Starr vehicle
TV should never look hard. It should be easy, especially interview shows, which are supposed to mimic an actual conversation.
And no one has ever made it look easier than Ringo Starr.
Yet permit me to qualify that. While Ringo was never as manic as, say, the Who's Keith Moon as a drummer, neither did he have the disinvoltura of the Rolling Stones' Charlie Watts (or the snap, for that matter). Wagging his long hair side to side playing behind the Beatles, he seemed to be working at it with his persistent overplaying of the cymbals, but he also seemed to be enjoying it, no matter how mad the Beatlemania.
Whether playing the character of himself in their feature films or simply conversing in an interview, Ringo has always seemed the most natural and unassuming of the Beatles, the one it would be easiest to sit down and have a beer with in a pub. And so it is that he settles into a natural atmosphere and an easy conversation with host Dave Stewart in the latest installment of the occasional HBO series "Off the Record" debuting at 10 p.m. today on the premium-cable channel.
No, this shouldn't cause anyone but perhaps WXRT 93.1-FM disc jockey and Beatle expert extraordinaire Terry Hemmert to pick up the phone and order HBO, but for subscribers it's just the sort of thing they're paying for. It's easy, effortless, enchanting TV, as if you were sitting down yourself with Ringo.
Stewart, best known as the non-Annie Lennox half of Eurythmics, strays into James Lipton sycophant territory to start by proclaiming Ringo "one of the most amazing drummers ever recorded." Uh, no. Ringo was critical to the Beatles' sound, but he wasn't in the same league as a Watts or Moon, much less a Max Roach.
Yet, as ever, Ringo is ironically self-deprecating even at his most boastful, admitting that the Beatles hired him because "I was probably the best drummer in Liverpool" (no doubt he was), and Stewart asks interesting questions, sometimes as a fellow musician, sometimes simply as a fan.
"John actually called you the heart of the Beatles," Stewart says at one point, and Ringo responds matter-of-factly, "I am," then smiles at the laughter of the small studio audience. Moments like that make "Off the Record" an offhand joy.
Unlike his former band mates, Ringo never rails at his life as "an ex-Beatle." Quite the contrary. "I love those days," he says in reminiscing. "They were just so mad." He's quite open about the "medication" they took that was so much a part of the '60s, and he offers glimpses into their working methods. John Lennon, he says, wanted each band member to contribute something of himself to his songs, while Paul McCartney usually had a set idea of how he wanted each to play.
Give Stewart credit for creating a convivial atmosphere that draws Ringo out. He concentrates on the Beatles because that's where most of the public interest is, but he doesn't ignore Ringo's solo career. (Ringo tells a delightful story of coming up with "Back off Boogaloo" in his sleep, inspired by Marc Bolan and T. Rex, but waking up to try to record it in a groggy state and having to fight off "Mack the Knife," which keeps intruding in his head.)
Stewart even straps on a Rickenbacker guitar and gets Ringo behind a drum kit to play the distinctive opening to "Ticket to Ride," something your normal late-night talk-show host wouldn't be able to do.
Ringo explains that so much of his unique drum sound simply stemmed from being left-handed and playing a right-handed drum kit. "It's like one of those mad accidents," he says, making it all seem as easy and natural as flopping onto a couch.
That's the key to his appeal, and the key to this installment of "Off the Record." It's an hour well and comfortably spent in front of the television -- something that is becoming increasingly rare in this age of bloody police procedurals and cutthroat reality shows. Sometimes, it turns out, it does come easy.
In the air
Enter the Circle
The Chicago/Midwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences holds its annual Silver Circle induction ceremony at the Millennium Knickerbocker Hotel, 163 E. Walton Place, Chicago, at 5:30 p.m. today. Bob "Bozo" Bell will be inducted posthumously, along with WMAQ Channel 5's Renee Ferguson, WTTW Channel 11's Rich Samuels, Channel 11 "Chicago Week in Review" host Joel Weisman, Neal Sabin, head of WCIU Channel 26, WWME Channel 23 and WMEU Channel 48, director Cheryl Stutzke and Gary Meagher and Jack Walsh of Trio Video.
The need for Speed
Hot on the trail of the new feature film, Speed Racer returns to cartoon form in the new series "Speed Racer: The Next Generation," debuting at 6 p.m. today on Nickelodeon.
Ball and dance
Randy Jackson's MTV series "America's Best Dance Crew" comes looking for hip-hop dance contestants with an open audition from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday at Visceral Dance Chicago, 2820 N. Elston Ave. Line forms at 8 a.m., and callbacks will be held Sunday. … WGN Channel 9 celebrates its 60th anniversary with its annual Anniversary Ball charity fundraiser, Saturday at Navy Pier.
Waste Watcher's choice
So 'Ugly' it's beautiful
Piper Perabo is an aspiring singer who goes to New York City looking for a career and ends up working at a sexy bar in "Coyote Ugly." Maria Bello is the bar owner, and Tyra Banks is among the wait staff. 'Nuff said. It's at 8:30 p.m. Saturday on WPWR Channel 50.