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George and Olivia Harrison, Australia, 1982, screenshot from The Australian Women’s Weekly; and Olivia at A Night of Broadway Stars Benefiting Covenant House, New York City, 12 June 2012, photo: Stephen Lovekin.

“Thirty years ago today, former Beatle George Harrison and his wife Olivia gave us a gift to open our first safe house for trafficked children in Guatemala. That house birthed a movement known as Casa Alianza, which now protects street children in Mexico, Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala. Tens of thousands of children have been saved from trafficking rings, and our work has won the Olaf Palme Peace Prize, the Hilton Humanitarian Award, the State Department Hero Award and the Path to Peace Prize. Covenant House President is remembering George and Olivia today with gratitude, listening to his beautiful Here Comes the Sun.” - Covenant House International, Facebook, 14 January 2012

On 12 June 2012, Olivia received the Casa Alianza Hands of Peace Award on behalf of herself and George: “Olivia Harrison, wife of the great Beatle and philanthropist George Harrison, received the Casa Alianza Hands of Peace Award for her support of Casa Alianza (Covenant House) Guatemala. Her work has provided love, hope and practical help to homeless youth in Latin America, helping to save thousands of lives.” - CovenantHouse.org (x)

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It is five-and-a-half years since John Lennon was gunned down outside his New York home, but the memory of that great loss still makes Paul McCartney cry. “I haven’t really come to terms with it,” Paul admitted. “You might as well ask me how I coped with my mum’s death when I was 14 and she died from cancer at 40. I dealt with it badly. I occasionally cry, but the nice thing is I think of them with great warmth and great love, and that’s what counts.” There are moments, like when Paul is recalling some stories about John for his children, when memories become too much emotionally. “I choke up,” he said. “I care very deeply, but I don’t know what to do with my care.” Paul believes that his true feelings about John have been misunderstood, that some people might have imagined it ended with them hating each other and him resenting John. Nothing could be further from the truth. “He was always a bit of a hero to me, because to start with he was one-and-a-half years older which makes a big difference when you are 16. He had gone through what I was about to go through.  At 17 ½ they’ve got all the drape jackets, they’ve got all the gear together and they know how to grow sideburns, which you are just working on.  We always loved him, but he could be overbearing.  He could put you down as soon as look at you, but that is part of what we loved about him. I think John was certainly one of the greatest people I’ve met.” “He was devastatingly funny. He had this acid wit, which was well known, but you didn’t want to get on the wrong side of him. That was none too pleasant.  But he was more than a hero to me. It was when I’d see great acts of kindness and they would always be done very quietly. Not many people knew about those things. Occasionally  he’d give someone a car. Yes, he was very generous with it.”

'McCartney on Lennon' in the Daily Express, 22nd July 1986

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Photo by Garcia/Gamma-Rapho (?).

"You know what irritates me about modern music, it’s all based on ego. […] The more you shout, the higher you jump, the bigger your hat, the more people listen to your music. It’s like that in the recording industry. It’s got nothing to do with talent. Everything has got out of proportion today with the power of the record companies, the media, television, radio… it’s staggering." - George Harrison on the music industry, Le Figaro (1997) “I like music that is not ego music. Real music doesn’t make you think of cash registers. It should transport you somewhere nice.” - George Harrison, Herald-Journal (1997) “I wouldn’t change my life for anything, I love being who I am. And I feel a lot of my dad, the way I sound now to myself, the way I whine on about stuff and bang on about the music industry, and this that and the other — I sound just like my dad. And now I know why he was so bitter about (laughs)… because having seen what my dad showed me, he was just so not impressed by anything (or) anyone that was anything but real.” - Dhani Harrison, KSHE95 (2014) “[George] didn’t like bullshit; he wasn’t impressed with, in his own words, ‘how big your hat is and how high you can jump,‘ that wasn’t what it was about.” - Olivia Harrison, Filter (Fall 2011) “My mother’s father, Esquiel Arias, was a singer, and dad recorded him singing these great Mexican songs. My mother’s mother was related to Jorge Negrete, who was a film star and singer, I guess at the same level as Elvis or Bing Crosby in Mexico. Dad was a huge fan and had him on the jukebox at home. There’s a long line of musicians on both sides.” - Dhani Harrison, MOJO (2017)

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Scan - George Harrison signing a fan’s cast at the premiere of HELP!, London Pavilion, Piccadilly Circus, 29 July 1965. Photo by John Howard.

This story appears to go along with it; it’s from The Beatles Book monthly:

“Pandemonium reigned in the Dress Circle of the cinema, as people lucky enough to be there waited for the Royal party and the Beatles. I noticed a girl withher leg in plaster, who had hurt her leg in a car crash. ‘I hope George will autograph it,’ she whispered. When George entered the room where the Beatles would meet the Royal party, she asked him to sign. George’s normally grinning face contorted in an expression of sympathy: ‘Yeah, on the way out, I will, wait a sec, could you?’ George left behind him one very happy, albeit beplastered, Beatle fan. The girl with the leg plaster asked me to go in with her. Gathering together almost all my (non-existent) pluck, I took a deep breath, and in we went. We had been right (for once!). The Beatles were posing for the cameras and George had recognised us. He pointed us out to Ringo. Ringo stared at the plaster, and his highly expressive features puckered in a grimace of sympathy. To cut a long story short, all four Beatles signed the girl’s leg in the end (boy, was I envious!), as she posed for the papers with them.” - Elizabeth Sachs, The Beatles Book, 1965 (x)

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Scan - George Harrison signing a fan’s cast at the premiere of HELP!, London Pavilion, Piccadilly Circus, 29 July 1965. Photo by John Howard.

This story appears to go along with it; it’s from The Beatles Book monthly:

“Pandemonium reigned in the Dress Circle of the cinema, as people lucky enough to be there waited for the Royal party and the Beatles. I noticed a girl withher leg in plaster, who had hurt her leg in a car crash. ‘I hope George will autograph it,’ she whispered. When George entered the room where the Beatles would meet the Royal party, she asked him to sign. George’s normally grinning face contorted in an expression of sympathy: ‘Yeah, on the way out, I will, wait a sec, could you?’ George left behind him one very happy, albeit beplastered, Beatle fan. The girl with the leg plaster asked me to go in with her. Gathering together almost all my (non-existent) pluck, I took a deep breath, and in we went. We had been right (for once!). The Beatles were posing for the cameras and George had recognised us. He pointed us out to Ringo. Ringo stared at the plaster, and his highly expressive features puckered in a grimace of sympathy. To cut a long story short, all four Beatles signed the girl’s leg in the end (boy, was I envious!), as she posed for the papers with them.” - Elizabeth Sachs, The Beatles Book, 1965 (x)

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Photo by Kevin Mazur.

Happy birthday, Dhani!

“‘George never held anything back, even when Dhani was really young, so they were very close, and Dhani had a clear understanding. Some of the things George told him, it was almost like he knew he might not be around later on, so he had to tell him then. ‘So yes, it’s difficult to make your own way, but that’s what it was, and Dhani loved that guy, they were very close.’ Olivia could equally be talking about herself.” - Huffington Post (September 24, 2014) “I didn’t really learn to play from my dad, I learned to play with my dad. He never really taught me anything but the 12-bar and the fundamental chords; we just played a lot together. [...] There’s a lot of laughter in my family. My family is a bunch of wise guys — my dad and I were like a double act, and after he died I found myself surprisingly less funny for a very long period.” - Dhani Harrison, Filter (Fall 2011) “Seeing how amazing, sweet and talented Dhani is, and how cool and amazing Olivia is — you can tell a lot about a person by who their friends are and who they love. […] They’re such incredible people, and they love him so much, and you can see how much he loved them. I love his art, his gardens and his home, and all the incredible things he’s written, but I think my favorite moment of George’s is Dhani and Olivia.“ - Regina Spektor, Filter (Fall 2011)

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George Harrison, July 28, 1968. Photo by Tom Murray.

George, for me, stood out. […] The amazing thing about George is there seemed to be this aura around him that was very unusual. He was an incredibly peaceful individual; almost spiritual in a way you don’t often see.” - Tom Murray, The Beatles: Tom Murray’s Mad Day Out (2018)

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Photo by Dennis Stone.

"'Like, my boy’s nine, and he just *loves* Chuck Berry. When I did that Prince’s Trust concert last June - that was the first time he ever saw me hold a guitar onstage in front of people. He’s got to know a bit about the Beatles, but I’ve never pushed that on him or tried to say, ‘Look who I used to be.’ I did my two cute songs: “Here Comes the Sun” and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” He came back after the show, and I said, 'What did you think?’ He said, 'You were good, Dad, you were good [slight pause]. Why didn’t you do 'Roll Over Beethoven,’ 'Johnny B. Goode’ and 'Rock & Roll Music’?’ I said, 'Dhani, that’s Chuck Berry’s show you’re talking about!’ Dhani discovered Chuck Berry through a roundabout route. His mother, Olivia, a California girl, dug out the Beach Boys’ 'Surfin’ U.S.A.’ after Dhani heard the song in the movie 'Teen Wolf.’ Then, Harrison says, 'I said, “That’s really good, but you want to hear where that came from,” and I played him “Sweet Little Sixteen.”’ … 'I made him a Chuck Berry tape,’ Harrison says, 'and he takes it to school with his Walkman.’ Does his father approve? 'Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis — there hasn’t been any rock & roll better than that,’ Harrison says plainly."- Rolling Stone (October 22, 1987)

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“I mean, I’m a part of creation just like the rest of you all. And I get pushed and shoved around and tossed around like the rest of you all. And if you ever give a thought to why you’re getting bashed about, it’s usually because it’s people like the President of the United States and our beloved Harold Wilson from Snotty Ash. And all the people who control our lives to a certain degree — I mean that’s why we’re fortunate that they can’t get you after you’re dead. At least the way out is… they can get you all your life, and they can impose their naivety or ignorance on you and they can make you pay, which is really what real life is about, like school, you know. I’m interested in wars and deaths and killings and murders to the degree that I’d like to see it not there. I try not to think about too much about it because if I did I’d be so depressed I wouldn’t be able to sing some tunes. […] So it’s ourselves who get ourselves in a mess or get ourselves out of it. But we seem, the world as a whole, to be more in a mess than not in a mess. Although there’s a lot of great souls in the world. […] You know, really I feel now that whatever I give, I get it back. It’s like there’s an old proverb that says, ‘the smile you give out comes back three-fold,’ and it’s true. If you can raise a smile, you do tend to get two or three back. Which enables you to give six or seven back, and you get fifteen back. But if you kick somebody in the eye there’s a good chance somebody’s gonna hit you on the head with his gun. That’s karma.” - George Harrison, Capital Radio (1974)

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I miss you……💔

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Asking for prayers for Jeff Lynne (ELO), as he has had to cancel his last ever two performances due to illness. 🙏 😢

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A dazzling emerald hue / 16 April 2022 Saturday

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George Harrison, photographed by disc jockey Kenny Everett poolside in L.A. on a rare day off (possibly 26 August) during The Beatles’ final tour, 1966. This image was included in The Beatles Book’s July 1967 issue.

Kenny Everett: “Yeah. Do you ever like a dull moment? Do you like a time where you can sit around with nobody around?” George Harrison: “Oh yeah, all the time I like that.” KE: “Yeah?” GH: “When I really feel like that, I just sort of wander off.” KE: “Into a corner.” GH: “Into a corner and just cut myself off from what’s going on around. Otherwise you go crazy.” KE: “What do you think of when you cut yourself off?” GH: “What do I think of? Oh, I don’t know. I think of lots of things, you know. You know - just think of nothing. That’s very hard to do, to be able to think of nothing, because as soon as you get nothing in your mind, you automatically try and make it into something. You try it, listeners. All close yer eyes and try and think of nothing.” KE: “No, they’ve got to wake up for the commercials.” GH: “It’s hard. You think of nothing, and you think, It’s not nothing, it’s a little feller on a bike, or something like that. So, it gives us a break from hotels, we get a couple of days off, so - it’s nice.” - 1966 interview (x)

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Happy 85th birthday, Ringo!

Photos © Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images and by Richard Young.

“Ringo’s got the best back beat I’ve ever heard.” - George Harrison, press conference (October 1974) “Especially [friends] I really love, you know, the people who mean something to me. It’s good, I like to see them. I like to see Ringo’s funny little face, you know. [Chuckles]” - George Harrison, Swedish interview (1987) “You’re on holiday with [George] and every morning he’d say, ‘Oh, come and see the trees.’ ‘Okay, yeah.’ And then the next day, ‘Oh, come and see the trees.’ ‘Yeah, okay.’ And then, ‘Come and see…�� ‘I’ve seen your bloody trees!’” - Ringo Starr, Concert for George microsite “George presented him recently with a special, leather-bound volume, which said on the cover, ‘Ringo Starr: greatest drummer on earth.’ Inside, all the pages were blank. ‘George told me to start writing, to fill it up.’” - The Beatles: The Authorized Biography (1985 postscript) “I remember years ago Ringo saying to me he’d love to have a Number 1. And I said, What for? You are the Number 1. It doesn’t matter about the record.” - George Harrison, Q (1988) “I loved George, George loved me.” - Ringo Starr, Concert for George (2002)

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Olivia's tribute to Brian Wilson on Instagram, for anyone who isn't on that platform. (More about the hometown connection.)

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“She [Martha] was a dear pet of mine. I remember John being amazed to see me being so loving to an animal. He said, ‘I’ve never seen you like that before.’ I’ve since thought, you know, he wouldn’t have. It’s only when you’re cuddling around with a dog that you’re in that mode, and she was a very cuddly dog.” -Paul McCartney