Bill and Ringo

Thanks Jim...for the invite to share my story on how I met a Beatle!

To explain, from 1988 to 2005 I was a music journalist for MuchMusic and MuchMoreMusic ( Canada 's music TV channels.) I had the cool opportunities to travel the world and interview thousands of artists, athletes and even actors.

My favourite interviews have always been with "legends"...the artists that shaped trends and shaped the industry. The Beatles are of course the pinnacle of music legends.

I have interviewed many people "associated" with The Beatles...Yoko Ono, Julian Lennon, Sean Lennon, and various Beatles biographers.

And yes...I even met a Beatle (or two if you count Pete Best...as Mr. Best told me in our interview "Once a Beatle, always a Beatle!")

I have interviewed Ringo Starr twice...in 2001 and 2003 I believe.

Larger-than-life celebs that are down to earth, honest and personable are rare. I can understand why most are guarded, and can easily forgive them if they're not "open", but Ringo proved to be one of the few that enjoys a good interview. He opened up about numerous subjects...including his on-going effort to spread peace, his love of art & love of creating music, and most importantly...the early days of Beatlemania. We talked about how in those first days the audience's screams drowned out the on-stage monitors.

How did The Beatles perform and specifically...how did Ringo keep the beat without the band collectively hearing each other?

Ringo offered "I would watch the bums (of my band in front of me) and watch the nodding of their heads... and thought 'Oh, that's where we're at!' "

I often wonder if Paul, John and George were ever aware that poor ole Ringo had to watch their asses in order to keep the rhythm of the songs???

Bill Welychka
Bill@Achannel.ca

The Ron Oberman Story

This photo was taken in 1965 outside the Beatles' hotel room at the Holiday Inn in Baltimore. I am on the right. Next to me is the late Carroll James, a local Washington DJ who was one of the first to play the Beatles on the radio.

I was interviewing the band for the Washington Star newspaper. From 1964 to 1967 I wrote a regular weekly column on rock and r&b. It was one of the first regular newspaper columns devoted to rock.

Over the years, I interviewed the Beatles, Stones, James Brown, Beach Boys, Dave Clark Five, Animals, and many of the biggest acts of the 60s.

I covered the Beatles very first show in the U.S. in February of 1964. It was at the Washington Coliseum. It was preceded earlier in the day by a press conference in a boxing ring at the Coliseum.

In all, I was able to attend five different Beatles shows: Two in D.C., one in Baltimore, another in Atlantic City, and finally one at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.

Regarding the LA show, I was friends with the lead singer (Bobbie Howard) of a local D.C. band, the British Walkers. One day he asked me where the Beatles were playing. I looked at their itinerary and told him they had an upcoming show at the Hollywood Bowl. So, he flew me and his bass player to LA to see the show.

We did not have tickets. However, we were able to buy them from scalpers at $50 apiece. The list price of the tickets was $5.00.

Hope this is helpful. If you have any questions, ok to email me.

Best,

Ron Oberman

On the "HELP!" set

Dick Lester (left) Ringo (back to camera), Lennon(center) and Harrison (right)
on the set of Help


It was the 60s and The Beatles were filming "Help" in the Bahamas. I was a reporter for the Nassau Guardian and took a day off from covering the Government to see what the rapidly becoming (if not already) famous mopheads were up to. I shot photos from a distance with a telephoto lens in order to get unposed shots of them on the set, even then they had learned to mug for the press.

Their next location was Switzerland, but that sequence came before the one they were shooting in the Bahamas. As a result Director Dick Lester had ordered them to stay out of the sunlight, the reason, of course, why most people go to the Bahamas in the first place.

Their predicament was summed up by one shot I took of John Lennon's feet poking out of the window of their limo (www.flickr.com/photos/marknewell). At the end of the day the scene was a conversation the four were having as they circled on bicycles on a road outside Nassau. It was obvious there was not a script for any of these scenes.

At a point where it seemed to me the shot was over, I made ready to leave and kicked the starter on my motorcycle. The noise as the engine fired up seems to have deafened the sound technicians. Everyone screamed for me to shut the engine off. I did. Everyone stared at me with the kind of expression that said "Doesn't EVERYONE on a move set know not to make a whisper until the mikes are shut down?"

The Beatles all looked at me. Probably for the first time that day. Ringo yelled: "You Git!"

"Git," I gathered, was Birminghamese for "idiot!"

I smiled, waited until the sound techs had taken their headsets off, then started up again and headed for Nassau to file my story.

I never did see the Beatles in the flesh again, but I have always claimed them as friends when they came up in conversation...."oh sure, yeah, I know them well...I have spent time with them...Ringo and I have talked...."

Courtesy: marknewell.blogspot.com

Paul McCartney

In 1986 I was working in London, England and I met a girl who was a huge Paul McCartney fan. Since I was a Beatle fanatic, we got talking and she told me that she had met Paul a number of times.
I was beside myself, of course I wanted to meet him.
She told me to go his office around lunch time and look for a sky blue Mercedes. On the third day, there was the car and and out popped Paul McCartney.

I really wanted to say something to him as the picture was being taken, so I said: "Give me your best Paul face."

To which he replied: "This is my face".

As you can see from the picture, he was very excited to meet me.
The rest is history.

BeatleLinks - The Beatles Internet Resource Guide