Category Archives: Beatles

Beatles

Beatles Meet Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

Leave a comment

Beatles Meet Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

August 25, 1967
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi “The Origin of Thought”
Beatles Meet Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

Swami Satchidananda

Beatles Meet Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

When looking at the Woodstock Music and Art Fair’s line up, it surprises or even confuses some to see someone named Swami Satchidananda in that line up. Even with the varied approach that Woodstock and most 1969 festivals took to create their events, having a swami was unusual.

As is often the case with music and the 60s we can “blame” the Beatles.

Beatles Meet Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

Beatles Meet Meditation

Though George Harrison had played the sitar on Rubber Soul‘s “Norwegian Wood” in 1965 it was not until 1966 that he and wife Pattie became interested in eastern philosophy during a six-week holiday in Bombay.

Back in England, Pattie continued to explore meditation and later attended a lecture on Transcendental Meditation in London.

In 1967 Pattie read that Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was giving a lecture in London on August 24.

Beatles Meet Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

In her 2007  book, Wonderful Tonight, Boyd said, I was desperate to go, and George said he would come too. Paul had already heard of him and was interested, and in the end we all went – George, John, Paul, Ringo, Jane and I. Maharishi was every bit as impressive as I thought he would be, and we were spellbound.

“At the end we went to speak to him and he said we must go to Wales where he was running a ten-day summer conference of the Spiritual Regeneration Movement. It started in two days’ time. We leapt at it.”

Beatles Meet Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

John Runs Ahead of Cynthia

On August 25, 1967, the Beatles, along with Pattie, her sister Jenny, Cynthia Lennon, Beatle friend Alexis Mardas (“Magic Alex”), Mick Jagger, and Marianne Faithfull traveled to Bangor, North Wales, left for a 10-day conference on Transcendental Meditation.

Well not quite. Cynthia left the house with John, but at the railroad station John jumped out and ahead leaving Cynthia to follow with the luggage.

Fans, passengers, and the press filled the station and Cynthia could not keep up. A policeman, unaware of “who” she was, kept her away and she missed the train.

Beatles personal assistant, Neil Aspinall, gave her a car ride. She wrote in her book, John: “the incident seemed symbolic of what was happening to my marriage. John was on the train, speeding into the future, and I was left behind.”

Beatles Meet Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

Bangor Beatle Bunks

The Beatles arrived and found their rooms in a dormitory at Bangor College. Not quite what their life had become.

That night, the group went out to eat at a Chinese restaurant. Also no longer accustomed to carrying cash, they had none to pay for the dinner.

Luckily, George, perhaps from an old habit, took off his shoe and took out a 20 £ note.

Here is more from the Beatles Bible.

Beatles, Music et al

1968 Ringo Leaves Beatles

1 Comment

1968 Ringo Leaves Beatles

August 22, 1968

1968 Ringo Leaves Beatles

Ringo joins the Beatles

It had been on August 18, 1962 that Ringo Starr made his debut with the Beatles at the horticultural society Dance, Birkenhead, England,. He had had a two-hour rehearsal in preparation.

1968 Ringo Leaves Beatles

3,162,240 minutes later…

Ringo left. The Beatles had started recording their so-called White Album on 30 May 1968. By August that year they had completed much of it but also by that date the occasional tensions between band members were again evident.

On August 22, 1968, Ringo decided to leave the Beatles. He felt his drumming was not good enough and that John, Paul, and George were really the band. He was an unnecessary appendage.

1968 Ringo Leaves Beatles

Ringo leaves Beatles

In Anthology, Ringo said the following: “I felt I wasn’t playing great, and I also felt that the other three were really happy and I was an outsider. I went to see John, who had been living in my apartment in Montagu Square with Yoko since he moved out of Kenwood. I said, “I’m leaving the group because I’m not playing well and I feel unloved and out of it, and you three are really close.” And John said, “I thought it was you three!

“So then I went over to Paul’s and knocked on his door. I said the same thing: “I’m leaving the band. I feel you three guys are really close and I’m out of it.” And Paul said, “I thought it was you three!

“I didn’t even bother going to George then. I said, ‘I’m going on holiday.’ I took the kids and we went to Sardinia.”

Read More: 47 Years Ago: Ringo Starr Temporarily Quits the Beatles
1968 Ringo Leaves Beatles

While the drummer’s away…

Recording continued with “Back in the USSR.” Paul played drums, George guitar, and John bass.  More was added later.

Ringo was away two weeks, but the three kept his departure a secret. While away, Ringo wrote “Octopus Garden” which would appear later on  Abby Road.

1968 Ringo Leaves Beatles

Ringo returns

Ringo from Anthology: I got a telegram saying, ‘You’re the best rock’n’roll drummer in the world. Come on home, we love you.’ And so I came back. We all needed that little shake-up. When I got back to the studio I found George had had it decked out with flowers – there were flowers everywhere. I felt good about myself again, we’d got through that little crisis and it was great.

It was September 3, 1968.

768 days later…

On April 10, 1970 Paul publicly announced what the other three Beatles already knew: the Beatles were breaking up.

1968 Ringo Leaves Beatles
Anniversary, Beatles, Music et al, Music of the 60s

Beatles Play Cow Palace 1964

Leave a comment

Beatles Play Cow Palace 1964

August 19, 1964

Beatles Play Cow Palace

February prelude

The Beatles triumphant and record-breaking performance on the Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964 was simply a prelude to what would begin six months later in San Francisco.

That same February, the band had played three indoor concerts: Carnegie Hall, Miami, and Washington, DC, but their return for an official tour in August was the start of maximum-Beatlemania.

Beatles Play Cow Palace 1964

Back in the USA, via Canada

On August 18, the Beatles had flown from London Airport to San Francisco International, to begin their 25-date first American Tour.

They stopped briefly in Winnipeg, Canada…

…and in Los Angeles. Both stops had fans screaming to see the band. Media interviews also. They arrived in San Francisco to a similar scene of hysterics from around 9,000 fans.

Beatles Play Cow Palace 1964

Beatles Bible

Many thanks to the site Beatles Bible for much of this information:

Beatles manager Brian Espstein  wanted to be sure that the concert venues would sell out and chose those that were not overly big. He needn’t have worried. All 17,130 Cow Palace tickets sold out.

The other acts on the bill, and throughout the tour, were The Bill Black Combo, The Exciters, The Righteous Brothers and Jackie DeShannon. Showtime was 8 pm, and The Beatles took to the stage at 9:20 pm.

This tour’s performance typically consisted of 12 songs: Twist And Shout, You Can’t Do That, All My Loving, She Loves You, Till There Was You, Roll Over Beethoven, Can’t Buy Me Love, If I Fell, I Want To Hold Your Hand, Boys, A Hard Day’s Night and Long Tall Sally.

The performance lasted just 29 minutes and because threw jelly beans organizers stopped the concert twice.

At the end of the show The Beatles dropped their instruments, ran for their limousine. It was surrounded by fans, so organizers put the boys in an ambulance. They returned to their hotel, but left soon after to fly to Las Vegas for the next day’s show.

Beatles Play Cow Palace 1964

Lennon looked back

In The Beatles Anthology (2000) John Lennon said, People think fame and money bring freedom, but they don’t. We’re more conscious now of the limitations it places on us rather than the freedom. We still eat the same kind of food as we did before, and have the same friends. You don’t change things like that overnight. We can’t even spend the allowance we get, because there’s nothing to spend it on. What can you spend on in a room?

There were 22 more tours to go before the last one on this tour at the Paramount in NYC on September 20.

Beatles Play Cow Palace 1964