July 20, 1971
By the way -- you can see the Rude Studio sign on display right now at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio
An online Beatles fan club for and about Beatle fans
Monday, July 20, 2026
Filming for Imagine
July 20, 1971
I sort of think John and Yoko were ahead of the times when they allowed a camera crew into their home in July 1971 to record their day to day life. Today we consider that to be Reality TV. And thanks to these recordings, we have so much footage of John during this time period that has been used in coutless documentaries over the years. It is the gift that keeps giving.
Envy of Every Wings Fan Today (1975)
Agatha Rametta, 15 (right in the picture), and Enrica Molinarc, 15, were among the lucky half dozen fans who talked to their idols Paul and Linda McCartney as they arrived at Festival Hall for a pre-concert rehearsal.
Linda and Paul chatted to the fans, signed programs and asked if they were coming to the concert.
When Agatha and Enrica said they tried to get tickets but found they were all sold, Linda came to their aid.
"I'll see what I can do," she said, as she and Paul hurried into the hall.
Five minutes later, a man appeared with tickets for the girls.
Close to tears of joy, Agatha and Enrica couldn't believe their luck.
A Starr is Shorn (1976)
A Starr is Shorn
By Record Reporter
Daily Record
July 20, 1976
To put it baldly, Ringo Starr is a skinhead. Even actress Vivien Ventura can't help staring, and she's seen it all in her time.
For Ringo has been shorn from head to chin, gone are his floppy locks, his mustache and beard, even his eyebrows. The new image is the result of bare-faced indulgence and a sudden whim.
The 36-year-old former Beatle explained in Monte Carlo, "I got sick of looking at all the fuzz on my face in the mirror, and decided to try something different." Now there's a smooth answer.
Ringo went on. "I went down to the local barber and told him to take everything off. You should have seen his face." You should see yours, Ringo.
He added, "At first he didn't believe me, and he tried desperately to persuade me not to do it. Finally, he gave in. It was a long, long operation, but it's a great feeling to be hairless."
Ever since the Beatles first hit the headlines, Ringo has been a top member of the Hair Suite set. Now he's not even on the fringe
Who would have guessed? (1976)
Who Would Have Guessed?
By Regina Vogel
The Write Thing
Jan/Feb 1977
Who would ever believe that an NBC TV employee would stop me on the street and ask if I wanted to see George Harrison tape a television program? Well, that's exactly what happened on November 18, 1976. NBC had just disclosed that afternoon that George would not be appearing live on November 20th's Saturday Night Live, but on a pre-recorded segment to be taped that night to a private audience from seven to 10 p.m.
We decided to go to NBC Studios at the end of the taping, but we arrived early. We started walking around when an employee told us where George was taping. The private audience was on the ground floor, filled with NBC personnel and friends. People were being picked up off the street to fill the balcony, which consisted of about 75 people.
We had missed a good deal of the show, but saw Paul Simon do "Homeward Bound" and George do "Here Comes the Sun " for at least four tapings, along with seeing George smile after someone screamed out "Dark Horse", as a request. And also the time when Paul Simon introduced one of George's films as "Cracker Jack Palace."
About two hours after the taping, George came out and met a small crowd before he left in his limo. Not bad for an ordinary Thursday night.
Sunday, July 19, 2026
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Horns by Tom Scott (1974)
Horns by Tom Scott
The Harrison Alliance
March 1975
Harrison or Beatles?
"The audiences have been mixed," Scott explained between sets in Montreal. "Radically different from city to city. If they keep an open mind, anybody will walk away knowing something's going on, even if they don't understand it all. Maybe sometime it will sink in.
"There isn't a lot of yelling out Beatles songs. They've been pretty tolerant. Bill Graham was concerned. To Bill, the main reason people came was because George was a quarter of the Beatles, and he thought George should play more Beatles tunes, but George would rather have less people come and have them be interested in what he wants to present to them. That's a dangerous or risky attitude. It's not the most commercial approach you can take, and that's why people say the tour was terrible, not because anything's wrong with the music. It's a dynamite band. We get on stage and we know it's good. People can say what they like. The material isn't important. It's what George wants to do, and I'm behind him."
"Rehearsals for the tour took place at the A & M soundstage for three weeks," Tom Scott reminisced. "The plans were made last fall. It was a spontaneous thing. We knew of five or six songs we definitely wanted to do, so we started with those. "What is life?" "In My Life", the John Lennon song, which he always wanted to do. "Sue Me" and " While My Guitar Gently Weeps " were some of the things he knew people would want to hear. Yet he could still feature me on one song and Billy Preston on three songs. He wanted to give the impression of a band with him as host, soloist, singer, and guitarist."
And off they went, plagued by untrue press reports, but pleased by the music being made by a troupe that included 16 Indian musicians playing along with Americans like Willie Weeks, Andy Newmark, Chuck Findley, Billy Preston, and Jim Keltner, creating a new unbounded music that defied labeling as easily as the men involved defied natural boundaries.
Tied to Beatle images "It's not true that the tour's been bad," Scott explained. "I was very disappointed with Ben Fong-Torres, who wrote Rolling Stone's analysis of the Harrison Tour, for using comments many of us made, and making them sound negative. Naturally, there have been some things wrong with the tour. He took a large part of that article from only the Vancouver show, the very first show. Everyone's first show has problems with sound and programming. In fact, the music is sensational. The people who say it's terrible wanted to go and see a Beatles medley. Those are the people who will walk away unsatisfied, but they have to try and understand that George is an ex-Beatle. He has other interests, other musical interests, other musicians. He prefers that to the Beatles for musical reasons. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. If he wanted to, I think that would be great, but he does not. So let the guy do what the heck he wants. He's a tremendous talent.
"Right after the first show, there was a reorganization of the set, and that's what pisses me off about Ben. He traveled with us from Vancouver to L.A. long after we'd made all the changes. Ravi's section was moved, and at the end of the show, rather than doing material from the new album, which were the unfamiliar, we put Billy's hits just before "What Is Life" and "My Sweet Lord." The changes were so minor that I can't believe anyone made a big deal about it. The only places we had trouble were in the very beginning of the tour. There was confusion revolving around the advertising. People in line in Vancouver were saying, "Is he going to sing?" I've seen very conceivable opinions written about Joni, myself, and George, and it's all part of the game. You hope that most people get the message.
"Another problem has been George's voice because he hasn't gone out on tour in so long. He strained himself, so his voice has occasionally been very hoarse. Lately, it's been superb."
Secular album Perhaps more than anything else, the biggest surprise on Dark Horse is the lack of songs dealing directly with religion. "Maya Love", a soft, funky rocker spiced by superb Billy Preston piano riffs, follows "Bye Bye Love" almost as an answer to the prior song's chanted desperation. Then on side two, "Ding Dong Ding Dong," and the title track, and a song George originally wrote and played on for Ron Wood's solo album Far East Man are all simply good songs.
Dark Horse brings back memories of the White Album, as Chuck Findlay, Jim Horn, and Scott dart through the intricate melody on flutes. Scott again excels on "Far East Man", with a horn solo that would vindicate any context in which it was put. Only the final track, "It Is He Jai Sri Krishna", deals directly with Harrison's religious beliefs. "He who is complete free worlds at his feet", Harrison sings, and the song, as the capper to the album, gives the impression that Harrison belongs among the free.
"He loves to discuss religion," Scott said. "I spent many early mornings talking with him about what religion means to us and how it relates to trying to be a rock and roll musician.
"There are no simple answers, but George, rather than in his previous albums where he tried to verbalize some of those questions and thoughts, was more concerned with writing good songs than having a good time. You don't start out with a preset tone for an album. You write what you feel at the moment. You get 10 to 12 tracks, and as George did, pick the eight or 10 best. Those tunes which he may like because of the melody, or a solo, or just as a tune, may not have anything to do with the philosophical meaning of the song."
That, more than anything else, is the truth about George Harrison's latest excursion into the material world. As he explained in his Los Angeles press conference prior to beginning the long tour, he just wants to be a musician again, to bring his music to people without being chained and bound by expectations. Towards that goal, he's surrounded himself with musicians of the highest caliber. Men like Tom Scott and Billy Preston are the finest examples of pure creative musicianship.
George tends to throw a lot of inside jokes into his albums. In fact, the inside of the album is a picture of George in Friar Park with Peter Sellers, but their backs are to the camera. They're quite good friends. The line "Leo, what say we promenade around the park," comes from the Zero Mostel film The Producers, one of George's favorite pictures, which he carries around with him on a video cassette. He's seen it hundreds of times, constantly quoting from it, and Monty Python, his favorite comedy troupe.
On the liner notes, it appears that Pattie Harrison and her old flame Eric Clapton are the only backing musicians, along with an enigmatic performer. performer named Rhythm Ace, but as Tom Scott explains, that's not the case. "Rhythm Ace is an electronic machine that plays any rhythm: a boogaloo, a cha-cha, or a rumba. I suppose a lot of people will think it's a person. George decided to do that song by himself late in October when no one else was around. We'd all gone home. Pattie and Eric are not actually on the track. George just scribbled out those liner notes almost as he was getting on the plane door, and he hadn't slept from mixing down Dark Horse. When you're that out of it, you scribble whatever comes into your head. Clapton isn't even on the record. Let alone Pattie!"
Thursday, July 16, 2026
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