All Things Must Pass

George's death on 29th November 2001 came as a shock to Beatlefans all over the world. Here, several fans tell us how they spent the days following the loss of 'Nelson Wilbury'…

George Harrison was a very private man. He was often described as a 'Howard Hughes' type character - hiding away in his Henley mansion… however the fans who got to meet him over the years, know this couldn't be further from the truth. He was happy to meet well-wishers, shaking hands and signing autographs at many public functions; whether he was attending a concert of his friend Ravi Shankar or a Formula One Grand Prix Meeting - one of his biggest passions.

However the press, as is their way, did not respect his private life and George's health problems in 1997 caught the attention of the Paparazzi once again. We watched him fight court battles, endure medical treatment, almost lose his life in a horrific attack at his home and finally appear to be losing his battle against cancer. So it was the news many fans had been expecting when on November 30th we awoke to pictures of 'The Quiet One' on every television news channel. And yet it was still a shock.

I had arrived at work at 8am, looking forward to the office Christmas party, and armed with a CD player to entertain us. I only have one Christmas related CD - a compilation of the Beatles Fan Club Flexi's, so I put it in the machine to listen to until my colleagues arrived at 9am. My mobile rang… Eleanor's name appeared on the phone's screen and I recalled that she was going to see Paul McCartney at the Top Of The Pops Awards Ceremony later. Ellie always phones when she's going to see something I'm interested in - to make me feel as though I'm there with her - rather than sat behind my desk… it's just something we do. So I answered the phone with a cheery "Hello!" expecting her to be giggling excitedly about the concert… During the next few minutes we probably went through exactly the same emotions as every other Beatle fan across the world. I switched on the television and we sobbed to one another down the phone. Spookily, at the exact moment Ellie had broken the terrible news, my Christmas CD, which was playing the 1963 flexi, said "I'm George Harri…" I had to switch it off.

And so it was true. The quiet one was gone. I struggled through the day - speaking to as many friends as I felt I was able to, and appreciating the support of my colleagues who were incredibly compassionate and understanding. I visited London and Liverpool during the weekend of the anniversary of John's death, and found great comfort in the public outpouring of grief at both Abbey Road and The Cavern Walks statue. Tower Records had one of the most simple and yet touching tributes to George - they dedicated an entire window to the display of his picture from the Let It Be Album cover, with the caption 1943-2001.

I had been to see a musical show called Rock and Roll Heaven earlier in the year. It featured the music of Buddy Holly, Elvis, Eddie Cochran, Del Shannon, Roy Orbison and Ricky Nelson and the title song contains a line, which seems especially fitting… "If there's a Rock and Roll Heaven, you know they've got one Hell of a Band…" George Harrison and John Lennon… now that's one hell of a band!

Nina Douglas

30 November 2001
I was at work when the news was broken to me by a compassionate work colleague. She insisted I have a cup of tea before she broke the news. It was 8:45am. I was in shock. OK, it was news I knew we expected, but so soon? The rest of the day passed in a complete daze. Judy Pru (JP as she is known on TWIL), my pal Graeme from Glasgow (a Macca fan), and the rest of my colleagues (most of them old enough to have been there in the 60's) were wonderful. The TV tributes that evening were excellent and the BBC did themselves proud. The video was recording non-stop. Got drunk and had a night of broken sleep. Couldn't face playing any music. My younger brother offered to take me to Henley the following day, but I couldn't face it, seeing all those flowers. I didn't want the news to be true.

1 December 2001
Got up at 8am to go to the shops to get the papers. I had about 10 or 11 of them. The woman who runs the newsagent kindly took all the free mags out of the papers for me to lighten the load and packed them in bags for me. I dropped my change, someone tutted from the queue, the woman smiled kindly at me noticing my George badges. "Are you OK?" she asked. I nod and leave the shop. Spend the rest of day restlessly wandering around, reading the papers, watching the TV, the video is recording furiously. Can't stop crying. Later that evening, JP texts me to say there is going to be George Tribute at the Cav on following Sunday. I'm over the moon! I have to be there! That week was fraught - I booked the train tickets, tickets for the Cav and JP booked the Adelphi. Was overjoyed to hear that Janine was staying there, as was Ellie. Was hoping that Alli and Di were coming too, they were all as distraught as me - I needed to be with George people. It felt lonely being down here. All I wanted was to be in Liverpool.

9 December 2001
The day got off to a great start when the lovely Adelphi told us we couldn't book in until 2:30pm…mmm! Still, familiar faces appeared in the reception, Alli, Di, Janine… We got changed in the ladies' loos. Odd, how different it looks outside of Beatle Week! No bodies on floor, no queues for the loos…mmm…

We got to The Cavern early to pick up the tickets - a bit of a mix-up with mine, but Neil (bless him!) let us in! Mind you, the expression on his face was enough - as he opened the doors, he let out a cry of "But it's not August yet!!!" We met Ellie and other members of TWIL came up and said hello. There were about 10 of us in the front row - an amazing sight for bands, I think! A row full of blondes and one or two brunettes! Check out the pic on the TWIL Yahoo Group!

The tribute kicked off with The Flying Postmen playing their first set that afternoon, who are now very dear to my heart, but not as dear as another tribute band who played (ahem…!), due to their renditions of 'Young Blood' and 'Sweet Little Sixteen'. Their own material didn't get us all dancing as the Beatles' stuff, but they got a well-deserved applause. They re-appeared later in the evening and played more of less the same set and received much more applause and cheers! When I'm next in London guys, I'll check out one of your gigs!

The Cheat Beatles performed with gusto. Much shouting from us - "Sha La La La" lads! They're a great bunch of guys and we were all up and grooving about.

Rick Alan, despite being advertised as performing with Hare Georgeson. performed a beautiful solo set. His acoustic 'Give Me Love' was one of the highlights of the evening and had the Hazza Harem in raptures!

Not too impressed with Rubber Soul - I never knew CCT booked a comedy band?! Sorry lads, not too impressed at all. The harmonies were not dissimilar to the Dad-Fabs after a night out, staggering down Mathew Street...

Instant Karma were superb as always! It was after all a day for remembering John too. JP admitted that she was going to cry - we were all in tears at some stage or another during the concert - Highlights for me were 'God' and 'Serve Yourself' where CCT can be rest assured that if they ever run out of music stands, they can use Neil!

The moment arrived as the Blue Meanies took to the stage. Both Ellie and Alli had to calm me down - I was in love before I'd see them in the flesh! Having heard about the Baty's gigs on Thursdays and posting regularly on the Yahoo Group, I was prepared to see for myself …the phenomenon that is known as GAVIN PRING!!!! Wow! What can I say??!! Out came the cameras - like a complete moron, I'd forgotten mine! Well, I was walking around in a daze all week! I stood transfixed, they seemed to have the Fabs down to a tee! Their excitable natural performance was infectous. Jimmy Meanie captured John's wit perfectly, Tony had the Macca fans swooning to 'Yesterday', Gav caught George's twinkle and shy smile to a perfection (ahhh!!! And his performance of 'Taxman' was electric!) and Stu 's cheeky Ringo kept up a steady beat throughout. They played all our Beatley favourites, and what stood out for me was an orgasmic 'I Want You ( She's So Heavy)' by Jimmy which had JP going all wibbly and Gav's strong, but gentle vocals on 'Something' which got me going!

On the way to bar after they finished, I got say "Thanks" to Jimmy for playing such a wonderful set. I couldn't see Gav, whom I was desparate to thank! I sadly missed the band on that Friday before when they played for hours. They are, for me, one of the best new bands to play at Beatle Week.

Whilst the bands were setting up, we all managed to get drinks and have a wee - I see that the Cav still has no locks on the cubicle doors! And we got talking to other people in the Cavern. It reminded JP and I of the early days of Beatle Week, back in the early 90's... ahhh! - people were chilling out, chatting, reading newspapers which were full of speculations about George's death, crying, reminiscing and generally having a great time. JP even pointed out, "But it doesn't feel like the Cav" - when you're nose to armpit with the person next to you, there's about 400 others in there and it's a stifling afternoon in August - a half empty, you can hear yourself talk Cav is a bit of a novelty!!!

Many thanks for CCT for organising this event and the bands that took part. It was a superb, touching tribute to George and John - who are no doubt, "up there" now jamming with likes of Elvis, The Big O, Buddy, Jimi, Jim, Moonie and Janis!

I miss George terribly; I've loved him since I was 5 years old. Both his musicianship, his spirituality and beliefs are inspiring, but I know that he will always live on in our hearts and minds and has left us all with an everlasting legacy that is his music. For me personally, George will always be that 17 year old in a black leather jacket clutching his guitar as he perches on the truck shyly looking into Astrid's camera, blissfully unaware of his future as one of the most important and influential musicians in the whole world.

Amanda Holgate

All Things Must Pass…

You Gave Love,
You Gave Peace On Earth.
Now Go George, Go In Peace,
Go And Play Some Good
Old Rock N Roll with John.
We're Sure Gonna Miss You Man!
Memories Of You Are Something That
Will Never Leave Us.

Martin and Marie Dodd, Liverpool

This Is Love!

For superbly sustained slide
For corduroy on Frost
For cur, thur, hur and brackets
For being the only lead guitarist who took a step
*backwards* when it was time to play the solo
For Hamburg leather
For Pirate Songs and pirate outfits
For Ravi and Anoushka and Bikram
For naughty chords and wicked wit
For Cuban heels and tartan baseball boots
For not liking his tie
For Beware of Darkness, Be Here Now, Someplace Else,
Let It Be Me and I Need You by George Harrison
For your sweet bottom lip
For God Consciousness
For your compassion
For Raunchy and the number 86 bus
For the stereo arc at the start of Here Comes The Sun
For your serenity
For Duo Jets and ukuleles
For giving us your nervous system
For Dylan covers
For Revolver and 12-strings
For your humility
For the poodle perm and the Bangla Desh beard
For still being eight months younger than Paul
For the Dracula tooth and a smile that lights up the room
For Paul and Ringo and John ...
and Bob and Tom and Jeff and Roy
For The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, Dream Away and the Let It Down demo
For 1961
For Living in The Material World and yet still
mastering The Art of Dying
Thank you

Janine Edwards

George Harrison has been a very important person in my life as well as the other three Beatles. I remember that I listened to my first Beatle song when I was 4 years old. I would like to say that not only the Beatles but also George have influenced me in many ways. For example, I can say that the food that I enjoy the most is the Indian cuisine. I remember when my friends and I visited the Hare Krsna Temple out side of London in 1998; when we arrived there, the people in charge gave us some very tasty vegetarian meals. That day we walked a long distance with the intention to know the place that George visited many years ago.

I think that George Harrison had a very important mission in this life, and he will be with us in spirit forever.

AN EMOTIONAL LIFELINE CONNECTION

Today, I am in the middle of my living room, and while I am looking through the window many memories come to my mind, so I decided that is the right time to make some reflections about my life and some bands that have influenced me in many ways. If I go back to my early days, I can remember myself dancing in the middle of a Menudo concert. The years have gone, but not the good moments and the joy for the music. In my long list of important bands The Beatles come in first place, then The Rolling Stones, The Who, Kinks, Menudo, and more recently U2. I can say happily that after nine years of waiting, I got the opportunity to see this Irish band in concert. U2 was a balsam of many souls the night of December 1st. Bono was particularly inspired that memorable night for many reasons. One of these important reasons is the passing of George Harrison; Bono made reference to our sweet George singing some verses of the songs: "My Sweet Lord" and "Here Comes the Sun." Bono was also touched by the attacks to the World Trade Center last September 11th and by the passing of his father one month earlier.

In total admiration, I saw how many people showed their devotion to the band song after song, and when Bono tenderly embraced a two-sided flag that one member of the audience handed to him; he danced with the flag in a gesture of love. This two-sided flag was very important to him because one side showed the Irish colors and the other the U.S. stars.

As a result, all these memories make me feel a combination of fine emotions, emotions that I have at the moment of writing this story because I consider myself very lucky. Yes, I am lucky not only for being close to Ringo Starr or Mick Jagger but also because the Edge, guitarist of U2, showed his face through the limousine window when he was on his way to the Ice Palace. I am more fortunate because I am still alive with my loved ones close to me. I have many other friends in the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, but they all know that we will be close each other in spirit. I would like to dedicate these memories to all the persons that have been with me through the years in an emotional lifeline connection.

Claudia Leticia Espinosa, Mexico City
TWIL Issue Seven February 2002