Ringo Starr: An Evening in Conversation

Blog reader and frequent commenter, Cara, was lucky enough attend "An Evening in Conversation with Ringo Starr" on September 25, 2015 in Los Angeles.    Cara was sitting on Ringo's side of the stage and sent in some photos she took as well as a little bit about what happened.    A big THANK YOU goes out to Cara for thinking of this blog and sending in this scoop!



The event took place at the El Rey in Los Angeles, California.   Ringo was interviewed by Conan O'Brein for a little less than an hour.    He talked about 20-30 of the photographs that are featured in his book, Photograph.   Everyone that attended the event went home with a copy of the new book.


Here is a little of what Cara remembers of what Ringo had to say while talking about the photos:

Ringo didn’t share many new stories, and certainly not much information that a Beatlemaniac like me doesn’t already know. One thing I remember was when he spoke about Rory. “Rory was a great guy, but he was mad, absolutely mad,” Ringo said. He spoke about how awful they were to Rory because of his stutter, that they used to mess with him verbally until he became so upset he couldn’t speak. He also said that they used to have contests to see who could hold their head the longest under water in the sink (I believe he said they did this in the British Seamen’s Mission in Hamburg.) Anyway, one time, Rory went so long without breathing that his face turned blue.

 One spot when he became a little emotional was when he was looking at the photo of him and John on holiday, smiling with their Monopoly money and tokens. “We’d go on tour and the four of us would share two rooms,” he said. “And then we’d go on holiday and there were always at least two of us. That’s how special it was, how close we were.”

From the angle I was watching Ringo, I had a great view of his hands. He speaks a lot using his hands, and I kept looking at them and thinking, “Those are the hands! Those hands kept the beat to some of the greatest songs of all time. Those hands created the amazing drumming in A Day in the Life, Here Comes the Sun, Rain.” His hands are very expressive.

I sat right next to the backstage entrance, and I saw Barbara up close when she came out and went back at the end. She looked so teeny, but of course, she also looked beautiful.

All in all, a great event. Conan was the perfect host, not only for his energy and humor, but also because he’s a real fan. He knew the right questions to ask and he knew who all the Beatles supporting cast of characters were.

Of course, I hope all of you plan on getting Ringo's Photograph  book (if you don't have it already) to see all of the amazing photos he took over the years.    And let's keep our fingers crossed that Ringo can talk Paul, Olivia and Yoko into sharing the photos of the other Beatles for a future book!   Again---much thanks to Cara for her photos and memories of seeing Ringo!