the-beatles | Saying nothing in particular

I’ve seen two of the former Beatles in concert: Paul McCartney probably in the mid eighties and George Harrison a few years later. The McCartney concert was meant to wow with a laser light show and a fast paced presentation of old and new songs. In some concerts there are quiet moments when the performer speaks to the audience in an attempt to connect but we left feeling no closer to McCartney than before. Perhaps he was having an off night. Who knows.

On the other hand, the Harrison concert was all about connecting. We felt like a friend we’d known a long time had invited us into his heart once again. I think the only Beatle-related songs he sang were While My Guitar Gently Weeps (which he changed to While My Guitar Gently Smiles so as not to offend his audience) and Something. Sadly many folks who came expecting a Beatles concert left or took a breather when Ravi Shankar joined him for a few lively ragas. What dolts. But George took it well.

Flash forward to the end of November, 2001. I’d just parked my car at work when I heard the announcement on the radio that George Harrison, formerly of the Beatles had died. I wanted to cry, to blubber like a baby, and then run back home to bed with the covers over my head. And then, a rainbow appeared in front of me, spanning the San Francisco Bay. Not a wispy here and gone rainbow but a solid arch. Directly underneath this rainbow a bird sang from the top of a spare and leafless tree. I must have sat in the car for five minutes or perhaps an eternity or perhaps just the blink of an eye … mesmerized by the sight.

Do not grieve me, I am not gone.

Anyway, that was a long, long time ago.

I was in the middle of debating my doubtful parents over the necessity for a training bra (I didn’t need one but I desperately wanted one) when the movie A Hard Days Night finally reached one of the two movie theaters in my hometown of Reno Nevada. The Granada sat on the edge of the Truckee River about two blocks down from the Mapes Hotel which I’ve written about before. Back then, an easy two mile walk from my house on the end of Washington Street.

The Granada always had a double feature on Saturdays and, once you bought your ticket, you could stay all day. And we did. I don’t remember who I first saw the movie with. Probably my neighbor, Lee Lee (who actually needed a bra and planned to marry George Harrison) but I do remember the second feature. It was Romeo and Juliet starring Rudolph Nureyev and Dame Margot Fontaine. As a budding ballerina I loved watching Nureyev fly across the stage again and again but I can’t say the same for rest of the audience. They took advantage of the break between showings of A Hard Days Night to smoke in the bathrooms.

Yesterday I noticed that A Hard Day’s Night had been added to the roster of “Classics” on HBO Max. Ouch. Did I dare stream a favorite from my training bra days whilst strapped in my 34 D “over the shoulder boulder holders”? Would the movie maintain its magic after … don’t say it … fifty plus years? Did I dare find out?

Of course, you know I did. I guess I needed a diversion from the precipice of Civil War on which we Californians now stand. Would I do it again? Noooooo. This is a movie whose primary purpose was to cement Beatle stereotypes: Paul as cute and charming, John as rebellious and snarky, George as cool and mysterious, and Ringo as goofy and lovable. I now know too much about those four human beings (doesn’t everyone?) because, watching the movie in my over the shoulder boulder holders, John seems insecure and painfully self-conscious while Paul seems cocky and smug. George was already so thin and fragile looking that my heart wept for him. The only one who after all these years still seemed the same was Ringo, below in arguably the best scene in the movie.

At the end of the clip, Ringo watches the four young “deserters” hanging out on the edge of the river perhaps thinking back to the time when he was young and carefree. Before he got trapped by overwhelming fame. Have you ever watched a film you loved as a kid and been disappointed? Or worse, saddened? Do you think DT will rest after he destroys LA? Or is this just the beginning?