreilla of Beatles International.     They couldn't have been nicer or more helpful.    They drove us all around Holland and we saw Beatles things along the way as well as plenty of wooden clogs and windmills.      We went to Blokker and saw where the Beatles (again without Ringo) performed in 1964.   They have a monument build to honor this occasion of the Beatles' performance. 

Another one of the really amazing sites we saw was the WWII memorial where Alan Williams took the Beatles right before they went to Hamburg as well as the store where John stole the harmonica.

The trip ended to a visit to a Beatle friend, Ed's house.   Ed is one of the co-writer of the A is for Apple series, which I contributed to.   It is great to meet Beatles people in person after knowing of them online for so long.   Ed has a great Beatles collection and it was  a real treat to see it in person.

As you can see, the Netherlands has a lot to offer Beatle fans.    I know it isn't on the top of the list like Liverpool or London, but I think it is well worth the time to go and check out these sites as well. 

Wings over Holland

Arriving in Hollard