Don't Mess With a Beatle

Of course if someone was to feel that they could have the upper hand or push one of the Beatles around, that Beatle would be Ringo. The happy go lucky drummer who has a smile plastered on his face at all times would seemingly be the last person in the world to make anyone disgruntle. Well Ringo decided to turn his back on none other than Regis Philbman.

Ringo was asked to perform on the Regis and Kelly show not too long ago. Ringo agreed to the offer but clearly was unaware of some of the circumstances he would be held to. The major issue was the length of the song Ringo was going to perform. The song runs for a little over four minutes but the producers of "Live with Regis and Kelly" said it had to be no longer than 2 1/2 minutes. Ringo worked to make a compromise but refused to cut his song to such a short length. Instead of finding some common ground Ringo decided to walk off and not play at all. Being that this is Ringo Starr he left with a few words of kindness, "God bless and goodbye. We still love Regis."

So what do we make of this debacle? The blame is clearly all dependent on whether or not Ringo was notified of the time restrictions. If he was indeed notified then I would actually have to take the side of "Live with Regis and Kelly" (No matter how bad that makes me feel.) If Ringo wasn't notified then I think there could have been some agreement formed. In all fairness, Ringo Starr is a Beatle, a member of the biggest and most important band in the history of the world. The producers couldn't cut some of the meaningless (and annoying) chatter of Kelly Ripa for the sound of Ringo Starr? This seems to remind me of the infamous Doors incident where Jim Morrison refused to censor his lyrics on "Light My Fire" for television. There seems to be a firm lesson of the integrity of an artist. An artists music was meant to be heard the way he/she intended it to. It's good to see Ringo holding strong and refusing to sell out.