RINGO STARR recently celebrated his 75th birthday in front of Capitol Records with an OHM chant of PEACEANDLOVE. This is a tradition that STARR began in 2005 with a few participants which has now blossomed into a few hundred enthusiastic noon time PEACEANDLOVE chanters.
The deal is everyone around the world is supposed to chant PEACEANDLOVE at noon their time on July 7 and not just the birthday revelers at Capitol Records.
STARR has been a TM (transcendental meditation) practitioner since 1968 as a BEATLE studying with the Guru MAHARISHI MAHESH YOGI and it is a safe bet that STARR has reached his nirvana in his PEACEANDLOVE chant.
Longtime friend DAVID LYNCH was among the star studded attendees at this function and was very articulate in validating STARR’S desire to spread PEACEANDLOVE through chanting the words. LYNCH, also a student of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, has a foundation that is currently working with inner city youth that are damaged by a life of crime and street life and teaching them TM. It is slow going STARR told the audinece, but it is helping. LYNCH is volunteering his time on this endeavor. For those of you that don’t understand the function of an OHM chant, it is supposed to create a harmonic vibration with the universe and flow. After the chant, STARR threw out white PEACE & LOVE bracelets with 3 stars on them to participants and handed out PEACE cookies.
As for myself, I was reminded that answering fan mail for the original KNACK was my first industry “job” and it was at Capitol Records which struck a cool chord in my vibration. While hanging out there I met a very cool Street Artist who shared his many projects and friends and quizzed me on my “Street” knowledge and asked me if I knew who LORD JIM was…”of course” I answered “I have a piece of his work.” Turns out I was mistaken about that one, it was Lord Tim I was thinking of who was a DJ at KFWB during the Sixties. Lord Tim traveled with the BEATLES at that time and I have one of his photos of the BEATLES. The new friend also queried if I knew who Teacher or Banksy were. Fodder for my next book methinks.
It appears that I owe WADDY WACHTEL a huge shout out for his quitar work in “All Is By My Side”. Don’t know how it managed to slip by me when I was crafting my review of the movie in November 2014, but it did. All of those notes in the movie were Waddy’s signature stylings and I am told that WADDY composed some of the music and was the acting music producer. Funny thing is that a friend of WADDY came up to me at STARR’S birthday function and started telling me about it. Nice to know that musicians are paying attention.
Unless my readers were living under a rock at the time, most of you know about my adventures in Paris with the ghost of JIM MORRISON. I even wrote a story about it for the LA Free Press’s music page and sent a copy to the company that manages The DOORS and JIM MORRISON. Funny thing how life works out, because friend STEVE HOFFMAN, a studio tech wizard, recently mixed a new CD from original masters titled “THE BEST OF THE DOORS”. It’s an audiophile Hybrid Multichannel SACD recording in a numbered, limited release. Only 5,000 were made so if you want one go to your nearest audiophile store and pick one up. It is a bit pricy, but worth every penny in terms of quality of sound. Songs such as “Who Do You Love “ are included and when “Soul Kitchen” comes twanging in it’s …whew, I’m back in Paris wandering by a cafe called “Soul Kitchen.”
Another new release is THE SINGULARITY which has “404 NOT FOUND” as their new offering. Slick, sleek and precise the whole CD is ear candy and is sure to please BOWIE fans that enjoy this genre. Hard Boiled recomends “Wetter” as their #1 song, but for me it was hard to pick one.
I’m going to close out this column with a quote about the need for music in our schools.
“ Whoever has skill in music is of good temperment and fitted for all things. We MUST teach music in schools.” Martin Luther