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Around the World in 80 Days
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Hello Goodbye
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Board on the bus
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Handsome Man
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Balcony Boys
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Happiness is ... MTBFR contest!
Hello Beatle people!
I hope you all are having a great summer and staying cool---or if you are on the other side a great winter and staying warm!
Here in Southern Illinois it is currently thunder-storming and has been very, very HOT.
I hope you all enjoyed the special photos and articles about the Beatles in Germany, Japan and Manila. I had worked several years gathering all of the information and I was excited to share it with all of you. Next up with be information about the 1966 North American tour. If YOU were at one of the concerts on that tour and have a memory to share, now is the time to send it in! Remember--if you were there---your story needs to be heard!
I also wanted to let all of you know that I now have a website open for the sale of my book "Happiness is Seeing the Beatles: Beatlemania in St. Louis." The site is www.stlbeatles.com .
I set it up to make it easier to order the book directly from me.
Also part of the new web site is a page I have set up to sell copies of photographs that I have purchased the copyright to. It isn't a whole lot, but it is a start! If you are interested in a photo and it says "not in stock" just let me know that you want it. The ones that are labeled as "in stock" are the ones I have copies of on hand. But if there is one "out of stock" that you want, it is no problem for me to get copies made. Don't be afraid to ask. Here is the link for photo sales: http://www.stlbeatles.com/#!photos-for-sale/ndjv1
I will be at the Paul McCartney concert on August 13 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, the Fest for Beatle Fans in Chicago on August 14, Beatles Prairietown in Prairietown, IL on September 11 and Beatles at the Ridge in Walnut Ridge, Arkansas on September 16-17. If you are at any of these great events and see me---PLEASE come up and let me know!!! I always love talking to readers of the blog.
Now---time for the Summer contest!
There will be two winners of the summer contest and both winners will win:
1 copy of the book Happiness is Seeing the Beatles: Beatlemania in St. Louis signed by the author (hehe me!)
2 8 x 10 photographs of the Beatles performing in St. Louis
2 postcards from the Beatles fan club (Paul & Linda / Maureen and Ringo)
2 Beatles Hot Wheels cars
1 $10 Amazon gift card
To enter this contest, all you have to do is answer this question:
What is one song the Beatles performed live in 1966?
Send your answers to meetthebeatlesforreal@gmail.com
I will keep track of who enters the contest and on July 31, 2016 will pick two winners according to random internet number generator.
Here is the fine print
- Only one entry per person
- Anyone anywhere can enter this contest
- All entries are due by 5:00pm Central Standard time on July 31, 2016
- Winners will be announced on this blog and on Facebook on July 31. If you are a winner, you have 48 hours to email me your address. If I do not hear from you within 48 hours, you forfeit your prize.
Good luck!!
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Ringo and Mo
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Beatles Behind Bars
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Somewhere over the Rainbow
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things are looking up for these fans
I love these mod Beatles fans looking up to see the Beatles at the window of the hotel.
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Crash Landings for the Super Starr
I found this story in a copy of " the new Beatles fan club" newsletter. It was taken from the February 1975 issue of 'Teen magazine.
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Crash Landing for the Super Starr
‘Teen February 1975
Mrs. Starkey’s son, Richard was in a peeve – I swear he all but pouted. Now, it’s not the most unusual occurrence in the world to see a star in a petulant huff. What fun is there after all, in being famous if one can’t publicly drum one’s little heels on the floor in order to stand the world to attention?
But from Richard Starkey, possibly better-known as Ringo Starr, this was odd behavior indeed.
I mean, isn’t his image that of being the jolliest in the land? The another-for-peace ex-Beatle? Naïve of us to assume that image and reality are all of a piece.
Oh and it all started out as a splendidly silly Hollywood happening. In order to publicize his new album, “Good Night Vienna” Ringo was, we were informed, going to have his effigy placed atop the Capitol Tower (Capitol’s the company that distributes his records) along with that of his favorite science fiction character, Gort the robot, and a spaceship. Well, fun, fun, fun. Except it didn’t quite work out that way. Here’s what, in fact, transpired.
We arrived as we’d been bidden, at the Tower at about midday of a fine California Saturday and congregated in one of the studios where sandwiches could be scoffed and Ringo’s album blasted from some speakers. “Ringo will be arriving in a few minutes,” said one flunkey in the awed tones one should reserve for the Second Coming. “He will answer questions for 20 minutes and then leave.” Okay, in a few minutes Ringo did indeed arrive, looking – let it be said – like an English rocker straight out of good old ’64. Hair greased back in a pompadour, dark shades, a general air of sulky insouciance.
Sulky, as it turned out, was the motif for the day. Still, he was pleasant enough as he stepped up on the dais sporting his “beware. I’m manic depressive” button. But wouldn’t you know, the very first question as a zinger?
A girl from a TV station, desperately earnest (you could tell she was earnest by the way she hauled her eyebrows together) wondered aloud, “Isn’t this all a bunch of hype” or slighting words to that effect.
Now, come on. Agreed, agreed, it’s not the most tactful question in the world. It’s perhaps somewhat on the level of attending a party, stuffing your face on the grub, drinking the booze then challenging your hostess, “Just who’re you trying to impress?”
But still. Maybe Ringo’s response was, shall we say, the teeniest bit overdone. Like, he glared. (Ringo glare? You ask astonished. Ringo glared). In very prickly tones he ticked off the reporter to the effect that it was all just a party, where the heck was the hype, and if she didn’t like it…
She was an irritating reporter, it’s true, but she sure had the courage of her convictions. She persisted. What was the point, she asked, of spending all this money, time, media stroking simply to promote an album?
Ringo got angrier. Even quite insulting. By now we were firmly on the side of the questioner, mainly because the sycophants that cluster around stars had decided to display their solidarity and were urging him on with all manner of nonsense rah-rah-rah’s.
One man, with an actual sob in his voice, even ventured to say how incredibly honored we all felt (speak for yourself, we muttered) at the fact that Ringo was actually standing before us that day.
The pits. He’s talking about a drummer in a one-time great, but now de-funct, rock band who can sing other people’s songs okay but not terrific, and he’s got a sob in his throat, yet. Has the world gone totally crazed, we wondered? Because he wasn’t alone in his worship. No way. Adults long past, one assumes, the first blush of adolescence actually cheered his speech. There are times one’s ashamed to be a so-called grownup.
More questions followed: had he and his wife, Maureen split? Well, not exactly. But she was in England with their three children and he was in Los Angeles with and we quote “a lady who takes good care of me.” Howzzat for tasteful? To which other Beatle was he closest? John. Would he settle in the U.S.? Not really, because although the tax situation is pretty grim in Britain right now, it was his home. And there were things that money couldn’t buy.
He was wearing an earring. Some clod wondered what was its significance. We can’t blame his at this point for getting tetchy, because it was truly a silly question. And tetchy is precisely what he got.
“Why does everything have to have significance?” he huffed. “I mean, it’s an earring, that’s all. What’s the significance of this jacket? It’s a jacket.” Did the manic-depressive mean anything, asked one reporter taking his life in his hands. “Yes” admitted our star. “It means I’m manic-depressive.” Why did he call his album “Goodnight Vienna? “It’s the name of a song John Lennon wrote for the album, plus it’s the name of an old song Ringo likes, plus it’s the way the people in the north of England have of saying that they’re about to split. “and,” he informed us, “after you finish an album, that just how you feel. Like you want to take a trip to Mars just to get away.”
Then he bade us all a “Goodnight Vienna” and left.
Later, we were told, his effigy was indeed hoisted to the top of the Capitol Tower. He and buddy Harry Nilsson then retreated to an executive’s office and toasted each other in brandy.
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Airport snapshot
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| Photo by Kate Buckingham |
The story behind this photo was that a girl, Kate was waiting at the airport in London for her husband to return from a trip to America. She had brought her came with her because she had planned on taking a photograph of her husband's homecoming. The roll of film in her camera only had one photo left on it and before her husband's plane arrived, she spotted Paul McCartney and John Lennon. So she did was any reasonable person would do---she used her last snap to take a photo of the two musicians. I am sure her husband understood.
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That'll be the Day
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Penn Station
I LOVE this photo of fans saying goodbye to the Beatles as they get on the train to Washington D.C. in 1964. I hear some people don't like photos of the fans---but I just can't get enough of them.
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Tunic at Cavendish
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Why did Paul take pot into Japan in 1980?
Why did Paul take pot into Japan in 1980?
Marijuana became part of Paul McCartney’s life during the summer of 1964 and he didn’t turned away from it until after his fourth child, Beatrice was born in 2003. During his entire marriage to Linda, marijuana was part of their life together and neither one of them seemed to think too much about it. Their first run in with the law over pot occurred in Sweden in 1972. They claimed that the drug was not theirs and was given to them in a letter from a fan. They paid a fine and were free to go. The following year, they were in trouble with the law because cannabis was growing on their farm. Once again, they used the “fan gave it to us” excuse and said that a fan had sent them some seeds through the mail and they had no idea what type of seeds they were. They were charged a light fee and were free to go once again. In March of 1975 the McCartney family was traveling along in a car in Los Angeles when they ran a red light and was pulled over. The police noticed the smell of marijuana in the car and Linda, thinking it would be easier for her as an American citizen, took the blame and was arrested. She was let go after once again paying a fine.
In 1975, Wings was planning the “Wings over the World” tour and Japan was part of the plans for the tour. Paul was unable to obtain a work visa in Japan because of the marijuana charges from 1972 and so the Japan part of the tour was canceled. Fast forward to the end of 1979 and Paul has a new lineup for Wings. A new tour is planned for the beginning of the new year and Japan is going to be the first stop on the tour. I have read that Paul asked to sign a affidavit that he no longer did drugs in order to be given the work visa---no idea if that is true.
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| Ticket to the Wings concert that never happened. |
We all know that whenever Paul and his family arrived in Japan on January 16, 1980, the officials at the airport opened up Paul’s suitcase and looked inside of the hood of Stella’s coat and discovered 200 grams of marijuana. This much pot would make over 400 joints, which is an awful lot of smoking! Paul spent 10 days as inmate #22 in a Japanese jail. But the big question that was asked of him then and remains now is WHY. Why would one of the biggest music stars of all time carry so much marijuana in his suitcase in a country that has strict pot laws? Let’s look at some of the choices.
1. 1. Paul didn’t realize that Japan had such strict laws. This is the reason he gave once he was released. He said in an interview a few months later, “I didn’t try to hide it. I had just come from America and still had the American attitude that marijuana isn’t that bad. I didn’t realize just how strict the Japanese attitude is.” I personally have a hard time accepting this statement. Paul had to have known that Japan had strict laws. He wasn’t allowed in Japan in 1975 because of their strict laws regarding marijuana. His father-in-law is a lawyer and he had all sorts of people working for him. Surely someone informed him before they left for Japan that they had strict laws. How could he not have realized it?
2. 2. Paul thought he was a rock star that was above the law. Paul said during the Wingspan time, “I was out in New York and I had all this really good grass,” he said. “We were about to fly to Japan and I knew I wouldn’t be able to get anything to smoke over there. “This stuff was too good to flush down the toilet, so I thought I’d take it with me.” By 1980 was Paul McCartney so famous that he believed that he couldn’t get arrested? Those things just don’t happen to him. That while the laws were strict, the officials would turn a blind eye to him because he was Paul McCartney who was doing a huge tour in their country and therefore would bring a lot of money? Paul talks about when the official found the pot (which wasn’t really hard to find since was laying right on top of his clothing). “When the fellow pulled it out of the suitcase, he looked more embarrassed than me,” McCartney recalled. “I think he just wanted to put it back in and forget the whole thing, you know, but there it was. “Unfortunately, this is the theory that I think might be the closest to the truth. Paul had gotten away with traveling with drugs more than he had been caught. When you get away with doing the wrong thing long enough, you get sloppy with it and figure that nothing bad is going to happen to you. Add that mindset to a famous person and you have a recipe for disaster.
3. 3. It wasn’t even Paul’s pot. He was covering for Linda. We know that Linda covered for Paul in 1975 in America, but did Paul cover for Linda in Japan? I truly believe that the 200 grams of pot was for the entire tour---Paul, Linda and whoever else smoked it. The stuff that was found in Stella’s hood (which was a terrible choice) was probably Linda’s, but the stuff in Paul’s luggage had to have been for everyone. Why would Linda stash her stuff in Paul’s luggage? Why would she have so much of it? It was in Paul’s bag and therefore, Paul had to take the blame for all of it. Linda sure didn’t keep quiet about how she felt about the ordeal, “It's really very silly. People certainly are different over here. They take it so very seriously. Paul is now in some kind of detention place and I have not been allowed to see him. As soon as they get someone nice like Paul, they seem to make a field day of it! I'll never come back to Japan again. It's my first trip and my last!”
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| Linda during a press conference in Japan |
4. 4. Paul is just plain stupid. Paul saying about himself in the Wingspan promo material, “I think I was just stupid and I paid the penalty.” And his former bandmate, John Lennon seemed to have shared this thought with what he had to say about it when it happened “If he really needs weed, surely there’s enough people who can carry it for him. You’re a Beatle, boy, a Beatle. Your face is in every damn corner of the planet. How could you have been so stupid? The thing is that Paul McCartney is NOT a stupid man. He had been dealing with pot and traveling for at least 15 years by this point.
5. 5. Yoko set him up. This is the theory that I find to be funny. This theory is that when Paul was in New York prior to the Japan trip, he came over to the Dakota and was talking about this great pot he had gotten ahold of. He also talked about how he was staying at the Presidential Suite at John and Yoko’s favorite hotel in Tokyo. Supposedly Yoko was so outraged that Paul and Linda were going to stay in HER suite that she contacted the authorities in Japan prior to the McCartney’s arrival and tipped them off about the pot in his bag. I have also heard a variation of this story that says that Paul stopped by the Dakota and had his luggage with him and Yoko planted the pot in his luggage and then tipped off the authorities. I find this theory to be completely foolish. First, just because Yoko is Japanese, it doesn’t mean that she has any type of “pull” with the authorities at the airport in Tokyo. Second, we know that Yoko can be eccentric and superstitious, but really why would Paul and Linda staying in the suite that her and John always use make her so mad? It isn’t like they were going to be over there themselves and wanted to stay in it. Surely, she would know and understand that the hotel allows other guests to use the room when she and John aren’t in Japan. This seems like such a silly reason for someone to make someone go to jail, although the people that believe this happened also believe that Yoko was trying to keep John and Paul away from each other so that she would make an album with him and not Paul. Give me a break!
6. 6. Paul subconsciously brought the pot into Japan to break up Wings. Paul himself was asked the question if he had brought pot into Japan in order to get out of doing the tour and breaking up the band. He thought it could be a possibility, "I think that it might, psychologically, it might have been that. There might have been something to do with that, because I think I was ready to get out of Wings. I think also, more importantly, we hadn't really rehearsed much for that tour, and I felt very under-rehearsed. I cannot believe that I would have myself busted and put in jail nine days just to get out of a group. I mean, let's face it, there are easier ways to do it than that -- and also having to pay a million (British) pounds to the promoters in default. I think the only thing; it might have just been some deep, psychological thing. It's a weird period for me." I think that ending the group was an after-thought. While he was sitting in the jail cell, doing nothing for the majority of the time there, he had time to think. And maybe what he thought about was how he needed to end Wings and focus on his family and work solo for a while. Who knows?
Regardless of the reason why, bringing marijuana into Japan was one of the dumbest things one of the Beatles ever did. Paul himself doesn’t seem to understand why he did it, so I suppose we won’t ever really know either.
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Mystery Boys
Beatles fan, Peter Hodgson made a fantastic discovery last month when he was going through some archived photographs of Liverpool by the Liverpool Echo newspaper. The photograph was taken by near Speke on the Oglet Shore in the late 1940's.
The photo itself shows a group of kids playing on the beach. And in the background, which has been zoomed and cropped from the original, shows some young boys wearing shorts and braces along with a girl with a bow in her hair.
Peter is convinced that the two boys (the one looking at the camera being Paul and the short one turned is Mike) is the McCartney brothers.
Mike was shown the photo and said it was a 50/50 chance as he and his brother did play on that beach in the summers and their mum often dressed them in shorts and braces as well as they had a neighbor girl that palled around with them.
But can we know for sure that this is Paul and Mike and not just some other ragamuffin kids from Liverpool? No---the image is too far away to really make out the facial features of the boys.
Here is the photo that has convinced many that it is Paul and his neighbor friend. As you see the little girl has a bow in her hair, just as the girl in the beach photo has. The clothing and hairstyle of the little boy in the beach photo does look identical to little Paul's in the photo below.
However, a lot of little girls wore bows in the hair and a lot of little boys looked similar to how Paul looked at that time. I don't think we will ever know for sure---but it really was a great discovery!
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The boys in blue
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Another time Elizabeth Taylor met Ringo
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Love from George
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