A CLOSE ENCOUNTER WITH RINGO IN 1997

Howard Miller, arts columnist for The Huntsville Times, traveled to France in 1997 for the opening of a museum linked to the NALL Art Association in Vence. His visit included a close encounter with Ringo Starr, who attended the event to support his friend, artist Fred Nall Hollis. 

Here's Miller's account of that event, published on July 20, 1997. We discovered it while exploring the former Beatle's connections to Alabama -- in honor of Starr's Feb. 15 concert in Birmingham with his All Starr Band -- and delving into his longtime friendship with Nall.

VENCE, France -- Mix royalty, the Riviera, the rich and Ringo and what do you have? You have an evening that a bunch of Huntsville and Decatur folks will never forget. I know I won't.

The reason for the glamorous July 5 soiree was to mark the official opening of the museum of the NALL Art Association in Vence in the French Riviera. The acronym stands for the Nature, Art and Life League, but it is also spells the name of the artist who built it.

Artist Nall and his wife Tuscia, who own a home in Huntsville, are not novices at entertaining the rich and famous, but it will be tough for them to top the extravaganza they threw that Saturday night. It was covered by CNN, the Associated Press and made the front page of Nice Matin.

And why wouldn't it? The guest list of 230 included Prince Albert of Monaco, ex-Beatle Ringo Starr and actress Candice Bergen. And 30 or so Alabamians who knew Nall in some capacity were there. My wife Carol and I had scheduled a vacation trip to coincide with the event.

The event was to begin at 7 p.m., but many guests had already arrived well before then, the men dressed in the obligatory Nall T-shirts worn with tuxes and tennis shoes; the women in evening gowns, white Nall baseball caps and, yes, tennis shoes. Many women, I noted, opted not to crush costly coiffures with caps. And one guest had dyed her cap pink to match her gown.

The first non-Alabamian I recognized was Ringo Starr. He and his wife, Barbara Bach, were standing alone and watching the whirlwind of activity go by around them. I felt it might be a good time to approach him, so I went up and introduced myself. He in turn introduced his wife, and I mine.

 

One thing I noticed about Ringo was that he was wearing more rings in his left ear (three small gold ones) than on all of his fingers. He had a relatively modest ring on his right little finger and a wedding band on his left hand and that was it. But then, Mr. Starkey picked up his nickname a long time ago.

Like the other male guests, Ringo wore a Nall T-shirt (though his had a flower on the front, rather than the big eye on everyone else's), tux and tennis shoes. His tux stood out in the crowd, too, for his lapels were of a pattern reminiscent of the days of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, before the Beatles grew tired of him, his flowers and his philosophy.

So, what does one say to a Beatle that hasn't been said millions of times before? I was determined I wouldn't gush about what a big fan I was. And I knew I would not, despite persistent urging of a colleague at The Times, inquire if the surviving Beatles had ever thought about reuniting for a tour. In fact, when I met him, I never even mentioned the Beatles.

What I did ask Ringo was if he knew that Carl Perkins would be playing later in the month at a big country music festival in Cagnes-Sur-Mur, a town not far from Vence. He didn't know about it, so I handed him a brochure I had picked up earlier. I knew Ringo was a big fan of the rockabilly legend and had recorded some Perkins songs, such as "Honey Don't" and "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby."

Both Ringo and Barbara seemed genuinely interested in Perkins and asked how he was doing after the recent aneurysm he suffered. I replied that I thought he had fully recovered.

Ringo noticed a photo of Cajun singer-fiddler Doug Kershaw in the brochure and said, "I played with him once." Great concept, I thought: Liverpool meets Louisiana.

As Ringo continued to peruse the festival line-up, which included European as well as American performers, I pointed to a photo of Johnny Powers, billed as a "legende vivante du Rockabilly." Even in French, that's hyperbole, for Powers was a rather obscure Elvis clone who had only a couple of singles released on Sun Records, then was the first white artist signed to Motown. Later, he went into producing.

"Never heard of him. Never heard of him," said Ringo in that familiar accent as he stared at the picture through his shades.

Ringo kept folding and unfolding the brochure, looking at all sides of it and I said, "You may have that if you want it.""When is this?" he asked. I pointed out that it was July 16-20.

"I can't go anyway. I've got to leave before then," Ringo said. As he handed the brochure back to me, I thought I detected a bit of disappointment in his voice that he wouldn't be able to see Carl Perkins perform. Then Ringo and his wife graciously posed for photos, joking while we shot them.

As the evening wore on, there was much to attract one's attention and I didn't continuously keep up with Ringo's activities. But as I was standing in the gourmet buffet line, he walked past me on the way to his picnic blanket to eat and I couldn't help but notice the mountain of whole-grain, yellow corn he had heaped on his plate. He had little else and no meat. Beatle Trivia: Ringo likes corn.

Prince Albert of Monaco and his party arrived in a flower-bedecked cart pulled by a single white horse.Everyone who attended the soiree went home with plenty tales to tell.