| October 25th, 2005 05:42 PM |
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| Ten Thousand Motels |
Interview with George Harrison's widow
Olivia Harrison describes finishing The Concert For Bangladesh as 'bitter and sweet'
By BILL HARRIS - Toronto Sun
Completing the projects George Harrison started before his death is a labour of love for his wife Olivia.
And that's in the truest sense of the words labour and love.
"It's bitter and sweet, I have to say," said Olivia from London, England, in an exclusive interview with the Toronto Sun.
"But George wanted it done. I can't not do it, not when he had his hand on it and was working on it. There were three or four projects -- actually, more like a half-dozen -- that hopefully I'll be able to finish."
One of those finished packages hits stores Tuesday: The first appearance of The Concert For Bangladesh on DVD, along with previously unseen rehearsal and show footage, and a new and fascinating documentary.
A strong argument can be made that George, who died in 2001 at the age of 58, had more of an impact in a worldwide, cultural sense than any rock icon of the 1960s.
There was his obvious musical contribution as one of the Beatles, and with his solo career.
There was his championing of Indian musicians, which opened up the whole "world music" scene.
There was his quiet financial intervention to save what we now consider to be classic comedic films, such as Monty Python's Life Of Brian.
And, of course, there was The Concert For Bangladesh, which took place on Aug. 1, 1971, at Madison Square Garden in New York. It marked the first time rock stars "weren't just thinking about ourselves for five minutes," according to participant Eric Clapton.
It all was organized by Harrison, the quiet ex-Beatle, through personal phone calls and despite tight deadlines in an era when similar charitable forays were not common.
"Things were simpler then," said Olivia, 57. "George was asked by a friend. He hated to see (famous sitar player) Ravi Shankar in distress (about conditions and circumstances in Bangladesh). George said, 'This was happening to people miles and miles away from where I was, and yet it was right there in front of me, because Ravi was in such distress. How can you ignore that?'
"George knew (the concert) had an effect, and he knew it at the time." But it didn't become a model until many years later (with such events as Live Aid in 1985 and Live 8 in 2005). "I think people were slow off the mark, if you ask me."
George had a strong sense of humour, so it is not an insult to his memory to acknowledge The Concert For Bangladesh has been the target of jokes through the years.
For example, during an episode of The Simpsons, Krusty The Klown has overstayed his welcome at the Simpsons residence. As his hosts fight off sleep, Krusty fingers through the family's record collection and exclaims, "Whoa! The Concert For Bangladesh!" The next sound you hear is a sitar playing.
The point being, this is how a boring night gets even worse.
Of course, the concert is not all sitar-heavy. The main ensemble features, among others, Harrison, fellow ex-Beatle Ringo Starr, Clapton, Bob Dylan, Leon Russell and Billy Preston.
Even Olivia admits the average music fan may not have the time to watch the whole concert, at least in one sitting. The real prize is the documentary, which was Olivia's idea.
Among the notable insights: Harrison's reluctance and nervousness about being a front man; Dylan's fear of playing in front of such a big crowd, to the point that Harrison wasn't totally sure Dylan was going to walk onto the stage until moments before it happened; and Clapton's admission that he was so drug-addled, "I was in another world, not really there."
"I thought people would understand more about it, and the importance of it, if we had a documentary," said Olivia, who wed George in 1978. "When you just watch the concert straight through, it might not be so clear in hindsight. I think you need that context."
Olivia appreciated and agreed with the assesment that George became a crucially important figure in pop culture and beyond. But George never thought of it that way.
"George did a lot of different things, but he didn't actually care what the outcome was," Olivia said. "Sure, it would have been nice if everybody said, 'Wow, that's great,' because they enjoyed it. But he didn't need the praise.
"He wanted to share the things he loved so much. Who got it, got it, and who didn't, didn't.
"He always had things going on like this. That's why he was such a fun guy."
And that's why he now is such a missed guy.
The tale of the tapes
Even some of the most important tapes in rock 'n' roll history can wind up gathering dust in somebody's basement.
"Yeah, mostly mine," said Olivia Harrison, wife of late, great Beatle George Harrison. "I have quite a lot. I've been collecting them for 30 years."
However, tracking down the tapes that led to the new DVD release of The Concert For Bangladesh was an ordeal.
"I was helping George in 2001 when he was remastering the audio, hoping to bring it out for the 30th anniversary," Olivia said. "Lo and behold, it had been remastered and somebody had given George the wrong tapes.
"That began a process of tracking down the correct ones. There were so many different versions because they did the film and the album. Everybody seemed to have the wrong ones. Finally we got in touch with (producer Phil Spector, who was involved in the original recording of the show in 1971). We're saying, 'Phil, do you have the tapes?' And he was like, 'Yeah, I got 'em.' 'Well, send 'em over!' "
Still, getting things ready for the 30th anniversary proved to be an unrealistic task.
"DVD was just beginning in 2001, so we had no idea it would take that long," Olivia said.
Royalties donated to UNICEF
The Concert For Bangladesh just keeps on giving.
All artists royalties from the new DVD release of the show will be donated to UNICEF.
The original concert on Aug. 1, 1971, at Madison Square Garden in New York, raised $250,000 US, which went immediately to charitable causes.
Subsequent movie and album sales raised millions of dollars more. But main organizer and ex-Beatle George Harrison was furious that it took so many years for the cash to reach its intended destination.
"The money from the gate went directly to UNICEF, but the royalties took longer to get to UNICEF, because of the way it was structured," said Olivia Harrison, George's wife.
"Eventually it did get there. But in 1973 George set up his own foundation because he was frustrated with all the bureaucracy and the situation with the (tax authorities in the United States).
"George said, 'I'm not going to let that happen again. I'm going to have my own foundation so if I want to give money away, I can do what I want.' "
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| October 25th, 2005 08:23 PM |
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| The Wick |
Thanks a lot for the interview. He was always my favorite and their best songs were his. Without him, I don't think they would have ever been that famous. I know it's sacrilige for some, but Lennon and especially McCartney are overrated. |
| October 26th, 2005 01:39 AM |
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| Prodigal Son |
George was terribly overlooked. Most of his solo albums were junk, though. But All Things Must Pass is his life's masterpiece as he crammed many songs on the shelf (most that john and Paul refused to record over his triter stuff like "Piggies") from 1967-70. As good a triple-album as has ever been made (not including compilations, boxed sets). Of his later albums, the good ones would be Brainwashed, Cloud Nine, George Harrison, 33 1/3 and Living in the Material World. The rest ranged from average to bad. He was the most down-to-earth/likeable Beatle for me, though.
But if you ever run across the songs of Dark Horse (perhaps on Itunes music store or on the web somewhere), don't bother to buy it. Just listen, clutch your ears in agony and realize how much it sucks (I do like "So Sad," "Dark Horse" and Ronnie's collaboration on "Far East Man" but stuff like "Ding Dong," "Maya Love," and "Sri Sri Krishna" is awful plus his voice is hoarse-no pun intended). It's too bad his worst album was even worse than John's Some Time in NYC, Paul's Back to the Egg/Wings Wild Life/Press to Play and Ringo's Old Wave/Sentimental Journey (but Ringo the 4th and Ringo's Rotogravure are the kings of Beatle-related garbage music). That being said, his unique style and slide guitar sound was a thing of beauty and he'll be forever missed.
"I'm... a Da-ar-ar-ark Horse!"
[Edited by Prodigal Son] |
| October 26th, 2005 03:16 AM |
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| Ten Thousand Motels |
Harrison Show Revisited
George Harrison's "Concert for Bangladesh," in new DVD and CD versions, was the first all-star benefit performance
By DAVID FRICKE / Rollinf Stone.com
In the summer of 1971, the south Asian nation of Bangladesh was in ruins. A recent cyclone had killed 300,000 people. Flooding and war left survivors starving and homeless. Indian sitar master Ravi Shankar, whose ancestors hailed from the area when it was a part of India known as East Bengal, was so pained by the suffering that he asked his friend George Harrison for help.
"He saw my anguish," Shankar, 85, recalls, "and he was very sympathetic." Harrison quickly cut a new song, "Bangladesh," to bring attention to the crisis, then called on rock-star friends such as ex-Beatle Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton and Bob Dylan to sign up for a charity show to aid the beleaguered country: The Concert for Bangladesh, held on the afternoon and evening of August 1st, 1971, at New York's Madison Square Garden. "It was magical," marvels Shankar, who also performed. "Within hours of the show, Bangladesh was known all over the world."
Harrison had also invented the superstar benefit concert, a milestone immortalized in the documentary filmed that day and its Grammy-winning soundtrack. Tuesday, The Concert for Bangladesh is reissued as a two-disc DVD with bonus footage and a remastered two-CD set with a previously unreleased Dylan performance -- a timely reminder of how Harrison's achievement became the model for three decades of relief efforts by musicians, including Live Aid in 1985 and recent benefits for victims of Hurricane Katrina. "George didn't blow his own horn much," says his wife, Olivia. "But he knew what he had done. He put something out there that people could learn from."
Harrison, who died in 2001, had no precedent to guide him in 1971. And he was a reluctant live performer. His last major show, other than guest-sideman shots, had been the Beatles' final concert in 1966. Saul Swimmer, who directed the Bangladesh movie, says Harrison initially wanted to do the show at New York's intimate Town Hall: "He didn't think he could sell out the Garden. He was very insecure."
By the last week of July, Harrison was in New York practicing with Starr, Clapton, Leon Russell, Billy Preston and a small army of sidemen and backup singers. Harrison's portion of the set consisted of four songs from his 1970 solo opus, All Things Must Pass, and three of his Beatles classics, including "Here Comes the Sun" and "Something," none of which he had ever played for an audience. But Preston says rehearsals "went really well. I played on a lot of the original records, so I knew the songs. But the guys in the horn section wrote out charts, and we all pitched in to pull the music together."
Harrison was so nervous about his solo concert debut that he had doubts about even filming the Bangladesh shows. "That's why we shot in 16 mm -- so nobody was bothered by the cameras," Swimmer says. "We didn't even have a set list. At one point, Leon Russell's voice suddenly comes out of the dark [for his "Jumpin' Jack Flash"/"Youngblood" medley], because we didn't know Leon was going to sing. We were searching for where this voice was coming from."
Dylan was to be Harrison's special closing-guest gift. He almost didn't play. Like Harrison, Dylan had not toured since '66. He was so jittery backstage during the afternoon show that Apple Records promotion manager Pete Bennett, who was sitting with Dylan, took action. "I sent Saul a note," Bennett says, "to give to George: 'Put Dylan on now, instead of last, because he wants to leave.'"
But the evening show that made up most of the Bangladesh movie was the celebration of camaraderie and generosity that Harrison intended. Highlights include Preston's spontaneous gospel-spirit dance in "That's the Way God Planned It" (originally about forty seconds long but cleverly extended by Swimmer by recutting and repeating footage) and the smiles exchanged by Harrison and Clapton as they trade solos in "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." In a previously unseen rehearsal of Dylan and Harrison doing "If Not for You," they spend the entire song looking at each other, as if they're singing about their own relationship. "They seem so connected," says Olivia. "George was giving a lot to each person there, and you can see how much Eric and Bob are giving right back."
Ticket proceeds for the Concert for Bangladesh totaled $243,418, which went to UNICEF. That seems modest in an age of megabenefits (Live Aid raised $60 million in a single day), but Olivia estimates that continuing donations since 1971, in the form of artist royalties from the movie and album, are at about $15 million. "That's one of the lessons of Bangladesh -- the simplicity of it, that you can have a great effect without big screens and sponsors," she says, noting that in 1973, Harrison established his own Material World Charitable Foundation to quietly continue what he had started. On his 1974 U.S. tour, Harrison donated the money from three shows to the foundation. "He just never told anybody," Olivia says.
"It was a wonderful event," Shankar says of the Concert for Bangladesh. But, he insists, "music doesn't help hungry people or those who suffer from floods. It is there to raise funds. It is a practical thing. It is not that the music is healing the people. But this is the only thing a musician can do."
(Posted okt 25, 2005)
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| October 26th, 2005 05:30 AM |
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| kmc |
I was actually at both shows. It had been leaked beforehand that Dylan was supposed to play, but the BIG rumor that had everybody buzzing was that of a Beatles REUNION. Both Paul and John were in NYC at that time, but for a variety of reasons - nerves, dislike, etc. - it never came off.
And Leon Russell's version of "Jumping Jack Flash" was a major highlight that night. |
| October 26th, 2005 06:51 AM |
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| Ten Thousand Motels |
quote:
kmc wrote:
And Leon Russell's version of "Jumping Jack Flash" was a major highlight that night.
I always liked his version of Dylan's "Hard Rain....", but I don't suppose that was at this gig???? |
| October 27th, 2005 05:09 AM |
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| kmc |
No "Hard Rain" that night.
But Leon played bass, Ringo tambourine and George guitar to back up Dylan at one point. |
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