George Harrison - Happy Birthday!

Today is George Harrison's birthday. The "quiet Beatle" was one of the most unusual musician/singer/songwriters to come out of the 1960's. After having propelled Indian Music, along with Transcendental Meditation to the forefront of the era, he went on to invent the rock and roll benefit concert when he did the Concert for Bangla Desh in 1971.

He had a spotty solo career post Beatles, until the late 1980's when he fronted the Traveling Wilburys. They went on to become one of the most beloved bands since the Beatles. With different names to identify them all as brothers, they all wrote, sang and played guitars. In a way that was funny, because the Beatles had first been turned down for a record contract themselves in 1962 because "groups of guitars were on the way out."

The group began almost as an accident, with Harrison doing some recording and inviting a friend, who invited a friend etc. And when one of them talked Roy Orbison into coming along, well, that was the moment they became the Traveling Wilburys. Along with fictitious names as a band of brothers, they also listed all the songs as having been co-written by the entire group.

Their first album relaunched Roy Orbison's career and gave him his first #1 record in years, just before he passed away. He was slated to make the second Wilburys album, but fate had other plans. And the group was a gift to Harrison as well; he would now not be remembered solely as a member of the Beatles; but as a wonderful singer, songwriter with some very cool friends and a band of his own.

Married for decades to his second wife Olivia; whom he met on his first solo tour of the US in 1974 when she worked at Capitol Records; she went on to save his life when an emotionally disturbed man broke into Friar Park and stabbed Harrison. Olivia knocked him cold with a table lamp. A devotee of Krishna and no-violence she has said that it was a conflicting moment for her; as her husband chanted to Krishna for deliverance, she was engaged in an act of aggression. She has no regrets.

It should be noted that Olivia Harrison; along with the other Beatle wives; organized the Romanian Angels Appeal; formed to combat the neglect of the thousands of orphanages created by the abuses of Nicolae Ceaucescu, and were rampant in the country after the fall of the Communists. They are still doing good work there today. The Traveling Wilburys gave them the recording "Nobody'd Child" as a gift to help them get started.

Still remembered with affection today, almost 14 years after his death from cancer in 2001, we wish him a Happy Birthday and Hare Krishna!

This is the new biography of George Harrison by Graeme Thomson. In my opinion, this is the best and most accurate biography of George Harrison and particularly his life post-Beatles.

The Material World - Irony of Life

Have you heard the news today, oh boy? The George Harrison Memorial Tree, which was planted in his honor at the Griffith Observatory; located in Los Angeles’ Griffith Park; has died. Apparently it passed away last month but has just been announced last Monday by City Councilman Councilman Tom LaBonge.

The irony in the story is that the tree died as a result of an invasion of; you guessed it; beetles, the agricultural type. The irony of this is further compounded by the frantic effort to replace it. Mr. Harrison, who did not really believe in the impermanence of things material, would either amuse or bemuse him. The tree was planted in 2004.

The tree is a nice gesture and draws tourists. But a far better way to honor the former Beatle and all round musician/composer would be to have a look at the following video from 1990. At the time Romania had just come out of its darkest days under the brutal dictatorship of Nicolae Ceauşescu.

Thousands of women were raped by the military and forced to carry the babies’ full term. Many of those children were infected with AIDS, as well as severe learning disabilities. Hospitals, when available, were primitive and lacking in everything. There were no schools for these children, who were all slated to become members of the Romanian dictators military. When freedom came the country was completely unprepared.

At the time, Olivia Harrison heard of the plight and visited the country. When she came back she got together with the other Beatle wives and formed the charity organization Romanian Angel Appeal Foundation. Quietly; ever so quietly, over the course of the last 24 years; Olivia Harrison; along with Barbara Bach, Yoko Ono and the now deceased Linda McCartney; made it financially possible for these children to survive and even excel.

In this following 1990 interview you will not only hear the story of how the charity came to be; but also about the Traveling Wilbury’s and their second album “Volume 3” which was released in 1990.

“Nobody’s Child” wasn’t on the original album but appears on the re-release. It’s an old American song by Cy Coben and Mel Foree; performed by Lonnie Donnegan. George had to call Joe Brown in London to get the lyrics. It was 5AM in London. They succeeded in getting half of them, and then wrote their own last verse.

     

The song originally appeared on an album for the Romanian Angel Appeal which featured artists such as the Traveling Wilbury’s, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon and George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Van Morrison, Guns N' Roses, Ringo Starr, and Elton John. Here is that interview;

You can also help by simply “liking” their Facebook page at;

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Romanian-Angel-Appeal/181235723048?sk=info

And tell your friends about them, too!

"George Harrison: Living In the Material World" - Martin Scorsese (2011)

This may be the best rock biopic you will ever see about George Harrison. It shouldn’t surprise you as it was produced by Martin Scorsese and Olivia Harrison. It is filled with personal photos and film footage taken by Harrison and the other Beatles, and is narrated throughout by some of the people who knew and loved him the most.

That’s not to say that this is a marathon of celebrities stating how “Beatle George” affected, or influenced, them. Rather it is a film made by those closest to him, about him. Along the way Mr. Scorsese manages to extract the most telling interviews with George concerning fame, fortune and religion. Mr. Harrison’s take on religion was not so far removed from what he terms the concept of God being “a man in the sky”, which he originally rejected.

After delving into the sitar Mr. Harrison also embarked on a spiritual journey. He began in San Francisco, where he expected to see an enlightened community populated by people who had found some sort of inner peace. Instead he found sloth, rampant recreational use of LSD, and commercialism beyond belief. He promptly fled the scene after his famous walk through Golden Gate Park.

When he got to India he was lured into the Hindu teachings in a very simple way. He had always been taught, from birth, that you only needed to have Faith in God’s existence. But in India it was accepted that one cannot believe what he cannot see or feel for themselves. And, further, that this belief was valid.

His relationship with Ravi Shankar is explored and there is some film of George and Ravi weaving together on the sitar and guitar, melding the East and West into one. The film is so insightful and informative that you come away from it feeling as if you have met Mr. Harrison for the very first time; having misunderstood him for all these years.

Eric Clapton pays homage to not only his friend, but also to the creativity of the Beatles. He even tells the story of how he got to be on “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”, and the anxiety he felt about performing with them.

Klaus Voorman and Astrid Kirchherr, the two German friends from Hamburg days, give their first impressions of meeting both the Beatles and George, and how that relationship affected them, as well as influenced their own artistry. Their descriptions of the friendship post Hamburg; including the LSD trip which led to John writing “I Am the Walrus”; make this film even better. Klaus went on to do the cover for the Beatles album “Revolver” and also became the bass player in the original Plastic Ono Band.

Yoko Ono weighs in with some delightfully unguarded comments about meeting George and how he perceived her as a fellow artist, rather than an enemy. George Martin is fatherly in his affection for Mr. Harrison, and Paul McCartney talks of their first meeting and how he convinced John to hear George play.When he performed “Raunchy”; atop a double decker Liverpool bus one night; he was in the group.

This film is a delightful treat. I am the type who usually gets up several times during a film, either to eat or stretch. This film had me in my chair for the entire first disc, which runs about 94 minutes. There is also a second disc with bonus features and performances which runs about 2 hours.

Whether or not you were ever a fan of the Beatles; or even George Harrison; you will not leave this film “empty handed.” This film will lift you up while also making you take a closer look at your own system of beliefs. Surprisingly; whether you are an atheist, a Christian, a Jew, or even a Buddhist; this film will touch you in a very personal way.