Egypt Station

 

The photographer in the photo

You know those meet and greets that Ringo has every so often?  The ones where you pay something like $2000 and get to have a brief meeting with Ringo, get an autographed artwork and a photo taken with him by a professional photographer?   Well pictured here is one of the guys that was hired at one of the stops to take the photos.   When the night was over he asked for his own photo with Ringo, something he has never done when he has photographed a celebrity, but---come on--it's a Beatle!

With Derek Cress

Derek Cross was a photographer that shot many familiar photographs of the Beatles in 1963.   Here is the only known photo of him in front of the camera with the Beatles.  

Shooting the Mad Day Out

Look at the Birdie

Ringo seems to know what to do! 

Oh Henry

I love it when photographers pose with the Beatles.   I think it shows that they are truly fans of the guys just as much as anyone else but they had the lucky job of photographing them.   This is a sweet photo of wonderful photographer, Henry Grossman posing with the fellows in 1967.

Big news from Ringo!

I am sure that by now most of you have heard the exciting news that Ringo is publishing the photographs that he took  during his time with the Beatles.   It is well known that Ringo took a lot of photographs during the Beatles years (actually all of the guys did, but I think Ringo was the one you see the most often with a camera).    As fans we once saw some of Ringo's shots in a teen magazine called "Ringo's photo album."  For many years I have enjoyed the photos of the guys that Ringo took from that 1964 magazine, but I also knew that there were more out there in Ringo's archives.   I can't wait to see these photos.   I sort of lump photos taken by one of the guys in with photos taken by fans because they are snapshots that show a much more intimate picture of the four guys than a professional photo does.   From what I can tell, we will be seeing photos from John and Ringo's holiday in 1966 and many more vacation shots.   Fans of Maureen should be excited because there are sure to be many photos of Ringo's former wife as well.

The catch to all of this is that you cannot just order this book from your local Beatle book retailer.   The only way you can get a hard copy of this book is to buy one from Genesis books.  Those are books are very expensive and are limited in number.  Although I did see on their website that they have a three month payment plan available on their books.   Silly as it sounds to make payments on a book, that is a freezable option.   The book is also available to see if you own an ipad.   My mom has an ipad (I just have a cheap tablet and my expensive touch-screen desktop), so I will be able to at least look at it on her ipad.    But you won't be able to save any of the photos, but I guess we can't be overly picky Beatle freaks now can we.  What concerns me about this is what will happen once the ipad is no longer around or no longer compatible with the program of Ringo's book.  But I know next to nothing about ipads.   A preview of some of the photos will be in the next issue of People magazine. 

What photos do you hope are shown?   Do you think the other Beatles (or their estates) will follow suit in the coming years?

If Facebook was around in 1966, this would have been Ringo's profile picture.  

Ringo showing off the ipad version of his photo book.

Hell's Kitchen

John posing with the photographer of the "Hell's Kitchen" photo shoot (one of my favorites) in 1974.  Thanks to Kevin at Whatever Gets you Through the Night (one of my all time favorite places!) for sharing this one!

And One for the road

This photo was taken on November 13, 1963 for those of you datey types Beatle fans (like me!)

Trafalgar Square June 1986

I have seen these George photos in the past and assumed they were taken at a Formula one race.   But I was totally wrong!   Here is a story and photos by Janet Macoska about a George sighting in London in June 1986.   It appeared in issue #55 of With a Little Help from my Friends.

Trafalgar Sqaure June 1986

A small paragraph appeared in the publication “City Limits” announcing that Paul, Linda and Jane Asher (!) would all appear at the same anti-nuclear rally in London.  After a few phone calls, I was able to track down the press representative for the Nuclear Freeze Campaign, and she said that she would send me a press invite, needed to gain admittance to this event (however, she wouldn’t confirm or deny any of the names mentioned of the celebrities who would appear).  Needless to say, after receiving an invitation with Paul and Linda and Jane’s names on it, I felt sure they would be in attendance.

On the day of the event, my friend Nancy Allen (who was given a tape recorded to thrust into famous Beatle faces) and myself arrived at Trafalgar Square much too early  We had a nice cuppa tea to waste time and then went back to hang out and see what would happen.  Mind you, London was having one of their rare heat waves (about 86 or 87 degrees that day) so the heat was making everyone a little uncomfortable as well.  Every time a “celebrity” (mostly British TV stars, music stars and comedians) walked into the enclosure, they were surrounded by very aggressive British journalists and camera men.  They take this stuff very seriously, and you’ve got to fight tooth and nail to get a decent point of view for your pictures.  Anyway, it was all getting very annoying and tempers were definitely starting to flare, and it had just been announced that Paul and Linda wouldn’t’ be coming after all.  AHHHH!!  Also we had no sightings of Jane either.  So, although the official reason why Paul and Linda didn’t attend was the illness of Linda’s father in New York and the fact they had to visit him there, there are two major questions here.  How come Paul was back the very next day to appear at the Prince’s Trust concert, apparently allowing for some rehearsal time because all bands had rehearsed and had portraits taken.  If Paul did go to New York it was a very, very short trip.  Also it was interesting that neither Paul nor Jane showed after the public announcement was made that they would be in the same spot at the same time.  I think that when they lent their names to the event, neither were aware that the other was involved, and they avoided an unpleasant scene by staying away from the event altogether. 

Luckily for us, not all was lost.  As I was standing around with heavy camera equipment hanging off me, cursing this silly idea, Nancy Allen tugged me on the sleeve and said, “Look, it’s George!”  “George who?” I replied.  What a silly question.  As I spun around, sure enough, dressed in pink with sunglasses from the sixties, was our George, tanned and healthy and happy (he was smiling!)  He went straight to the board hanging on the double-decker bus that all the celebrities were supposed to sign, and there was  a mad rush by the press for a prime location.  You’d think the British press would be blasé about Beatles after all these years, but they went bonkers when they saw George.  I was not about to take a back seat on this one, and with great physical strength and pushiness, ended up twelve inches from George’s face.  George stayed at the board for about two minutes.  After signing his name “George Harrison M.B.E.” several of the TV and radio types tried to engage him in interviews.  He answered questions quickly and with short replies.  He was looking for a way out. One of the reps from the Nuclear Freeze grabbed him and asked him to look into their video camera and make a short statement why he was here and supporting Nuclear Freeze.  While he was doing that, I started shooting some pictures in color and then like the wind, he was off again.  No escorts, no security guards, he just left the enclosure and walked away from Trafalgar Square at a brisk pace and no one followed him!

Photographer fans

Photographer fan photo

After the Beatles had a photo session to promote Strawberry Fields / Penny Lane, the photographer and crew asked to be in a photo.   They sure look chummy with the Fab 4! 

Paul Goresh

It seems like history has not been too kind to Paul Goresh. He is unfortunately linked with John Lennon's murderer, which really is unfair. Paul Goresh is the man who took the photograph of John signing a copy of "Double Fantasy" for the man who would later that night take his life. Obviously when Paul Goresh snapped that photo, he thought it was simply photographing John signing an autograph for a fan. Now it is up to you to decide if it was right or wrong of him to sell that photograph so quickly to the newspapers after John's death, but that has nothing to do with the fact that Paul Goresh was a fan of John's and had gotten to know John on a personal level during the last years of his life. I think it is unfortunate for him that history has him forever linked with the man who killed John. Anyhow...here are some photos Paul took as well as the one of him and John together (I love the door man in the background!) and what Paul had to say in the Summer of 1980 book.

My first meeting with John and Yoko was in February 1979 in their apartment at the Dakota. I have been a Beatle fan for the better part of my life, and a life-long dream was coming true. I was going to be face to face with the man I had always idolized. When I knocked on the door I didn't expect John himself to answer; but there he stood, gold-rimmed glasses, chewing gum and smiling. Evidently in my enthusiasm, I knocked harder than I should have, and John said, "I thought it was the cops," and with an extended hand invited me in. I was very nervous at this point, but I was immediately put at ease by John's well-known humor. I saw John and Yoko a few more times in 1979 and again in early 1980. When I heard the news that John and Yoko were going to start working in the studio, it gave me the impetus to photograph them as often as I could. Between August and December 1980 I think I spent more time at the Dakota than doing anything else.

I will always cherish the meetings I had with John. He was very gracious to me, and the more I saw and photographed him, the more charming he became. John always took several minutes of his precious time for me., although the word precious doesn't justly descibe what my many times with John mean to me. In the almost two years I knew John he was always a gentle, king person. I have copies of In his own Write and A Spaniard in the Works which John signed for me, a signed photo, the pens he used, and several photos of the two of us taken on November 17, 1980. These material possessions give credence to what now seems like a dream.

December 8, 1980, became a day I will always remember vividly. It was the last day I ever saw John. He said to me that evening, as he was leaving the Dakota, "I'll see you tomorrow," for we had arranged for me to show him some photos I had taken on him and Yoko on December 2, 1980. John never saw these photographs, and neither of us realized I was going to take two very important photographs that very evening --- one of John and the one of the person who was to take him from us. They were the last photographs of John alive, photos of him getting into the limousine. John never saw these photographs either. I will always have the memories of the times spent with John, but this one especially. After John got into the limousine on December 8, 1980, he waved goodbye to me as the car pulled away. That wave will always be very special to me.

For the next two weeks my world was completely devastated, and it was Yoko's kindness which helped me accept John's death a little more easily. She opened her doors and her heart to me in the following months, and they have stayed open. My contribution to his book , and Yoko's choice of one of my photographs for the record "Watching the Wheels/I'm your Angel" overjoyed me.

The last thoughts: Yoko, thank you for helping me through my own personal hard times when you certainly had more than your own share; and John, thank you for all the fine memories you've given me, and all the beautiful thoughts and music you have left with all of us. My love to you both

Photographer and fan Michael Senecal

It wasn't uncommon in the late 1970's-1980, for Beatle fans who were would-be photographers to hang around the Dakota building in attempts to snap photos of John and Yoko. Most of the photos taken were unthought of until John's death. Then suddenly any photograph of John snapped in 1980 seemed like a piece of John that we all needed to see. That is why a wonderful photo book called Summer of 1980 was published. Now...the title is a little misleading because the photographs in the book are really from the summer and fall of 1980. But it is a nice book with stories from the photographers in the back of the book. I decided to copy some of that for you all to read along with the photographs included by that photographer.

By Michael Senecal

I went to take photographs of John Lennon because I am a fan. Mostly I am a free-lance photographer in Montreal, and I had always wanted to take photographs of John. I had heard and read that people stood around in front of the Dakota and waited for John and Yoko to come out. So I went to New York many weekends in the summer of 1980 because I heard that John and Yoko were recording a new album and I knew I could get good photos of them. I managed to see them almost every day I was there, and sometimes more than once a day. Some of the Beatles fans hanging around said that John didn't like the fact that they were there, but they were wrong -- at least in my case. I had my motor drive on my camera and I quickly took lots of pictures of John and Yoko and Sean each time I saw them. One weekend I went back with prints and handed them to John as he came out of the Dakota. John really liked pictures of himself. I think he was a collector, just like everyone else who loved the Beatles. But he really like my pictures, maybe because they are special pictures. They're candid, not taken in a studio setting; natural, not posed. I wrote to John and Yoko from Montreal and sent them some more prints. One day I got a telephone call from Yoko. She said she liked my work and she asked me to come back to New York and see her. I went down and met Yoko early in October. Yoko wanted my photos because they captured something special about John and Sean and her, and John agreed they did. I felt very, very good about meeting Yoko, and I realized that in that meeting were the seeds of a relationship, a friendship the sad events of December 1980 never allowed to grow.