Beatles Break-Up: Forty Years Later, Ringo Rules
From Huffington Post:
The formal dissolution of The Beatles was announced on April 10, 1970. And, with the end of the band, the story of Ringo Starr seemed set in concrete. You remember: Ringo, the last member of the band, shunted to the sidelines when the Beatles first recorded for George Martin but, in fact, an under-appreciated artist; his left-handed, backward fills and intuitive timing building the beat of modern rock music.
But there’s a lot more. For forty years now, Ringo, sometimes derided, but with the consistent rhythm of a steady backbeat, has become the living embodiment of the spirit of the Beatles.
Listen to the albums Ringo has released recently — culminating this year’s “Y Not” 
(the first album he has produced) and last year’s paean to his home town, “Liverpool 8.” You will hear the story of the Beatles being told, and retold. How?
First, with the playful introspection exhibited through an intricate web of references linking one song to another. As the Beatles looked increasingly to their own lives and work for inspiration, their songs created an ever-growing structure of self-reference — the lyrics of “Glass Onion,” for example, refer to five earlier Beatles songs — some of which refer, in turn, to others still. So when, in this year’s “Peace Dream” Ringo calls on us to “try to ‘Imagine'” what happens if we “Give Peace a Chance,'” he’s continuing to weave a tapestry of meaning around their legacies.
By no means has Ringo become a songwriter in the class of John, Paul or George. But as Ringo himself has told us, “It does no good for you to play a pretty song like ‘Yesterday’ ’cause that’s not what I need to say.”
What Ringo needs to say through his songs is the second important ingredient of his legacy, namely The Beatles’ message of love, cosmic harmony and the meaning of life. In “R U Ready,” he invokes Jesus, the Buddha and a blues preacher to say that there will be someone to catch each of us at life’s end. And can’t you hear more than a hint of George, the most spiritual of the four, when Ringo intones the thought that “One and one is only one until you become one with you”?
And then there’s peace and love. Ringo may be the last person on earth who regularly flashes the two-finger peace sign. CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE:
Starr gets a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
LOS ANGELES — A star for former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr was added to the Hollywood Walk of Fame Monday evening during a whimsical ceremony that also marked the 50th anniversary of groundbreaking on the sidewalk attraction.
Starr’s name was the 2,401st to be unveiled on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
“This is the start of the next 50 years of stars,” he said outside the Capitol Records building. “I’m proud to be the first one.”
The Walk of Fame also includes individual star’s for the Beatles drummer’s former bandmates John Lennon and George Harrison, as well as the likes of musicians Roy Orbison and Ozzy Osbourne.
“It’s cool to get one at night,” said Starr. “I don’t know about you, but where I live, the stars come out at night.”
The Beatles as a group were given a star in 1998.
Those by Starr’s side for the unveiling included actress-wife Barbara Bach, musicians Joe Walsh and Ben Harper, producer Don Was, director David Lynch and actor Noah Wyle.
The Hollywood Walk of Fame attracts an estimated 10 million visitors annually to the 18-block stretch lining Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street.
The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce conceived the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1953 in an effort to return glamour to the decaying neighborhood at time when the film and television industry was on the decline.
“We’ve seen positive changes,” said Hollywood Chamber of Commerce senior vice president Bill Farrar.
“We’ve seen an increase in housing, the opening of many new businesses, the significant reduction of crime and the continual influx of visitors. This walk represents much, much more. This is more than just a tourist attraction and a monument to art.”The Hollywood Walk of Fame’s anniversary celebration will continue throughout the year with a community festival in July and a gala in November in which every living celebrity who has received a star will be invited to attend. Other celebrities due to receive stars this year include rockers ZZ Top, funnyman Adam Sandler and talk show host Jimmy Kimmel.
my Snark 