Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[LennonStarrFan]

Ringo Starr to open in N.F., Ont.
Business First of Buffalo - by James Fink

With a little help from his friends — okay — maybe more than a little help, former Beatle drummer Ringo Starr has opted to kick off his 2010 summer “All Starr Band” tour from Fallsview Casino Resort in Niagara Falls, Ont.

The tour marks the second one in a row that Starr decided to rehearse and start the North American trek from Niagara Falls.

Why Niagara Falls?

“I love looking out the window and seeing the falls,” Starr said. “It’s incredible. As far as I’m concerned I could come back here (to start his tour) every other year.”

That, and Starr admits to being a tad superstitious. He has started several of his “All Starr Band” tours from Canada.

Starr is touring with the 11th edition of his “All-Starr Band” that includes the likes of Edgar Winter, Rick Derringer and Gary Wright. The seven-member troupe will be playing 31 dates this summer, including a July 21 show at Sands Performing Arts Center in Canandaigua. The tour Niagara Falls shows, set for Thursday and Friday night are sold out.

The affable and spry Starr is hitting the road to promote his “Y Not” CD that released in January and a live CD/DVD set from his 2008 tour that will be released on July 27.

The musician in Starr loves playing live, especially since the crowds are older and more respectful than the screaming hordes he and his bandmates faced during the Beatles tours of 1964, 1965 and 1966.

Starr personally hand picked his six backing musicians. Some, such as Winter and Wright, are veterans of previous All-Starr Band tours.

“It’s a life-altering experience,” Winter said.

When picking his fellow musicians, Starr said he looks for talent, but also how well the group fits in together. They will be spending several months on the road, in tour buses and hotels. Hit singles also help like those Winter and Wright had in the 1970s.

“We’re like the ‘1-800’ band,” Starr joked.

Still being on stage with a former Beatle, a member of rock music’s royalty, is a daunting experience for the All-Starr Band rookies like bass player Richard Page of the 1980s band Mister Mister.

“You are going back to the source,” Page said. “This is the flame where it all started.”

Just a few weeks shy of his 70th birthday, Starr said he has no intention of slowing down. There will be future tours, CDs and guest appearances.

“I’m not going to hide from it,” Starr said of his upcoming July 7 birthday. “I know I’m not 24, but I feel like it.”

Starr noted many blues and jazz musicians played and toured regularly well into their 70s and 80s. Blues legend B.B. King will be 85 this September and is still touring — with a Buffalo date set for this fall.

“B.B. King is my hero,” Starr said. “He’s still playing. Okay, he plays sitting down, but he’s still playing.”

And, what will Starr being doing on his 70th birthday?

Besides playing a sold out show at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, Starr, at noon that day, will host a “Peace & Love” celebration at the Hard Rock Cafe in the Big Apple.

Source: http://buffalo.bizjournals.com/buffalo/stories/2010/06/21/daily27.html