So I asked everyone I knew: Ever heard of Pete Best? It's funny cuz there's an actual line I could draw at a certain age that as soon as you hit that "plateau" shall we say, you KNOW who Pete Best is and yer Goddamn excited about it. Everyone else didn't have a clue what the fuck I was talkin about. You either loved the Beatles or you hated the Beatles. Further to that, you either loved the EARLY Beatles or you loved the dope smokin, acid poppin Beatles of that late 60's. I loved the dope smokin, acid poppin fuckers. The early shit? I totally know and respect the early shit but I wouldn't BUY the early shit. Big difference. So when Pete tried to sell me a 45 year old photo of him with the Beatles for $25, I said, Uh... No man. MAYBE if it was an actual photo as opposed to a ten cent print shop special. A drum stick? $25. A T-shirt? $25. A poster? $25. No, No and um... No.
At one point I actually had this feeling come over me, however brief and indescribable it was, that I was now standing in a room shakin hands with a BEATLE. No not Ringo, Paul, John or George, but a fackin BEATLE nonetheless. A guy who is still collecting royalties from some tunes made back in the late 50's/early 60's and a re-release just a few years ago. A guy who can fill a venue just by saying, hey man, I was a Beatle.
His band was good I guess. Two drummers. You know when a band has two drummers, either they are both AMAZING drummers or one is ok and the other one SUCKS! That's probably why, when I saw Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band back in '89 in Edmonton, he had THREE drummers including himself. Ringo was a brutal drummer. Paul supposedly used to sneak into the studio and lay down drum tracks over top of what Ringo played cuz he couldn't do what the guys wanted him to. So if Pete got kicked outta the band cuz he wasn't as good as Ringo, then Pete musta REALLY sucked! He was ok, didn't play anything fancy, that's for sure. And I'm a drummer, I know for sure if a guy is a GOOD drummer or not. The singer sounded pretty rough but god only knows how many shows he's played recently or how much abuse his voice has taken over the years. Or maybe he just wasn't into it cuz of the piss poor turnout. I almost felt sorry for them as I did a quick head count and couldn't quite hit 100 in this venue. I know some places he sells out assloads of tickets but whoever pointed to the Starlight and said, "Pete, you just GOTTA play there" needs to be fired... He came out and I don't think he really knew where he was... he kept saying hi to everybody from Kitchener and Wellington... Finally someone yells out WATERLOO! And Pete looked around all surprised and maybe a bit embarrassed.
Best thing I saw all night was this older lady, decked out in 50s looking clothes. Button up white shirt with a red bandana type thing tied around her neck, black skin tight pants cut at the ankles and incredibly high heeled, black "fuck me" shoes matched up with a tattoo and a short 50's lookin haircut. Not bad for a grandmother! She almost looked like an older, better lookin Joanie from Happy Days dancin around, shakin her ass, posing up a storm... twistin and shoutin... I thought that was pretty cool and mentally cheered her on... you go girl, show Pete what he USED TO get every night!
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