Ringo!

What else is there to write about this man that hasn’t been written before.  He really deserves more respect that he gets.  Up until the mid 70’s his solo material outsold the other 3 ex-Beatles.  He is going to 72 this year and still drums better than ever.  While his drumming is basic, it has always been that way.  He has such a steady backbeat, that George Martin could splice together various takes of songs and the beat was dead on.  While he may not be a show off on the drums, he makes up for it with his personality.  Ringo is very sarcastic yet oozes Peace and Love from each pore. 

He may be my favorite because we have the same birthday and I got to sit 8^th row center at Radio City Music Hall on our birthdays and see Yoko and Paul come to wish him a happy birthday.  I actually had better seats than Yoko, but not better than Spike Lee.  He really got into that shit and I think he was a closet case Ringo fan. 

My favorite thing to do to piss of Beatles fans is to tell them that Ringo is my favorite when I get asked “who’s your favorite Beatle?”  Ultimately Paul is my favorite, but I would take a Ringo show any day of the week.  Paul is so rigid and uptight.  When Ringo makes a flub, he just rolls with the punches.  Like a Radio City when he screwed up Yellow Submarine (a song that he’s only sung about 2000 times) he just laughed at himself and it shows how relaxed and trouble free he is. 

The new 13^th All-Starr band has been announced.  While I say this at the start of every band that I am not too impressed with the lineup, there are some surprises.  Ringo has a 3 time rule.  I thought Edgar Winter was going to break it, but most of the All-Starrs with the exception of Mark Rivera only do 3 tours and that’s it.  Todd Rundgren is a live wire and one never knows what to expect from him.  This will be his third time in the band, he was in ’92, ’99 and ’12.  While there are many new faces, the hits are still the same.  I’m interested in seeing what the new people sound like.  Richard Page for pushing 60 still sounds amazing and he blew my socks off during the 2010 tour with his Mr. Mister hits.  Ringo hasn’t had a strong bass player for a while now.  While I will miss Dreamweaver and Free Ride, it’s good to make room for the new guys. 

The NYC show has not been announced yet, maybe Ringo will go back to doing 2 nights at the Beacon like he did for the ’99 tour and previous tours.  Now that the Beacon is nice and new looking, a lot of acts that should be playing Radio City or even MSG (the Beach Boys, CSN and Paul Simon) have all opted to play the Beacon.  It’s just about half the capacity of Radio City but it does make for a more intimate show.  That being said, it also makes for a more difficult show to get tickets for, in fact it makes it downright impossible.  Thank goodness for ticket brokers who snatch up all the tickets for secondary market sales (sarcasm). 

For someone who can rest on his laurels, Ringo is still out there, sober and playing better than ever and he’s still making music.  Hats off to you Ringo!