When The Music's Over, Turn Out The Light is my artistic tribute to those musicians who gave music to my life, so many of whom we lost tragically. This piece is not for sale, it was done as a dedication to those talented people who left us too early.***********************
This Day in History:
Birthdays: George Harrison, Jim Backus, Zeppo Marx, Pierre Renoir
1938 - The first drive-in theater debuts in Miami, Florida.
1948 - Communists take over Czechoslovakia
1950 - You Show of Shows debuts on NBC, watch: "Life Begins at 7:45" Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca
1956 - Soviet Premier Nikita Kruschev denounced Joseph Stalin at a Soviet party conference
1964 - Boxer Cassius Clay (22) (soon to become Muhammed Ali) takes the World Heavyweight title from Sonny Liston (33). Watch: 1964 World Heavyweight Championship, Part 1, 1964 World Heavyweight Championship, Part 2, The Legend of Cassius Clay, narrated by Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali, accompanied by Liberace, where he predicts becoming champ in 1964!
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I am and have been a Beatles fan since I was 13 and saw them on the Ed Sullivan show in 1964*. So today I pay homage to Sir George Harrison on what would have been his 65th birthday. The "Quiet Beatle" died November 30, 2001 at age 58. It was another sad day for Beatles fans, having lost John Lennon to a madman in December over 21 years earlier.
Serving as the lead guitarist for the Beatles, George was a talented musician and composer. He wrote "Here Comes The Sun", "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "Something", a song Frank Sinatra called "the greatest love song ever written."
After the Beatles split George continued his music in "The Traveling Wilburys" with Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty and Roy Orbison as well recording the hit album "All Things Must Pass", his homage to fellow Beatle John Lennon, "All Those Years Ago" and my favorite, "I've Got My Mind Set On You".
Though as a teeny-bopper I was madly in love with Paul McCartney, later in my life I came to admire the subtle gentleness of George Harrison's personality and music style. Though overshadowed by the more colorful personalities of McCartney, Lennon and Ringo Starr, George was a talented musician and producer in his own right. Thirteen years before "Live Aid", George organized a star studded concert for Bangladesh and was responsible for the movies "The Long Good Friday", "Time Bandits" and "Mona Lisa".
Sir George and the Beatles gave me the soundtrack to my life. So many important events in my life are accompanied in my memories by a Beatles song. I owned every Beatles album made from 1963 on. I even managed to get my hands on an album where Pete Best was the drummer, before the advent of Ringo. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I was a Beatlemaniac. I still am.
Happy Birthday, George, I've got my mind set on you.
*While you're watching this video - take a close look at the logo on the airplane - Pan Am Clipper Beatles!
