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Does this prove that George Harrison was...


Mike McLenison

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Yeah, I believe that's an aspect ratio thang.

 

Seems like George, John and Paul were all 5' 11" and Ringo was 5' 6" back when I used to read about the band a bunch.

 

M. Ali said when he met the band that they were all about the height he thought Ringo was suppose to be.

 

Wow Lee, you met two Beatles and saw Dave Edmunds up close and personal perform. I envy you!

 

:):cool::thu::thu::thu::thu:

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Well let's see. I was friends with a couple of guys in Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, cuz I used to go see them back when they were a club band in L.A. So I continued to go see them a lot after they got famous.

 

One year (1987) they were on tour with Bob Dylan in Europe, and Roger McGuinn was the opener. The Heartbreakers were not only doing their own set but serving as the backup band for both McGuinn and Dylan. How cool is that? And I really, really needed a vacation. So they were doing seven shows in England - 3 in Birmingham followed by 4 at Wembley Arena outside London - and I just went over there and showed up. :lol: And yeah, the shows were every bit as amazing as I thought they might be.

 

So anyhow, it's at one of the Wembley shows... I was just hanging around backstage before the show, minding my own business, and I see this person approaching me from far off. I'm thinking dimly in the back of my mind, "Gee that guy kinda looks like George Harrison", and then as he got closer, it began to register in my mind, "Holy %$#@*!!! It IS George Harrison!" I then made up my mind that I wasn't going to bug him, seeing as everyone in the known universe must bug him. So I just chilled out, kept walking at a normal pace, didn't say anything. And as he walked past me he said, "Excuse me, do you know where the bar is?"

 

Well by this point I'm pretty much freaking out. But I managed to tell him where the bar was, he thanked me and then shortly after I went up to the guest box to have a seat before the show started. And just a couple of minutes later, he came up to the guest box as well and sat right behind me! :eek: He had his wife Olivia with him too, AND Derek Taylor!

 

So I thought, OK, the reason he sat behind me is because I didn't bug him. So I'm not going to bug him now. I'm just gonna sit and wait for the show to start and...

 

I feel a tap on the shoulder. "Excuse me... did you come from America?" Just like that. Just started a conversation. And that was pretty much it, he just wanted to have a nice normal conversation about music and spiritual things and gardening, all of which I am way into so it was pretty easy. :D And he had such a wonderful take on all those things. Just so cool. And he introduced me to his wife and Derek Taylor and all. He even asked - I swear I am not making this up - "You don't mind if we sit here do you?" :lol:

 

And THEN, as if I wasn't already freaked enough, about 5 minutes later RINGO showed up and sat down next to George! And it was totally crazy - when my back was turned, hearing George, Ringo and Derek Taylor all talking together, I felt like I'd stumbled into a scene from A Hard Day's Night. Same accents, same kind of nonstop witty humor... two of the same guys!

 

The really great part was the guys in the Heartbreakers were every bit as freaked out as I was. Everybody hung out for the whole night, and it was just cool as hell. George came back for the final Wembley show as well, and sat in with Dylan, the Heartbreakers and company for the encore. It was all pretty freakin cool.

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"You don't mind if we sit here, do you?"


I wouldve ran down the street and bought padded leather recliners, cigars, and slippers if they wouldve asked..................

 

LOL... well yeah, but that was the cool thing... George would've never asked. An yeah, the "Do you mind if we sit here" thing just killed me, but he actually did something similar later in the night. I'd been to some cheesy souvenir shop on Oxford Street earlier in the day, and bought a bunch of little gag gifts. Like these matchbooks that had dirty riddles on them and such. So I was going around backstage after the show giving these out to everybody. :lol: And when I gave one to George, he had a good laugh over the gift, and then he said, "Can I keep this?" And I said, "Yeah, of course!" And he said, "But it's not your only one, is it?"

 

:lol: I mean geez.

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Wow! I probably would've more than freaked out!!

 

I have met a former Beatle before. I was playing a gig with my blues band at a small bar here in Rochester. A hour into the gig, some older guy walks in with a group of younger guys(around 20 - 30ish). I didn't know who this guy was until the bass player pointed out that it was Pete Best. He was in town with his band and he stopped by for a moment(the bar owner is a good friend of Steve Gadd). His band got up on stage to do a couple of tunes, with the owner sitting in on drums(Pete did not play on any of the tunes). They wanted me to sit in on keys. We did some Beatles and Motown stuff. It was an awesome experience:thu:

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Very cool Lee!! I wonder if the Wilburys came together after that concert?

 

Slightly OT, but this month's Mix magazine has a story about the recording of "Handle With Care", that talks about how the Wilburys came together. Check it out, it's a great read!:thu:

 

http://mixonline.com/recording/tracking/audio_traveling_wilburys_handle/

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Very cool Lee!! I wonder if the Wilburys came together after that concert?

 

 

Yeah, that was pretty much the beginning of the Wilburys - George had a cassette of Cloud Nine with him. It hadn't been released yet, but he put it on backstage and played it for everybody. And Jeff Lynne, who had produced it, was at one of the shows too. So everybody in the Wilburys was there except for Roy Orbison. Petty and George hadn't met yet until that night, although Petty already knew Lynne a bit, and obviously Dylan.

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(Indian accent) "Lee has arrived at a plane of self-realization, you see!"

 

That's amazing.

 

Never came close to meeting a Beatle...but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express once... :eek:

 

Actually, I did meet Julia Baird last August, John Lennon's half sister. She's every bit as sharp tongued and quick witted as her brother was. Also got to meet Allan Williams, their first manager (who got them booked in Hamburg). He seemed like a nice enough old gent.

 

Nowadays, many of the "Beatle peripherals" just have fun going from convention to convention, I presume... sorta like with Trekkies... "I'm the guy who played the one Klingon in that one bar scene on the Andorean ship in episode 13"...that kinda thing.

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http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=george+harrison+height&btnG=Google+Search

 

I don't know from first-hand experience... I never met the man, and I would go with Lee Flier's estimate because I trust her and she DID meet him. However, most of the books I have read alluded to the three non-drumming Beatles (yeah, Macca plays drums too...) were all around 5'11", give or take a half inch or so. IIRC, the first book I saw with such a reference in it was Nicholas Schaffner's The Beatles Forever, circa 1977-1978.

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Celebrity bios are known for adding inches to those of shorter stature. It enhances the "we look upon you as gods" nature in people. And authors simply regurgitate what they find in the PR documents.


Yes, and she said they weren't very tall. I stood two feet away from the guy and he was at least a good 2-3 inches shorted than I am.

 

And I have no reason to doubt you. :) As I said, I was just repeating what I've read from several sources; I can make no guarantees about their accuracy, nor did I ever meet the man myself. :wave:

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Lee once posted a picture of that event in which she appears with these guys - just casually sitting around.

 

As if that isnt enough...

 

Someone should ask her about the Stones rehearsal in LA.

 

Such things could not happen to a more deserving musician.

 

Lee, what - no close encounters with Britany? You've been slacking off.:)

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