Althouse: Ringo is 75 today, and he'd like you to say "Peace and Love" at noon.

July 8, 2015

Ringo is 75 today, and he'd like you to say "Peace and Love" at noon.

20 comments:

madAsHell said...: I'm not going to look that good at 75. God bless Ringo.; 7/8/15, 9:41 AM
Bill said...: My favorite Beatle.; 7/8/15, 9:45 AM
Laslo Spatula said...: Pete Best's birthday is November 24th. I hope Ringo sends him a card.

I am Laslo.; 7/8/15, 9:47 AM
Etienne said...: He's a good immigrant.; 7/8/15, 9:49 AM
rehajm said...: Are we supposed to say peaceandlove at noon in our local time zone or is it noon in a specific locality? Columbia? Majorca, Spain? Tennessee-o?

I do not understand...; 7/8/15, 9:50 AM
Laslo Spatula said...: Since noon is lunchtime I will compromise and say "Pizza Love."

I am Laslo.; 7/8/15, 9:51 AM
rhhardin said...: Should the contrarians say "war or hate" or "war and hate."; 7/8/15, 9:55 AM
rhhardin said...: Hassenpfeffer, a German hate stew.; 7/8/15, 9:57 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: Why isn't he Sir Ringo? Was Paul the only one of the Beatles knighted? That seems unfair.; 7/8/15, 10:02 AM
Tank said...: Life has been way more than fair to Ringo.

He may be the luckiest person ever born.; 7/8/15, 10:23 AM
J2 said...: The shock of white hair at the cake cutting is David Lynch. To his left Richard Lewis.; 7/8/15, 10:52 AM
William said...: He looks very, very good. A lifetime of moderation and healthy habits pays big dividends at the end.; 7/8/15, 12:29 PM
Jaq said...: I have never been a Ringo hater. I like Octopus's Garden, think it's a great song, for example. But my request to Ringo is that he stop singing in public if he is not willing to put in the effort to maintain his voice.; 7/8/15, 12:32 PM
rhhardin said...: You need more than dividends. You need earnings.; 7/8/15, 12:32 PM
Wince said...: He really does look great. But he and his wife went through some tough years together with addiction.

Peace and Love.

And today is my birthday! Da da da da da da - da dat.

The Beatles' drummer admitted that he spent two decades being "lost" in a haze of alcohol.

In the decades after the Beatles broke up in 1970, Ringo Starr developed a serious drinking problem that did not wane until he finally entered rehab in 1988, the drummer recently admitted.

Born Richard Starkey Jr., the 74-year-old drummer said the band’s breakup affected him for a long time. “I was mad,” he told the Times of London.

“For 20 years. I had breaks in between of not being ... Some of those years are absolutely gone,” he told the paper.

Starr turned to alcohol because he felt “absolutely lost,” and said he was often drunk in the two decades after the Beatles dissolved. He described his descent in a 1989 People magazine feature.

“It got progressively worse, and the blackouts got worse, and I didn’t know where I’d been, what I’d done,” he said. “I knew I had the problem for years. But it plays tricks with your head. Very cunning and baffling is alcohol.”

In 1988, he cleaned up his act and entered rehab with his wife, Barbara Bach. “Barbara fell into a trap because of me,” he told People. “She was an actress who used to go to bed at 10 at night and get up at 8 in the morning. Till we met. Then her career went the same way as mine.”; 7/8/15, 12:50 PM
MayBee said...: The Grateful Dead signed off their tour with, "Please, be kind"

I like that; 7/8/15, 1:11 PM
Lydia said...: At the Spectator: Ringo's no joke. He was a genius and the Beatles were lucky to have him.; 7/8/15, 2:37 PM
walter said...: Yeah..pretty amazing appearance and vitality for the age..especially with his history. His recent playing is top notch..you might say..youthful.; 7/8/15, 6:35 PM
walter said...: (though apparently the no, no song in '74 didn't "take"); 7/8/15, 6:41 PM
Jason said...: Ringo was a wonderful, unique drummer with an unmistakeable touch and signature all his own. I love how how he plays on the back half of the beat and makes the song sound slower than it is. On tracks like "I Am the Walrus" where the snare drum has a tail on it that expands spectacularly behind the beat like the tail of a comet. It was like he could bend time. He wasn't a technician on the drums. This was a time when Buddy Rich was tearing it up and people were discovering the brilliance and intricacies of the Indian percussionists. But Ringo had that one signature and it was magic. I cannot imagine Sgt Pepper or I Am the Walrus or I Feel Fine without him, and without him the Beatles would not have been The Beatles

No other drummer has that sound. George knew, and brought Ringo in when he needed that sound, like on "When We Was Fab."

Happy birthday, Ringo!; 7/9/15, 5:10 AM