Cigar Box guitar

 April 30, 1971 

We Might Play Again --- Lennon (1971)

Klaus Voormann taken by John Lennon in 1971 

 

We Might Play Again --- Lennon

By Don Short

Daily Mirror

May 1, 1971

    Will the Beatles make a comeback as live performers without Paul?  It's a possibility, according to John Lennon --but not under the name of the Beatles.

     We were meeting during an interlude in the headline-making drama in Majorca over Yoko's seven-year-old daughter Kyoko. We were quietly chatting in their hotel about the Beatles and their music when John broached the idea.  "Now what's this about Klaus Voormann joining the Beatles?" He asked, referring to my story the other week that the German guitarist was enlisting in their ranks in place of Paul.  Said John, "There aren't any Beatles anymore. They've been disbanded. But if you'd said that George, Ringo, and John had an idea they might do a live show or two, then Klaus would be our man to play with us.

     "It's just an idea. We can't say whether or not it will happen or not. Sometimes we get the urge to have another go, and then we think, 'we've done it all before, and what do we want to suffer it again for?' So for the moment, Klaus backs us on our individual sessions."

     "Some old Apple friends," I say, "are growing more optimistic that there would be a reconciliation between him and Paul now that the legal conflicts are being resolved."

     "You never know," winked John. "If he walked through into this room now, we would still be good friends, although I doubt if I could forgive him on one or two things." Whatever the outcome, there is little likelihood that Lennon and McCartney will ever write together again. The musical gap between them continues to widen. Paul pens the romantic sonnet and John goes deeper into rock and roll. 

    "I can't get back to writing fairy tales anymore," said John bluntly. "I have got to live with the realities of life as it is today and reflect them in my music. Besides, we are all happy doing what we are. Look at good old Ringo. He's hooped one in the charts, and George is happy doing a Elvis and the Plastic Ono isn't wanting..."

     Of the Lennon legend, John said he couldn't help being the blabbermouth, the one who's done the frontal starkers bit and is sometimes known to sit it out in a plastic bag.

     "That's John Lennon being John Lennon," he explains. Not as though the Beatle was anything like that on this occasion. He was in a smart brown suit and clean-shaven and was as conventional as Mr. Suburbia. What's more, he looked remarkably youthful, like a picture of his early Beatle days. 

    John and Yoko still hope for children of their own. "Yoko keeps dropping 'em," says John, referring to his wife's two miscarriages. Says Yoko, "We're going to keep on trying, and in the next two to three years, we just hope we will be lucky." Said John, "If not, we'll adopt. We'll adopt all sorts of children, Jews and Arabs, blacks and whites and polka dot kids too. If there's any going around and going."

The NME Award winning Beatles

 

May 1, 1966

Just a little dance band

 

May 2, 1961 - Hamburg 

Veggie Burger

 

April 30, 1991 

Mother and daughter

 Heather and Linda McCartney at a birthday party for Denny Laine.  I have shared this photo in black and white in the past and there was a lot of discussion about if that is really Heather.  So I am going to share the back of this photo with you as well.   Denny's birthday is October 29.  When I turn the back of the photo upside down, it looks like it is stamped to have been printed "Nov 76."  While the date written is 1976-1977 -- it had to have been taken at Denny's birthday party in 1976 which makes Heather 13 going on 14 in December. 

Pepper Session

 

Shock as Denny Quits Wings (1981)

 

I often forget that Denny Laine officially quit Wings in 1981.  I find it a bit humorous that the reason Denny gives sounds like something Paul himself said to The Beatles.  I don't think John's murder is the reason why Wings stopped touring, although it didn't make Paul and Linda want to jump back on the road  If you look at what Linda was saying after the Wings Over America tour, she wanted to slow down and do concerts -- then Japan happened, and that was the end of touring for Wings. Plus, why wasn't Tug of War recorded as a Wings album if Wings were still together?  Sure, Denny was on a few tracks on that, but it was never a Wings album.   Anyhow -- Denny is seen in this photo sitting on top of his car because the same week he quit Wings, he was charged with drunk driving and was banned from being behind the wheel for 3 years.  He was quoted as saying he was having a "bad week."  

Shock as Denny Quits Wings

No Writer Listed

Daily Star

April 29, 1981 

     Rock Star, Denny Laine, has quit Paul McCartney's top band, Wings. The breakup has happened because McCartney refused to go on tour, particularly since the murder of fellow ex-Beatle John Lennon.

     But it does not mark the end of Wings. Spokesman Tony Brainsby said, "Wings are Paul and Linda McCartney."

     Since Lennon's death, McCartney has increased protection around his family, but singer- guitarist Laine enjoys concerts in public life and plans to go on solo tours. His manager, Brian Adams, said there is no row. "Denny likes to tour, and Paul has decided not to make any tour plans."

     Laine said, "It became obvious that Wings would not be touring again, which is the whole purpose of being in the business, as far as I am concerned. After 10 years, it was a difficult decision to make, but after doing some solo work last year, I enjoyed it so much that I decided to leave Wings."

    He added, "I had been rehearsing solidly with Phil Curtis on bass guitar and John Hollywood on drums." The trio will record an album in June for release in the autumn. Then they will go on tour.

     McCartney, who is working on a new album and a Rupert Bear cartoon, said last night, "I wish Denny all the luck in the world."

He likes that shirt

 So this can't be the purple shirt that Ringo wears on the cover of his new album, but it is the exact same style.  

Didi Conn Remembers Working with Ringo (2025)

 Didi Conn Remembers Working with Ringo Starr on Shining Times Station

By Victoria Edel 

People Magazine

October 28, 2025

Didi Conn, Ringo Starr, and George Carlin were an indelible part of millions of kids’ childhoods, even if it’s not exactly what they’re best known for. 

Conn, Starr, and Carlin all appeared on Shining Time Station, the American spin-off of Britain’s Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends, which was based on The Railway Series by the Reverend Wilbert Awdry. Shining Time Station combined Thomas the Tank Engine stories with real-life actors. It ran on PBS from 1989 to 1993, with multiple hour-long specials airing until 1995. 

Starr, 85, had served as narrator of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends, and in Shining Time Station, he appeared on-camera as Mr. Conductor for season one. He left the series after that season to focus on music and was replaced by legendary comedian George Carlin as Mr. Conductor, officially a cousin of Starr’s characters. Both Mr. Conductors were just 20 centimeters tall. 

Conn, meanwhile, played Stacy Jones, the station manager, for all three seasons of the series, and the 74-year-old actress recently opened up to PEOPLE about working on the show and its legacy.  

“It's really funny,” she said. Her son was born in 1992 and was 'a baby' when she was doing the show. “He's 33 now. So all the time I'll see a guy who's that age of my son, and he goes, ‘Were you Stacy?’ ” she said. “And they become this little boy again, and how much they loved Thomas.” The veteran actress joked that she’s “waiting” for one of those grown-up fans to “run a studio” now and cast her in a role. 

As for Starr and Carlin, because of their characters' small size, the actors mostly worked in front of a blue screen. But that didn’t mean they didn’t spend time with their costars.

“Ringo was such an old hippie. He wanted us there,” Conn said. “He'd be hanging out in his trailer with the door open, listening to the oldies station.” The former Beatle and his wife Barbara Bach, she said, were “really nice.” She added that Carlin, too, and his wife Brenda, were also “really nice.” Carlin died in 2008 at age 71 from heart failure. Starr was nominated for a Daytime Emmy in 1989 for his work on Shining Time Station.