The Surround Soud Collection
2 Disc set
DVD audio only in 5.1 channel mixes
1) Fading In and Fading out
2) Never Without You
3) Choose Love
4) Imagine Me There
5) Oh My Lord
6)Memphis In Your Mind
7)Give Me Back The Beat
8) Love First,Ask Questions Later
9) Don't Hang Up
10) Eye to Eye
11) Some People
12)Elizabeth Reigns
Bonus track
on DVD ONLY -- I Really Love Her
1. Liverpool 8
2. Think About You
3. For Love
4. Now That She s Gone Away
5. Gone Are The Days
6. Give It A Try
7. Tuff Love
8. Harry's Song
9. Pasodobles
10. If It s Love That You Want
11. Love Is
12. R U Ready?
1. Entire studio album "Liverpool 8"
2. Personal video message from Ringo Starr
3. Interview footage & track-by-track commentary from Ringo
Starr
4. Ringtones
5. Photos and more...
GO TO Ringo
Starr News
Collectors edition,
CD plus DVD package.
This CD contains 20 stand out Ringo Starr tracks including seven
Top 10 pop hits released between 1970 and 2005 including 'Photograph',
'It Doesn't Come Easy', 'Back Off Boogaloo' and more! 20 tracks
in all. The bonus DVD includes original promotional films for
'It Don't come Easy', 'sentimental Journey', and the music video
for 'Act Naturally' with Buck Owens.
Disc: 1 (Audio)
1. Photograph
2. It Don't Come Easy
3. You're Sixteen (You're Beautiful and You're Mine)
4. Back off Boogaloo
5. I'm the Greatest
6. Oh My My
7. Only You (And You Alone)
8. Beaucoups of Blues
9. Early 1970
10. Snookeroo
11. No-No Song
12. (It's All Down To) Goodnight Vienna
13. Hey Baby
14. Weight of the World
15. Dose of Rock 'N' Roll
16. King of Broken Hearts
17. Never Without You
18. Act Naturally - Buck Owens, Ringo Starr
19. Wrack My Brain
20. Fading in and Fading Out
GO TO John News
Get voice updates from Ringo to your mobile phone. SIGN
UP on Ringo's myspace page! RINGOSTARRNEWS!!!RINGOSTARRNEWS!!!RINGOSTARRNEWS!!!
November 19, 2009 -- Rolling
Stone
Ringo Starr Recruits Paul McCartney for New Album "Y Not"
Ringo Starr grabbed a little help from his friends
for his new album "Y Not," due January 12th, 2010. The Beatles drummer will be joined by his Fab Four
bandmate Paul
McCartney on a couple of tracks,
including first single "Walk With Me," which finds Macca
and Starr sharing vocals. Other guests and songwriters on "Y
Not," Ringo's first album since 2008's Liverpool 8, include
Joe Walsh, Joss Stone, Van Dyke Parks, Ben Harper and Richard
Marx.
Talking about working with
his old Beatles mate, Starr said in a press release, "Paul
was doing the Grammys, so he came over to the house and was playing
bass on 'Peace Dream.' So I played him this other track and Paul
said, 'Give me the headphones. Give me a pair of cans.' And
he went to the mike and he just invented that part where he follows
on my vocal. That was all Paul McCartney, and there could be nothing
better."
"He makes it bigger and
he makes it fuller," Starr said of McCartney's work on "Walk
With Me," which was co-written by Starr and Parks. "It
makes the song like a conversation between us, and that was Paul's
idea to do his part one beat behind me. That's why he's a gen-i-us
and an incredible bass player." Macca last
appeared on a Starr album over a decade ago, on 1998's Vertical
Man. The pair also reunited earlier this year at a benefit concert
at Radio City Music Hall.
"Y Not" also marks
Starr's first major foray into producing. "I was the least
involved in the production of the Beatle records. And then with
my solo records, "Starr said. "Then suddenly, it's another
point in your life, and you say, 'I'm going do this now.' So I'll
be producing anything I make from now on. That's the good news.
It's a confidence thing, I suppose. And "Y Not" is really
another way of me saying, 'Yes, I can.' "
"Y Not" also includes the autobiographical "The
Other Side of Liverpool" and opening track "Fill in
the Blanks," which features Starr's brother-in-law, guitarist
Joe Walsh.
MORE....
November 19,
2009 -- Contact Music
STARR DUETS WITH McCARTNEY ON NEW ALBUM
RINGO STARR has landed the closest thing to a BEATLES reunion on record - SIR PAUL McCARTNEY features
on his new album.
The former Fab
Four stars team up for "Walk
With You", a duet all about friendship, on Starr's latest
project "Y Not," which will hit stores in January 10.
Starr recalls, "Paul was doing the Grammys, so he came over
to the house and I played him this track and Paul said, 'Give
me the headphones. Give me a pair of cans.' And he went to the
mic and he just invented that part where he follows on my vocal.
That was all Paul McCartney, and there could be nothing better...
He's a genius."
The new album marks the first time Starr has produced himself
and he insists he was ready for the studio challenge: "I
looked in the mirror and I was looking real groovy that day."
However, he accepts many fans will be surprised to learn he's
the man twiddling the knobs on the project: "I was the least
involved in the production of the Beatles records.
And then, with my solo records, I worked with some other great
producers like Richard Perry, Arif Mardin, and Don Was. So it
just seemed like that's the way that it goes.
"Then suddenly, it's another point in your life, and you
say, 'I'm going to do this now.' So I'll be producing anything
I make from now on. That's the good news. It's a confidence thing,
I suppose. And "Y Not" is really another way of me saying,
'Yes, I can'."
As well as McCartney, the guests on the album include Starr's
former brother-in-law Joe Walsh, Dave Stewart, Joss Stone, Ben
Harper and Van Dyke Parks, who co-wrote the song Starr sings with
McCartney.
McCartney also played bass on his old bandmate's latest peace
track, "Peace Dream".
MORE...
Press Release
RINGO STARR DECLARES "Y Not"!
For the first time ever, Starr
produces himself on his most personal album yet. Ringo is joined
on "Y Not" by old and new friends including Paul McCartney, with whom Starr sings on "Y Not's"
stunning first single, "Walk With You," a moving new
song about the power of friendship. Ringo meets Hip-O on Starr's
latest solo effort released January 12th on Hip-O Records/UMe.
Throughout recorded history,
great artists across the universe have dared to ask "Why?"
On January 12, 2010, one brave man named Ringo finally boldly
declares the ultimate answer -- "Y Not".
For the first time in one of
popular music's most enduring and illustrious careers, Ringo Starr
has decided to take charge and produce himself. The result is
perhaps the most personal and impressive album of this rock legend's
entire solo career. How on earth did Starr finally locate the
absolutely perfect producer to work with him? "Well, I looked
in the mirror," Ringo says with a smile. "And I was
looking real groovy that day."
Starr's decision to take a
stronger role in the recording of his latest and greatest solo
album was a significant and fortuitous one. "I didn't do
it at the start," Starr says. "I was the least involved
in the production of the Beatle records. And then with my solo
records, I worked with some other great producers like Richard
Perry, Arif Mardin, and Don Was. So it just seemed like that's
the way that it goes. Then suddenly, it's another point in your
life, and you say, `I'm going do this now.' So I'll be producing
anything I make from now on. That's the good news. It's a confidence
thing, I suppose. And "Y Not" is really another way
of me saying, "Yes, I can."
The joyous result of Starr
looking in the mirror is "Y Not", a groovy and deeply
felt song cycle that finds Ringo leading a smaller core group
of old and new friends including longtime pal and recent brother-in-law
Joe Walsh, Dave Stewart and longtime Roundheads member Steve Dudas
on guitar, Benmont Tench of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers on
keyboards, Don Was and Mike Bradford on bass. The album also features
Starr's engineer and co-producer Bruce Sugar on keyboards, as
well as some special guests like Joss Stone, Ben Harper and Richard
Marx on vocals, Ann Marie Calhoun on violin and Tina Sugandh --
aka Tina The Tabla Girl on tabla and chanting. Starr's songwriting
collaborators on "Y Not" also include familiar and new
names like Joe Walsh, Dave Stewart. Joss Stone, Glen Ballard,
Richard Marx, Van Dyke Parks, Gary Nicholson plus Gary Wright
and his former Roundhead band member, Gary Burr.
Yet no collaborator featured on "Y Not" is likely to
receive as much attention as Starr's former bandmate and longstanding
mate Paul McCartney, who adds a characteristically brilliant bass
part to the inspiring "Peace Dream" -- Starr's latest
heartfelt plea for peace and love -- and even more notably provides
his unmistakably fabulous vocals to "Walk With You,"
an exquisite new composition by Starr and Van Dyke Parks.
"Walk With You" is
a moving, even spiritual meditation about the lasting power of
friendship, and McCartney's inspired participation on the track
was a testament to McCartney's generosity of spirit and musical
talent. "Paul was doing the Grammys, so he came over to the
house and was playing bass on `Peace Dream." So I played
him this other track and Paul said, `Give me the headphones. Give
me a pair of cans.' And he went to the mike and he just invented
that part where he follows on my vocal. That was all Paul McCartney,
and there could be nothing better. He makes it bigger and he makes
it fuller. It makes the song like a conversation between us, and
that was Paul's idea to do his part one beat behind me. That's
why he's a gen-i-us and an incredible bass player."
Indeed, there's a whole lot
of genius on display throughout "Y Not". Highpoints
here include "Fill In The Blanks," the album's rocking
opening track written, played and sung only by Starr and Walsh.
Then there's "The Other Side Of Liverpool," a revealing
autobiographical song that explores Starr's earliest and darkest
days. "People believe I was born, was a Beatle and lived
in a big house," Starr explains. "And where I come from
was a very dark, damp, violent neighborhood. I wanted to write
another little snapshot of my life, and I'm going to do this every
album. It's better for me than doing it in a book. In two lines
I can say what would take five pages. Like the song says, "The
other side of Liverpool is cold and damp/Only way out of there/drums,
guitar and amp."
Starr was already particularly
thrilled with one early review for the first album he produced
that came from someone he helped produce too. "I just played
it for my son
Zak," Starr explains. "And Zak was
so great. He said, "Dad, it's great. This rocks! You should
have been doing this forever. It's nice coming from your boy,
especially since he's a really good drummer."
Listen for yourself. And hear
Ringo Starr also a really good drummer -- doing exactly
what he should be doing today and forever.
Why?
"Y Not". November 11, 2009 -- Omgmovie.com
Oh, My God
(the movie) Ringo talks about the meaning of God...
Photo by Barbara Bach
In every corner of the world,
there's one question that can never be definitively answered,
yet stirs up equal parts passion, curiosity, self-reflection and
often wild imagination: "What is God?" Filmmaker Peter
Rodger explores this profound, age-old query in the provocative
non-fiction feature "Oh My God?"
This visual odyssey travels
the globe with a revealing lens examining the idea of God through
the minds and eyes of various religions and cultures, everyday
people, spiritual leaders and celebrities. His goal: to give the
viewer the personal, visceral experience of some kind of reasonable,
meaningful definition of one of the most used--some might say
overused--words in most every language.
Rodger's quest takes him from
the United States to Africa, from the Middle East to the Far East,
where such fundamental issues as: "Did God create man or
did man create God?, "Is there one God for all religions?"
and "If God exists, why does he allow so much suffering?"
are explored in candid discussions with the various Christians,
Catholics, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists and even atheists
the filmmaker meets along the way. But maybe it's former Beatle Ringo Starr who sums it up best here when he simply
says, "God is love."
Rodger would like viewers to
come away with a feeling of having an amazing journey - seeing
places they would never see normally, hearing music thatinspires
and words that educate, bringing understanding and tolerance of
other individuals that in turn richens their own existence.
"Oh My God?" stars
Hugh Jackman, Seal, Ringo Starr, Sir Bob Geldof, Princess Michael
of Kent, David Copperfield and Jack Thompson.
Sating appetites is big business
at Hard Rock International's 127 cafes. Now it's on the philanthropic
menu as the company teams with musicians to feed the world's hungry.
Hard Rock's Imagine There's No Hunger campaign kicks off with
the release of today's all-star charity album and last night's
benefit concert at its New York cafe.
Serve4 features live, rare or previously unreleased tracks
by Starsailor, Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint, Brett Dennen,
The Raveonettes, Uncle Kracker, the Low Anthem, Toby Lightman,
Moe, Eric Hutchinson and Earth, Wind & Fire with Chicago.
Yoko Ono donated John Lennon's
Gimme Some Truth.
"It's something John would have liked to do," Ono says.
"It's terrible that there's still hunger and violence in
the world. Music has a beautiful power on its own, a healing power.
It's something John and I believed in. I wanted to give that power
to this particular project. Once I decided, I sort of visualized
John jumping up and down, saying, 'That's great.' "
Ringo Starr, taping a public service announcement
at Hard Rock's Universal CityWalk location, says he was persuaded
to join the effort by Ono and shocking statistics such as 16,000
children dying every day from hunger-related causes.
"You get so many invites
every day to do stuff," he says. "When I read the statistics
of this, it just blew me away. So I thought, why not? How hard
is it to do something?"
Raising visibility of a worthy mission "is now part of the
celebrity way," Starr says. "Because it is of some value,
you give your name to great causes."
Proceeds from the concert, Serve4 and Imagine pins and
bracelets go to World Hunger Year (WHY) and eight community-based
grass-roots organizations in such countries as Thailand, Haiti,
Kenya and Uganda, site of the 50-acre Hope North campus to educate
and nurture orphans, former child soldiers and other victims of
civil war.
In Uganda, "if you give $10, you're buying 30 meals,"
says actor Forest Whitaker, who became a Hope North spokesman
and supporter after co-starring in 2006's Last King of Scotland
with the sanctuary's founder, Sam Okello, whose brother was
abducted and killed by rebels. "At the mission in downtown
L.A., $200 feeds 50 families.
"A lot of organizations are starting to work together ...
to eradicate the same basic problems: hunger, water, malaria,"
he says. "People have the opportunity to make an impact with
their donations and their deeds, and you get a great feeling of
fulfillment. It nourishes your heart."
Cafe patrons who add a $1 donation to a meal tab receive an Imagine
bracelet. The 14-track Serve4 is available as a download
card at Hard Rock locations and at hardrock.com and as a download with five bonus tracks at Amazon ($8.99
or 99 cents a track). The release includes Lay Down by
O.A.R. and Heartbreak Monday by Arno Carstens, both on
tonight's bill.
In an era of deepening poverty, there's no room for cynicism about
rock stars waving charity banners, says O.A.R. singer Marc Roberge.
"I honestly think people need to get over it," he says.
"I used to be a little cynical about everything. When you
break it down and consider that you're helping a child, how can
it be bad? People trying to tear down people doing some good,
those are the ones on a soapbox."
The rock band's own charity, Heard the World Fund, has raised
more than $200,000, mostly by donating shares of ticket sales.
O.A.R. also gives time and money to the Children's Scholarship
Fund.
Though Roberge is thrilled to work alongside Ono and Starr, he
says other musical icons have been bigger influences in the altruism
realm.
"What Bruce Springsteen did for New York after 9/11 made
me believe music could move people in a positive way. And Bono
inspires everybody. He does more in a day than I've done in most
years."
Ringo Starr to release 'Soundstage' appearance
on DVD Sept. 15
"Soundstage: Ringo
Starr and the Roundheads -
Live," the former Beatle's live 2005 performance for the
PBS series "Soundstage," will be released on DVD Sept.
15 by E1 (formerly Koch) Video, the label announced Wednesday.
The 14-song set, which hasn't
been released on DVD previously, includes the Beatles' classics
"Yellow Submarine," "With A Little Help From My
Friends," and "Octopus's Garden" as well as "Photograph"
and "Memphis In Your Mind" from Ringo's solo career.
Special guest Colin Hay of Men At Work joins Starr onstage for
"Who Can It Be Now."
The DVD runs 56 minutes and
includes extra features, though the DVD announcement had no details.
July 7, 2009 -- Californial
Chronicle
In Praise of Ringo Starr, One Drummer to Another
Drummer Diken is a founding
member of The Smithereens, who celebrated their 29th anniversary
in March. The band's latest album is The Smithereens Play Tommy.
Diken's first solo effort, Late Music, will be released this fall.
The Beatles maintain a stronghold on the imagination
and hearts of music lovers. They win over new generations without
trying, and their appeal shows no signs of waning. So when Ringo Starr turns 69 on Tuesday, his status as one
of rock's most renowned drummers is secure, if only by association
with the greatest show on earth.
Yet inexplicably, Starr's legacy
is clouded by misconception and ignorance. Some say he was the
luckiest guy on earth, a competent player who stepped into a million-dollar
quartet. Why the bum rap? Was it because he didn't overplay and
shunned solos? Or was it his unassuming, Everyman countenance?
Think about it: Could The Beatles
have conquered the world with a mediocre sticksman?
John Lennon,
Paul McCartney and George Harrison found in Ringo an ironclad timekeeper
who rocked and swung like mad, with style, imagination and versatility.
He was the secret weapon of the best band of all time.
He hit the ground running in
1963 on I Saw Her Standing There with a steady, exciting pulse.
This is "How to Groove With Your Bandmates 101," as
he established a brotherhood with McCartney's fluid bass and Lennon's
underrated rhythm guitar.
Within months, Ringomania shifted
into high gear with She Loves You, where he introduced the electrifying
sizzle of high-hat cymbals that gave the early Fabs' discs a unique
imprint. Later that year, Starr helped reinvent Chuck Berry's
Roll Over Beethoven, with a fierce backbeat and a joy-of-life
fervor. No other records sounded like this at the time, because
no other drummers played like this before.
His influence spread like wildfire
when The Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show on Feb. 9, 1964.
Perched on his riser, Ringo was clearly in the driver's seat,
and it was apparent that his membership in this exclusive fraternity
owed as much to his exuberant persona as his musical prowess.
An army of kids was mobilized
that Sunday night, awaiting their call to the battle of the bands.
Among the legion of teenage conscripts were drummers Bun E. Carlos
of Cheap Trick, who calls Ringo "my generation's Gene Krupa,"
and Max Weinberg of the E Street Band, who thanks Starr for "showing
us that a day or night spent drumming is just about better than
anything else."
The Beatles' music evolved
at a dizzying pace, and Starr adapted with gusto. He concocted
fresh concepts, like his trademark framework for Ticket to Ride
and the controlled chaos of Rain. The lazy lilt behind his vocal
on With a Little Help From My Friends is a study in subtle, soulful
dynamics and when not to play.
To this day, producers direct
studio drummers to "play like Ringo." Red Hot Chili
Peppers drummer Chad Smith sums it up thusly: "The greatest
thing a drummer can contribute to a recorded song is the feel
of it -- and every Beatles song feels great."
Ringo "doesn't dazzle
with flashy technique and pyrotechnics," says The Cars' lead
guitarist, Elliot Easton. "What he does is so much more elusive
and difficult: He plays songs on the drums. Anybody who has sat
down behind a drum kit in the last 45 years owes him."
And in The End, Ringo relented
and sent himself out with a 17-second solo on Abbey Road, The
Beatles' final studio album. Never considered much of a vocalist,
Ringo nonetheless enjoyed a fruitful solo career.
He continues to make quality
records and tour with his All-Starr Band, appearing amazingly
fit and spirited. And he still plays great. Like always, he makes
it look easy. That's because to Ringo, it did come easy.
June 29, 2009 -- The Mirror
(UK)
Daughter (Lee
Starkey) of Beatles legend Ringo Starr is expecting triplets with
Kasabian's Jay Mehler
The daughter of Ringo Starr is going to need some Help as a new mum
- she's just found she's expecting triplets.
And who else would you want
to be there for nappy changes and early starts but a rock star!
Her boyfriend of four years
Kasabian's Jay Mehler was last night celebrating the good news
at Glastonbury with a few cheeky bevvies.
A source said: "One more
and they can be a four-piece, just like The Beatles."
June 20, 2009 -- Press
Release
A Star for
a Starr !
Ringo is delighted; having heard the Hollywood
Chamber of Commerce will be honoring him with a star in 2010 on
the Walk Of Fame. Ringo said, "A star for a Starr what
an honor and a privilege it is to be walked on! Peace & Love."
June 18, 2009
-- Hollywood Reporter
2010 Walk of Fame honorees revealed
Russell Crowe, Adam Sandler, Bill Maher and Ringo Starr are
among the entertainers who will have their names added to Hollywood
Walk of Fame in 2010.
The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce
announced Wednesday that next year's Walk honorees from the world
of motion pictures will be Crowe, Sandler, James Cameron, John
Cusack, Colin Firth, Gale Anne Hurd, Alan Menken, Randy Newman,
Emma Thompson and Mark Wahlberg.
TV honorees are Maher, Chris
Berman, Jon Cryer, Peter Graves, Jimmy Kimmel, Julia Louis-Dreyfus
and Sam Waterston.
Recording artists to be recognized
are Starr, Bryan Adams, the Funk Brothers, Alan Jackson, Chaka
Khan, Van Morrison, Marco Antonio Solis, ZZ Top and the late Roy
Orbison.
Andrea Bocelli and the Cirque du Soleil's Guy Liberte will represent
live performance and theater.
Ludwig is reviving the Black
Oyster Pearl drum finish that The Beatles' Ringo Starr played in 1964.
The kit was well-known from
The Beatles' debut on US TV, on The Ed Sullivan Show
in 1964.
The 'new' Liverpool 4 kit hosts
the configuration and 3-ply shell of many classic Ludwig kits.
It's the first Ludwig Legacy
kit to feature standard-sized Classic lugs along with a new Rail
Consolette tom mount.
The first 100 sets will feature
Ludwig's 100th Anniversary badge on each drum. Recommended price
is $4285.00, stands not included.
February 16, 2009 -- The
Examiner
by Steve Marinucci
Ringo and Paul
at the David Lynch Foundation concert
It's now OFFICIAL. The David
Lynch Foundation has updated their home page with a banner
that adds Ringo to the mix, plus Ben Harper, who we had mentioned
as a possibility.
Here's the concert page. It
is as it was originally and has not changed.
LATE ADD: The
premium ticket packages will be offered first, then the general
admission. The highest premium package will be $100,000 and include
14 seats, plus soundcheck, rehearsal and backstage access, though
there's no confirmation those paying this money will have access
to either Ringo or Paul.
We've seen comments that a
lot of people are wondering if there will be any general admission
tickets. We're told both Paul and Ringo's reps are concerned about
this as well and don't want fans priced out, so general admission
are being discussed. Price, though isn't known yet.February 8, 2009 -- Daily
Mail
Revealed: British
aristocracy and Hollywood A-listers among Madoff's $50 billion
fraud victims
Stars of showbusiness and sport
and prominent British society figures have been named among thousands
of alleged victims of the world's biggest financial scam.
A staggering 13,567 names were
on the 'who's who' list of investors with veteran Wall Street
fund manager Bernard Madoff, who is now facing fraud charges involving
an estimated £35 billion ($63.7 billion).
The 163-page roll call
which also includes 70-year-old Madoff's lawyer and accountant
and many of his family was filed with a bankruptcy court
in Manhattan.
Kevin Bacon and CNN talk show
host Larry King are named as losers, along with singer John Denver,
who died in 1997, and family trusts linked to former U.S. Secretary
of State Henry Kissinger.
The list also includes the
names of John Malkovich and Barbara Bach, although
there was no immediate confirmation last night that they were
the Oscar-nominated actor and the former Bond girl wife of Ringo Starr.
When the Daily Mail asked Barbara
Bach's representative in New York if the Bond girl was a Madoff
investor, she would say only: 'I am not allowed to discuss it.'
She would not comment any further.
January 16, 2009 -- Ringo
Starr.com
New Ringo Video
Update
Ringo announced the winner of his photo contest.
Photos were taken by fans during Ringo's 2008 Summer All-Starr
Band tour.
The lucky winner is Ricardo
Martinelli de Medeiros. He wins an autographed drumhead personalized
by Ringo.
Bruce Willis,
Ringo Starr and Elle Macpherson star in Aviva ads
Bruce Willis, Ringo Starr and Elle Macpherson are starring in TV
ads to mark the rebranding of Norwich Union as Aviva.
Aviva, which operates in more
than 20 markets globally, will launch the £10 million ($18.8
million) ad campaign with the first of a series of TV ads on Boxing
Day.
Norwich Union, which was founded in 1797
but has roots back to the 1600s and started out selling fire and
highway robbery insurance, will officially be rebranded in June
next year.
The first TV ad, which will
launch on Boxing Day, features Willis, Starr, Alice Cooper and
Dame Edna Everage.
Macpherson stars in further
Norwich Union/Aviva ads in the series, as will other as yet unnamed
celebrities.
Each star is shown "integrated"
into a famous moment from their career such as Willis in
Die Hard and Starr during Beatlemania asking the question
"Would this have happened if my name had been...?".
This is followed by the actor citing their given name before they
were famous.
Willis was born Walter Bruce
Willis, Macpherson was originally Eleanor Gow, Starr was Richard Starkey, Cooper was Vincent Damon Furnier and
Everage was born John Barry Humphries.
"As our business becomes
increasingly global we need one name customers can recognise wherever
they are," said the Aviva chief marketing officer, Amanda
Mackenzie. "We have to bring Norwich Union's customers with
us. People have to know they will get everything they got before
and more."
The TV campaign will be backed
by a press, outdoor and digital campaign running for six months
until Norwich Union rebrands as Aviva.
Vaughan Arnell, who has previously
directed several Robbie Williams music videos, shot the TV ad
for agency AMV BBDO.
Media planning and buying for
the campaign was handled by OMD.
December 6, 2008 -- RingoStarr.com
RINGO THRILLED
ABOUT GRAMMY NOMINATION
The National Academy of Recording
Arts and Sciences is pleased to announce the following nomination
for the 2009 Grammy award in the category of Best Surround Album:
-- Ringo 5.1 The Surround Sound
Collection (Koch Records), Surround Mix Engineer: Bruce Sugar,
Mastering Engineer: Chris Bellman, Producer: Ringo Starr, Bruce
Sugar, Bill Crowley.
I am thrilled to be nominated for "Ringo 5.1 The Surround
Sound Collection" -- and how great to be one of the five
in this Grammy category! Thanks to Bruce Sugar, I am surrounded
by sound! Well done! Also well done to the band, Chris Bellman,
Bill Crowley and well done Ringo!
Peace and Love!
Ringo
December 6, 2008 -- The
Mirror
Ringo Starr sculpture made out of pages of phone book - picture
How about this for
a Starr-tling image?
Artist Alex Queral created
this sculpture of Beatles drummer Ringo Starr
out of the pages of a phone book.
Bet it took him far longer
than a Day in the Life to do it...
October 15, 2008 -- Official
Press Release
Ringo Starr Statement regarding recent video update on his website:
Ringo Starr
recently put a video update
on his official website asking people not to continue to send
fan mail to be signed after October 20. This was in direct response
to an inordinate amount of items which have recently appeared
for sale on e-bay, and to those that repeatedly send cards and
items to be signed.
This message was not aimed
at "real fans" and after over 45 yrs of signing we know
they will understand. Ringo has always signed items and is in
fact the only Beatle to have been doing so. (Webmaster's Note: Paul
McCartney signs autographs for fans.)
Ringo also feels strongly that
it is a waste of paper and we all should be mindful of our carbon
footprint. At the end of the day Ringo wanted to make a message
that was clear and to the point and is confident his real fans
understand that.
That said, the recent response from the media has prompted him
to clarify that video.
"How amazed am I to the
reaction to my video update. I hope this statement gets as much.
Please read this in a mellow way. Peace and love, Ringo."
October 13, 2008 - BBC
News
Ringo 'too busy' for autographs
Starr said
he had "too much to do" to continue signing objects
Former Beatle Ringo Starr will no longer sign memorabilia for fans
and will throw away all fan mail he receives in the future, he
has said.
"Please do not send fan mail to any address you have,"
he said in a video message on his website.
"Nothing will be signed after the 20th of October. If that
is the date on the envelope, it's gonna be tossed.
"I'm warning you with peace and love I have too much to do,"
the 68-year-old drummer said.
Dressed in black clothes and dark glasses,
Starr said it was "a serious message to everybody watching".
He added: "No more fan mail and no objects to be signed.
Nothing."
Sculpture
Starr, who released his most recent album Liverpool 8 in January,
recently completed a tour of the US and Canada.
The musician currently divides his time between Los Angeles, the
South of France and his UK home in Surrey.
In April, a foliage sculpture of Starr outside a train station
in Liverpool was beheaded by vandals.
The performer had reportedly angered some locals when he told
the BBC's Jonathan Ross he missed nothing about the city.
October 11, 2008
-- Undercover News (Australia)
Klaus Voormann Gathers Friends For Album
Klaus Voormann, best known for his history with The Beatles, is recording
an album with his old friends such as Ringo Starr and Joe Walsh.
At Popkomm yesterday, Voormann
joked about what it would have cost if he had to have paid Ringo
to be on his album. "How much would you have to pay to hire
Ringo Starr," he said.
Voormann played bass on many
of the old solo Beatles albums. He was on Ringo's first solo album
'Sentimental Journey', he played on John Lennon's 'Imagine'
and on George
Harrison's 'All Things Must
Pass'.
"Ringo played for free
but it cost me $500 for a drum tech to set up his kit," he
laughed.
Voormann is also an artist.
He designed the iconic Beatles cover for 'Revolver'.
Klaus is working on the album
with people from his past. Joe Walsh and Paul McCartney have also contributed to the album.
August 6, 2008 -- Marketwire
Ringo Starr Endorses Peace and Designer J Gerard
It's no secret that legendary
Beatle Ringo
Starr is a parishioner of
the world peace movement. Starr recently took his efforts a step
further when he started endorsing designer J Gerard/Peace Gallery
as his go-to designer for Peace Couture & "peace gear."
Ringo was referred to the J
Gerard/Peace Gallery by friends, Joe Walsh (Eagles) & Keith
Allison, from the window display at J Gerard's flagship store
at 8575 Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles, CA. Starr's team picked
up 10 fully stuffed "peace gear bags" for his all-star
band and safari jacket for wife Barbara.
For more information on the J Gerard Collection:
J Gerard Design Studio & Peace Gallery
8575 Melrose Avenue
West Hollywood, CA 90069 www.jgerarddesignstudio.com
July 27, 2008 -- Hypeful
Ringo Starr's Granddaughter Forms a Band
Belakiss
Here's some interesting news from The Department of Beatles Offspring
- despite having a grandfather who played drums for The Beatles
and a dad who used to drum for Oasis (and is currently the sticksman
for The Who), Ringo
Starr's granddaughter Tatia Starkey has passed on hitting the skins and has
opted to be a bass-player for her recently formed band Belakiss.
Not to be confused with another Belakiss from Long Island, Starkey's
group is London-based and have already played a handful of dates
around England's capital.
Bummer.
But at least Ringo
Starr got his birthday wish.
He had asked that, at noon Monday, everyone make a peace sign
and say, "Peace and love."
Starr himself hosted the first
Peace and Love Day in Chicago outside the Hard Rock Hotel. He
had originally wanted to have the "peace-in" at Buckingham
Fountain, but city workers were still cleaning up from Taste of
Chicago.
So about 200 Beatles fans crowded
the sidewalks outside the hotel instead, waiting in the heat and
drizzle on South Water Street for further instruction.
"Ringo invites me to his
68th birthday party, I'm coming," said Neil Blum, 50, of
Glenview, who was at the front of the flock with his son Brian,
24.
Noon came and went, and no
one flashed a peace sign. In fact, some of the people who gathered
for global unity got downright cranky as press photographers cut
in line.
But all was forgiven when Starr
arrived with wife Barbara.
"What could be wrong?"
Starr asked. "Peace and love. What a great birthday gift.
It's a happening."
Some of the people who waited
the longest saw the least -- just Starr's extended fingers in
black shirt cuffs, or the top of his shorn head. They sang "Happy
Birthday" in his general direction.
Starr, whose latest album is
"Liverpool 8," is in town for the Midwest leg of his
All Starr Band's tour. He'll perform Sunday at Charter One Pavilion.
It was difficult to quantify
whether the event had any effect on even local peace. Sheamus
Mannion, desk sergeant at the Police Department's 10th District,
didn't sense any out-of-the-ordinary vibes. July 7, 2008 -- Chicago
Tribune
Ringo Starr
brings 'peace' to Chicago
Beatles fans flock to Hard Rock Hotel for birthday
wishAll Ringo
Starr wanted for his 68th
birthday was a little "peace and love," he said.
He got it Monday from about 300 fans who
lined an entire city block along East Wacker Place near Chicago's
Hard Rock Hotel to sing "Happy Birthday" to the ex-Beatles
drummer and flash peace signs in the air.
"What a great birthday
gift!" said Starr, surrounded by television cameras. "If
you could pan around, you could see Chicago is full of peace and
lovers."
The hotel had arranged a celebration
for Starr's birthday a few weeks ago after planners heard him
say in a TV interview that he would love it if everyone in the
world stopped what they were doing at noon July 7 to flash a peace
sign, said Hard Rock spokeswoman Kathleen Henson.
When organizers heard the drummer
would be in Chicago on that date as part of a tour with his All-Starr
Band, they asked him to attend, Henson said. The band will play
at Northerly Island on Sunday.
"It's a fantasy, and it's
a dream I have," Starr said Monday, "that one minute,
one day, one month, one year, everyone will go peace and love."
The aptly named Perfect Peace
Cafe and Bakery in Chicago's Gresham neighborhood was chosen to
bake about 300 miniature cupcakes that were distributed to members
of the crowd, as well as a sheet cake bearing the Hard Rock logo.
"The Beatles hit America
when I was 4 years old," said longtime fan Nick LoChirco
of Darien, who enjoyed a piece of cake. "My first words were,
'Yeah yeah yeah.' "
Karen Swiat of Tinley Park
said she had been waiting in front of the Hard Rock since 9 a.m.
with her husband, daughter and best friend. A Beatles fan for
almost 50 years, she said her reasons for loving the band have
changed over time.
"Then I was a crazy teen-just
in love," Swiat said. "Now the message is so important."
People in the crowd who were
wearing Beatles memorabilia were plucked from the crowd to stand
near Starr during his 15-minute appearance. Starr signed autographs
and posed for photographs with a lucky few, and also autographed
two drum cymbals that the Hard Rock will auction off for a peace-related
charity, Henson said.
Similar gatherings-sans Starr-were
planned for Monday at Abbey Road Studios in London, at Capitol
Records in Los Angeles, and at Central Park's Strawberry Fields
in New York, according to Starr's Web site, www.ringostarr.com.
Starr's Chicago appearance
was originally scheduled for Buckingham Fountain, and many people
never learned of the change, said Joe Dugan of Chicago's Rogers
Park neighborhood.
Dugan, who carried a massive
anti-war banner, was next to the Grant Park fountain with about
35 other fans at noon when someone got word by cell phone that
Starr was at the Hard Rock, he said.
"All of us started running,"
Dugan said. "It was like a marathon."
July 7, 2008 --
The Mirror
Ringo Starr
celebrates birthday
Ringo Starr held a "peace and love" fest
on a rainy Chicago sidewalk to mark his 68th birthday on Monday.
"What could be wrong? Peace and Love. What a great birthday
gift," the former Beatle said. "It's a happening."
The event, which had sparse
advance publicity, drew about 200 people on both sides of a street
outside the Hard Rock Hotel in Chicago.
Some got close enough to catch
a glimpse of Starr, clad in black and wearing purple glasses,
with his wife Barbara
nearby. Some even snagged
one or more of the frosted birthday cupcakes the hotel handed
out after he went inside.
"I saw it in the paper,
left my sister's house and came down here," said Joyce McDaniels,
who was visiting from Winton, California. She emerged from the
crowd holding a slightly mauled chocolate cupcake, but it was
a secondary prize.
"I saw a Beatle. That's
all I needed!" she said.
Starr, in the midst of a U.S.
concert tour, had announced the event on his Web site, saying
he had been asked in a recent interview what he wanted for his
birthday and replied "just more peace and love."
He also said he hoped anyone
who wanted to join him anywhere in the world would mark the day
with a two-fingered peace sign at noon local time.
Starr missed the noon deadline
himself by a couple of minutes but was greeted by cheers from
the onlookers who then sang "Happy Birthday."
Ringo Starr is a music legend who needs no introduction. He is
one of the most popular musicians of our time. This DVD shows
Ringo playing some of his greatest hits live including "I
Wanna Be Your Man" "She s Not There" "Yellow
Submarine" and many more. Ringo Starr has sold over 60 million
records worldwide.
A CD accompaniment is scheduled for this DVD release as well.
"Peace and Love" For Ringo at Abbey Road on his Birthday
Ringo Starr
was recently asked by Access
Hollywood what he hoped to receive for his upcoming birthday (July
7th). Ringo's answer was unconventional, he said, "just more
Peace & Love."
Then he expanded his wish further,
"it would be really cool if everyone, everywhere, wherever
they are, at noon on July 7 make the peace sign and say "Peace
& Love."
Ringo and Beatles fans will
be gathering all over the world to say 'Peace and Love' and to
wish Ringo a happy birthday.
In England the meeting point
chosen was outside Abbey Road Studios in London. The event will
be organised by Richard Porter, Beatles tour guide and owner of
the Beatles Coffee Shop in St John's Wood. Richard says 'I think
this is a great way of celebrating Ringo's birthday. Even though
wanting 'peace and love' may seem old-fashioned nowadays, in this
troubled world we need it more than ever.'
Abbey Road Studios is the perfect
meeting point in London for the occasion. Richard says 'The Beatles
recorded nearly all their songs at Abbey Road and it is the most
famous Beatles location in London. It is also where The Beatles
recorded 'All You Need is Love' in front of a worldwide TV audience
of 400 million people in 1967.
UK Fans are
asked to gather at the Beatles Coffee Shop, St John's Wood Underground
Station at 11.30am or outside Abbey Road Studios at 11.45am.
Ringo was recently asked by Access Hollywood
what he hoped to receive for his upcoming birthday (July 7th).
Ringo's answer was unconventional, he said, "just more Peace
& Love."
Then he expanded his wish further,
"it would be really cool if everyone, everywhere, wherever
they are, at noon on July 7 make the peace sign and say "Peace
& Love."
Wherever you are in the world,
join him in making the peace sign and saying, singing, shouting,
whispering, signing, writing or quietly thinking one simply beautiful
and universal message: "Peace & Love."
While some will do this on
their own other folks may be gathering at the Hard Rock Cafe in
Chicago with Ringo; Abbey Road in London; Capitol Records in LA;
Strawberry Fields in NYC.
June 21, 2008 -- Contact Music
RINGO STARR - STARR SNUBBED BY
RADIO
Former Beatle
Ringo Starr has given up trying
to get his music played on the radio, claiming he's too old at
67 to continue pursuing the campaign.
Starr has spent much of 2008 promoting "Liverpool 8",
his 14th studio album.
But he claims campaigning for his music to be heard on the radio
is a lost cause.
Starr explains, "It's been that way for 20 years. That's
just how it is. No matter how many lunches you do with people,
the fact is that radio doesn't seem to be interested much in anyone
who's over 21." June
21, 2008
TONIGHT'S RINGO STARR AND HIS ALL-STARR BAND CONCERT AT BETHEL
WOODS CENTER FOR THE ARTS HAS BEEN CANCELLED
Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band have been forced
to cancel tonight's concert at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts,
due to a transportation and equipment breakdown at the United
States border. The performance will not be rescheduled.
Tickets purchased online or by phone will be refunded automatically.
Ticket holders who purchased through a Ticketmaster retail location
or the
Bethel Woods Box Office must request refund by returning the
ticket to the point of purchase in person.
Bethel Woods, the concert promoter Live Nation and Ringo Starr
apologize to ticketholders for the inconvenience.June 21, 2008 -- Contact
Music
RINGO STARR - STARR WANTS HIS BIRTHDAY TO BE 'PEACE AND LOVE DAY'
Former Beatle
RINGO STARR
wants the world to celebrate
his 69th birthday with him next month - and for the date to be
made 'Peace and Love Day'.
Starr is calling on fans to follow his mantra and yell the phrase
he has tattooed on his arm at noon on July 7.
He tells Access Hollywood, "Let's make my birthday, July
the 7th at noon, Peace and Love Day.
"Everybody go, 'Peace and love'. In the office, on the bus,
wherever.
"It's still peace and love for me, I'm a product of the '60s
and it was a very influential period in my life, and you know,
my head was turned around a bit, my eyes were opened as it were.
"In fact, I even have it on my arm, 'Peace and love'. I see
nothing wrong with peace and love."June 21, 2008 -- Niagra
Falls Review
Ringo and the All-Starrs: A fab night at the Avalon
GT O'Rourke had been waiting
months to indulge his inner Beatle. Thursday
night, it was time to twist and shout.
Beatle fans came from hundreds
of kilometres away to savour Ringo Starr
and his All-Starr Band at the Niagara Fallsview Casino, kicking
off a summer tour with two dates at the Avalon Ballroom.
For O'Rourke, who claims to
be the biggest Beatles fan in Niagara Falls, this was no mere
concert.
"It's a big deal,"
he said, sporting purple shades, a mop top and assorted Beatles
buttons on his jacket. "They made me who I am."
With more than 4,000 pieces
of memorabilia, O'Rourke lives and breathes The Beatles. And he
wasn't alone Thursday - fans of the Fab Four filled the 1,500-seat
Avalon buzzing with the anticipation of being so close to one
of their idols.
Jeff Maas made the trek from
Erie, Pennsylvania sporting a Beatles t-shirt and dealing with
some butterflies. After a lifelong obsession, it was his first
time seeing one of the legends live.
He was six years old when The
Beatles performed on the Ed Sullivan show in 1964.
"Right there and then,
I said I wanted to play guitar," said Maas after forking
over $85 for two Ringo Starr shirts: One for him and one for his
wife Barb.
"I married into it,"
she said.
In addition to shirts, coffee
mugs and tour programs, some of Starr's artwork was also for sale
in the lobby. Limited edition signed prints were priced between
$800 and $1,400, and a few eager fans gladly paid.
Both Avalon shows quickly sold
out and a large group of people waited outside the theatre Thursday
hoping for some tickets to become available.
Minutes before the show started, Tamara W. from Pittsburgh stood
with her husband hoping for good news.
"If we don't get in, we'll
just go over to the casino," she said. "It's worth a
shot."
With all this buzz, the show
itself had plenty to live up to. But soon after taking the stage
with an abbreviated "A Little Help From My Friends"
and his solo hit "It Don't Come Easy," Starr was relaxed
and cracking jokes.
"Nice to see the people
with the old t-shirts on," he said.
After the first few songs,
Starr went behind the drum kit and gave the floor to his band
Billy Squier, Gary Wright, Edgar Winter, Hamish Stuart of
Average White Band (formerly of Paul McCartney's band) and Colin
Hay of Men at Work. The format is the same for every All-Starr
band tour: Everyone plays a few of their own hits in-between Starr's
songs.
For a band that has been rehearsing
barely ten days, they were remarkably tight. Hay's "Down
Under" and "Who Can It Be Now" were lively crowd-pleasers
(highlighted by the spastic dance moves of one die-hard fan in
the front row); Squier cut loose on "Lonely Is the Night"
and "The Stroke," while Wright got the crowd pumped
with his '70s classics "Dream Weaver" and "Love
is Alive."
If the audience wasn't familiar
with Hamish, they sure recognized the groovy "Pick Up the
Pieces" -- a full-blown jam which had the Avalon bopping.
It was topped by Winter's "Frankenstein," which had
him racing around the stage playing sax, keyboards and drums.
As always, it brought the house down.
"Being in this band, you
wish you'd done all those numbers," quipped Starr.
Lively as they were, the crowd
saved most of its love for Beatles rockers like "What Goes
On" and "I Want To Be Your Man."
Just before "Boys,"
Starr said, "I've been doing this one for a long time and
I still do because I love it."
The 67-year-old Starr looked
remarkably fit, though he wasn't shy about goofing on his age.
After a robust "Yellow Submarine," he told the crowd,
"We've come to a beautiful moment in the show where I have
to go lay down now."
This is the tenth incarnation
of the All-Starr Band since 1989 the previous three tours
launched at Casino Rama in Orillia.
Starr threw in a few surprises
for the new one, including the romp "Oh My My" ("The
first time live on any stage," he said) and after the
set-closing "With a Little Help From My Friends" --
a brief bit of John
Lennon's "Give Peace
a Chance."
A fitting end to a night of
Ringo's patented peace and love.
1) It Don't Come Easy
2) What Goes On
3) Memphis In Your Mind
4) Lonely is the night - Billy Squier
5) Free Ride - Edgar Winter
6) Land Down Under - Colin Hay
7) Dream Weaver - Gary Wright
8) Boys
9) Pick Up the Pieces - Hamish Stuart
10) Liverpool 8
11) Act Naturally
12) Yellow Submarine
(solo spot)
13) Are you Looking At Me - Colin Hay
14) In The Dark - Billy Squier
15) Frankenstein - Edgar Winter
16) Never Without You
17) Choose Love
18) The Stroke - Billy Squier
19) Work To Do - Hamish Stuart
20) I Want To Be Your Man
21) Love Alive - Gary Wright
22) Who Can It Be Now - Colin Hay
23) Photograph
24) Oh My My
25) With A Little Help From My Friends
26) Back Off Boogaloo/Give Peace A Chance
Courtesy of
Doug Brown and Cris Noll
June 19, 2008
-- Beatlefan Bulletin
All Starr Show
Preview
Ringo Starr said today at a press conference that
he is adding two new songs for his tour beginning this week at
the Avalon Theatre at Fallsview Casino in Canada: "Oh My
My" and "Liverpool 8." The former is the highest
rated of Ringo's hits that he's never performed in concert up
to now. It hit No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1974.
The latter is the single and title track from his most recent
album.
(Special thanks to William Monnell)
June 19, 2008
-- Niagra Falls Review (Videos from PC)
Meeting the Beatle
"When I feel my head start
to swell, I just look at Ringo and know
we're not Supermen."
- John Lennon
Yes,
we're supposed to be professionals. We're supposed to ask our
questions, write our story, and treat it like any other assignment.
Sports writers don't ask players
for their autographs. Likewise, entertainment writers aren't supposed
to be star-struck when they meet celebrities.
Most days, it's good advice.
But most days, you aren't talking
to a Beatle.
My first thought upon hearing
I'd be meeting Ringo Starr Wednesday wasn't to come up with deep,
probing questions he hasn't heard before. It was, 'How am I going
to get through this without flop sweating?'
Now, this is the part where
I'm supposed to describe what a profound influence The Beatles
have been on my life. I'll spare you four or five clumsy paragraphs
and cut right to the chase: They are Ground Zero for everything.
There was an astute comment
I read in a review of a Paul McCartney show
in Toronto almost 20 years ago. The writer noted there was something
extra electric about the show because everyone, at some point,
realized they were in the same building as a Beatle.
One of my Review colleagues
felt the same thing at the Niagara Fallsview Casino Wednesday,
where Starr met the media before launching his latest All-Starr
Band tour Thursday. I tried explaining it: The Beatles were by
far the most important band in history, there are only two left,
and you were standing within ten feet of one.
Entire Album
The Beatles are like mythical
figures. You can hardly believe they're real until one of them
is introducing himself to you.
"Hi," he said with
that unmistakable Liverpool accent. "I'm Ringo Starr."
"Yes," I responded
with jittery knees. "I've heard of you."
Okay, not the greatest icebreaker,
but it's a lot better than throwing up.
June 19, 2008
-- Buffalo News
Ringo Starr kicks off tour in Niagara Falls, Ontario
One of the two surviving members of the world's most famous rock
band today offered a medley of some of the songs his All-Starr
Band will perform Thursday when it begins its 2008 concert tour
at the Fallsview Casino Resort.
Ringo Starr began with a reflective piece from his
newest album, "Liverpool 8," and how destiny pulled
him from his hometown roots. He then jumped into a snippet from
one of his most recognizable Beatles songs, "With a Little
Help From My Friends."
Ringo and the other six members
of the touring band, all rock 'n' roll luminaries in their own
right, have rehearsed since June 7 in the Avalon Ballroom at the
Fallsview Casino. They have a two-night run there for their tour
kickoff.
Ringo, characteristically,
was generous in sharing the spotlight with his bandmates -- Edgar
Winter, Average White Band founding member Hamish Stuart, Gary
Wright, Billy Squier, Colin Hay and drummer Gregg Bissonette.
When asked how it felt to get
a call from Ringo inviting each of them to join his summer band,
which has 31 engagements in the United States and Canada, they
all agreed it a was no-brainer to accept the chance to perform
with a former Beatle. For some of them, though, it's not the first
time. A few are veterans of the All-Starr Band, Stuart played
with Paul
McCartney, and Wright recorded
with the late George
Harrison.
Composer of the 1976 No. 1
hit song "Dream Weaver," Wright said he was thrilled
when Ringo called him last February to be part of the band. "George
did not do much touring and it has always been my dream to tour
with a Beatle," Wright said.
Ringo said the band has been
practicing eight hours a day, keeping them focused and working
hard, but he said that when the tour starts "it will be two
hours of pure joy" with every performance. And in putting
his own fame into perspective, he said he is awestruck every morning
he wakes up and looks out his hotel room window and sees Niagara
Falls. "You think you're powerful...." he said, trailing
off in deference to the natural wonder of the cataracts. When
asked if he had a chance to visit Buffalo since he came here,
he said no, but joked that he and the band "are all going
to buy houses in Buffalo." Billy Squier expressed doubt,
saying in apparent jest that he believes there's an old "outstanding
arrest warrant" waiting for him in the City of Good Neighbors.
June 19, 2008 -- Buffalo
Business First
Ringo ready to rock Niagara Falls
For all his travels, including
globe-trotting tours with the Beatles, Ringo Starr had
never been to Niagara Falls.
Until now.
Starr has spent the past 10
days in Niagara Falls, Ont., rehearsing with the 10th edition
of his "All-Starr Band" as they kick off their 2008
tour with a pair of sold-out concerts at Niagara Fallsview Casino
Resort's Avalon Ballroom. The shows are set for Thursday and Friday
night in the 1,500-seat venue.
It's hard to say what impressed
Starr more -- his current band or the mighty falls.
"I look out my window
every day and see this huge waterfall," Starr said. "It's
beautiful. You start the day looking at that and going 'wow'."
For Starr, it's the start of
a 31-date concert tour that will run until early August, while
the Niagara Falls, Ont., casino it marks the beginning of a busy
summer entertainment season. Besides Starr, other acts booked
into the casino's 1,500-seat Avalon Ballroom include Jay Leno,
former Beach Boy Brian Wilson and singer Pat Benatar.
Starr said he is very comfortable
living in the shadow of his legacy as the Beatles' drummer. Starr
and Paul McCartney are the last two surviving Beatles.
"Paul and I are the last
two to really know what went on," Starr said. "So much
has been made up that it is like the law, now."
Starr admits he has never read
any of the thousands of books that discussed and dissected the
Beatles' legacy.
Starr said he has no problem
playing fan favorites like "Octopus Garden" or "With
a Little Help from My Friends" in concert. The drummer-turned-frontman
said it was people expect when they buy a ticket to one of his
shows.
"You can't just go and
hide in the dark," Starr said.
For the current tour, Starr
has aligned himself with a melting pot of musicians including
Edgar Winter, who hails from Texas, and Colin Hay, a founder of
the Australia's Men at Work. Other band members include former
Spooky Tooth keyboardist Gary Wright and Average White Band founder
Hamish Stuart. Each is given a chance or two to share the spotlight
during the performance, Most will be playing some of their best
known songs like Winter's "Frankenstein" or Wright's
"Love is Alive."
"We're the best live 800
number out there," Starr quipped. "The one criteria
I have with this band, and with my others, is that you have to
have had at least one hit. Past "All-Starrs" included
Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmitt from the Eagles, Todd Rundgren
and Cream's Jack Bruce.
"There's no other way
to do this," Starr said. "It's worked since 1989 (his
first 'All-Starr' tour)."
For guitarist Billy Squire,
this is his first tour with Starr.
"It's a sweet spot for
me," Squire said. "It's difficult to be jaded when you
are playing with a Beatle."
"The fun part for me is
playing other people's songs," Hay added. "I can play
my own songs in my sleep."
Starr is touring in connection
with his "Liverpool 8" disc that was released earlier
this year and a book of his computer-generated paintings, "Painting
is My Madness." The disc was been widely acclaimed as one
of his best solo efforts. Starr co-wrote all 14 songs and was
one of its co-producers.
Starr said he remains in close
contact with McCartney, although with their respective schedules
their face-to-face meetings are limited at times.
As for still touring just weeks
shy of his 67th birthday, the youthful, rail-thin Starr said he
is living the life he envisioned more than 40 years ago.
"Did I actually think
I'd still be playing the drums at 66? Yes, because that's what
I do," Starr said. "This is what I do and I'm blessed
because I can still do it."
June 19, 2008 -- Edmonton
News (Canada)
Ex-Beatle healthy,
happy, ready for the road
As the two remaining Beatles approach 70, Ringo Starr has
a healthy attitude about aging.
Paul McCartney turned 66 yesterday -- Starr left him
a phone message wishing him well -- and the one-time Beatles drummer
will turn 68 on July 7 while he is out on tour with the latest
edition of his All-Starr Band.
"(I feel about 68 the)
same as I felt about 28. It's another birthday. I love birthdays.
I love gifts," Starr said in an interview with Sun Media
backstage at Fallsview Casino Resort's Avalon Ballroom following
a media conference leading up to tonight's launch of his 31-date
tour.
As for McCartney, who just
went through a horrible divorce with Heather Mills, Starr said: "He's doing a lot better now.
It's been a hard year. Divorce is difficult for everybody. But
when it's so public, it's harder."
In fact, at the media conference,
Starr asked that everyone say "peace and love" on July
7 this year at noon no matter where they are.
"I've been laughed at
for doing it. I've been praised for doing it. But as long as you
do it ...," said Starr when asked about his unflagging optimism
given the current state of the world. "It's another little
pebble in the ocean, you know?"
After launching his past three
tours at Casino Rama (near Orillia, Ont.), Starr set up shop at
Fallsview this time with his bandmates Colin Hay (Men at Work),
Edgar Winter, Hamish Stuart (Average White Band), Billy Squier,
Gary Wright of Dream Weaver fame and drummer Gregg Bissonette
(Santana, James Taylor).
"I like to laughingly
say, 'It's great to do it in Canada because none of us have relations
here so we don't have the kids and the wives and so we really
get on with the work," Starr said.
The band members arrived on
June 8 and have been putting in eight-hour rehearsals every day
and not doing much sightseeing.
"Just sitting in my room,"
Starr quipped, although he's personally in awe of the Falls.
"I look out my window
at that huge waterfall, it's incredible. I've never seen it before.
Now I see it every morning. Wow, start the day with that, brother.
It puts you in your place, I'll tell you."
One of Starr's few jaunts outside,
he said, was a visit to a health-food store, which made the local
papers the next day.
"I bought some cereal
and stuff. That rice milk and almond milk. I'm just up there partying
on down," he joked.
Starr, who said he got clean
in 1988, clearly looks after himself by eating properly, working
out and being productive.
In addition to releasing a
new album, Liverpool 8, earlier this year, Ringo has got a new
limited-edition book, Painting Is My Madness, in stores today,
that documents his computer-generated art.
June 11, 2008 -- Sun-Sentinel.com
Ringo Starr art exhibit coming to South Florida
He conquered England and America
as part of the legendary rock group, The Beatles.
Now Ringo Starr is
trying to conquer the art world. He started working on his Pop
art collection in the late '90s when on tour with his second group,
the All Starr Band.
Nearly 40 pieces from his boldly
colored work will be on view and for sale from June 27 - July
6 at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, 1 Seminole
Way (off State Road 7). There will be limited edition, signed
pieces will all sale proceeds will benefit the charity Lotus Foundation.
The exhibit will be open from 11 a.m. - 10 p.m. daily at the casino.
The artist/drummer will be
in town for a July 3 concert at Hard Rock Live. Tickets are $50,
$75 and $100, excluding service fees, and available through the
box office and Ticketmaster outlets.
For more information, call
888-513-8385
June 12, 2008 -- Cape Breton Post
Former Beatle arrives in Niagara Falls for Fallsview Casino gig
print this article
Niagara Falls residents are keeping their eyes peeled for one
of the Fab Four.
Former Beatle
Ringo Starr is kicking off
his summer tour at Fallsview Casino next week and he's already
in town for rehearsals.
Starstruck residents say the 67 year old is in great shape.
On Monday, Starr got his health food fix at the White Oaks Resort
and Spa.
Starr and a few casino employees poked around the store for 20
minutes, stocking up on healthy grub to prepare for his 31-date
tour.
Each tour features Starr and a lineup of musical friends.
The 2008 edition boasts Billy Squier, Edgar Winter, Gary Wright,
Hamish Stuart of The Average White Band, and former Men at Work
singer Colin Hay.
The first two shows are June 19 and 20 at the Avalon Ballroom
inside the casino "The property is certainly buzzing with
Ringo's arrival," said casino spokesman Greg Medulun.
"Both shows in the Avalon have been sold out for some time
now".June 6, 2008 -- RingoStarrArt.com
Limited edition Ringo art book available June 19
"Painting Is My Madness,"
a limited edition book featuring Ringo Starr's computer artwork,
is set to be released on June 19.
Ringo Starr published his first set of limited edition
hand signed computer art pieces in 2005. Since that time he has
continued to release new pieces and continued to raise money for
the Lotus Foundation, a charitable organization that he set up
with his wife Barbara
Bach.
Ringo said, "I started
in the late nineties with my computer art. While I was touring
it gave me something to do in all those crazy hotels you have
to stay in on the road."
In addition to over 40 reproductions
of Ringo's computer art pieces, "Painting is My Madness"
contains candid photos of Ringo and his art including personal
photos from his wife. The book also features Ringo's humorous
and insightful musings on his artwork.
"Painting is My Madness"
will be limited to only 3,000 copies. There will also be a special
collectors deluxe hand signed edition of "Painting is My
Madness" that includes an 8" x 10" piece of Ringo's
artwork. The hand signed book is limited to only 200 copies. As
is the case with Ringo's hand signed art work, 100% of Ringo's
proceeds from the sale of "Painting is my Madness" will
be donated to the Lotus Foundation, who's objectives are to fund,
support, participate in and promote charitable projects aimed
at advancing social welfare.
Ringo Starr, English musician, singer, songwriter,
and actor, is perhaps best known for his musical career as the
drummer for the Beatles from 19621970, although he has also
enjoyed renown as a solo artist.
Born in Liverpool in 1940, Starr became
one of the most famous musicians of the 1960s for his work with
the Beatles, both behind the drum set and out front as a periodic
singer and composer of uplifting songs. After the group split
up, Starr moved seamlessly into a solo career with the success
of his 1973 album, "Ringo." Starr has released many
albums since, including "Goodnight Vienna," "Time
Takes Time," and DVDs of live concerts.
He has completed many tours with his All Starr Band. This summer,
Ringo will be touring the United States and Canada with the 10th
incarnation of his that band, including shows at Radio City Music
Hall in New York City and at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles.
In January, Ringo released his first new album with Capitol/EMI
since "Goodnight Vienna" in 1974; aptly titled "Liverpool 8," it is available worldwide
on CD and digitally on an innovative, pre-loaded USB wristband.May 20, 2008 -- Daily
Mail
The Fab Three: Topiary Beatles missing drummer Ringo after it's
removed for repairs following vandalism
A foliage sculpture of ex-Beatle Ringo Starr which
was beheaded by vandals has been taken away to be repaired leaving
the Fab Four looking more like the Fab Three.
The figure,
which took 18 months to cultivate as part of a topiary tribute
to the Fab Four, was unveiled at Liverpool's South Parkway train
station in March this year. But Ringo's figure was targeted by
vandals soon after the unveiling of the artwork.
The vandalism was blamed on
the 67-year-old drummer being derided in Liverpool after he made
disparaging comments on a Jonathan Ross' chat show saying that
he "missed nothing" about the city.
Officials from the local transport
authority that commissioned the artwork confirmed yesterday that
Ringo's figure had been taken away to be repaired.
A spokesperson for Merseytravel
said: "The figure of Ringo figure has been taken away to
be repaired and re-grown.
"It is currently at a
nursery in the Wirral where experts are working to restore the
head.
"We are hopeful that it
should be back in place within the next six to eight weeks."
Ringo
helped launch Liverpool's Capital Of Culture year, but embarrassingly
for the organisers Surrey-based Ringo, who also has a flat in
Chelsea, admitted he rarely returns to his home city and doesn't
miss a thing about it.
Initially, when Ross asked
what he missed most about Liverpool, Ringo simply laughed, forcing
a surprised Ross to say: @I didn't know that question would get
a laugh! Are there any things you miss about not being in Liverpool
any more?.
To which he replied: "No".
After more laughter, he deadpanned:
"I was that excited over the weekend, I was that close to
coming back."
Radio phone-ins in the city
received loads of complaints and there have since been tirades
against him on the internet.
Meanwhile,
earlier today George
Harrison's widow Olivia joined Starr in a garden devoted to the memory
of the late Beatle, alongside the daughter of Sir Paul McCartney, photographer Mary.
Called From Life To Life after
a line in the Beatles' song It's All Too Much, it has four distinct
parts representing phases in Harrison's life,
As Mrs Harrison put the finishing
touches to her creation, Mary, a professional photographer, took
pictures of the garden entitled From Life To Life.
Designed with Yvonne Innes,
it recalls Harrison's life from his birth in Liverpool to his
post-Beatle years in Henley.
In Memory: George Harrison's
widow Olivia and designer Yvonne Innes created a garden to celebrate
his life.
May 13, 2008 --
Gigwise.com
Zak Starkey To Be Replaced As Oasis Drummer?
Drummer Zak Starkey will
play no further role in recording singles for the forthcoming
Oasis album, it's been reported.
Starkey, who has been an unofficial
member of the band since 2004, has apparently fallen out with
guitarist Noel Gallagher.
Speaking to the Sun Newspaper,
a source said: "There have been arguments with Noel Gallagher
and general disagreements.
"It looks like the album
will be his last involvement with the band."
Starkey, the son of Beatles
drummer Ringo
Starr, is the band's third
drummer after Alan White and Tony McCarroll.
The reports come just under
a week after three unheard Oasis songs - 'Nothing On Me', 'I Wanna
Live A Dream (In My Record Machine)' and 'Stop The Clocks' - leaked
online.
In a statement, a spokesperson
for the band said the songs were "old" but wouldn't
say whether they were scheduled to appear on their new album.
May 5, 2008
-- Contact Music
BEATLES - RINGO STARR: 'THE BEATLES WERE SOLDIERS THAT NEVER SIGNED
UP'
The world has the end of mandatory
national service in Britain to thank for the BEATLES,
according to RINGO
STARR.
The drummer insists the U.K.'s pop and rock explosion in the 1960s
all happened because teenagers no longer had to join the Army.
Starr explains, "We were the first generation that didn't
go into the army. I missed the call up by, like, 10 months, and
so we were allowed, as these teenagers, not to be regimented and
turn into these musicians."
And the rocker admits he was a hopeless drummer when he first
started out.
In an interview with fellow rocker Dave Stewart on
U.S. TV show On The Record, Starr recalled, "The first band
I was in you were in if you had an instrument; it wasn't a requirement
to be able to play... and I couldn't play.
"I'd got this kit of drums, I had no sense of time. I was
just hitting these things and going faster and faster... That's
how I started." May
4, 2008 -- The Mirror
Ringo Starr flat intruder dies after custody collapse
An investigation has been launched
after a burglar died days after breaking into Beatles legend
Ringo Starr's
apartment block.
The intruder, 32, was caught
by security guards after he got into the luxury block in Chelsea,
London.
They held him until police
arrived, but he collapsed in custody and was taken to Chelsea
and Westminster Hospital, where he died four days later.
The Independent Police Complaints
Commission is investigating his death. Detectives are trying to
establish whether the burglar was trying to get to Ringo, 67,
or steal from wealthy residents.
A source said: "There
has been a history of members of the Beatles being attacked by
madmen."
May 4, 2008 -- Toledo Blade.com
Ex-Beatle is likeable, interesting in HBO special
Ringo Starr
comes off
as well-spoken and good natured.
If Richard Starkey had been
a healthy child back in the late 1940s and early '50s in his hometown
of Liverpool, he would most likely never have become part of the
most famous pop band in music history.
It was during one of his frequent
hospital stays as a boy that the future Ringo Starr and other
young patients on his ward were introduced to percussion instruments.
While other youngsters grabbed tambourines and maracas, little
Richard wound up with a big drum and happily pounded away on it.
"And I wanted to be a
drummer from that day," he recalls.
The former Beatle's
childhood reminiscences are among the stories he shares in a new
HBO special called Ringo Starr: Off the Record: May 11 at 5 p.m.
and May 15 at 10 p.m. ET.
The casual conversation with
the former Beatles drummer is hosted by fellow musician Dave Stewart, a songwriter and record producer best
known as half of the pop-rock due Eurythmics, which he formed
decades ago with singer Annie Lennox.
When Stewart launched Off the
Record for HBO in late 2006, interviewing Bono and The Edge from
the band U2, it was to have been the start of a recurring program,
along the lines of Bravo's Inside the Actors Studio, only featuring
famous musicians instead of famous actors. But there have been
no other interviews until the current one with Starr.
Stewart and Starr have been
friends for years, and on the program, they look like they could
even be brothers. Both wear glasses and scraggly beards, both
wear dark suits and shirts, and both try to make the best of their
thinning hair and receding hairlines with modified buzz cuts.
Stewart is not a particularly
astute interviewer. He barely seems to listen while his subject
speaks, and asking a follow-up question has evidently never occurred
to him. Instead, he seems to plow straight through his list of
prepared queries, and consequently, viewers won't learn much that's
new in the interview.
Nevertheless, Starr shows himself
to be a well-spoken, good-natured, self-deprecating sort, a guy
who realizes he was never the most talented or most popular Beatle,
but one who has clearly enjoyed his career and, at age 67, is
still doing so.
When Stewart dredges up a quote
in which the late John
Lennon referred to Ringo "the
heart of the Beatles," Starr deadpans, "I am."
He then breaks into a big grin as if to say, "It's a joke,
you know?"
Ringo traces his beginnings
with the group, recalling how the group's manager, Brian Epstein, lured him away from another popular group,
Rory and the Hurricanes, to replace drummer Pete Best, and
how George
Harrison got punched in the
face while defending the new drummer from one of Best's belligerent
fans.
Starr gives an insider's perspective
of the differing personalities of the Beatles' two primary creative
forces, Lennon and Paul
McCartney, one that's quite
different from their public personas.
"If John had written a
song [he] would look forward to what YOU wanted to bring to it,"
he says. "Paul had more of a definite idea of what HE wanted
you to do."
Ringo gleefully pokes holes
in the fevered analysis that often greeted the group's iconic
album covers, including the one for "Abbey Road," the
last album the group recorded.
"We always sat 'round
the studio with these big ideas," he recalls. "Now we're
gonna do the cover and we're gonna go to Egypt, or we're going
into some volcano, and we're going to do this big thing, and then,
oh, sod it, let's just walk across the road, and that's all we
did."
The most revealing and enjoyable
part of the program comes when Starr settles in behind a drum
set to demonstrate some of the licks that made him one of the
most distinctive drummers in pop music. Some of his explanations
are pretty technical, but his unique style - which includes a
tantalizing little hitch in his downbeat - derives from the simple
fact that he's a left-handed drummer who has always played right-handed
drum kits.
"Everyone thought, 'Wow,
he's a genius,' " he laughs, "but all I was doing was
trying to play backwards!"
April 30, 2008 -- Blog
Critics.com
Music Review: Ringo Starr - Liverpool 8
Written by Lou Novacheck
People associate Ringo first with The Beatles,
then as a solo star, and finally as a person. But it's the person
that shines through in all his music. That is, all that he's written
or done on his own. And Liverpool 8 is no exception. His quick
wit, his openness, his general humanness, all are very easily
discernible.
Ringo was also the most entrenched
of all the Beatles in good ole rock and roll. Ringo could play
anything, any style, any tempo, any volume, any genre, and make
them all sound good. Just look at the Beatles' repertoire and
you can't disagree. He was never one for the solo, for the breakout,
for the "Hey, look at me!" antics and moves. His job
was a drummer first, a singer second, and the point man for the
group, and he performed them all superbly, every time. Nothing
more, nothing less.
Most people never heard of
any of the four Beatles until shortly before their Ed Sullivan appearance in 1964. Something that most
people don't realize about Ringo is that he was a local British
music star well before the Beatles. Something else that most aren't
aware of is that Ringo was the first ex-Beatle to tally seven
consecutive Top 10 singles.
Ringo co-wrote all 12 of the
tunes on this CD with a revolving crew of six other writers. Totaling
over 45 minutes, it's a fun, rocking CD. In the years since the
demise of the Beatles, he's also surrounded himself with a troupe
of musicians who comprised his various All Starr permutations
that would make any record label swoon. He's played with a host
of stellar musicians including Joe Walsh, Clarence Clemons, Nils
Lofgren, Todd Rundgren, John Entwistle, Felix Cavaliere, Billy
Preston, Randy Bachman, Gary Brooker, Pete Frampton, Jack Bruce,
Sheila E, Greg Lake, Ian Hunter, Colin Hay, Dave Stewart, Billy
Squier, Edgar Winter, and Gary Wright. Not bad for a kid who,
at age six, was not expected to live, and who never finished school.
Before and during his early
association with the Beatles, Ringo was with a pub rock group
that was well known over most of England, Germany, and France.
Ringo occasionally sat in with the then lesser known Beatles,
and was friendly with all of them, especially George Harrison. He officially joined the Beatles less than three
weeks prior to their scheduled EMI recording session. After a
slightly rocky start of the relationship, Ringo became the rock
on whom the other three Beatles anchored. The rest is well documented
in the news archives in every country in the world.
On this CD, Ringo's anchoring
becomes evident from the beginning. It's Ringo's group, one that
he personally put together, and every one of them gets the opportunity
to excel throughout the recording. He's still the glue that keeps
them all together.
This is a good fun CD, relaxing
without the inherent visceral tension that insinuates itself into
so many recordings. Especially memorable were the title tune,
"Harry's Song," and "Love Is." Ringo is touring
in support of this new CD. Don't miss him. Ringo's not a glam
rocker, but he's been one of the solid, mainstay rockers in the
world's collective memory for the past almost fifty years. This
may be your last opportunity. He's got to hang up his sticks eventually,
even though he hasn't lost a step.
April 5, 2008
-- Press Release
Ringo shares secrets with Dave Stewart on new HBO special
A BEATLE SHARES
MEMORIES AND SECRETS WHEN THE SPECIAL "RINGO STARR: OFF THE
RECORD", HOSTED BY DAVE STEWART, DEBUTS MAY 2, EXCLUSIVELY ON HBO
A music legend shares memories
and secrets from his life in the greatest rock 'n' roll band of
all time when RINGO STARR: OFF THE RECORD debuts FRIDAY, MAY 2 (11:00-11:55
p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on
HBO.
In an intimate conversation
hosted by fellow musician Dave Stewart, the Beatles' drummer discusses
his career and influences, sharing stories from his childhood,
the heyday of Beatlemania, the group's trip to India to meet the
Maharishi, their breakup and his solo career as a touring musician.
With an audience of musicians and fans looking on, Starr also
demonstrates some of his iconic percussion riffs from the Beatles'
classic recordings.
Other HBO playdates: May 11 (5:00 p.m.) and
May 15 (10:00 p.m.)
Host Dave Stewart is best known
as one-half of Eurythmics, along with Annie Lennox; the duo's
hits include "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)," "Here
Comes the Rain Again" and "Would I Lie to You?"
In addition to writing numerous songs with Lennox, he has also
written with Mick Jagger, Bono, Sinead O'Connor, Bryan Ferry and
Jon Bon Jovi, among others. Stewart's producing credits include
Jon Bon Jovi, Bob Dylan, Eurythmics, Aretha Franklin, Mick Jagger,
Tom Petty and Ramones.
One of the show's executive
producers is Jimmy Iovine, who is chairman of Interscope Geffen
A&M Records; among the company's artists are Mary J. Blige,
Gwen Stefani, U2, Sting, Beck, 50 Cent and Eminem, among others.
As a producer, Iovine's credits include hit albums by Tom Petty
and the Heartbreakers, U2, Eurythmics, the Pretenders and Patti
Smith.
Executive producer Howard Klein
is an executive producer of "The Office" and was an
executive producer of HBO's "Carnivale." Executive producer
Jonathan Prince was the creator and an executive producer of the
series "American Dreams."
The executive producers of
"RINGO STARR: OFF THE RECORD" are Jimmy Iovine, Gene
Kirkwood, Howard Klein, Jonathan Prince and Dave Stewart; co-executive
producers, Mark Efman, Mark Farrell and Polly Anthony.
March 10, 2008 -- What
Goes On Blog
by Dave Haber
Ringo just
being Ringo again
It seems lately that Ringo
Starr has developing more
of a talent for angering his long-time fans.
After just recently saying
he wouldn't be interested in moving back to Liverpool, this week
it's all over the news that he's sick of being remembered as a
Beatle.
He said, "Some days I'm
just fed up with
The Beatles. I think that
when I die, the message on my tombstone will be 'Ex-Beatle'. Like
I've done nothing else."
Ringo, we fans know you've
done other things. Your seventies hits like Photograph and You're
Sixteen will never be forgotten. La De Da on Vertical Man is great.
And need we remind you, you yourself recreated the Beatles song
Love Me Do on that very same album (a great rendition, by the
way!) And I Wanna Be Santa Claus is wonderful fun that I can listen
to over and over.
So, Ringo, lighten up. We love
all your stuff, but be real. You're a Beatle. That's what you
are, that's never gonna change. And that's OK.
And, don't be worried about
your tombstone, because I think it's more likely to say, "Best
Rock Drummer Ever".March 8, 2008 -- OneIndia.com
Ringo Starr sick of being called ex Beatles
He might be one of the members of the Fab Four,
but Ringo
Starr wants to be recognised
for the work he did without The Beatles.
The Photograph singer said that he is fed up of the praise he
receives for being part of the legendary British group.
The 67-year-old said that he
hates that he is continuously referred to as a member of the Beatles,
and wishes people would put less stress on his time in the famous
band and concentrate on his whole career as a drummer, singer
and songwriter.
"Some days I'm just fed
up with The Beatles," Contactmusic quoted him, as saying.
"I think that when when I die, the message on my tombstone
will be 'Ex-Beatle'. Like I've done nothing else," he added.
March 6, 2008 -- Press Release
Photographer reveals her former life with Ringo in new photo book
"Ringo
Starr wasn't the first Beatle
in my life - that place is held by John Lennon." Thus begins the text about John Lennon by photographer
Nancy Lee Andrews in her new book, A Dose of Rock 'n' Roll, a
photographic essay about her life with Ringo Starr. Andrews met
Ringo through Lennon who introduced them in May of 1974. The photographs,
taken over a decade starting in 1970, are a personal journey through
her life at the peak of pop culture history. The book is rich
in photos of tender moments with Ringo, his loving relationship
with his children, his playfulness and their travels around the
world. Her years with the famous Beatle drummer brought Andrews
and her highly original and perceptive camerawork into the world
of some of the greatest rock and roll and pop icons of the time,
along with the women who loved them. Among many others appearing
in the images and text of the book, in addition to Ringo and the
late, great John Lennon and George Harrison,
are Keith Moon, Bernie Taupin, Arlo Guthrie, Hoyt Axton and Eric
Clapton, to name a few.
A Dose of Rock 'n'
Roll is being issued by Dalton Watson Fine Books (www.daltonwatson.com) in a limited edition
of 2,500. Priced at $69, it contains 292 pages, 207 color and
98 black and white photos, numbered and signed by Andrews, in
a slipcase. It will debut at The Fest for Beatles Fans 2008 at
the Meadowlands Hotel in Secaucus, New Jersey from March 28-30,
2008. The author will be on hand at the hotel to autograph books
on Friday, 5pm-midnight; Saturday, noon-midnight; and Sunday,
noon-10:30 pm. A regular edition will be released in June, 2008
for $39. ISBN # 978-1-85443-235-3.
Nancy Lee Andrews grew up between
Jersey City and Alabama. She has worked notably and successfully
on both sides of the camera. As a Ford model, she posed for legendary
fashion photographers Richard Avedon, Milton Greene, Burt Stern
and Irving Penn. Over the years of modeling she became increasingly
interested in how the camera "captured the moment."
Greene, realizing her potential, gave her a Nikon camera and some
film and told her to "start shooting." Under his guidance,
and from that first roll of film, she was hooked.
According to Andrews, "Ringo
Starr was also ardent about photography. It was a huge part of
our life." They collaborated on two album covers, Ringo the
4th and Bad Boy, as well as the advertising shoot for his "Ringo"
special.
In her book, Andrews captures
the moment in words as well as images. Here's a brief sample,
about a day in George Harrison's house. "George looked at
me and said, 'Nancy, I want to give you something.' He took out
a bowl of Indian cabochon blood rubies and told me to take as
many as I wanted and design something for myself. I was astounded
and asked for paper and pencil and started sorting through the
rubies. Some were small and others ranged to the size of quail
eggs. As George strummed the guitar and chatted with Ringo, I
feverishly drew a design and showed it to the boys. George smiled
and looked at Ringo and said, 'Alright, I've given Nancy the stones,
now you can give her the gold.'" Later, Ringo had a necklace
made by Aspreys, the Queen of England's jewelers.
An exhibition of Andrews's photo portraits of musicians from the
1970s selected from A Dose of Rock 'n' Roll will be on view at
Rock Star Gallery in Scottsdale, Ariz. April 12, 2008; The Ingleside
Inn and Melvyn's in Palm Springs, Calif. April 13-14; the June
Kelly Gallery in SoHo, New York from June 11-14 and at the Tennessee
State Museum in Nashville from July 13 to August 31. A national
gallery and museum tour is being planned.
Andrews is married and lives with her husband Eddie Barnes in
Nashville.
March 5, 2008
-- Contact Music
STARR: 'ALCOHOL HELPED ME TO COPE'
Beatles drummer Ringo Starr blames his alcoholism on his inability
to function sober following the break-up of the legendary band.
|
The 67-year-old drifted into a downward spiral of depression after
the Penny Lane hitmakers broke up in 1970 - and turned to alcohol
as a way of coping.
And Starr, who went on to score a number of hit solo albums after
the Beatles disbanded, is convinced he nearly destroyed his career
with drink.
He says, "I recorded a lot of things drunk - because I was
a drunk. I felt I could deal with life more easily with a few
drinks. The problem was a few turned into many." Starr eventually
entered rehab and slowly recovered but insists staying sober was
a major struggle.
He adds, "I can remember only the start of having that final
drink. I drank cognac then I blacked out. A couple of days later
I ended up in rehab.
"Living sober was difficult. I had to learn to go to a show,
never mind be in a show or be in a studio and play. A lot of other
parts of life I had to start again."
March 5, 2008
-- PR-Inside
Starr: 'The Beatles turned into an awful band'
The Beatles drummer Ringo Starr was disgusted with the band's musical
prowess in the mid 1960s - because their screaming fans turned
them into "bad musicians".
The Fab Four star is convinced
they became victims of their own phenomenal success, as the deafening
roar of the crowds during their gigs drowned out the sound of
their instruments - so they couldn't hear what they were playing.
He says, "By 1965 we were
turning into really bad musicians because we literally couldn't
hear ourselves over the screaming from the audience.
"I was going downhill
as a musician, and so was everyone else in the band. Then, we
only did 25 minutes on stage. Now thanks to Led Zeppelin and The
Who, everybody has to do two hours.
February 26, 2008 -- Contact
Music
VANDALS ATTACK
STARR TRIBUTE
Angry vandals have attacked
a tribute to
Ringo Starr in his hometown
after the Beatles legend made disparaging remarks about the city
of Liverpool, England, in a TV interview.
The drummer appeared on a British chat show last month and told
host Jonathan Ross there was "nothing" he missed about
the area since leaving to pursue his music career.
And his comments have angered people in the city, who are fiercely
proud of the area's link to the Beatles, with vandals defacing
a tribute to Starr at his former school.
A sign at a playground, named Starr Fields in his honour, was
daubed with spray paint - with the 67-year-old's face blanked
out and the word "traitor" scrawled next to it.
February 21, 2008
-- NME
Ringo Starr hooks up with The Zutons
The
Zutons had a chance encounter with Ringo Starr
in Los Angeles, and gave the Beatle a sneak preview of their new
songs.
Starr was outside Sunset Sound
Studios, where The Zutons are recording their third album, when
the band's saxophone player Abi Harding spotted him.
She explained: "I was
sitting outside the studio when my jaw dropped 'cause Ringo had
just pulled up in front of me. I was proper shocked and ran over
to him and gave him a big hug."
The group invited the star
in and gave him a preview of some of their new songs.
Harding added: "He came
in and talked to us a bit and had a listen to a couple of our
songs that he seemed to really like. He said he liked the way
I played sax so I was made up all day."
Set for a summer album release,
The Zutons are currently recording with legendary producer George
Drakoulias. The record will be the follow-up to 2006's 'Tired
Of Hanging Around'.
February 14, 2008 -- Press Release
Ringo announces 10th All Star Band summer tour
IT'S VALENTINES DAY AND THE
PERFECT TIME TO SPREAD A LITTLE MORE PEACE AND LOVE:
RINGO STARR ANNOUNCES SUMMER TOUR AND HIS 10TH ALL STARR BAND,
FEATURING COLIN HAY, BILLY SQUIER, HAMISH STUART, EDGAR WINTER
AND GARY WRIGHT
NORTH AMERICAN TOUR TO LAUNCH
JUNE 19 AT FALLSVIEW CASINO AND END AUGUST 2ND AT THE GREEK IN
LOS ANGELES CALIFORNIA
2008 continues to be a very
busy year for
Ringo Starr, fresh off launching
his new CD Liverpool 8, he announced today that he will be touring
the US and Canada this summer. The 10th All Starr-studded ensemble
will include returning All Starrs (in alphabetical order): Colin Hay, Billy Squier,
Hamish Stuart, Edgar Winter, and first timer Gary Wright and on
drums, Gregg Bissonette.
In its 10th incarnation, the
All Starrs will continue to inspire audiences of all ages and
backgrounds. No other single stage produces the hits like Ringo's
All Starrs, each singularly accomplished in their own right. They
are artists who complement Ringo and share his message of peace
and love. As Ringo said in a recent interview, "My live shows
are a peace-and-love fest. That's my main promotion, really."
Since 1989, Ringo and his All
Starr Tours have rocked sold out venues with great musicians who
love to play. Each of the All Starrs lend their most popular songs
to the set which already boasts Ringo's impressive hit list that
includes, "With a Little Help From My Friends", "Yellow
Submarine", "Photograph" and "It Don't Come
Easy".
The 31 US and Canadian tour
dates will begin June 19 at Fallsview Casino in Niagra Falls,
Ontario, with a show at New York's Radio City in the first week
on June 24 and wrapping up at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles
August 2nd 2008.
February 7, 2008
Ringo's statement
about the Maharishi's death
One of the wise men I met
in my life was the Maharishi. I always was impressed by his joy
and I truly believe he knows where he is going.
Peace & Love,
Ringo.
February 6, 2008 -- New York Post
RINGO GETS HIS WAY WITH 'RACHAEL RAY'
On the same day that Ringo
Starr walked off the set of
"Live! With Regis and Kelly" rather than cut short one
of his songs, he taped an uncut appearance on "The Rachael
Ray Show." The episode in which he performs the whole song
"Liverpool 8" and then washes Ray's dishes - was taped
on Jan 22 and is set to air this Friday, February 8.
Earlier, on "Live!,"
Starr had originally tried to cut the song's 4 minute, 15 second
length down to 3 minutes 30 seconds for "Live!," his
rep said. But "Live" executive producer Michael Gelman
insisted it be less than 3 minutes.
At the time, a "Live"
spokeswoman disputed Starr's account and said he had tried to
play a song nearly 5 minutes long and that the producers had tried
to work with him to make it fit the standard length usually devoted
to a musical performance on the show.
He finally left the building
without going on the air and headed over to Ray's studio. Producers
there asked if he would be interested in performing two songs.
Ray's two-song offer had nothing
to do with the "Live!" debacle, show spokesman Charlie
Dougiello said, adding that Starr had been booked to appear on
"Rachael Ray" for months. Starr agreed to sit for a
lengthy interview with Ray, play a song and then do the dishes
left over from a cooking segment.
January 31, 2008 -- A&E.com
Ringo appears on A&E's
Private Sessions Sunday February 3rd
The one and only Ringo Starr is the next featured guest on A&E's
weekly one-hour performance and interview series Private Sessions,
hosted by Lynn Hoffman premiering this Sunday, February 3rd at 9 AM ET/PT.
The legendary Singer/Songwriter/Drummer
chatted with host Lynn Hoffman and sang 4 songs including his
signature hit "Photograph", Beatles hits "With
a Little Help From My Friends" and "Boys". Viewers
can tune-in to see Ringo Starr also perform the title track off
of his anticipated new album Liverpool 8.
Plus, surprise guest appearances
from Yoko
Ono, Bad Company drummer Simon
Kirke as well as Conan O'Brien's Max Weinberg.
Pop pensioner Ringo Starr is a youthful 67, thanks to a rigorous
workout regime and a beautiful wife. Starr is preparing to go
back on the road, in his seventh decade, to promote a new solo
album. And he claims Barbara
Bach - his Bond girl wife
of 26 years - deserves credit for him defying the aging process.
Starr tells talk show host Larry King, "I work out. I have
a trainer. And I watch what I eat. That's it really. And I'm in
love with a beautiful girl, so it keeps me young."
January 22, 2008
-- Newsday.com
Ringo Walks Off `Regis' Over Song Flap
Ringo Starr is known for being the amiable Beatle, but the rock
star showed his tough side Tuesday when he walked off the set
of "Live With Regis and Kelly" rather than cut short
one of his songs.
Starr,
who is promoting his new album, "Liverpool 8," planned
to perform the title song with fellow rocker Dave Stewart. However,
due to miscommunication between his publicist, Elizabeth Freund,
and the musical director, Starr didn't realize the performance
had to be 2 1/2 minutes or less, Freund told The Associated Press.
When told Tuesday morning that
the performance had to be shortened, Freund said Starr tried to
cut about a minute of the song's 4 minute, 15 second length, down
to 3 minutes and 30 seconds. However, according to Freund, producer
Michael Gelman said it had to be less than 3 minutes.
"We offered to cut back
our chat time and asked them to fade or go to commercial. They
were not willing to do that and Ringo was not willing to cut it
further, so without a compromise we were not able to stay,"
Freund said in a statement to The Associated Press. "Ringo
left saying, 'God bless and goodbye. We still love Regis.'"
A spokeswoman for "Regis
and Kelly" disputed some of Freund's contentions. The representative,
who declined to be named -- citing show policy -- told the AP
the show's producers tried to work with Starr. The spokeswoman
also said the time of his song was almost 5 minutes, not 4 minutes
and 15 seconds. She also said that his appearance had been booked
since November and that Starr's representatives had agreed to
the time requirement for the song.
With Starr absent, fashion
designer Michael Kors and the winners of CBS' "The Amazing
Race" did extra segments to fill his time.
Despite Tuesday's drama, she
said the show would absolutely welcome Starr back.
However, Stewart had plenty
of criticism for the show, calling it "disrespectful treatment
of us as artists."
"Four minutes (3 minutes
and 40 seconds, actually) seemed like an appropriate amount of
time for a former Beatle. Mr. Gelman apparently felt Ringo's musical
legacy should take a back seat to additional banter about the
size of Ms. (Kelly) Ripa's derriere," he said in a statement.
The spokeswoman for "Regis
and Kelly" said there would be no comment on Stewart's statement.
Starr, 67, shortened his song
for CBS' "Late Show With David Letterman," but it was
still over 3 minutes, Freund said.
But he was able to play the
full song later Tuesday on "Rachael Ray."
"Ringo taped an interview
and performance on our show this afternoon, which was absolutely
amazing. He performed `Liverpool 8' in its entirety ... and was
a complete professional and a pleasure to work with," said
Charlie Dougiello, a spokesman for Ray.
January 18, 2008 -- Sun
Media
Ringo's rehearsals back in Canada
Ringo Starr
is returning to Canada in
June to rehearse for and then launch his latest All-Starr tour
in support of his just released album, Liverpool 8.
The 67-year-old onetime Beatles
drummer, who has chosen Casino Rama near Orillia, Ont., as the
tour rehearsal and launch spot for his past three albums, confirmed
the news in a teleconference interview yesterday when asked by
Sun Media.
"I'm touring again this
summer, and we will be rehearsing in Canada," Starr said
down the line from London. "Now I'm not sure if it's going
to be Casino Rama again, so there's two choices of where we'll
rehearse but they're both in Canada. It will be in June."
Casino Rama confirmed yesterday
Starr will not be returning this year, so the other choice would
likely be Fallsview Casino Resort in Niagara Falls, Ont., although
a spokesperson contacted yesterday there could not confirm Starr
was coming.
The drummer last toured in
2006 with his ever-revolving All-Starr Band lineup made up of
three-time member Sheila E, Rod Argent (The Zombies), Richard
Marx, Billy Squier and Hamish Stuart. For that trip he spent over
a week rehearsing at Casino Rama before launching the trek.
"I love playing,"
Starr said yesterday. "A long, long time ago my mother said,
'You're always happy when you're playing.' And people say that
today. I love to play. It's just a thing that I'm blessed with."
Starr said he particularly
enjoyed performing alongside his Liverpool 8 co-producer, Dave
Stewart of the Eurythmics, in his hometown of Liverpool last week
as part of in support of their so-called Capital of Culture events.
"I felt great, actually,"
he said. "I felt the excitement of the time because it was
the opening of the city of culture and I was proud. I'm from Liverpool
and they got the gig. But it was just great to be back there with
all the excitement. So I got caught up in the excitement."
Starr called the title track
from Liverpool 8, named for the district where he lived as a child
and released this past Tuesday, the most autobiographical song
he's ever written. The tune mentions his five-week stint in the
merchant marines, working in a factory, playing with Rory Storm
and the Hurricanes, and the early days of the Beatles, playing
in Hamburg, Germany, and at Shea Stadium in New York
"It's just about my life," he said of the song. "The
time is right. You don't plan that. It just happens. This is the
time to sing that song."
Q: Do you remember a particular
Beatles session that was exceptionally difficult?
RINGO: The worst session ever was "Maxwell's
Silver Hammer." It was the worst track we ever had to record.
It went on for f*cking weeks. I thought it was mad.
Q: These days, how do you hear
new music?
RINGO: Are you barmy? I put the f*cking CD on
and listen to it!
Q: (Regarding Liverpool 8)
And you sing about playing Shea Stadium.
RINGO: Playing Shea was a high point - we were
the first band up there. It was huge - the emotion of the gig.
When we did that Beatles Anthology, the guy interviewing me asked
about the second time we played Shea, and I was like, "What?
We played it twice?" I had no memory of the second time.
Later, when the interviewer asked George about playing Shea, he
said, "What? We played it twice?"
Q: Also, you sing, "I
never missed a beat."
RINGO: I never did, and that's just how it is.
If I hit that drum, it was in the right space at the right time.
Q: Yes, it's been said that
you rarely screwed up a Beatles take in the studio. What about
live?
RINGO: At a show in '64, in Indianapolis, I
had taken too much medication, and I couldn't play....at any speed!
Paul looked at me and went, "One, two, three, four!"
and I went, "Ohhhhh." I just couldn't manage it.
Q: By medication, you mean
a beer or two?
RINGO: I mean anything I could get my hands
on. Remember, I was the quiet one.January 15, 2008 -- Liverpool
Echo
by Peter Grant
Ringo Starr:
Liverpool is in my soul part of me
"I REALLY am sentimental
. . ." Ringo
Starr tells me as he shakes
my hand.
And the 67-year-old Beatles
legend laughs when I say "Welcome back, la" in my best
Scouse.
"La
yeah, how are yer, Liverpool ECHO?"
Ringo has lost none of his
lad-next-door charm.
And despite an accent tinged
with a US drawl there is every now and then in his phraseology
a bit of Thomas the Tank Engine.
"It's true I am
sentimental and I am still on the journey."
He was referring to the first
solo album he made called Sentimental Journey.
In honour of the Dingle he
featured his local pub The Empress, located near his childhood
homes in nearby Madryn Street and Admiral Grove on the cover.
To this day the pub in
Liverpool 8 is a bit of a Starr shrine
Sporting a leather jacket,
lilac scarf and some sparkling earrings teetotaller Ringo is the
picture of health.
Gone are the rings that turned
plain Richard Starkey into Ringo Starr. He gave up bling two years
ago.
But he was clearly delighted
to be back home.
"I was going to stay in
the Hard Days Night Hotel but it isn't finished," he
said.
Ringo was still buzzing from
a nostalgic trip around his old school.
" I enjoyed it. Just me
taken around by the headmaster.
"When I first went there
it was called Dingle Secondary Modern. Now it's Shorefields High
School.
"When I first went there
there were about five kids.
"Now everything's changed
and it made me realise just how much the city, too, has altered
since I Iived here in the 50s and 60s.
"I remember the city was
damp and I got TB and I spent some time in Heswall.
"My message to Liverpool
is support Capital of Culture get out there and give it
all you've got."
Ringo said he did feel nostalgic
when people talked to him about places he played with and without
The Beatles.
"Someone mentioned Litherland
Town Hall and those memories came back."
And he said he loved sending
a link to New York from St George's Hall.
"When
I was younger they wouldn't have let me in here," he added.
He said he was focused on the two important launches which have
brought him back to Liverpool the St George's plateau Capital
of Culture launch.
And tonight's show Liverpool
The Musical at the ECHO Arena.
Ringo was patience personified
signing drum skins and Capital of Culture guide books with the
simple words WOW Ringo XX.
He said the seed of his song
Liverpool 8 was born four years ago.
But his collaboration with
former Eurythmic Dave Stewart took the concept further.
"It is autobiographical.
I was thinking about the jobs I'd had such as working for British
Rail for six weeks.
" I started thinking about
Butlins and Hamburg and America.
"Meeting Paul and George and
John and, of course, Shea stadium. "I
am still connected to Liverpool. It's in my soul."
Ringo, often cited as being
The Beatles most natural actor, said he enjoyed making the Liverpool
8 video but won't be going back in front of the camera again for
a feature film.
"I was going to keep it
a secret but Dave has already mentioned our musical so it's out
in the open a joint musical concept.
"It's an idea we had called
Hole In the Fence about symbolically climbing out from my
Liverpool upbringing and Dave's musical roots in Sunderland.."
Ringo said he was particularly
delighted about the last Beatle album called simply Love.
It is the soundtrack for the
Cirque du Soleil show in Las Vegas.
The songs were re-mastered
by Beatle producer George
Martin and his producer son
Giles.
"They did a wonderful
job on that. I really mean that. I went to the show in Las Vegas
it was fabulous. You should go.
"Well when I heard my
own drumming again all I can say, man, is WOW.
Ringo said he means every word
of his lyrics especially: "Liverpool I never let you
down.
"But you know that was
Dave's line. He said to me 'Ringo, you never did let Liverpool
down' and he was right. I didn't and I don't.
Ringo said he still sees Paul from time to time.
"Yeah, we hang out. I
am a player and he's a player. He has his tours and I have mine.
"But it's cool to meet
up and hang out when we can."
And the one thing he misses
about his hometown no matter where he is in the world at
his Monte Carlo home or on tour is summed up in one word
humour.
But I ask Sentimental Mr Starr
one last question
Is Liverpool the fifth Beatle,
like, la?
"Oh . . . look there was
George Martin, Brian Epstein -- God bless him -- and people like Neil Aspinall.
"If you carried on like
that there would be hundreds of 'fifth Beatles'.
"There is no fifth Beatle.
"Just put it this way,
there were four of us four Beatles and we were all from
Liverpool."
January 12, 2008
-- Liverpool Daily Post
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Ringo Starr talks to the Daily Post
By Peter Grant
'I'm not on holiday I'm
here to play the drums and sing. My message to Liverpool is support
Capital of Culture get out there and give it all you've
got.
"There are so many great
events to shout about and people should come and check it out."
With his usual direct nasal
tone, Ringo
Starr is clearly a man on
a mission.
A heartfelt mission to drum
up support both at home and abroad for Capital of Culture year.
But
there were things he wanted to do while in the town where he was
born, like visit his old school and sign autographs for the pupils.
He was driven around the Dingle
area and told the Daily Post it was a "very nostalgic"
experience.
"I spent time walking
around the old place and it was good to see them.
"I enjoyed it. Just me
taken around by the headmaster.
"It's changed a lot since
my day.
"When I first went there
it was called Dingle Secondary Modern. Now it's Shorefields High
School.
"When I first went there,
there were about five kids. Now look at it and all these modern
buildings and computers.
"Everything's changed
and it made me realise just how much the city, too, has altered
since I lived here in the 50s and 60s.
"I was trying to place
just what used to be where.
"But I don't live here
now so I can't comment on just how much has changed."
Now a teetotaller, he said
he wouldn't be venturing into any old haunts, notably the Empress
Pub.
The tavern in High Park Street
featured on the cover of his Sentimental Journey album.
It is a landmark highlighted
on the twice-daily Magical Mystery Tour coach trips and the album
cover is framed on the wall in the L8 venue.
Ringo says he did feel nostalgic
too when people were talking to him about places where he played,
with and without The Beatles.
"Someone mentioned Litherland
Town Hall and those memories came back. And it came back when
I saw the Empire.
"I didn't want to get
out of the car in Dingle and walk around because if I did I would
have been lost and not been able to find my way home.
"My childhood memory is
all these avenues and trees."
Speaking in an accent that
crosses Liverpool with Americana and a touch of Thomas The Tank
Engine the cartoon he once narrated Ringo was looking
relaxed in leather jacket, lilac scarf and peaked bobble hat.
Sparkling earrings are now
more prominent than his famous hand jewellery which the 67-year-old
gave up two years ago.
Ringo was adamant that during
his "working trip" to his home town he would squeeze
in as much as he could to promote both his album and single and
the work of the Capital of Culture.
He said he was focused on the
two important launches: on the St George's plateau roof in silver
stage jacket seen by almost 50,000 last night.
And
tonight's Echo Arena Liverpool gig Liverpool The Musical.
"Liverpool, c'mon participate!
Don't just sit in a room and watch, but get involved. There's
a lot going on here - that's my message."
Ringo indeed was patience personified,
signing drum skins and Capital of Culture guide books with the
simple words "WOW Ringo."
He says with a lot of pride
that he did have the seed of an idea about his new song Liverpool
8 some four years ago and it was his collaboration with Dave Stewart
that took the concept further.
"It is autobiographical.
"I was thinking about
my childhood and the jobs I'd had, some only for a few weeks.
"I was thinking about
Rory Storm and all the sailors and seamen who brought us back
records from The States and how we heard all this new stuff which
inspired us.
"Meeting Paul, George
and John and, of course, Shea stadium.
"It wasn't difficult picking
out bits from my happy childhood."
Ringo says he enjoyed making
the video for Liverpool 8, but he won't be going back in front
of the camera again for a feature film.
"I was going to keep it
a secret, but Dave has already mentioned it now so it's out in
the open about our joint musical concept.
"It's an idea we had called
Hole In the Fence a musical and we are both working on it
with input from my Liverpool upbringing and Dave's musical roots
in Sunderland."
Ringo says he was particularly
delighted about the last Beatle album, called Love.
The songs were remastered by
Beatle producer George
Martin and his producer son
Giles.
"They did a wonderful
job on that. I really mean that. I went to the show in Las Vegas
it was fabulous.
"And when I heard the
album soundtrack that both Martins had done, well, when I heard
my own drumming all I can say, man, is WOW."
Ringo says he means every word
of his lyrics especially "Liverpool I never let you
down".
"But you know, that was
Dave's line he said to me 'Ringo, you never let Liverpool down'
and he was right I didn't, I haven't and I don't.
"Being from Liverpool
is in my soul."
When asked if there was a firm
bond between Paul and himself, he smiled.
"Yeah, we hang out.
"I am a player and he's
a player. He has his tours and I have mine, but it's cool to meet
up and hang out when we can."
Ringo says that the one thing
he misses about his home town no matter where he is in the
world whether in his Monte Carlo home or on tour is the
Liverpool sense of humour.
He laughed: "I was going
to stay in the Hard Day's Night Hotel but it's not finished yet."
And he said a fab farewell
before culture duties called: "Love and Peace to Liverpool.
Time to go to work now..."
January
12, 2008 -- BBC News
Liverpool gets the party started
No-one was sure of the line-up and the running order was shrouded
in secrecy.
But people from across Merseyside
and the world turned out in their thousands for the opening show
to kick-start Liverpool's year as European Capital of Culture.
The cold weather did not put
people off and coats, hats and scarves were worn - along with
flashing neon bunny ears.
Hours before the opening, thousands were
already crowding into the city centre's St George's Plateau to
ensure a good spot in front of the huge stage.
It began with the master of
ceremonies announced that "Liverpool was, is and always will
be nothing less than the centre of the creative universe".
As 2008 lit the sky in a firework
on top of St George's Hall acrobats dressed as workers, symbolising
the city's recent regeneration, ushered in a container of precious
cargo which boasted a selection of the city's artistic community.
The electricity in the atmosphere
was catching and people were turning round and casting a nervous
grin at their neighbour or to ask if they had any idea about what
was in the show.
But they all agreed that whatever
they were about to see they would not miss it.
Vicki Nicholson, from Wavertree Liverpool,
said: "One thing Scousers know how to do, is how to throw
a party."
She was joined by boyfriend
John Gerrard and 11-year-old daughter Amy.
"We came down early to
get a good spot, we really wanted to see Ringo
but this whole thing is brilliant and it's got to be good for
the city.
"We were in Cork for their
culture party in 2005 and this tops it, but we would say that."
What they were treated to was a musical extravaganza.
Ringo stars
A lone guitarist played from
the summit of the Wellington Column.
Ringo Starr opened the show
with a drum solo which was met with a roar of appreciation by
the crowd.
Later on he also whipped up
the frenzied crowd with his new single Liverpool 8. January 12, 2008 -- BBC News
City enjoys culture capital party
Tens of thousands of people have joined in a launch
party for Liverpool's year as European Capital of Culture.
Former Beatle Ringo Starr helped get the party under way by performing
on the 100ft-high roof of St George's Hall in the centre of the
city.
He was joined by acrobats who
dangled on wires from cranes - designed to reflect the building
work which has transformed the area.
The opening party kicks off
a year-long programme of more than 350 events.
Fireworks exploded from the
top of St George's Hall and lights and projections bathed the
Neo-Classical masterpiece and other surrounding buildings, including
the Empire Theatre and Lime Street station.
As well as suspending the acrobats,
some of whom appeared to dash up the side of St George's Hall,
the cranes also hoisted shipping containers, which were designed
to symbolise the city's shipping heritage.
Organisers hope the Capital
of Culture tag will attract an extra two million visitors and
boost the economy by £100 million ($200 million).
The ceremony began at 2008
GMT and boasted a list of 600 performers, including Starr, former
Eurythmics frontman Dave Stewart and The Wombats.
The show's design was drawn
up by director Nigel Jamieson, responsible for the opening ceremony
for the Sydney Olympic Games.
It took more than 100 tonnes
of staging, 2.5 miles (4km) of fibre optic cabling and 250 people
more than 40,000 hours to set up.
Two 40ft (12m) screens were
erected to help the crowd on Lime Street enjoy the show.
Despite earlier criticism,
Phil Redmond, Brookside creator and deputy chairman of the Culture
Company said he was sure it would go to plan: "It's like
a scouse wedding - a lot of rowing but it gets there in the end."
On Saturday the new Echo Arena will play host to
a musical extravaganza which will showcase some of the most famous
names in Merseyside music.
Ringo Starr, Echo and The Bunnymen,
The Farm, Riuven, The Wombats, Pete Wylie, Vasily Petrenko and
the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra took centre stage alongside
community choirs and gospel groups in the "once in a lifetime
show".
At a news conference the former
Fab Four drummer said he was proud to be a part of the celebrations.
"I'm from Liverpool, I
do feel that - it's in my soul.
"It has changed so much
over the years but the atmosphere of the city doesn't change -
it's still here."
Liverpool's art galleries and
museums will also be open to visitors until 2200 GMT.
Experts at the North West Development
Agency have predicted that the year-long title and other planned
events could net £50m from tourists.
They also expect the same amount
again to be generated on Merseyside.
Peter Mearns, executive director
of marketing at the NWDA, said: "As the celebrations get
under way for Capital of Culture the eyes of the world will be
on England's North West and it is critical that we seize this
once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to show the world exactly what
we have to offer here."
Reflects On Life, Career, In New CD, And Interview With Maggie
Rodriguez
When Beatlemania was in full
bloom, so was the swooning of young ladies over the Fab Four.
But
who got the most girls? Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison or Ringo Starr?
"Well," revealed
Ringo in an exclusive Early Showinterview from the Beatles' hometown
of Liverpool, England Friday. "Paul, actually. Paul the most.
Because he was just so darn cute!"
"But, in America,"remarked
Early Show co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez, "you were the cute,
cuddly, teddy bear."
"I was the one in America,"
Ringo agreed. "Yes, I was Mr. America. I loved America, because
they just went for me, and it was great!"
Starr and Rodriguez were in
Liverpool's newly restored, historic St. George's Hall on the
first day of the city's year as Europe's official cultural capital
-- as Starr's latest CD, "Liverpool 8," was hitting
store shelves.
The album's name refers to
the post office designation for the part of Liverpool where Ringo
grew up, and the disc is a quasi-autobiography.
Rodriguez told Ringo, "(Fellow
co-anchor) Julie Chen and I were watching in the studio, and we
got misty-eyed. It's this beautiful, melancholic tour of your
life and your career."
"It started with Dave,
Dave Stewart," Ringo explained, "and I wrote the song.
He had this idea of doing an autobiography. So I just went through
what I did. I was a sailor first."
He says the CD depicts "a
man's life. I worked on the railways before that, but we couldn't
rhyme it with anything. You know. So it's not in!"
That was greeted by laughter
from the audience.
"That was my first job,"
Starr continued. "And then on the boats. And then I was in
a factory, like it says. ... And you know the rest."
Being a Beatle was "a
lot of fun," Ringo understated. "It was great. And we
made great music. You know, I was an only child, and suddenly
I had three brothers. So for me it was incredible."
But, "I don't think about
it every day. It's not something you do. You don't think about
it every day. You don't wake up saying, 'Oh, what about those
days?' You have to sort of get into this day, you know what I
mean? I'm trying to get into this day now.
"But the joy is, and the
blessing, at 13, I wanted to be a drummer in a band, which I achieved,
and I wanted to play with good players, which I achieved, and
I'm still doing it. So, the dreams are still coming true."
Ringo has been married to actress
Barbara Bach for 27 years.
The audience clapped and howled
when he was asked it that's his biggest accomplishment, to which
Ringo kidded, "You may be clapping, but you don't have to
live with her!
"But it's a blessing,
you know. I always say, you know, i love the woman, and I'm blessed
that she loves me," prompting a long "ahh" from
the crowd, made up mostly of college students.
Ringo says John "was an
incredible man, and nobody played guitar like he did. Or wrote
those songs. He was great.":
George, he says, "was
my friend. Yeah."
Asked by Rodriguez if the odds
had improved from the 50 / 50 he;'d given another interviewer
recently that he and McCartney would perform together again, Ringo
said with a smirk that the odds remained the same, then added,
"People still say that. How crazy are they? You're going
down the street, and they say, 'Hey, when you getting back together?'
Well, it's a bit tough right now!" John and George are, of
course, dead.
Ringo says he sees John's widow,
Yoko Ono on occasion, most recently in Iceland,
where they attended the John Lennon Lights of Peace.Jan 11 2008 -- AP
Ringo Back to Where He Once Belonged
With
a little help from his friends, ex-Beatle Ringo Starr
returned home Friday to kickstart Liverpool's year in the spotlight
as a European Capital of Culture.
Starr will join Eurythmics
frontman Dave Stewart in headlining a huge outdoor concert, featuring
around 600 local musicians, aerial performers and children.
The Fab Four's drummer will
star again Saturday in "Liverpool, The Musical," a showcase
of the city's rich musical heritage that also features the Royal
Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Echo and the Bunnymen, The Farm
and up-and-coming rockers The Wombats.
Jan 11 2008
-- Liverpool Echo
Ringo stars in 08 role for Culture People's Opening event
Ringo Starr arrived in Liverpool today, his first
public visit to the city in almost two decades.
The former Beatle will headline
the free Capital of Culture People's Opening outside St George's
Hall tonight.
Tomorrow, he will perform in
the spectacular Liverpool The Musical: The Greatest Story Ever
Told at the ECHO Arena, alongside Dave Stewart, Echo And The Bunnymen,
Pete Wylie, the RLPO and 400 singers.
The
last time the 67-year-old drummer performed in Liverpool was at
the Empire Theatre in 1992.
Speaking exclusively to the
ECHO last month, he said he was looking forward to returning to
headline the 2008 opening events.
He said: "The good thing
about it is, because the city's Capital of Culture, they will
get into lots of other situations to present Liverpool in an incredible
light."
The drummer's involvement led
to American TV network giant CBS broadcasting its two-hour breakfast
show from Liverpool today to viewers across the USA.
The 40-minute People's Opening
will take place at St George's Plateau, starting at 8.08pm (20:08)
and will include Liverpool band The Wombats, aerial performers,
hundreds of schoolchildren, air cannons, fireworks and guitarists.
Ringo will perform his new
single Liverpool 8, and today we print the song's lyrics so readers
attending the event can sing along.
It chronicles Ringo's early
working life, from his teenage years as a sailor and factory hand,
to his time in Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, the red lights of
Hamburg, and becoming a Beatle.
It mentions the Shea Stadium
concert in New York in 1966 and features the lyrics: "When
I look back, it was cool for those four boys from Liverpool." June 27, 2007 -- USA Today
A hard day's night for
'Larry King'
Larry King couldn't reunite The Beatles,
but he did the best he could, assembling surviving group members
Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr
and Beatle widows Yoko
Ono and Olivia Harrison for a CNN interview on Tuesday night.
Serving as "fifth Beatle"
for the evening was Guy Laliberte, founder of Cirque du Soleil,
which is celebrating the first anniversary of its Beatles-soundtracked
LOVE production in Las Vegas. That was the location and pretext
for the King interview.
Structured teasingly, the show
was opened by the duo of Ono and Harrison. Laliberte joined them
for the next segment. Then McCartney and Starr came on together,
without the widows; the actual "reunion" was saved for
the final segment.
Amid the LOVE hype, there were
a few disarmingly Beatlesque moments. McCartney strummed a mandolin
and sang a snatch of his new Dance Tonight. When King asked McCartney
and Starr if they ever pinched themselves (over their historic
impact), McCartney retorted, indicating Starr, "I pinch him."
But when King asked McCartney how he was doing these days, the
inquiry was deftly shut down: "I'm doing surprisingly well.
But I don't talk about it, and that helps."
June 27, 2007
-- CNN
Surviving Beatles, widows come together
Former Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr
clowned around and marveled at their band's amazing impact in
an interview Tuesday on CNN's "Larry King Live."
"We were just kids from
Liverpool," McCartney said. "And, yes, it is quite amazing,
because as time goes on, it kind of becomes more and more of a
phenomenon."
McCartney said the early Beatles
knew they were a good band and were pretty sure of themselves,
but Starr said, "We thought we'd be really big in Liverpool."
(Watch former Beatles discuss their band's legacyVideo)
"I
think the most exciting thing is that, you know, we expect people
our age to know the music. But actually, a lot of kids know the
music," Starr said. "And if anything is left, we have
left really good music, and that's the important part, not the
moptops or whatever."
The pair appeared relaxed in
sneakers and almost matching black suits and joked frequently
-- often at each other's expense.
"They were nothing,"
Starr said of his former bandmates. "And then I joined and
then they got this record deal and look what happened."
"No, we were good,"
McCartney retorted. "You wanted to join us. You begged to
join us."
"I didn't beg," Starr
said.
McCartney and Starr were in Las Vegas with Yoko Ono Lennon and Olivia
Harrison, the widows of John
Lennon and George Harrison, to celebrate the anniversary of Cirque
du Soleil's "Love," which uses the band's music.
Harrison said her husband was
friends with Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte and came up
with the idea before he died of cancer in 2001.
"George was around just
long enough to transmit that to all of us," Harrison said.
(Watch Beatles widows describe dealing with their lossVideo)
Ono said she wasn't sure at
first what her husband would have thought about the project. John
Lennon was shot near the couple's New York apartment in 1980.
"Now I really know that
John would be very happy with this," she said.
Neither woman has remarried
and they both said it was still sometimes difficult to deal with
their losses.
"We feel so strongly about
our husbands that sometimes it's hard for us, isn't it?"
Ono said.
"It's hard, you know,"
Harrison said. "I mean their presence is very powerful and
very strong. But the incredible thing about them is that they
-- everything they left the world and left us is uplifting and
joyful."
The Beatles' music received
a bit of a facelift for the show and has been remixed in 5.1 surround
sound. (An album, "Love," came out last year.)
"Paul and I went to listen
to the music in 5.1 and we go 'Whoa, listen to that,' " Starr
said. "You know you can hear everything now. Things that
we buried a lot. It's all very clear, so it's really great to
hear it."
"Most historic stuff goes
down with age, you know?" McCartney added. "Winston
Churchill's old papers go brown and crinkly, while our music gets
brighter and shinier."
"Next year, it will be
10.1," Starr joked.
McCartney's latest solo album,
"Memory's Almost Full," is No. 3 on the album charts
and Starr is scheduled to release a greatest hits album in August.
RINGO STARR'S 2006 US
TOUR
FanReview
of Ringo Starr and the All Starrs in Chicago at the Rosemont Theatre
- June 17tn
Setlist:
1. Ringo - It Don't Come Easy
2. Ringo - What Goes On
3. Ringo - Honey Don't
4. Billy Squier - Everybody Wants You
5. Edgar Winter - Free Ride
6. Sheila E - A Love Bizarre
7. Ringo - Boys
8. Richard Marx - Don't Mean Nothing
9. Rod Argent - She's Not There
10. Ringo - Never Without You
11. Ringo - Yellow Submarine
12. Billy Squier - Rambling On My Mind
13. Richard Marx - Right There Waiting For You
14. Edgar Winter - Frankenstein
15. Ringo - Photograph
16. Ringo - Choose Love
17. Richard Marx - Should Have Known Better
18. Sheila E - The Glamorous Life
19. Ringo - I Wanna Be Your Man
20. Billy Squier - Rock Me Tonight
21. Rod Argent - Hold Your Head Up
22. Ringo - Act Naturally
23. Ringo - Memphis In Your Mind
24. Ringo - With A Little Help From My Friends
I got stopped at the door with my niece's
camera which was a no-no, so I took it back to the car. By the
time I met up with my wife Rosie and our niece Katie at our balcony
seats, the band was on the 3rd song "Honey Don't". Rosie
told me there were a thousand cameras. I pulled out mine and said,
"A thousand and one". You don't want to know how I got
it past the same cop who stopped us earlier (Rosemont uses Police
for crowd enforcement outside the Theatre and The Allstate Arena
to reduce problems).
The stage was well engineered
accenting the music without visually dominating it. Facing the
stage - left to right, back row Hamish Stuart/bass, Ringo/drums,
and Sheila E/drums all on risers. Front row - Keyboard/Edgar Winter,
Richard Marx/guitar, center mike, Billy Squire/guitar, Keyboard/Rod
Argent. Behind the band is a backdrop of three large circles with
changing colors. There are graphics of swirls, stars and red peace
signs.
Billy Squire is introduced
similarly to "American Idol" and cranks on "Everybody
Wants You", which was enhanced by Argent's keyboards and
the drumming of Ringo and Sheila E. I really enjoyed seeing the
interplay between Ringo and Sheila E. Their styles differ in that
Ringo seems to conserve energy and uses a fast wrist, while Sheila
E swings and attacks similar to a carpenter firing down on a nail.
Seeing their simultaneous impact with such variety of motion was
fascinating!
Billy continues the "Idol"
style intros for Edgar Winter, who goes into "Deal or no
deal", then "Are you ready to take a free ride?"
"Free Ride" is wonderful, Edgar seems to have not slowed
down or missed a note, and the younger fans get to hear a something
they were possibly familiar with mostly because of ads. A standing
ovation showed how it moved everyone.
Edgar then intros "the
lovely, the great, Sheila E" for "A Love Bizarre",
which is vibrant and superb! We hear some VERY vocal Sheila E
fans, who show their appreciation. Rosie's amazed at the shattering
sticks, and the speed of her replacing one after another. Ringo
got some nice laughs commenting how "she hit more on that
solo than I have my whole career!"
Next is "Boys", and
I really have to wonder how much pressure there is to drum for
the guy who was drummer for the biggest rock band EVER! He gives
many appreciative looks over at Sheila during the course of the
entire show and really enjoys her playing.
The flash goes off on my camera, and the
usher taps me on the shoulder and lets me know that they don't
allow cameras, but doesn't take it or the chip as long as I stop.
I appreciate their need to do their job, and that is it for my
(mostly bad) pictures. Most flashes have stopped by now throughout
the crowd.
Richard Marx is next with "Don't
Mean Nothing". My taste in music was much more aggressive
in the '80s (yes I was one of those hardcore punk people). So
I am pleasantly surprised by this song. Possibly the overall composition
of the band got me past my memory of him. Marx's clear voice rings
true as it did twenty years ago. He was obviously awed by the
band, introducing Edgar Winter as "Edgar Freaking Winter!!!"
That's part of what was so great about this show. It really felt
as if the performers were having fun along with the audience.
Not simply playing out of obligation. Marx lives in Illinois,
and was featured in the "solo" spot later. He was comfortable
joking with the crowd who had signs showing he definitely had
fans in the audience as well as family. After finishing to a great
round of applause, he joked, "Thanks for not making me look
bad in front of the boss. I told him [Ringo], wait 'til we get
to Chicago!"
Marx introduced Rod Argent,
speaking of his credentials, including "he's not a bad kiss,
for a guy!" "She's Not There" is next. Argent's
vocals are shaky, but his keyboard work is energetic and driven.
There is interplay between drums and guitar moving the rhythm
of the song along. Hamish and Ringo talk during this song. Unfortunately
Hamish is only a back-up musician in this band and never performs
his own song.
"Never Without You"
is next off of Ringorama. Beautiful, heartfelt and REAL. Ringo's
last two albums produced such great songs that went unnoticed.
Isn't it a pity that the "All Starrs" format, downplays
Ringo's own work? I would see a Roundheads show in a minute .
Next came "Yellow Submarine",
a sing-along with Ringo and the Gang!! Ringo said, "If you
don't know this song, you are waiting for Madonna. But we love
Madonna," he added nodding and giving a piece sign.
The crew set up a keyboard
at center stage with Richard Marx performing "Right Here
Waiting" backed by Rod Argent on keyboards. Ringo exited
the stage.
Marx teased the audience, saying "If you DON'T sing along
I'll send Ringo out!" He joked after a pause that the delayed
cheering was "too late, it's not sincere now!" Lots
of laughs, followed by another well done performance, where he
did prompt the crowd to sing along. I enjoyed it, another pleasant
surprise for me.
Billy Squire also has a solo
performance doing Robert Johnson's blues song "Rambling on
my Mind" with Edgar Winter backing him on keyboards. This
surprises and impresses me, as I thought of Squire more for "The
Stroke" than as a musician. We hear a lot of blues in Chicago,
most of it sub-par, especially in a larger setting like this if
the musician is pandering, but his playing is genuine and well
done without trying to be an exact copy of someone else. My eyes
were opened to what he's about.
Now comes the Tour de Force
"Frankenstein", which showcases Edgar Winter playing
sax, keyboard and drums at different points in the song. It is
amazing to watch the interplay between musicians from different
eras and styles coming together for this. I prefer the album version
though hearing it live, was a joy. My wife is not an instrumental
drum solo kind of a girl, but she turned to me and said "That
was AWESOME!!" Another standing ovation.
Back to the full band, with
Ringo up front singing a poignant "Photograph". The
heartfelt rendtion made one wonder if he thinks of his friends
passing as he sings it.
"What's my name?"
Ringo asks the crowd. "RING-GOOOO!!!!!" answers the
crowd. "You got it!" shouts a pleased Ringo. Next is
the title song from Ringo's latest, "Choose Love". He
jokes before the song counting the hands of those who have bought
it, counting "eight. "
Richard Marx does "Should
Have Known Better" with Billy Squire really firing it up
on guitar. This could have fallen flat, but the crowd stayed into
it. So did I. Hmmm, I might need to rethink some of my biases.
A small kit gets set up in the open center;
I tell Rosie, get ready for some fun. Sure enough, here comes
Sheila E down (with some assistance off her drum set - if she
was playing hurt it only showed when walking) to the front for
"Glamorous Life". I loved seeing this song during the
"Purple Rain" tour and was disappointed it didn't last
longer at the Ringo show. Edgar Winter and her seem to connect
well, bouncing off each other. Sheila used her elbow to bend the
drum skin when soloing, which changed the tone. Two lucky fans
got Sheila's sticks at the song's end.
Ringo's was next with "I Wanna Be Your Man". OK, so
this won't give you insight as to how to fix the world's problems,
but it was a blast! Or in the words of a certain Liverpudlian,
"I think therefore I Rock and Roll!" Maybe it does make
the world better. Getting so much better all the time, perhaps?
"Rock Me Tonight"
featured Billy Squire and again I believe the two drummers and
experience of the musicians lifted up the song making it better
than the original. The crowd rocks.
Now, it is Rod's turn, and
as that first chord kicks in, cheers go up and the crowd is immediately
into "Hold Your Head Up". Most of the audience sings
along, and the keyboard is attacked by Rod, whose voice holds
up. The song flows. Ringo looks frequently back and forth to Sheila
and Rod, sometimes smiling, sometimes with mouth agaped. There
are looks back and forth between Rod and Edgar . Ringo glances
back to Sheila as if to say OK, time to put the exclamation point
on it, and then the finish. Really well done. Ringo says "Every
night is a jam session because we don't know half the songs!"
There is one guy yelling "RINGO!" as Ringo tries to
introduce the next song. Ringo snaps back, "Shut-up while
I'm talking!" The audience screams with laughter. Ringo smiles
and continues his introduction.
"Buck Owens did this one,
then I did this one, then we did it together" says Ringo
introducing "Act Naturally." "That's getting the
most from a song wouldn't you say?" he adds. Someone in the
front row holds up a Beatles Butcher cover for him to sign. Ringo
grabs the album, poses with it and admonishes, "What were
we thinking? The crowd roars. The fan asks him to sign the album
but Ringo declines saying, "No, no, you'll have it on e-bay
before the concert is done." He hands it back to the disappointed
fan.
Next is, "Memphis in My Mind",
a rocker from "Choose Love." The crowd rocks along with
a smiling Ringo (a re-occurring theme this night). Lots of smiles
all around.
Encore time. Ringo explains
that he no longer goes offstage for the traditional encore. "There
is this silly thing where we go off the stage, and you make this
noise. We are in the dark corner and we know we are coming back,
and you know we are coming back, and you make the noise, and we
come back and it is just so silly! So we aren't going to go to
the dark corner, but you make the big noise and we'll do another
one, OK? Now, MAKE THE NOISE !"
After the ovation, the encore begins with "A Little Help
From My Friends". The crowd rocks back and forth almost as
much as "Yellow Submarine", and it just feels so good.
After a few jumping Jacks Ringo saunters off stage, as the band
continues and finally ends the song. They gather up front for
a bow, sans Ringo, and leave.
In the lobby Ringo merchandise is selling like hotcakes with fans
waiting in line almost half an hour to buy T-shirts, mugs, key
chains, posters, hats, teddy bears and programs. There is only
one table with merchandise. The program is nice and worth the
$10!
Can we get a few weeks off
work and fly around the country and see every show remaining on
the tour? This reality thing seems to get in the way at the most
inconvenient times. Everyone down the line, hope you enjoy this
show as much as we (the crowd and the band) did.
Ringo Starr grabbed a little help from his friends
for his new album "Y Not," due January 12th, 2010. The Beatles drummer will be joined by his Fab Four
bandmate Paul
McCartney on a couple of tracks,
including first single "Walk With Me," which finds Macca
and Starr sharing vocals. Other guests and songwriters on "Y
Not," Ringo's first album since 2008's Liverpool 8, include
Joe Walsh, Joss Stone, Van Dyke Parks, Ben Harper and Richard
Marx.
Ringo Starr, taping a public service announcement
at Hard Rock's Universal CityWalk location, says he was persuaded
to join the effort by Ono and shocking statistics such as 16,000
children dying every day from hunger-related causes.
How about this for
a Starr-tling image?
Ringo 'too busy' for autographs
Dressed in black clothes and dark glasses,
Starr said it was "a serious message to everybody watching".
Bummer.
But at least Ringo
Starr got his birthday wish.
He had asked that, at noon Monday, everyone make a peace sign
and say, "Peace and love."
He got it Monday from about 300 fans who
lined an entire city block along East Wacker Place near Chicago's
Hard Rock Hotel to sing "Happy Birthday" to the ex-Beatles
drummer and flash peace signs in the air.
RINGO STARR - STARR SNUBBED BY
RADIO
Yes,
we're supposed to be professionals. We're supposed to ask our
questions, write our story, and treat it like any other assignment.
Ringo Starr began with a reflective piece from his
newest album, "Liverpool 8," and how destiny pulled
him from his hometown roots. He then jumped into a snippet from
one of his most recognizable Beatles songs, "With a Little
Help From My Friends."
Born in Liverpool in 1940, Starr became
one of the most famous musicians of the 1960s for his work with
the Beatles, both behind the drum set and out front as a periodic
singer and composer of uplifting songs. After the group split
up, Starr moved seamlessly into a solo career with the success
of his 1973 album, "Ringo." Starr has released many
albums since, including "Goodnight Vienna," "Time
Takes Time," and DVDs of live concerts. 
The figure,
which took 18 months to cultivate as part of a topiary tribute
to the Fab Four, was unveiled at Liverpool's South Parkway train
station in March this year. But Ringo's figure was targeted by
vandals soon after the unveiling of the artwork.
Ringo
helped launch Liverpool's Capital Of Culture year, but embarrassingly
for the organisers Surrey-based Ringo, who also has a flat in
Chelsea, admitted he rarely returns to his home city and doesn't
miss a thing about it.
Meanwhile,
earlier today George
Harrison's widow Olivia joined Starr in a garden devoted to the memory
of the late Beatle, alongside the daughter of Sir Paul McCartney, photographer Mary.
A Dose of Rock 'n'
Roll
The
Zutons had a chance encounter with Ringo Starr
in Los Angeles, and gave the Beatle a sneak preview of their new
songs.
Ringo appears on A&E's
Private Sessions Sunday February 3rd
Starr,
who is promoting his new album, "Liverpool 8," planned
to perform the title song with fellow rocker Dave Stewart. However,
due to miscommunication between his publicist, Elizabeth Freund,
and the musical director, Starr didn't realize the performance
had to be 2 1/2 minutes or less, Freund told The Associated Press.
"La
yeah, how are yer, Liverpool ECHO?"
"When
I was younger they wouldn't have let me in here," he added.
He said he was focused on the two important launches which have
brought him back to Liverpool the St George's plateau Capital
of Culture launch.
But
there were things he wanted to do while in the town where he was
born, like visit his old school and sign autographs for the pupils.
And
tonight's Echo Arena Liverpool gig Liverpool The Musical.
Hours before the opening, thousands were
already crowding into the city centre's St George's Plateau to
ensure a good spot in front of the huge stage.
Vicki Nicholson, from Wavertree Liverpool,
said: "One thing Scousers know how to do, is how to throw
a party."
Tens of thousands of people have joined in a launch
party for Liverpool's year as European Capital of Culture.
On Saturday the new Echo Arena will play host to
a musical extravaganza which will showcase some of the most famous
names in Merseyside music.
But
who got the most girls? Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison or Ringo Starr?
With
a little help from his friends, ex-Beatle Ringo Starr
returned home Friday to kickstart Liverpool's year in the spotlight
as a European Capital of Culture.
The
last time the 67-year-old drummer performed in Liverpool was at
the Empire Theatre in 1992.
A hard day's night for
'Larry King'
"I
think the most exciting thing is that, you know, we expect people
our age to know the music. But actually, a lot of kids know the
music," Starr said. "And if anything is left, we have
left really good music, and that's the important part, not the
moptops or whatever."
I got stopped at the door with my niece's
camera which was a no-no, so I took it back to the car. By the
time I met up with my wife Rosie and our niece Katie at our balcony
seats, the band was on the 3rd song "Honey Don't". Rosie
told me there were a thousand cameras. I pulled out mine and said,
"A thousand and one". You don't want to know how I got
it past the same cop who stopped us earlier (Rosemont uses Police
for crowd enforcement outside the Theatre and The Allstate Arena
to reduce problems).
The flash goes off on my camera, and the
usher taps me on the shoulder and lets me know that they don't
allow cameras, but doesn't take it or the chip as long as I stop.
I appreciate their need to do their job, and that is it for my
(mostly bad) pictures. Most flashes have stopped by now throughout
the crowd.
Next came "Yellow Submarine",
a sing-along with Ringo and the Gang!! Ringo said, "If you
don't know this song, you are waiting for Madonna. But we love
Madonna," he added nodding and giving a piece sign.
A small kit gets set up in the open center;
I tell Rosie, get ready for some fun. Sure enough, here comes
Sheila E down (with some assistance off her drum set - if she
was playing hurt it only showed when walking) to the front for
"Glamorous Life". I loved seeing this song during the
"Purple Rain" tour and was disappointed it didn't last
longer at the Ringo show. Edgar Winter and her seem to connect
well, bouncing off each other. Sheila used her elbow to bend the
drum skin when soloing, which changed the tone. Two lucky fans
got Sheila's sticks at the song's end. 
Next is, "Memphis in My Mind",
a rocker from "Choose Love." The crowd rocks along with
a smiling Ringo (a re-occurring theme this night). Lots of smiles
all around.
Jorie Gracen