A Starry crowd for Ringo Starr’s virtual 80th birthday party

"I’m celebrating with my friends in a new way this year — we’re going to have to keep our distance due to the coronavirus,” Ringo Starr said

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Ringo Starr and Joe Welsh on Starr's virtual 80th birthday party (photo credit: YOUTUBE)
Ringo Starr and Joe Welsh on Starr's virtual 80th birthday party
(photo credit: YOUTUBE)
Ringo Starr celebrated his 80th birthday on Wednesday with a virtual 65-minute show that included old and new performances by himself and famous friends.
The stream was raising money for a number of organizations, including the Black Lives Matter Global Network for the fight to “end all this racist violence,” Starr said, as well as The David Lynch Foundation, MusiCares and WaterAid.
“As most of you know, I’m fond of a good birthday party… but this is a bad year to host a get-together of any kind,” said the famous ex-Beatle, sitting behind a drum kit wearing a colorful face mask adorned with the peace sign, according to Variety.
“So I’m celebrating with my friends in a new way this year — we’re going to have to keep our distance due to the coronavirus,” he said, amid the mix of archive concert footage and home recordings watched live by some 130,000 fans.
Famous musician friends, from Sheryl Crow and brother-in-law Joe Walsh to Dave Grohl and filmmaker David Lynch, recorded vocals and video tributes, as Starr introduced hits from the Beatles’ back catalog as well as his own.
Starr played drums in one remotely assembled performance, a full-band version of the Beatles’ “Come Together” led by Sheila E.
Documentary footage reflected on the Beatles’ refusal to play before a segregated audience in Jacksonville, Florida during their famous 1964 US tour.
“Black Lives Matter. Stand up and make your voice heard,” said Starr, before noting the major influence of Black artists including Little Richard on the Beatles’ sound.
A hoped-for reunion with the only other Beatles survivor, Paul McCartney, didn’t materialize, but a clip was screened of the two performing “Helter Skelter” last year at  Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.
The webcast included a newly assembled music video for his song “Give More Love” that included  many famous friends singing a line or three, including Willie Nelson, Jackson Browne, Elvis Costello, T Bone Burnett, Rodney Crowell, Peter Frampton, Kenny Loggins, Keb Mo, Steve Earle, Michael McDonald, Jeff Bridges and Ray Wylie Hubbard.
Starr performed for the first time in Israel in 2018, as part of the longtime Ringo Starr and his All-Starr band revue, featuring Colin Hay from Men at Work, Toto’s Steve Lukather, Journey’s Gregg Rolie and 10cc’s Graham Gouldman.
In an interview with Rolling Stone published Tuesday, Starr said he works out anywhere from three to six times a week, goes for long walks and maintains a vegetarian diet — eating “broccoli with everything and blueberries every morning.”
He said he hasn’t really left his Los Angeles home in some 11 weeks during the pandemic.
“I do a bit of that and I have a paint room, a little art room. And I’m going in there, painting and doing stuff. And I love to sit in the sun. I love LA. I love the brightness and hanging out,” he said. “That’s all we’re doing.”


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