Ringo & Paul

I taped the Grammys.

Because I wanted to see Paul and Ringo playing together.

It was a curiosity thing, but I was not prepared for the emotional response.

Now dig, I watched it at the tail end of inventory night. 14 and 1/2 hour day. I was tired. My defenses were down.

Ringo did a solo thing. He sang "Photograph" with a 1,300 piece band behind him.

He always has lots of musicians backing him up. He comes out every other summer on tour with a boffo all star band. He calls it Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band.

I have never experienced it. I have seen Mr. McCartney. I owe it to myself to see Ringo.

Anyway he stood in front of the band and sang "Photograph". I thought it was a bit awkward. He is not built to be a lead singer; he is built to be behind the drums. He did not move naturally, he did not create a lot of excitement.

But he is Ringo. I loved it.

Later on Paul came on. Ringo was behind the drums.

I was thrilled.

There were many shots of Paul caressing the piano keys where you could see, over Paul's shoulder, Ringo playing behind him.

These were the shots that I loved. The two of them in the frame together. Paul moving the way Paul moves, Ringo moving the way Ringo moves. Which has not changed since 1964 on Ed Sullivan's stage.

After the song, Ringo came out from behind, they put their arms around one another and bowed.

What a moment.

At the beginning of the Grammys they showed Paul and Ringo and their wives sitting in the front row, on their own.

This award show has become such a spectacle, so huge, so dramatic, and here were two of the four guys who started it all. 

The Beatles exploded the world of music. They changed it forever. They had an impact no other band will ever have.

They were huge and they made the record industry huge.

Ringo and Paul are surviving Gods. No one will ever touch them. No one will ever come close.

You could feel the reverence in the room. You could see it in the eyes of the people in the audience and the eyes of the people on stage.

Once again I was saved by Beatles.

I went from 14 and 1/2 hours of fatigue and emptiness, to 10 minutes of pure emotion, a soulful reality.

Those ten minutes dwarfed the previous 14 and 1/2 hours by a long shot. Those ten minutes were more meaningful to me than the entire previous 11 months I have spent at The Asylum.

Ringo and Paul did that.

They always will.