The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida • Page 61

THE PALM BEACH POST TUESDAY. AUGUST 19, 2003 40 CONCERT REVIEW Goofy Ringo shrewd enough to let band mates shine tua frnm vralkt tn narrator. And mpH thpir fame with a variety of Ringo was forever the odd man out in the Beatles equation, the drummer whose greatest musical gift may have been the fact he was sliphtfv better than Pete Best (the quartet's first timekeeper) but who compensated for that with a personality that injected a much-needed note of pure silliness into the ensemble. He's never pretended to be more than a goofball, even to this day. And it's what keeps him from bearing the sad burden of nostaleia: At 63.

Ringo re f'f It" By CHARLES PASSY Palm Brack Past Arts Writer In the ego-filled world of popular music, self-awareness is a commodity in short supply. So leave it to the former drummer of the greatest rock band of all time to offer a refreshing lesson in humility. That drummer, of course, is The Beatles' Ringo Starr, who brought his goofy, generous self to Boca Raton Mizner Park Amphitheatre Sunday night for another of his All-Starr Band tours. If you were looking for a soul-searching journey back to the glory days of the Fab Four, the two-hour show, attended by a near-capacity crowd, wasn't likely to be your thing. But if you were simply looking to have a good time, the concert and Ringo filled the void.

uig uit uiiv since the tunes reflect his carefree attitude, he becomes a perfect storyteller, particularly when you see him swaying his arms, emphasizing the bouncy feel of each song. His only attempt at something serious was a tribute to late Beatle George Harrison, Never Without You. His good intentions and warm memories notwithstanding, the tune is a trite bore. Among the All-Starrs, Sheila won the prize for the most crowd-pleasing, playing Latin-laced rhythms and tossing her sticks high in the air. But Colin Hay proved to be the most musical.

His songs, particularly the Aussie-inspired Down Under, had a smart pop sensibility and sounded surprisingly fresh despite their age. No wonder Ringo had such a good time accompanying him. charlespassypbpost.com bands. On this tour, the "All Starrs" included vocalistguitarist Colin Hay (from Men at Work); vocalistbassist John Waite (Babys, Bad English); keyboardist Paul Carrack (Ace, Squeeze, Mike and the Mechanics); drummer and Prince protegee Sheila and multi-instrumentalist Mark Rivera. There's a spirit of conviviality inherent in such mixing and matching; each of the musicians gets a couple of solo turns, then fades into the background to support the rest Meanwhile, Ringo is the evening's thread: He appears and reappears with songs from the Beades canon (Yellow Submarine, With a Little Help from My Friends); his solo career (It Don 't Come Easy, Photograph) and his new album, Ringo Rama.

As a singer, Starr remains a pretty good drummer. But he's wise enough to basically talk his way through the tunes, almost cross- Starr mains the perpetual child. But to expand upon that in a concert setting requires a certain shrewdness and the man also known as Richard Starkey has shown his smarts by letting his tours become showcases tor a talented corps oi musicians And hasn't that always been the case? We don't have any "gosh, we should have done this" and "gosh, we should have done that." We stand by our decision. And we're wishing the East Boynton team the Dest or iuck. STEVE WORRALL, Little League dad Tm angry that I'm not there, but you've got to get over it' 7 A i' 3 if -a average in advanced classes, he's looking forward to going to a good college and following whatever career path he chooses.

"I'm very proud of him. He's been a real trooper," said Jaime. "It's been very tough for him." Team Mizuno coach Harvey Perez has no doubt that Nick will make his mark in the sport. "Of all the players in Palm Beach County, Nick Worrall's got as good a chance as anybody to go as far as he wants," he said. "He definitely has the talent to do it.

And he's got the brains to do it. He will succeed." In the meantime, he's supporting his friends on the East Boynton team. Tm angry that I'm not there, but you've got to get over it," he said. "(I'm) going to have a lot more chances." laurengoldpbpost.com i feeling you can imagine." He's hoping for a chance to go to Williamsport next year as a 12-year-old. But even if next year's team doesn't make it, he says, he won't be devastated.

Because if Little League was created by adults to teach kids the lessons of life about commitment, dedication, self-discipline, sportsmanship then there's another lesson for Nick: Sometimes you've got to learn to live with a decision. Even when it hurts. And Nick says he can handle that. Playing in Williamsport or even eventually in the major leagues would be nice, he says. But he'd play the game even if he never earned any money or recognition.

"I just like baseball so much." And if he doesn't make it to the majors, that'll be OK, too. With a 4.0 grade-point 12TH PLAYER fromiD Little League roster. He's also on two other teams, including Congress Middle School's team. And he gets plenty of playing time. To the first two questions, Steve Worrall says there are no regrets.

"We don't have any 'gosh, we should have done this' and 'gosh, we should have done he said. "We stand by our decision. And we're wishing the East Boynton team the best of luck." That doesn't mean the decision is easy to live with, though. Especially for Nick, whose classmates want to know why he's not in Williamsport. When they ask him about it, "I want to switch lives with them and make them feel the same way I do," said Nick.

"It's the worst 1 1 rv.ii SHANNON O'BRIENStaff Photographer AT THE CHAMPIONSHIPS: East Boynton Beach team members R.J. Neal (left) and Devon Travis rest after batting practice as Devon's 3-year-old brother, Jordan, tackles him. Nick Worrall misses being on the team but is confident that he'll have other chances. Where were you when the lights went out We asked readers if they remembered New York's blackouts in 1965, 1977 or last week. 1- i i om KnirleAon Wy fish I i 3 jumrnii rotupalmmoiii tvruHioaannja lOfANDANCiO 10 KO FANUANUO Mf Ml M4M a OWN UAC0A at KUOWMAt OUR SOU AM UKI WCMTH M11MGTON I mi 7 nit im mi mi NO PASSES ACCEPTED FOR THIS ENGAGEMENT mm VISTT Wirld mmm took me about a half-hour to walk up.

I still have the commendation letter I received. I was a young 30-year-old then. I didn't ask anyone. I just did it I wanted to be the hero or the goat Evelyn Petak, Lake Worth: I decided to watch Star Trek before doing the dishes. In the middle of Star Trek, the lights went off.

My mom looked at me and said, "You see, you should have done the dishes before watching Star Trekl" Dawn Dlckerson, North Palm Beach: I was in New York in 1977 for a very scary, long, black night! My husband and I had checked into the Hilton hotel the day before the blackout We were in the jewelry business and had an appointment to show jewelry at a customer' home in Brooklyn after a dinner party for eight people. We arrived about 8:30, had coffee, chatted and began to lay out the jewelry on a large table in their library. The guests were so excited to see all the lovely things. We had over $1 million in diamonds, emeralds, rubies, etc. That was quite a responsibility, and a lot of jewelry back then.

Around 9:15 to 9:30 the lights went out and the room went pitch black! I thought sure we had been set up and were going to be robbed and killed! My husband asked the host and hostess to please light candles and make sure the doors were locked, in case we had been followed. We packed up the jewelry and tried to make it back to Manhattan in our car. We thought it was just an outage in Brooklyn, but as we approached Manhattan, everything was black. We were so scared! We couldn't put the jewelry back in the hotel safe or in a safe deposit box, because there was no power! We finally got to the hotel. Our room was on the 35th floor! We had to climb 35 flights of stairs, with the jewelry in tow, in a tote bag that seemed to get heavier and heavier.

We took turns carrying it The rooms were not electronically keyed back then so we could get in. What a night! You could hear the gunfire in the streets and the ambulances screaming in the night. We were so happy to be relatively safe and alive. and of course the elevator wasn't working either. We lived on the fifth floor.

I suggested that maybe the problem wasn't with the TV, and we'd do better to wait till the elevator was working again, but he was adamant. After I returned to the apartment for a flashlight, he struggled down five flights of stairs, holding the TV, then carried it up the street and around the corner only to find the repair shop closed due to the blackout. After that there was nothing to do but carry the set back home. Five years later I divorced him. He always did love the TV more than he loved me.

Jane Brewer Jones, Port St Lucie: I was at work in an office building at 36th and Lexington Avenue I had recently become engaged, and the girls at the office had given me a shower. As a result, I had two huge shopping bags full of gifts when I left the office to proceed to Grand Central Station and get aboard the express to Yonkers. Shortly after leaving the station around 5, the train stopped. Stopping was not unusual, but this stop lasted longer than usual. We wondered if some disaster, such as a nuclear bomb, had occurred, so we had our terrorist worries even then.

My friends and I remained seated until around 7 in the evening. We then all agreed to give the passage above ground a try. I climbed out of the car onto the platform and up the rungs to the street, dragging the two shopping bags of gifts with me. I got home about 3 in the morning. 1977 New York City Tom Galassl, Palm Beach Gardens: I was on a date with my girlfriend.

Since everything was out, I told her, "I think I will go into work and see if they need any help." I worked for New York Tel, and when I got there I found that none of the emergency generators were working. The fuel for the generators was stored in the basement. The generator was on the ninth floor. I went to the fire department and borrowed 10 gallons of dicsel. With my flashlight in my mouth, I carried the fuel (about 40 pounds' worth!) up the nine flights to the generator and got it going.

I Park to Kingston, across the Pough-keepsie Bridge, no lights. I got to my girlfriend's house, and we sat around the gas stove with her brother and her father, talking. That's when I came up with my brilliant idea: steam-powered television. The blackout was on Nov. 9 and we married on the Thanksgiving break.

I didn't like being alone. The next day, when I saw my landlady, she apologized for blaming me. She said, "I feel so bad." Judy Murphy, Delray Beach: I was eight months' pregnant with my son at the time, and my husband was away on a business trip. I was scared because I was alone. I remember just sitting on the couch.

It was dark, and I didn't want to trip over anything. So I just sat there and waited. Marjorle Powell, West Palm Beach: I was working in an office building in Manhattan on the 32nd floor. We could see the lights were out everywhere. We waited around for a while for the lights to come back on, and when they didn't come back on, we all decided to go down the stairs.

The women took off their high heels to feel for the risers and landings in the dark. Once out of the building, it was easy for me to get home to New Jersey. I just followed the headlight-lit streets to Port Authority and took a bus home. One of my co-workers, who had to walk all the way from downtown Manhattan to Queens, was most upset when she finally reached her apartment. After walking for miles, she discovered her husband at home, sound asleep, totally unaware of the blackout.

Cynthia MacGregor, Lantana: The day of the '65 blackout in New York, my then-husband, a TV fanatic, was home sick from work and watching TV when the power failed. Naturally the set went dark, a problem he ascribed to the TV itself, not realizing there was a much larger problem. Aghast at the prospect of an evening without TV (a concept that delighted me he unplugged the set and picked it up to take it to the repair shop around the corner. I went with him. When we opened the apartment door, we found the hall lights out, 1965 New York City Raleigh Hill, West Palm Beach: I had just gotten on the subway when the train stopped and the lights went out There were probably more than 100 people jammed into the car.

We were getting very hot. Then the emergency lights began to dim. Someone said, "People could really get panicked, why don't we sing?" and so we started singing, like "Row row row your boat" Then different people would take turns singing. The car behind us, they kept screaming and banging. But our car kept up our spirits for the next three hours, when we heard someone outside say: "Your car will be next," and we got out of the car and walked up a ladder through a manhole to the street.

Joan LaManna, Palm City: We lived in Westchester County. The blackout of 1965 happened on my sister's birthday, and we were having a party at my house. The blackout of 1977 happened on her husband's birthday, and the party was at her house in Yonkers! We had a gas stove so we could make coffee, and we had a good time anyway. We all stuck together and hung in there. Misery likes company.

Michelle Philcox, Greenacres: My husband, Roy, a former New York City police officer, was putting a fixture up in the kitchen and, right then, all the lights went out The whole block was dark. We were the only family on the block who had a gas stove. We heated up the formula for the families with babies and other families brought food over, and we cooked. Murray Rlvette, Boynton Beach: I was just divorced a few months before and living in a basement apartment I left to go on a date, and when I was leaving the big heavy storm door banged shut and at that precise instant the lights went out. The landlady stuck her head out of the first-floor window where she'd been watching TV.

She had a German accent and she said, "Mr. Riv-ette, what did you do? You blew out all the lights!" There were no lights anywhere! I got into my car. From Hyde Get help from Dear Abby and other advice columnists everyday on page 2 of The Post's Accent section. Newspapers are a rare publlo forum for everyone. Make yourself heard.

Express your opinion on a local or national Issue In a letter to The Post. Mail to: Letters to the Editor The Palm Beach Post P.O. Box 24700 West Palm Beach, FL 33416 ra 661-820-4728 e-mail: letterspbpost.com.