The Stationary Ringo

With the mindset that I have absolutely zero context in which to place this picture of The Beatles, other than it appearing to be between 1965-early 1966, it stands in my collection as The Strangest Beatles Picture Ever.

It's not that I don't *understand* promotional television clips where bands would perform to pre-recorded music and lip sync. But more often than not, said television show would at least set up the band's amps and drum kits and microphones to make it *appear* as if the performance was live.

What the fuck is happening in this picture, exactly?

Also keep in mind that I have zero knowledge of what song The Beatles were "playing," but evidently, it had to be something that didn't at all feature the drums, e.g. "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away" or "And I Love Her," something like that. There's just an otherwise utterly illogical reasoning as to why Ringo Starr is riding a stationary bike. The punching bag in front of George? Bizarre, but ok The barbells between John's feet? Strange, but whatever. But why Starr is riding a stationary bike? I couldn't even begin to guess.

Jesus, make him look like he's doing SOMETHING! Tambourine? Castanets? Maracas? Phony congo banging? The man is riding a bike. I told  Pastor Dave that henceforth, I was ceasing to play the drums in our band and was bringing a stationary bike to the next practice. Hey, whatever keeps time, right?

One classic example of The Beatles not giving Ringo anything percussive to do was in the promo clip for "Paperback Writer." The rest of them are all playing guitars (or pretending to).

Speaking of drum kits, I'm ecstatic to report that my vintage Rogers kit is coming home for good on Tuesday. After a lengthy meeting between my guitarist, the Pastor and I, it was unanimously decided that the electronic piece of shit the church wasted $2500 on is getting the boot. Presumably, for the time being, it'll be stored in the locked room that houses my Rogers Dynasonic snare, its stand, my Zildjian splash cymbal and other hardware that I have no key to access. We're going to try and sell the kit either on eBay or craigslist soon, after Dave and I figure out how to dismantle the fucking thing and drag it downstairs.

When I asked Dave how we were going to dismantle it, he said, "Anything can be dismantled with a big enough hammer." True.But from the looks of the damn thing, we'll also need a couple of screwdrivers.

In any event, it'll be SO refreshing and better for me, as a musician, to actually be able to HEAR myself playing, cocooned in the warmth of my acoustics, surrounded by the tones and beats I'm playing. What's been the hardest since the electronic kit was suddenly thrust upon me, my crappy Tama kit left for dead (I gave it to my brother)? Trying to hear myself play out of a single amp behind me & off to the side, where, if I missed a beat or did something either great or awful, I couldn't tell. If I misfired onto one of the tiny drum pads, you'd hear no sound at all.

Kind of as effective as having the drummer ride a stationary bike..