`Sgt. Pepper's Magical Mystery Board´

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http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/entertainment/13268527.htm




Ringo Starr talks about music, art

By BRENDAN GAINE, JESSICA LOMBARDO and SARAH WALSH

Kidsday Staff Reporters (Newsday)


We interviewed music legend Ringo Starr at the Pop International Gallery in Manhattan.

Question: Does the mood of your artwork have a similar meaning to your music?

Answer: I think the art is humorous. I like humor and I like to laugh and stay up. Playing the drums is what I do and that is when I am really happy. When you love to do something you can't help but be happy. With the art, the art is the same. If I didn't love it and I didn't get some joy from it, I would have stopped.

Q: The song on your new CD, ''Choose Love,'' reminds us a lot of the song ''Taxman.''

A: You are the second person who has said this, and I never noticed. It doesn't really sound like ''Taxman'' to me; maybe I should listen again. If you look at the song ''Choose Love,'' I used a line from the songs ''The Long and Winding Road'' and ''Tomorrow Never Knows.'' John (Lennon) took that line and turned it into a song. I don't mind reusing lines.

Q: In the future, since you are a legend, would you rather be remembered as a musician or an artist?

A: Musician.

Q: When you were a child, did you want to be a drummer in an all-star band?

A: I wanted to be a tramp. I used to love to walk. Tramp is an English expression for a guy, they now call them homeless. I wanted to just knock on doors and get water and bread. I wanted to be a train driver. When I was 13, I was in the hospital for a year, and they used to keep us entertained with these instruments. I used to use the percussions, the tambourines, drums and maracas. I wouldn't be in a band if they didn't give me a drum.

Q: What music do you listen to today?

A: I think the music of today is like the music I used to listen to. There is some of it that I like. In a weird way, I like some rap, but usually like it when it is a band. I like groups playing. I really like Robert Randolph (& his Family Band). He is a pedal steel guitar player. I've always listened to everything. I used to listen to big bands, jazz, blues, country and western, pop and classical. There is some classical I still like.

Q: Is it hard not to get distracted drumming in front of thousands of people and keeping a beat going?

A: Yes, but not anymore. With The Beatles, we played clubs, then went to theaters, and when we came to America we played at Shea Stadium in 1964. Coming to New York and to America, where all the music is, no one will ever know how big that was for me and how exciting.

Q: What was your greatest musical moment?

A: Doing the shows were always incredible, and you have to go back to the Shea one because it was absolutely mad. Ed Sullivan was incredible. But when I moved from playing clubs to theaters that was like, ''Wow,'' too. Through the career there have been lots of ''wows.'' If you want a greatest moment, it was meeting (fellow Beatles) John (Lennon), Paul (McCartney) and George Harrison.