It's a familiar story...an artist's rise to fame and then the unfortunate demise as a result of the success. I've often read about the "hard days nights" that The Beatles endured to achieve fame and fortune, only to realize that fame and fortune would change their lives forever.
In the summer of 1964, the height of Beatlemania, Ringo fell ill with tonsillitis & had to be hospitalized, unable to perform with the band. The band was getting ready for their first world tour and in those days, concert contracts were very primitive and didn't allow for rescheduling due to illness or emergency. The band would have to incur the expense of the cancellation and all of the backlash that would follow. So it was decided that a replacement for Ringo would be sought and Jimmie Nicol, an outstanding drummer, became that lucky guy.
However, as quickly as Jimmie was hired, Jimmie was forgotten.
Jim Berkenstadt's book "The Beatle Who Vanished" is a fascinating account of the life of Nicol; his humble beginnings, his terrific talent, his experience as a Beatle, his unfortunate struggles afterward and eventual disappearance.
Don't miss Jim's appearance on my radio show TODAY! Please call in to the show with your questions for this Rock & Roll Sherlock Holmes.
Go to the show link:
If you miss it live, you can still use that link to hear the archived episode. Share it with your Beatle friends ;)
You'll enjoy hearing Jim's stories about Nicol, along with his other books: "Black Market Beatles," "The Beatles Digest," and "Nevermind Nirvana." Tune in today.
Jim Berkenstadt
Author of The Beatle Who Vanished
(608) 335-9754
Peace, Love & The Beatles,
Lanea Stagg
www.reciperecordscookbook.com
lanea@reciperecordscookbook.com
**Mark your calendar for Sat., May 11th (1 pm-5 pm) -- I'll be at a lovely Open House in Henderson, KY - Studio 4905, a most beautiful art gallery will be hosting art, jewelry, sewing, photography & Recipe Records! Join us for drinks & food & Mother's Day Shopping....I'll be there with plenty of books!
Studio 4905 ~ 4905 Timberland Dr. ~ Henderson, KY ~ 270-869-4469
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John's Blurb with Jude Southerland Kessler
“Time you enjoyed wasting wasn’t wasted.”
- John Lennon
If you’d read the first book in The John Lennon Series, Shoulda Been There (and hey, why haven’t you???), you’d know why John said this and to whom it was addressed. It was a direct swipe at the decorous woman who reared him –his Aunt Mimi.
When I speak to groups about John, I tell them that if you Google the term, “Duty” (or look it up in a dictionary if you’re “old school”), you find a color photograph of John’s Aunt Mimi beside the definition. Yes, Mimi Smith was a stern, no-nonsense woman who believed that children should “do something productive” rather than waste time playing. Therefore, as a boy, John wasn’t permitted to own toys or “dawdle about” or go to picturedromes (movies). Mimi thought those activities a gross misuse of the meager time allotted on this earth.
I understand. As a little girl, I wasn’t permitted to waste time reading comic books or watching cartoons or “doing something silly.” Instead, I was encouraged to read, write, draw, and be creative. Daily, I was reminded that “idle hands are the Devil’s playground” and that “a job worth doing is worth doing well.” My father often told me vivid stories of a family member who “lost her husband because she was lazy and sloppy,” and I was warned against the tendency to grow up like that unfortunate, slovenly lady.
Yesterday, I spent several hours cleaning my patio…Windexing the windows, cleaning the table and chairs, sweeping the deck, pruning plants that had survived the winter and planting new ones. When I finished, the patio was lovely; it was ready for the sipping of coffee, for lazy lingering over crossword puzzles. Over the phone last night, I told my parents what I’d accomplished.
“Pffff!” my mother sputtered. “And when will you ever sit and relax on that patio? How many times have you used it since you’ve lived there? None, I bet.”
Of course, she was right. Because “dawdling about” on the patio doesn’t fit into the category of “productive.” It’s wasting time, isn’t it?
Maybe this summer I can be less like my parents (who now seem on board with relaxing!) and less like Mimi. Maybe this year, I can be more like John.
But wait…if you examine John’s life in detail, you’ll find he was just like me (and Mimi!). He wanted to be free of his heritage, but he was free in quotes only. John spent each and every hour of his life engaged in something “worthwhile.”
How about you? Is your patio ever used? And if not, what does that tell you?
What is “time wasted”? Maybe it’s something to mull over. - J.S.K.
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