Concert For George subject of new Genesis Publications book (подробности)

Primal Scream
К счастью, to become a nobody у Джорджа так и не получилось.-)))))))

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Фантастика!
Все deluxe-экземпляры уже распроданы

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2 Pataphisist
Он был светлым человеком и писал необыкновенно светлые песни.

Это сообщение было перемещено из темы "Concert for George книга".

>Он был светлым человеком и писал необыкновенно светлые песни.

Но к сожалению есть люди которые пытаются всем доказать, что это не так.
Прости их, Джордж!!!

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В чем-то позиция Джорджа - мавр сделал свое дело, мавр может уйти - проще и понятней, чем позиция Пола, продолжающего впахивать каждый день, нарываясь на критику, на неприятие и адский труд. Но это его право. Джордж выбрал свою жизнь и построил ее так, как он считал возможным. Он великий человек и музыкант, и я всегда буду преклоняться перед ним.

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Да они просто БОГИ!

Это сообщение было перемещено из темы "Concert for George книга".

Если Де-Люксы расспроданы, что-же мой в Москву не идет или как в прошлый раз - нужно начинать расследование пропавшей бандероли (Post-Office - Ringo Starr), а она оказалась в Москве и лежала на таможенном складе почти месяц.
Дед.

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Будем надеятся, что книга до вас дойдет.

Это сообщение было перемещено из темы "Concert for George книга".

2Primal Scream Я фотографии некоторые удалила, поскольку они были вот в этой теме
https://www.beatles.ru/postman/forum_messages.asp?cfrom=1&msg_id=10016&cpage=1&forum_id=
Вы ее , вероятно пропустили.
Спасибо за ссылку на интервью с Оливией.

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OK

Это сообщение было перемещено из темы "Concert for George книга".

Говорят, что моя книга сначала уехала в USA, а потом уже в Мосеву.
Д.

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In George's name, buy me mine
Elegant and slight, Olivia Harrison looks barely strong enough to hoist the orange linen-covered book beside her. On its gold-tipped pages are hundreds of photographs, words and, most importantly, memories.

For the widow of George Harrison the book, which commemorates the November 2002 show Concert For George, is more than a beautiful object. The Albert Hall concert held a year after the former Beatle died of cancer was a very public farewell by more than 60 musicians, comedians (including many of the Monty Python crew) and other friends of the son of a Liverpool bus driver.

"Everything that I ever do that has to do with George I'd like to be as nice as possibly be," Harrison said with the accent of her California upbringing still strong. "He produced a lot of really nice things, whether they be music, films or books or gardens. He did things with total commitment."

Фото:Cover story ... Olivia Harrison shares her love of George, at $900 a pop.
Photo: Steven Siewert


In the book Eric Clapton - the concert's organiser who remained a close friend of George despite falling in love with and enticing away his first wife, Patti Boyd - says the man known as the "quiet Beatle" would probably have said he didn't want a big deal made of his passing, but the concert was as much for friends and family.

"Eric was right: we needed to do it for him and for ourselves," Harrison says. "It was heart-wrenching. Even if we hadn't been rehearsing and putting the concert on it would have been a heart-wrenching time. [But] it helped me now as I think I have a memorial for George that is really fitting, that was good enough, and I don't have to go back and do it again."

Harrison, who launches the $900 book in Sydney on Friday, doesn't begrudge once again sharing the man she was married to for 23 years but who had been a Beatle to everyone else for 40 years. "Love is infinite so there's always enough to go around.

"George had a great deal of love for the people there. I literally mean it. He used to think about his friends a lot more than they knew. To see them come together and show that love for him, for me, knowing the other side of it, it was just perfect."

http://sunday.ninemsn.com.au/sunday/art_profiles/article_1728.asp
Remembering George
March 6, 2005
Reporter :Jana Wendt
Producer : Catherine Hunter

One year after the death of former Beatles guitarist George Harrison, his closest friends — and some of the biggest names in the music industry — came together to celebrate his life. But this was no ordinary jamming session. Concert For George took place in the Royal Albert Hall, with a memorable line-up including Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton and Indian sitar master Ravi Shankar. Since then, a DVD has come out (winning a recent Grammy) and a limited edition book. The normally reclusive Olivia Harrison, who married George in 1978, was in Australia this week to promote the book and spoke to Sunday's Jana Wendt ...


George Harrison was born in 1943 in Liverpool. It was Paul McCartney who introduced George to John Lennon and in 1959, the three formed The Silver Beatles. By 1962, Ringo Starr had joined the band now known as The Beatles and they became the biggest name ever in popular music.

Harrison's songs included 'Taxman', 'Here Comes the Sun' and 'Something' (the latter described by Frank Sinatra as the greatest love song of all time), all of which were performed at the 2002 Concert for George.

Harrison was the most spiritually inclined of the four Beatles and introduced the others to the philosophy of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and transcendental meditation. He would continue on that spiritual path for the rest of his life and on stage for the tribute was his great mentor, Ravi Shankar, who taught Harrison to play the sitar.

One of the most poignant moments of the Concert for George was seeing Harrison's only son Dhani on stage playing his father's guitar with such luminaries as Eric Clapton and Paul McCartney. So astonishing is the physical likeness that it was, at times, almost as if the young George was back.

Indeed, Olivia Harrison was heard to say, "With Dhani up on stage it looked as if George had stayed young and we all got old!"

There were many great moments in an evening that blended Harrison's love of Eastern music with many of his own songs. There was Paul McCartney doing a moving rendition of Something on his ukelele, Ringo Starr singing Photograph and even the Monty Python gang, singing the outrageous Sit on My Face and The Lumberjack Song.

It was Olivia Harrison who gave her blessing to the evening, even though she had planned to spend the first anniversary of George's death in seclusion. Instead she spent the evening with literally thousands of friends and fans.

Olivia Trinidad Arias met George Harrison in 1974 and Dhani was born four years later. She shared with George the desire for a spiritual life and both eschewed the trappings of celebrity, seeking a private life. But she hit the headlines in 1999 after an intruder broke into their Oxfordshire estate intent on murdering George. It was Olivia who saved her husband by attacking the intruder with a lamp.

Since George's death in November 2001, Olivia Harrison has become a more public figure, intent on finishing numerous projects started by her husband. She's planning to re-release the Travelling Wilburys on CD next year and has been very involved in the Material World Charitable Foundation set up by Harrison in 1973.

And of course, there's been the follow-on from the Concert for George, first with the DVD coming out and most recently a book commemorating the concert. Published by Genesis Publications, Harrison's publisher for 25 years, it tells the story of the concert from the early rehearsals and features stories from many of his closest friends.

Eric Idle remembers, "George once said to me, 'If we'd known we were going to be the Beatles, we'd have tried harder.'"

But despite her more public role, Olivia Harrison puts paid to the idea she is intent on perpetuating the memory of George Harrison.

"He didn't care what people thought about him or didn't think about him. That wasn't why he did what he did, "says Olivia Harrison, "He just lived a life and did what he loved to do, which was write music, garden, go to motor races and be with his son and family."

"History has been written. It's not going to be rewritten. He was a great man and a great songwriter and a great singer and just a wonderful man."

The DVD of Concert for George is now available in Australia, and for more information on the book, see www.genesis-publications.com

Giving in the material world
Iain Shedden
FAME, or at least celebrity, comes with the territory when you marry a Beatle. Yoko Ono could testify to that. Linda McCartney knew it, Heather Mills McCartney knows it and actor Barbara Bach had to contend with it even before she married Ringo Starr.

Yet Olivia Harrison, who met her future husband George in 1974, has managed to spend most of the past 30 years away from public attention. Nor did she and her husband find it particularly difficult to do so.
"We made some effort to be out of the limelight, but you really don't have to make too much," she says. "Don't forget I met George after the Beatles, although 1974 wasn't that long after."

We're in Harrison's Sydney hotel room, the one she has just moved to because a royal couple is staying in her original choice of accommodation. Too much fuss and security there. Harrison prefers to do things quietly. Her speech is soft but assured, her manner gentle, much like her late husband's, and just occasionally, when talking about him, the merest hint of melancholy crosses her face.

Harrison is here not just to talk about her life with one of the most famous musicians of the 20th century, but to further honour his career and the life that was taken from him by cancer on November 29, 2001.

Tomorrow she will attend the worldwide launch in Sydney of a new limited edition book Concert for George, documenting the commemorative show held at London's Royal Albert Hall exactly a year after her husband's death. The show had a stellar cast made up almost entirely of Harrison's friends, including Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Jeff Lynne and the Monty Python team.

Proceeds from the concert and a DVD release of it have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Material World Charitable Foundation set up by George in 1973 after his landmark concert for Bangladesh two years earlier. The foundation benefits a number of causes around the world. Sales of the 2500 copies of the $900 book, which includes pictures of the concert by celebrated photographers Jill Furmanovsky and Richard Young and shots of George from his professional and home life, will add to the charity's coffers.

"Since George died there has been a lot of goodwill and people wanting to give donations," she says. "It wouldn't have been appropriate for the funds from the DVD, the book or the concert to go anywhere else but the foundation."

Harrison is no stranger to Australia. She accompanied her husband to Melbourne on his final visit here in 2000, indulging one of his passions outside music, Formula 1 motor racing. He had been a regular at the grand prix in Adelaide before it switched cities. The couple also spent holidays at their property on Hamilton Island in Queensland.

They travelled extensively together, mostly without the fanfare and media frenzy that the other surviving Beatles attract. Again, that desire not to draw attention to themselves played a part.

"People used to say George was a recluse, but he would say: 'well, I just don't go where you go', or 'I don't go where the press is, or to those sorts of places'. We had a lot of friends and had quite a social life. You can put on this other persona and be low key about it. We never travelled with anybody, we just went on our own. George travelled on his own. The less attention you call to yourself the easier it is. That was his philosophy."

George, of course, was drawn to philosophy, particularly eastern philosophy and mysticism. It influenced his life, from the Beatles' days until his death. He introduced the Indian sitar to the Beatles' music. His sitar teacher, the Indian musician Ravi Shankar, was one of the leading participants in Concert for George.

Harrison's music, from his early albums such as Living in the Material World and Dark Horse through to his final work, Brainwashed, was imbued with a message of peace and harmony. This was one of the things Olivia, working at the offices of his Los Angeles record label in 1974, found attractive, although she had always been a fan.

"He always seemed to have a deeper sensibility," she says. "It was a subject that was always with him. He had aspirations for the astral world. I think he was pretty fed up with this world, actually. He used to say, 'This can't be the only place. There has to be somewhere better where people aren't so uptight and it's not so polluted and people are more conscious and passionate.' He had a point."

The Harrisons married and had their only child, Dhani, in 1978. They lived their quiet life at Friar Park, a rambling estate near Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire. Dhani is an aspiring musician and looks the image of his father.

"He's had a couple of rough years," Harrison says. "He's very creative and he is a musician and an artist as well. That got diverted a bit for a few years, from the time of the attack."

In 1999, the peace of the Harrison household was disturbed when an intruder broke into the house, stabbing George 10 times before Olivia managed to knock the man unconscious with a table lamp.

The terrible experience lingers in Harrison's mind, but she is philosophical about it. "It's sort of like a dream, but it does have long-term effects," she says.

George was first diagnosed with throat cancer in 1997, but was treated successfully. The disease returned, however, and spread. He was diagnosed with a brain tumour in July, 2001, and died four months later.

His widow says that it helped that he knew "what was happening every day".

"He used to say the cause of death is birth. So it wasn't any surprise and it shouldn't be any surprise to each one of us. It's just how prepared you are – that's the challenge.

"He had prepared himself for death half his life, through meditation. He wrote about that in a song, The Art of Dying. So with those issues out of the way he was able to fully live the time that he had left. If you're not prepared or haven't thought about it, you're going to spend that time freaking out or trying to come to terms with it."

Today Harrison is devoted to finishing the work her husband was involved in just before his death. This includes an anthology containing rare recordings and the fruits of one of his other passions, home videos.

"I'm busier now than ever," she says. "George and I always worked together when he was doing an album. I helped him quite a lot. So I'm just trying to finish what he was doing, which could take me five years."

At points during our conversation, when flicking through images of George, or recalling some moment from their life together, the incredibly strong bond that existed between them becomes clear. She attributes the longevity of their marriage to a number of factors.

"I'm not a celebrity and I'm not in the entertainment business, I think that helps a lot," she says. "He had enough [celebrity] for both of us.

"And of course love is the key ... and it depends on what your goals are in life. If your goal is to have a happy marriage then I think that's a recipe for disaster. George's goal was to have self-realisation and enlightenment. If that is your goal it makes everything else a little bit easier. That's why I'm left feeling the way I feel, that I can go forward."


http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12423466%255E16947,00.html

Olivia Harrison in Sydney

Hi all,

Last night was a really fantastic evening for me and a group of fellow fans and friends, we got to spend three hours in the company of Olivia Harrison. Friday night the 4th of March 2005 was the world wide launch of the limited edition book 'The concert for George', Olivia had chosen Sydney as the location for this fantastic event. I met up with my friends and we made our way throught the tide of rushing Sydney workers down to the Shangri la hotel, at 'The Rocks' end of the city, the hotel was also playing host to Australia's own Princess Mary and Prince Fredrick of Denmark, a few Queens were spotted, but alas not a Princess in sight.

We made our way downstairs to the reception area and were pretty much the first people there, there was a big sign on the door saying 'interview in progress', soon enough the appointed hour of 6.00pm came around and we were allowed into the ballroom, it was set up so all the book sales were on the right hand side as you came in the door, ahead of you were the rows of seating and in front of the chairs was a small elevated stage, with a table and two chairs and microphones, the old Tingler has been around the block and back so I knew where to go and grab a chair, my friend from Melbourne Joanna had the same idea and being a smart lady knew to place her handbag on two seats directly in front of where Olivia would be sitting, that hand bag positively screamed ‘These seats are taken, move this at your own peril!!’.

As you faced the table to the right of that were all the Genesis books displayed, including a copy of ‘I me mine’. Separating the interview/signing area from where we were mingling and sitting was only a small red velvet link fence. When we walked in the room Olivia was mingling around talking to friends, I was instantly struck by just how beautiful she really is, not much make up, and the most lovely hair, I once read where someone described Olivia as being very petite, and its really true, in person she is very slight and slender, she was wearing a gorgeous dark pants suit and a stunning diamond brooch, from the way it was shining you could tell those sparkles weren’t coming from mere glass.

She had a bodyguard following her around discreetly, and I must admit I was wondering if anyone would race up and try and talk to her, or ask for an autograph or something, but the reaction of pretty much everyone there set the tone of the evening, and that was just to relax and enjoy the night without bothering Olivia too much, and it worked a treat.

I really sensed that Olivia had this serenity around her, or an aura where people just felt comfortable with her being there, if you wanted to say hello to her there was really nothing stopping you, but most people just hung back and were more than happy and satisfied to be in the same room as her. Olivia moved to sit behind the table so she and Brian Roylance could begin to sign and personalise the books for those who had purchased them, as waiters moved around the room offering up totally non vegetarian food (which I found odd), people were happy to catch up with old friends and sip at the offered drinks.

It wasn’t a large number of people there by any means, the room was in no way crowded, and it was easy to move around. I must admit tho once Olivia sat down I too took my seat in front of her and just enjoyed the experience of watching her interact with people. I was a little surprised to notice that she wears glasses for writing and she is also left handed (something for the trivia buffs). We were seated no more than ten feet away from her the whole time. My friend Joanna decided to make her way up and get her book signed, as I was Jo’s date for the evening I got to accompany her for the signing.

There were only ever about 4-8 people lined up at any given moment, and Olivia and Brian took their time with each person, never rushing them and allowing the buyer to chat for pretty much as long as they needed, or wanted within reason. When it was our turn to be introduced I must admit I felt a pang of nervousness, or more likely it was excitement. I’ve always held Olivia in the highest regard, and have always wanted to meet her just to say ‘thank you’. Joanna was introduced first to Olivia, and then the hostess said ‘Olivia, this is Greg Swan’ I shook Olivia’s hand and said ‘Hello, I’m Greg’, she then said ‘Greg Swan, you’re name is VERY familiar, Greg Swan’, Brian recognised me and said hello Greg, then he said to Olivia ‘The Anthology book’ Greg helped with us with that, Olivia responded with ‘oh yes, you’re name is in the credits’ she turned to Brian and said ‘see, I do have a photographic memory’. You could have pretty much knocked me over with a feather after hearing that.

Brian explained some of the things I supplied for the Beatles Anthology book, I explained to Olivia that the Concert for George book was only to be inscribed to Joanna. Jo explained to Olivia how she became a George fan at the time of Cloud 9, and only discovered the Beatles through George, Olivia thought this was pretty funny, and I commented that that made me feel pretty old, Olivia comment ‘But you ARE old’, having just celebrated my 40th birthday I had a nanosecond of insecurity, then it dawned on me that Olivia meant it in a much deeper sense.

We told Olivia that I had just turned forty and she exclaimed ‘Oh, your only a baby’ she went on to tell us about Derek Taylor and how he used to say to them ‘Wait till you turn 60!’, I told Olivia that when I made a speech at my birthday I was struck by how lucky I was just to be there and to make it to 40, and that turning 30 was a real drama for me, we all agreed 30 was the traumatic age. We continued chatting about some personal stuff which i wont go into here just to keep it special between Joanna and i.

Pretty soon they took a break in Olivia signing the books, author Glenn A Baker made a speech and introduced Brian Roylance who stayed sitting beside Olivia. Brian gave us a short history of Genesis books and his friendship with George, then came what was for me the big surprise of the night, Melissa Doyle from the Sunrise Morning tv show was introduced and brought out to interview Olivia. This was fantastic, I had really only expected Olivia to maybe make a short speech, but this was a real treat. I don’t believe Olivia has ever done a public interview before, but you would never have guessed it, as she looked very relaxed and comfortable. It was also great as the questions and topics were actually pretty interesting, and not the usual inane questions offered up. I don’t have a transcript of the interview yet, but from what I can remember off the top of my head some of the topics discussed included the following ..

How when George and Derek Taylor went to look at Friar Park before George brought it, Olivia mentioned that the place was derelict and that she thinks George and Derek had a ‘cup of tea’ sitting in the garden before George decided to buy Friar Park, those of us in the ‘know’ started to laugh at this, and Olivia gave a knowing smile, but the poor interviewer had no idea why we were laughing. Olivia went on to describe the poor state of the gardens, and how George actually got himself a flame thrower!!, we were really laughing at this image of George walking around like a maniac blasting everything with this flame thrower, so Olivia emphasised it again by saying ‘no really he did’, she said the house was derelict and George put his heart into making the gardens beautiful, Olivia noted that she is now carrying on working on the gardens.

It was lovely for us Aussie fans to listen as Olivia recounted how much they loved Australia and came here often. Olivia mentioned the first time they came here in 1982 as a family, they drove down from Brisbane, they went to Byron bay, Coffs harbour ( I was really impressed at Olivia’s knowledge of Australian geography) she noted that both her and George had travelled a lot over the years, especially George, but when they came into Sydney and saw the Harbour Bridge, they both looked at each other and said ‘this is special, this is a special place’. She told a story about how when they were driving down from Brisbane they stayed in a little hotel, it had a hole in the wall with a trap door. Olivia did a very funny impression of the creaking door being opened, it was through this little trap door that breakfast would be delivered, you would wake up in the morning and the breakfast would be waiting for you behind the door, she remembered that when they were leaving Dhani didn’t want to go, he wanted to live there.

Recalling how they loved the weather down here, she lamented that it hadnt been too nice the last couple of days ( severe storms ).

Olivia noted that both Ravi and George were just 'Two naughty little boys' when they were together.

Olivia mentioned recently finding a letter from George to his mum when he was only 23 years old. George was responding to concerns from his mother that the Maharishi was only after their money, Olivia said it was amazing that at only 23 George was looking for something beyond the fame he had, and he wrote to his mum saying that ‘Surely its natural for a man to search for peace’.

When talking about Georges song writing, Olivia mentioned buying him a big book of exotic words, as he was frustrated by what he perceived to be a limited vocabulary, she noted he never used this book as all his lyrics came from his heart. Sometimes when writing a song he would put in funny words that Olivia would veto, she mentioned he would get excited when he heard a Dylan lyric where Bob would get a really good word in.

Talk turned to ukuleles, this got another knowing chuckle from the audience, Olivia revealed how George once had plans to purchase 200 uke’s from the factory, and how he always carried two with him in case someone wanted to play, he done this because you couldn’t help but smile when listening to the uke. She said that’s what George was all about, making people smile, she then chuckled and said, tho I do believe he once took FOUR ukes over to Tom Petty’s house one night, and that no one was immune from George and the uke, he even used to get Olivia’s mother playing.

George just loved music, and that even if Olivia was singing .. and she stressed she doesn’t sing, that George would immediately play along with whatever instrument he had on hand. She noted how George loved a crowd of friends around him, but Olivia said as she was a ‘lonely’ Taurus, she didn’t mind being alone.

George didn’t listen to much, if any contemporary music, Olivia listed a lot of what he liked, including the Bulgarian women’s choir.

When asked about Dhani she said he was a chip off the old block, absolutely like George in what he loves, enjoys, what makes him angry and upset.

Olivia was asked if she had a favourite song and she said she had many but couldn’t single one out, she stated that Run of the mill was important to her, and that George loved that song and how the lyrics were very spiritual. She recited the first verse and explained how it described reaching for a higher consciousness ‘How high will you leap?’.

Discussing the concert, Olivia explained that the Concert For George was never going to be filmed, and that it took Brian and Eric to convince her that it wouldn’t be fair on the fans who couldn’t be there. Olivia originally wanted this to be the public memorial, as a private family one had been held that summer, Olivia’s reticence in filming the concert came from Georges dislike of concert films and filming them, that the lights and cameras put the artist off and distracted them, but after finding cameras that wouldn’t be intrusive she decided to go ahead and film it.

Olivia talked about the difficulty in editing the film, as she had to listen repeatedly to Georges words, sometimes just one phrase over and over in the editing suite. She explained it was very emotional, but she came to hear those words as a message to her, ‘Beware of darkness’ ‘Beware of sadness’.

When she first met George she didnt know what George was talking about half the time, he was always quoting Python or ‘The Producers’. He used to say to Olivia ‘Ah my little Swedish bombshell’ which she explained she obviously didn’t look Swedish, but it was a line from the movie The Producers.

I’m certain there is much I have left out, all up Olivia spoke for about half an hour, which was fantastic and much more than any of us expected. Spotted in the audience were Australian singer and composer John English, founder of OZ magazine Richard Neville and artist Martin Sharp.

Next the head of Warner Brothers Australia was introduced to present Olivia with a ‘Gold disc’ display to acknowledge the massive sales of the Concert dvd in Australia. He made a little speech in which he mentioned years ago while George was in Australia, he decided to just drop in and say hello to the Warners staff. George being George he didn’t call or anything beforehand, he just dropped in, the girl at reception was about 18 years old and asked George who he was, this had Olivia laughing and you could see she loves hearing George stories as much as the next person. George told the girl his name, then she said ‘and what do you do?’. Olivia was really happy about receiving this award and instantly pulled out her mobile phone camera to take a photo, which she was heard to say she was sending to Dhani.

The head of the Variety club in Australia which is a childrens charity, was next to speak. He gave a little history on Variety and then Olivia presented him with a fantastic framed photo of George which is one of twenty that was signed by everyone who performed at the Concert for George, this photo is to be auctioned at the following address http://www.lgm.com.au/auction/onlineauction/details.asp?itemID=13471

When Olivia was standing next to the autographed poster of George, she remarked that everyone had signed it including Paul, Jim Capaldi and Klaus, all except George. There was a very real moment, just for a second, where hearing Olivia say that, and seeing her face when she said it, the impact of Georges loss really hit home.

Olivia sat back down and gave a little background on the Material world charitable foundation, how sometimes it has a lot of money and sometimes not so much. I was impressed that Olivia mentioned helping individuals through the foundation.

That pretty much wrapped up the formal part of the evening, all the people who had been on stage and had made a speech decided to get a group photo with Olivia, they looked around for someone to take the photos, and spotting me standing in front of them David asked me if I could take the photos. They handed me the camera and I got them to squeeze in a little, and asked Olivia to look ahead and smile. That done, David told me myself and Jo could have a photo with Olivia for taking the happy snaps.

Olivia continued on signing books as more people purchased them, again all the while relaxed and happy. Once everyone ‘s books were signed it was getting close to 9.00pm, Olivia stepped down from the small podium and casually chatted to some friends. Olivia mentioned that she was a lot more comfortable doing these things in Australia than overseas, even I was amazed at how relaxed the whole evening was, with everyone being really respectful of Olivia’s space, all who wanted to meet her had the chance, and most were happy to mingle and chat over a few drinks.

Olivia moved over to the framed photo of George to pose for a few photographs, seeing I was struggling with my camera for a second, David asked if Olivia could hold for one more photo as I snapped away. Olivia spotted some artwork a friend of a fan had done of George, she called the fan over to chat about the drawings, which made him pretty happy. He asked if I could take a photo of him with Olivia and Olivia was happy with this, so I got off a couple of snaps.

The night held one last surprise for us, as I handed the camera back to the fan I asked Olivia if myself and Joanna could have a photo with her, I explained I’d been taking photos for everyone else this evening but hadn’t got one myself, again Olivia was happy to do this saying it was because Joanna had such a beautiful smile. As I leant forward to give my camera to someone to take the photo, Olivia spotted the pin on my lapel and asked Jo what it was I was wearing, Jo explained it was my ‘George Harrison’ Cloud 9 pin from Dark horse records. We got our photo and thanked Olivia very much, by now it was 9.00pm and before long Olivia left to go to dinner.

It really was a fantastic night, much more than I imagined it would be, my lasting impression of Olivia will be, that she was, and is, very pretty, really kind, gentle, genuine, and strangely enough very strong.

Greg

Beatle's widow carrying on his projects


By Randy Lewis / Los Angeles Times

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SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- Olivia Harrison likes to quip that were she to write a book about her 27 years with "the quiet Beatle," she'd call it "Never a Dull Moment."

George Harrison mixed his well-known passion for music and his quest for spiritual truth with utterly worldly penchants for auto racing, gardening and socializing with a zeal that seemed to run counter to the public image of a shy, inward-looking musician and family man who rarely made a splash in public after the Beatles broke up.

"People would say to him, 'You're not touring and you're not recording -- what do you do with yourself?' " says Olivia, a Southern California native who came into Harrison's life after his first marriage painfully and famously fell apart when his wife, Patti Boyd, fell in love with one of his best friends, Eric Clapton.

"He had an extraordinary work ethic," she says, occasionally twisting the wedding ring she still wears. "He never stopped. He always had something going."

So much so that 3 1/2 years after his death from cancer in 2001, Olivia still isn't close to completing the various projects he started.

Not that she's complaining. In an interview at the Santa Monica offices of Harrison's Dark Horse Records label, Olivia says her only goal is to bring to fruition projects George had begun, or intended to, before his death.

There's the re-release later this year of the 1971 live album (and now DVD) from "The Concert for Bangla Desh." She's also determined to continue the philanthropic work of the Material World Foundation, which George set up in 1973.

She also helped supervise the six-CD boxed set "Dark Horse Years -- 1974-1992" that came out last year. She'll be active on George's behalf as Cirque du Soleil assembles a Beatles-centered production slated to open next year in Las Vegas. And she's hoping to see the two albums he made with the Traveling Wilburys reissued on CD.

More immediately, she's overseeing U.S. publication this week of "The Concert for George," an elaborate tribute book to the guitarist-singer-songwriter by Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and dozens of others who took part in the 2002 London memorial concert of the same name. Proceeds go to the Material World Foundation.

Oh, and she just collected her first Grammy, as a producer of "The Concert for George" DVD. She can set it next to the five inscribed for the Beatles that sit unobtrusively on the cabinet behind her desk.

"I need a five-year plan just to finish all the things he started," she says with a chuckle, noting that all the activity helps her feel that, spiritually, she's still carrying on a relationship with him.

She smiles easily and speaks honestly, even about the reason she prefers to veer away from certain subjects.

The couple spent much time in Hawaii, but when she's asked about favorite memories or locales in the islands, she demurs. "I'm sorry, I can't talk about Hawaii. It's too ... " Her voice trails off before she can fill in the missing word.

One memory she doesn't hesitate revisiting is the tribute concert that Clapton organized and that is memorialized in the new 308-page book, which is being published in two editions: a regular, albeit elaborate, handmade version (limited to 2,150 copies) selling for $540, and a $940 "deluxe" edition signed by Olivia and including several additional mementos from the concert. The 350 copies of the deluxe edition quickly sold out.