See video of Ringo at the Hard Rock in Hollywood, Florida below

The donation represents a collaborative fundraising effort from Hard Rock’s IMAGINE There’s No Hunger Campaign bracelet sales, “Crank It Up” events at Hard Rock Cafes nationwide and a generous donation on behalf of the Seminole Tribe of Florida.

After Ringo’s concert at the Hard Rock that evening, Ringo donated the drum set he has been playing on this 11th All Starr Band tour, which will become a permanent part of Hard Rock’s world-famous memorabilia collection. In addition, the Hard Rock Cafe in Hollywood, Florida also featured an exhibition of original artwork created by Ringo.

Meanwhile, Paul McCartney personally created and designed an exclusive T-shirt for the Hard Rock Calling 2010 signature series. The proceeds from the sale of the T-shirt will benefit WhyHunger. The T-shirts were launched at Paul’s concert appearance in Hyde Park on June 27.

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The son of BEATLES drummer RINGO STARR has enjoyed stints behind the kit for both OASIS and THE WHO.

And now Zak’s daughter TATIA is taking her first steps in the music world – but she has opted not to follow in her dad and grandad’s footsteps too closely. Instead of playing the drums she’s filled the other rhythm section slot in a new band – by playing bass in upcoming outfit BELAKISS.

On their MySpace page, the London five-piece name classic Brit rockers including THE KINKS, THE SMALL FACES and LED ZEPPELIN as influences. But there is no mention of the Fab Four inspiring them.

Tatia is so keen to keep her identity under wraps she has adopted the stage name VERONICA AVANT.

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The musician will reach the landmark age Wednesday and to celebrate he’s calling for everyone to put two fingers in the air to make a V-shaped peace sign at midday, which he famously used during his Beatles days, reports contactmusic. com.

“Wherever you are at noon put your fingers in the air and say ‘peace and love’ for me. It’s sort of caught on, it’s worldwide now,” he said.

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Hitting the Bank of America Pavilion on Tuesday, just a week shy of his 70th birthday, Ringo looked spry and healthy, drummed up a storm and brought his usual bag of solo hits, Beatles memories and pleas for peace and love. But this year’s band didn’t match the superstar lineups of previous tours, instead offering a mix of club warhorses (Edgar Winter and Rick Derringer), a session guy (drummer Gregg Bissonette) and a handful of one- and two-hit wonders (keyboardist Gary Wright, Romantics guitarist Wally Palmar and Mr. Mister bassist/singer Richard Page).

The night started strong with Starr doing “It Don’t Come Easy” and Derringer digging up his ’60s band the McCoys’ hit “Hang on Sloopy.” Palmar maintained the garage-rock vibe on the Romantics’ two biggies, “What I Like About You” and “Talking in Your Sleep.”

Yet most of the set seemed designed for people who listen to a lot of classic-rock radio and don’t go to a lot of live shows – folks who haven’t burned out on Winter’s “Free Ride” or Wright’s “Dream Weaver,” who’d get dazzled by Derringer’s three-minute finger-tap guitar solo on “Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo,” and who maintain a soft spot for Mr. Mister’s earnest MTV hits
“Kyrie” and “Broken Wings.”

The recent Ringo songs “Choose Love” and “Peace Dream” (detect a theme here?) were catchy and Beatle-y, but it was the vintage Beatles songs that brought the band to life. “Boys” brought a taste of the Cavern Club days. And Starr’s never toured with a group that didn’t get an obvious kick from playing “I Wanna Be Your Man” and “With a Little Help From My Friends” (which was merged with John Lennon’s “Give Peace a Chance” for the finale).

Maybe it’s time for Starr to finally do his own tour where he sings more than 10 songs. He still has plenty of hits that the All-Starrs don’t play, and when it comes down to a choice between more Beatles and more Mr.Mister, that should be an easy call.

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Ringo Starr: They hurt. Hey, America…. don’t throw them jellybeans. Streamers are good, you know. They don’t hurt. Get me some streamers. Jellybeans are too hard. Do you have any, Larry?

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Ringo Starr turns 68 today, so he and Paul McCartney will presumably be getting together to drop acid and mime about the old times. And what old times they were, when four dirty little scamps in leather bondage gear suddenly took the music world by the throat and declared to God-fearing Americans that they were even more marvelous than Agamemnon and Moses put together. Or something like that. We don’t know, we’re making it up. We can’t remember the 60s, because we weren’t there. And we don’t mean that we were out of our minds, man. We mean that we weren’t born yet. Even so, we thought we’d get Ringo a gift, and it boiled down to a toss up between another ring, or a clip of an old cartoon. In the end we got him both. Happy Birthday Ringo!

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Here’s what I read..

Remaining Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr took a trip down memory lane at a press conference on Friday as they gear up for their highly anticipated reunion concert tonight!

Of The Beatles’ famous trip to India, Paul said his spiritual guru the Maharishi gave the band a “great gift” at a point in their lives “when we were looking for something to kind of stabilize us toward the end of the crazy 1960s,” reports the Associated Press.

Paul and Ringo will rock out together for the first time since 2002, when they headline a concert at NYC’s Radio City Music Hall on Saturday night benefiting the David Lynch Foundation, which provides funds for transcendental meditation in schools.

Other musicians set to perform at the concert include Sheryl Crow, Eddie Vedder, Moby and Bettye LaVette.

Here’s another one from Reuters:

The surviving Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, performed together on Saturday to raise money to help kids learn a meditation technique the 1960s icons practiced at the height of their fame.

McCartney was joined onstage by Starr for a rousing rendition of “With a Little Help From My Friends” at Radio City Music Hall at the Change Begins Within concert for the David Lynch Foundation, which promotes Transcendental Meditation.

The Beatles helped popularize Transcendental Meditation — described as a simple mental technique to combat stress — in 1967 when they sought spiritual guidance from an Indian guru, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

“It started for us when we met the Maharishi in India and it’s going to get bigger and bigger and rule the world,” McCartney said after playing his post-Beatles hit “Jet.”

McCartney’s set topped an evening that included performances by Starr, Sheryl Crow, Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder, Ben Harper and others.

McCartney’s choice of songs included Beatles classics such as “Let it Be,” “Lady Madonna” and “Blackbird” and the concert was rife with nostalgia for the two dead Beatles, John Lennon and George Harrison.

McCartney and Starr last played together in November 2002 at the Concert for George in London’s Royal Albert Hall after Harrison’s death from cancer at the age of 58.

“I love New York and John loved New York. Let’s hear it for John,” McCartney said before playing the plaintive “Here Today,” a song he wrote after Lennon’s murder in 1980 and which appeared on his 1982 “Tug of War” album.

Earlier, after playing his hit “It Don’t Come Easy,” Starr said, “I wrote that song with George Harrison and you know he would have been here tonight.”

Starr also played Beatles favorites “Yellow Submarine” and “Boys.”

Folk singer Donovan, who was also in India with the Beatles said, “George is here in spirit.”

The highlight of the evening was McCartney introducing Starr, invoking the name of the imaginary singer from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

“Ladies and gentlemen, Billy Shears,” McCartney said as his former drummer walked onstage to join him at the microphone.

Starr remained on stage for an encore, playing drums on a song written by McCartney while in India, “And Remember to be … Cosmically Conscious,” and “I Saw Her Standing There.”

Filmmaker David Lynch’s foundation says that since 2005 it has provided scholarships for more than 100,000 at-risk young people, teachers and parents in 30 countries to learn Transcendental Meditation.

The concert was intended to raise money to help 1 million children learn to meditate. (Editing by Bill Trott)

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Ivor Arbiter opened Drum City in Shaftesbury Avenue in the heat of the theatre district. It was the first ‘drums only’ store in the whole of London, and became a Mecca for all jazz drummers – the store introduced many different kits to the UK like the German manufactured Trixon drums and also Paiste cymbals. Later Ivor Arbiter gathered rights to Pearl, as well as being the first to stock a complete selection of US drums: Ludwig, Slingerland and Gretsch.

For those who didn’t now, he was the man who sold Ringo Starr his drums — and applied on Ringo’s bass drumhead by London sign painter Eddie Stokes.

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Ludwig Drum sets have become synonymous to the drummer of the most successful and influential band of all time – The Beatles!

But not everyone knows that Ringo didn’t always play Ludwig drums. In fact his first drum kit was a used set that was purchased for him as a Christmas gift. Up until this time, Ringo had been playing biscuit tins and pieces of firewood.

Ringo first played the drums in February of 1957. In the summer of 1958 Ringo borrowed £46 from his grandfather, went to Frank Hessy’s Music store, and bought an Ajax single headed kit.

Check out the rest of Ringo’s Drumming history here.

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If you’re somewhere near these areas, catch Ringo Starr!

June 2008

19 – Fallsview Casino, Niagara Falls, ON
20 – Fallsview Casino, Niagra Falls, ON
21 – Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, Bethel, NY
22 – Mohegan Sun, Uncasville, CT
24 – Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
25 – Bank of America Pavilion, Boston, MA
27 – PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel, NJ
28 – Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort, Atlantic City, NJ
29 – North Fork Theatre at Westbury, Westbury, NY

August 2008

2 – Greek Theater, Los Angeles, CA

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