Happy Birthday RINGO!!!!

[Siwsan]

[Maine Abu El Banat]

1. Keeping the beat

For the soundtrack of my life. Happy Birthday Ringo!

[NanceGreggs]

2. Met him once.

I had moved from NY to Nashville in January 1973. That spring, the Grammys were held in Nashville, and I was a NARAS volunteer, stationed at the theater where the event was to be held later that evening..

My job was to meet performers who were arriving for rehearsals, sound checks, etc., and direct them to where they should be.

By the late afternoon, there was a log-jam of people waiting for the pre-arranged limos to take them back to their hotels - total chaos.

At that point, Ringo and Harry Nilsson came up to the front desk, and Ringo asked if he could borrow a nickel, so he could call his wife and explain what was taking so long. (Yes, a payphone in Nashville still cost five cents at the time!)

I dug around in my purse, found a nickel, and handed it to him. He smiled and said, "Thanks so much", and headed to the bank of payphones.

As Ringo walked away, Nilsson looked at me and said, "I hope you know you can kiss that five cents goodbye. The man is a well-known deadbeat."

I met a ton of celebrities that day - but I couldn't wait to call my girlfriends back in NY and scream "I met Ringo Starr!!!"

[Joinfortmill]

4. Very cool.

[NanceGreggs]

8. It really was!

My then-husband was a record producer, so I'd met a lot of music celebs through him. I later became a writer for a music biz magazine, and interviewed a lot of celebs as part of my job.

But having been a complete Beatle-maniac in my teenage years, actually meeting 'a Beatle' was the high point of it all!

As my girlfriend back in NY said when I called her the next day, "Oh my God, I can't believe I'm tawking to someone who tawked to Ringo Starr!"

[Siwsan]

5. What a great experience!!

I'm a decades long fan and a day doesn't go by without some Beatle lyric starting to play in my head. They are the best ear worms.

[DFW]

7. NOW I'm jealous!!

I only meet presidents, Dalí and Stan Lee.

But a Beatle!!!

I bow my head in reverence!

[NanceGreggs]

10. Oh, shut up!

I would gladly trade meeting Ringo for meeting Obama - actually, no I wouldn't.

As much as I love Obama, he was not the boy I screamed over as a young, impressionable teenager. Some things just can't be explained - and Beatlemania is one of them.

It was such a great time to be alive - young people around the world united by music, which led to the idea of recognizing that we were not so different from each other after all.

I am forever grateful that I lived in that time when global unity was a common goal, and we ALL all sang along.

[rubbersole]

11. It was definitely the best time to come of age.

An entire generation focused on music, unity and peace. (Well, except for my brother and his fratboy friends.)

[highplainsdem]

16. "It was such a great time to be alive." Definitely.

[DFW]

18. It was a time we have not seen the repeat of since n/t

[NanceGreggs]

19. And oh so regrettably ...

... that's true.

[highplainsdem]

15. You "only" met presidents, Dali and Stan Lee.

And yeah (yeah yeah yeah), meeting a Beatle is really something.

But you've both met some amazing people.

[highplainsdem]

14. Wonderful story, Nance -- especially with what Nilsson said!

How funny!

[Pluvious]

21. Great story - way better than my SO's ...

She’d been a cashier in a Los Angeles bar when OJ Simpson asked
for change from his quarter to use the pay phone (facepalm)

[Joinfortmill]

3. Love this dude!

[Aussie105]

6. Kept most of his hair over the years.

Quite an achievement in itself.

[Beatlelvr]

9. What a great story Nance

The Beatles helped me get through my teens. I was quite the wallflower and the only thing that kept me going was the anticipation of a new Beatle album. And the music...so innovative and awesome.
I've often thought how their music would have been different without George Martin. I don't think he gets enough credit.
Saw them twice in L A.
How lucky were we to have them and the other great music of the time.

Ringo looks fantastic these days, let his hair grow out a bit and dyed dark brown. He looks 20 years younger.

[highplainsdem]

13. "Ringo looks fantastic these days..." I agree. He's taking very good care of himself,

and that's always for the best. And I'm generally in favor of older men coloring their hair if it's done properly, and in his case it has been.

[BigBearJohn]

12. I still remember the first time I heard of the Beatles as a teenager

I was just getting on the bus and unknowst to me I had a haircut similar to the Beatles. The kids teased me and said "Oh look, John thinks he's a Beatle." I didn't know what the hell they were talking about. Later that evening I found out on television. I was hooked. Without a doubt, the Beatles changed my entire life. My older brother was in a '50s band and when he quit the band, he gave me his electric Gibson guitar. It was like receiving gold. I immediately started learning guitar. I played in my own little band and had a blast playing at school hops. One of my best friends had a number one hit. Later on in life, I worked for Billboard Magazine for 2 years and got to write for them. I would say they were the happiest years of my life. I couldn't have asked for a happier time to grow up in than the 60's. Pure magic. I am grateful to have had the experience.

[Mad_Dem_X]

17. Remember to say "Peace & Love" today at noon!

Ringo always asks that people say "Peace & Love" at noon on his birthday.

[highplainsdem]

20. For Ringo's birthday...a Mad Hatter's Tea Party, on film, in a film, including Ringo:

Last edited Thu Jul 7, 2022, 11:51 AM - Edit history (1)

I posted this video clip, from the 1972 film Ringo did with Marc Bolan of T.Rex, a month ago in Music Appreciation -- https://democraticunderground.com/103476584 -- because I'd always thought it was one of the craziest rock music videos I'd seen, till I saw the video from Die Toten Hosen that I also posted there.

There are a couple of pages about that film in the autobiography written by Tony Visconti, Bolan's producer. That scene was shot at Tittenhurst Park, John Lennon's home, though John and Yoko weren't there that day. The older gentleman is Geoffrey Bayldon, a stage/film/TV actor (best known then for starring in the children's series Catweazle). Marc's girlfriend June played one of the nuns. And Tony's in that scene, too, conducting the musicians, with his back to the camera. Which is a shame since he looked at least as good as anyone else there. The film came out in 1972. This is how Tony looked in 1971, photographed with his second wife, singer Mary Hopkin -- https://www.shutterstock.com/editorial/image-editorial/singer-mary-hopkin-and-husband-record-producer-tony-visconti-1971-1765580a -- and you can see how he looked in 1972 in the third photo in this article about Bowie albums Tony produced in the late 1970s -- https://people.com/music/david-bowie-berlin-trilogy-heroes-tours/ . (Not sure why they used a pic of Tony from 1972, but at least it does show how he probably looked when that tea party was filmed.)

Marc died just 5 years later, much too young.

I'm glad Ringo's still here, and still rocking.

[IcyPeas]

24. love it

Mickey Finn from T.Rex too. I had a big poster of T.Rex on my wall in 1971.

[highplainsdem]

25. Thanks for mentioning Mickey Finn! I should have. Btw, since

you're a T.Rex fan, I wonder if you've seen the video of a 1972 concert that I posted in Music Appreciation today: https://democraticunderground.com/103478079

[IcyPeas]

26. thank you. I will watch this for sure.

[Baggies]

22. Happy Birthday!!

[Boomerproud]

23. Happy Birthday Ringo!

We almost lost him when he was 6 years old because of a burst appendix and went into a coma. He was meant to stick around! 🎶🥁