Monday, January 21, 2008

Ringo takes shine off City of Culture

Whoops.

The grand opening of the Capital of Culture had gone well, what with Ringo turning up - and, after all, he was a Beatle. Even although part of the original idea of the Capital of Culture was to try and remind people there's more to Liverpool than The Beatles.

And Ringo said nice things about the city, and everyone was very happy:

Ringo sang “Liverpool I left you but I never let you down” from the top of St George’s Hall during the People’s Opening.

In front of a capacity crowd at the new ECHO Arena Ringo said he was “this close” to moving back.

A week later, he turns up on Friday night with Jonathan Ross and is asked what he misses about the city:
Ross: “What do you miss about Liverpool when you’re not there.”

Ringo: (laughter)

Ross: “I didn’t know that would get laughter . . . Is there anything you miss about Liverpool?”

Ringo: “Er, no. . . Look I love Liverpool. I was a child in Liverpool. I grew up in Liverpool. My family members are in Liverpool. But you know. . . .

I had to tell the audience as it was so excited that I was this close to coming back. But I had a great time up there at the weekend [during the opening ceremony]. I did.”

Council Leader Warren Bradley is outraged - he took time out of trying to bury the Mathew Street Festival screw-up to try and spin the story:
Cllr Bradley, deputy chairman of Liverpool Culture Company, said: “It’s not helpful on national TV.

“But we saw at the press conference he did in Liverpool that’s Ringo’s style, to be flippant.

“He came to Liverpool and did a PR job for himself. And what we got from him being home paid dividends for us here and abroad.

“I’m not going to get hung up on it.”

Cllr Mike Storey, executive member for regeneration, said: “It’s hugely disappointing and sad.

“It’s disappointing someone who came to lead Capital of Culture year should go away and be so negative about it.”

And Ringo got VIP treatment when he was in the city - imagine what the people who turn up and pick their way through a series of building sites must go away thinking.


6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ringo acted like a total ego freak on the Ross show, for sure. It's probably to mask the knowledge that he only got asked to do the Culture opening event because Macca was busy.

Olive said...

Given that the first thing the Beatles did when they got successful was leave Liverpool, is anyone really surprised by any of this?

Correspondent said...

To add insult to civic injury, Ringo & his entourage received £35,000 from the Liverpool Culture Company in "expenses" for his weekend warbling, as revealed by the Liverpool Subculture blog (http://www.liverpoolsubculture.blogspot.com/). Much of the budget for the so-called Culture Company comes from Liverpool City Council &, by extension, the city's council tax payers.

meccleshall said...

saw the JR show. probably one of the most revealing interviews ever - the first time in well forever, we get to see/hear Ringo au natural and he exposed himself as a complete egomanicacal twerp. It has even undermined my love of thomas the tank engine. he somehow thought he WAS the heart and soul of the beatles, and everything he's done since (musically) has been amazing. prat.
maybe 40 years of nothing being surrounded by nothing but sycophants has taken too much of a toll...

Ben.H said...

Poor meccleshall, you've obviously never seen a Ringo Starr interview before. He's been doing the same schtick since he joined The Beatles, saying that for him rock'n'roll is all about the good times. His mind may have not developed much since then, but at least he speaks it and not a PR-drafted list of fashionable platitudes.

At least he respects his fans enough to know that no-one would buy the "Liverpool is the best place on Earth" bullshit.

meccleshall said...

actually ben, tis true! i really don't think i have seen a ringo TV interview before. just think, another couple of years and he'll be off in the yellow submarine in the sky, and i would have all my illusions intact..

m

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