When we were fab

I have been on a Beatles kick of late. Mostly the early stuff, With the Beatles and that ilk.

I am reading the Beatles Anthology again. This book is so big and heavy that it is bruising my knees. Makes me kind of wish I had a kindle.

Anyway reading a lot of stuff I had forgotten or maybe never knew in the first place.

Trivia question, what is Ringo Starr's real last name. If you answer Starkey, you fail.

Did you know that none of the Beatles read music nor considered themselves technical musicians? Kind of amazing.

I remember Carlos Santana once saying that he didn't really care for "technical" guitar players, he wanted to hear someone who played from his cajones and he preferred people who had learned their craft on the street like he did.

Interestingly, John came from the most affluent area, Ringo, the worst, Dingle.

So I am reading my Beatles Anthology last night, waiting for Leslie to come back from Mah Jong when synchronicity of synchronicities, I get a call from the eminent musicologist and Beatles expert Vladimir Smythe. Vlad is leaving tomorrow for Liverpool of all places, the Ireland of England, according to George in the book. Vlad and his wife Natasha Dollink are walking across England. Two hundred miles, about ten to fourteen a day. I wish them both well and hope they send pictures.

By the way, Ringo's real last name was Parkin. He didn't find out until the Beatles boom had hit because his grandmother didn't want to advertise her relationship with his real grandfather, Johnny Parkin. Ringo couldn't figure out why his genealogy only went back two generations.

FYI, George was always my favorite Beatle.