Happy 4th of July!!:)
Beatles 'Reunion': Exclusive Report
Monday, July 03, 2006
By Roger Friedman
This is a reunion to see!!:)
URL:http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,201827,00.html
There was only one major no-show on Friday night in Las Vegas for what turned out to be — as much as it could be — a Beatles reunion.
For the premiere of Cirque du Soleil’s stunning new Beatles show, “Love,” at the Mirage Hotel, a group of people came who have not been in the same room since — well, I don’t know — came together for one night only. Who would have thunk it?
Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and the widows of John Lennon and George Harrison — Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison — united for a moment in time to honor the group's historic accomplishments. They are without a doubt the First Dysfunctional Family of Rock 'n' Roll.
That would have been extraordinary enough, but also present for the event were John’s first wife, Cynthia Lennon, their son, Julian, and Ravi Shankar, Harrison’s great musical influence and friend.
For a time after the show was over, this entire gang — as well as Apple Records’ masterminds Neil Aspinall and Jonathan Clyde, plus Paul’s brother-in-law/business partner John Eastman and old friend, record producer Peter Asher filled a very small space set up as a “private” party within a humongous celebration for the 4,000 people who’d come to see the first two official presentations of “Love.”
They laughed together, ate together and reminisced. There was much picture-taking. As on the stage when “Love” concluded to resounding thunderous applause, standing ovations and tears, McCartney actually kissed Ono. Time stopped. Hell froze over. Ono, who wore a bright white suit and a matching big white floppy hat which she wore all night, kissed him back. She took pictures with Cynthia and Julian, whose financial fate she’s held in her hands often.
As a Beatle fan and amateur expert on the lives of these people, I thought maybe I was hallucinating. The whole of them, arms around each other, took victory bows in each of the four corners of the Mirage Theater’s massive stage-in-the-round when the show was over.
Paul, dressed in a black suit and white sneakers, looked thin and tired, maybe a little gaunt. This was not all due to flying in that day from London, but his recent marital difficulties were not the topic at hand.
Motioning frantically to the fawning, screaming crowd, McCartney quieted us down.
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