August 17, 2003
RICHARD STARKEY, M.B.E.
So how was Ringo? Great! He's Ring, for crying out loud. Never has so little talent achieved such greatness for the mutual benefit of mankind. He's Ring.
You see, this was a Nostalgia for the Ages. My family always vacationed in St. Pete when I was a little fry in the sixties. The Gulf Shores Motel at Indian Rocks Beach, to be precise. Roll that in with a sentient Beatle, both of your brothers, your big sister, and two beloved cousins, with significant others, and you have a bash! It was sweet. Stayed at the Bilmar, of course, because it has a Sloppy Joe's, and I retain the craven impulses, as does The Bride.
Ringo is Ringo. He knows it. He assumes you do. So he gives you a good old fashioned show. The All-Stars have changed. The old timers like Jack Bruce, Todd Rundgren, and Frampton are gone. They're busy getting their formaldehyde transfusions. So Ringo has an eighties line-up.
My take: Paul Carrack looked like an albino with a felony to hide. Couldn't hit the highest notes on Tempted, but still good, although the Huggy Bear outfit was discomfiting. John Waite, although the wimmens were gushing over him, looked like he'd been stomped outside of a methadone clinic for his busfare. He's still a pussy, but Ring needed a bass player.
Big surprise? Colin Hay of Men at Work. I never really glommed onto those guys. It was the whole cast eye bullshit, I suppose. But Colin was very cool. He had a balding Sting high crew cut thing going that worked for him, some white striped pants, and a pretty mean lead guitar. Colin was B plus.
Which leaves Sheila E. Damn. And damn some more. As a rational creature I'd always assumed anyone who would truck with a piece of shit like Prince (spare me, my e-mail's already full) would be all flash, no thunder. Wrong. And wrong again. What a powerful performer. What a drummer! Most importantly, what a hottie! SHEILA was worth the tickie alone. And Ring knows it. I hope she's on next year's billet.
Tomorrow: The Fabulous Thunderbird. I swear.
Posted by Kim Crawford at August 17, 2003 11:10 PMTo each his own nostalgia I suppose. I spent Friday night with friends at the Roxy in Buckhead taking in Joe Jackson, who is touring with his original band for the first time in 20 years. He's got a record out with them called Volume 4, which I recommend. I've always loved him but had never seen him live, despite playing most of his records on the radio as a dj and owning most as well (even his first classical album, go figure). By the way, if you have any Joe Jackson records and are not a true believer, you might want to put them on ebay and see what happens. Several are out of print and are collectors items.
Great show, especially a chance to see Graham Maby on bass, one of the greatest white bass players ever.
I had this illusion that there would be some hip young people checking out this new-wave daddy-o from back in the day, but, alas, I was one of the younger attendees there. Joe's guitarist had broken his foot on tour, and played from a rolling secretary-type office chair, which I'd never seen, which kind of added to the quasi-geriatric, Planet of The Apes Lady Liberty on the beach sense of the absurdity of catching an aging new waver.
Highlights included a reggae-tinged "Fools In Love" ('fools in love they think they're heroes, cause they get to feel more pain, but I say fools in love are zeros-I should know because this fools in love again')into a "For Your Love" Yardbirds cover, back into Fools in Love.
He also acknowledged Andy Partridge (XTC) as one of the great rock songwriters and played a solo piano version of XTC's "Mayor of Simpleton." He kept the jagged raucous oldies coming--"Time", "Sunday Papers", "It's Different for Girls", "I'm The Man." And of course the crowd singalong "Is She Really Going Out With Him." A virtual soundtrack to early 20's adolescent angst, 1980 stylee.
For a brief moment it was 1980 again, as my South African friend Bruce kept the Red Bull and Vodkas coming. Screamed ourselves hoarse. Suburbanites unbound, pogo-ing in Buckhead late into the night.
Everything was groovy until I was awakened too early the next morning by my soon-to-be 4 year old hellion, and realized I had hurt my foot dancing. Eh well. Joe still rocks, and at about 6'6" in a custom snappy long-coat and bleach blond balding crew-cut, he looked like something out of a Tim Burton animated feature. But he seemed to appreciate the gathered Atlanta nostalgics, so God bless him.
Posted by: rankin rob at August 18, 2003 10:01 AMDamn. I would love to see Joe Jackson. The new record is everything you could hope for.
Posted by: Jack Straw at August 18, 2003 12:52 PMI wondered what happened to Colin Hay. He plays an extremely good lead guitar and has a very one-of-a-kind voice. Yes, I was a Men at Work fan.
Posted by: Acidman at August 18, 2003 7:08 PMYou're a maniac! Do they let you out during the week? I thought you told me during the concert you
wanted to go camping with John Waite when he was doing his famous "Every time I look at you."
The Beatles are absolutely great!
I have a set of 13 Beatle albums recorded from Parlophone 1/2 speed master records.
I have a Beatles Album ("Abbey Road") that contains a recording anomaly. On one side is "Abbey Road" music. On the other side is music that sounds something like "Pink Floyd" music. I only played a couple of minutes of it to preserve the record's integrity, but it appears that there are no breaks in the music...almost like a "Rock Symphony". For a vinyl album that had to be pressed, it seems highly unusual that such a mistake wasn't caught before pressing. Have you heard of this item? Does anyone have any ideas as to its worth? If not, perhaps you could suggest an appraiser who specializes in this area.
Wayne V
bqvideo@yahoo.com
i love ringo starr he is my al time favotite beatle i have like a million beatle records.There my favorit band even my dad love's them he even loved them wen he was little wen he lived in Quebec and only knew french.
Posted by: Jezabelle a Ringo lover at November 4, 2006 5:47 PMi love ringo starr he is my al time favotite beatle i have like a million beatle records.There my favorit band even my dad love's them he even loved them wen he was little wen he lived in Quebec and only knew french.
Posted by: Jezabelle a Ringo lover at November 4, 2006 5:49 PMRingo is definately the best Beatle, that's for sure. The Beatles are my favourite band too, my sister also loves them. In order, I'd say Ringo's the best, then Paul and George equal, then John. It's always been a dream of mine to go visit Ringo, but I guess he keeps his home address secret.
Posted by: anonymous at November 21, 2007 6:20 AM