shyGirl
Dec 02, 2002, 11:21 PM
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,71859,00.html
More from the George Harrison memorial concert from Friday at London's magnificent Royal Albert Hall. Please see Saturday and Sunday's columns for parts 1 and 2 about this extraordinary event.
Much as he worked tirelessly to make The Concert for George a hit, Eric Clapton nevertheless made some enemies Friday night.
In his overzealousness to put on a perfect program, some of the musicians claimed he over-rehearsed them. More than a few noticed Billy Preston's fingers were swollen from putting in eight-hour days, six days a week for nearly three weeks. But apparently Clapton felt that if he was paying Preston he should adhere to the schedule.
Same for the other famed sidemen whom Clapton brought to the show including Jim Keltner, Jim Horn, Klaus Voorman, Ray Cooper, and Emil Richards among them — all names that appear on countless solo Beatles albums.
Jools Holland, the English Paul Schaffer who put together the shows and was musical director, is said to be furious that Clapton didn't thank him from the stage for all his hard work.
Clapton also didn't do much to make Paul McCartney feel good. McCartney doesn't take to not being in the spotlight — he took over both The Concert for New York and the Queen's Jubilee shows, for example.
As a Beatle and a friend of Harrison's long before Clapton, McCartney felt that he should be prominently featured in the show. But after his introduction by Ringo Starr, McCartney's ukulele rendition of "Something" — which he does on his tour — was circumvented by Clapton taking over mid-song and finishing "Something" as a rock number.
McCartney then performed a beautiful version of "All Things Must Pass" and then was demoted to a piano on the side of the stage. I watched him pretty much not strike the keys for the balance of the show, clearly seething over his tertiary role.
Ringo must have known how he felt, because he went out of his way to split from the after-party before Paul and wife Heather arrived. The McCartneys spent the shortest time possible — just minutes — maybe anticipating Clapton's arrival. (He never showed though.)
I asked Heather whether or not in the year or so since I'd seen her if she'd learned any Beatles songs. Last year she told me she didn't know any.
"Since Paul's been touring I've learned quite a few," she said. "Not all of them. But I recognize many of them now."
Because Heather is not Paul's age and does not share his history with the other musicians, she kind of fades back when there's hubbub around them.
I think people consider her standoffish, but she's not. She's letting McCartney do his thing. And in this case that meant getting in and out quickly. He did tell me he enjoyed doing the second song, and he made an effort to sign a couple of autographs before lighting out.
Meanwhile, Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson got their picture taken with May Pang and Tom Scott. May, who was John Lennon's girlfriend and Yoko Ono 's assistant in the early '70s, got confused for Ono by one of the British tabs. Rest assured, Ono was not in attendance at the Harrison tribute.
Of all the people who blew through the intimate after-party, Monty Python's Eric Idle was clearly the most moved and exhausted from the experience of the show. Harrison was his real best friend, and had produced the Python movie Life of Brian, Idle's Nuns on the Run, Terry Gilliam's Time Bandits, and other movies including the great Mona Lisa .
Idle told me: "George was the perfect producer. He just wrote the check and stayed out of everything. He just liked movies and wanted to see certain ones made."
Idle said he had indeed been with Harrison the day he died, which made this all the more difficult. He teared up when he talked about his friend.
"You think about how he was stabbed and survived that. He did it for Dhani . He wanted more time with his son and he wound up getting two more years." When I thanked him for doing the show, Idle said, grimly, "I did it for myself."
------------------
http://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/rocknroll.gif
Song of the moment-Yer Blues
shyGirl's Hideout (http://www.geocities.com/smw15/index.html)
"I get shy when they start to stare."
More from the George Harrison memorial concert from Friday at London's magnificent Royal Albert Hall. Please see Saturday and Sunday's columns for parts 1 and 2 about this extraordinary event.
Much as he worked tirelessly to make The Concert for George a hit, Eric Clapton nevertheless made some enemies Friday night.
In his overzealousness to put on a perfect program, some of the musicians claimed he over-rehearsed them. More than a few noticed Billy Preston's fingers were swollen from putting in eight-hour days, six days a week for nearly three weeks. But apparently Clapton felt that if he was paying Preston he should adhere to the schedule.
Same for the other famed sidemen whom Clapton brought to the show including Jim Keltner, Jim Horn, Klaus Voorman, Ray Cooper, and Emil Richards among them — all names that appear on countless solo Beatles albums.
Jools Holland, the English Paul Schaffer who put together the shows and was musical director, is said to be furious that Clapton didn't thank him from the stage for all his hard work.
Clapton also didn't do much to make Paul McCartney feel good. McCartney doesn't take to not being in the spotlight — he took over both The Concert for New York and the Queen's Jubilee shows, for example.
As a Beatle and a friend of Harrison's long before Clapton, McCartney felt that he should be prominently featured in the show. But after his introduction by Ringo Starr, McCartney's ukulele rendition of "Something" — which he does on his tour — was circumvented by Clapton taking over mid-song and finishing "Something" as a rock number.
McCartney then performed a beautiful version of "All Things Must Pass" and then was demoted to a piano on the side of the stage. I watched him pretty much not strike the keys for the balance of the show, clearly seething over his tertiary role.
Ringo must have known how he felt, because he went out of his way to split from the after-party before Paul and wife Heather arrived. The McCartneys spent the shortest time possible — just minutes — maybe anticipating Clapton's arrival. (He never showed though.)
I asked Heather whether or not in the year or so since I'd seen her if she'd learned any Beatles songs. Last year she told me she didn't know any.
"Since Paul's been touring I've learned quite a few," she said. "Not all of them. But I recognize many of them now."
Because Heather is not Paul's age and does not share his history with the other musicians, she kind of fades back when there's hubbub around them.
I think people consider her standoffish, but she's not. She's letting McCartney do his thing. And in this case that meant getting in and out quickly. He did tell me he enjoyed doing the second song, and he made an effort to sign a couple of autographs before lighting out.
Meanwhile, Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson got their picture taken with May Pang and Tom Scott. May, who was John Lennon's girlfriend and Yoko Ono 's assistant in the early '70s, got confused for Ono by one of the British tabs. Rest assured, Ono was not in attendance at the Harrison tribute.
Of all the people who blew through the intimate after-party, Monty Python's Eric Idle was clearly the most moved and exhausted from the experience of the show. Harrison was his real best friend, and had produced the Python movie Life of Brian, Idle's Nuns on the Run, Terry Gilliam's Time Bandits, and other movies including the great Mona Lisa .
Idle told me: "George was the perfect producer. He just wrote the check and stayed out of everything. He just liked movies and wanted to see certain ones made."
Idle said he had indeed been with Harrison the day he died, which made this all the more difficult. He teared up when he talked about his friend.
"You think about how he was stabbed and survived that. He did it for Dhani . He wanted more time with his son and he wound up getting two more years." When I thanked him for doing the show, Idle said, grimly, "I did it for myself."
------------------
http://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/rocknroll.gif
Song of the moment-Yer Blues
shyGirl's Hideout (http://www.geocities.com/smw15/index.html)
"I get shy when they start to stare."