a gold watch for Ringo?

Today is Ringo Starr's birthday. He is 65 years old.

Last week I spent a bit of time trying to describe to some people much younger than me what it was like when the Beatles emerged onto the music scene and changed it forever. They looked at me as if I had alphabet soup shooting out the top of my head.

I remember the first night the Beatles were on the Ed Sullivan show . We begged our mom to schedule dinner and all evening events around that most important one. My sisters and I sat trembling in front of our black and white TV screen, all our insides turned to mush by the time the show started. I was in love. I was beginning to understand the power of music. I was 8 years old.

A couple of years later, when my parents told us they were expecting their fourth child, the first thing my sisters and I said was "Good! Now we have someone to play Ringo!" Every day that summer we put our Beatles albums on the hi-fi and grabbed our cardboard guitars and rake handles for microphones, and sang along to all the songs. Being the oldest, I got to be Paul . My youngest sister came into this world with her first assignment: portraying the flamboyant drummer Ringo Starr, who is now of retirement age.

Today we have only 50% of the Beatles living. We lost John and George years ago.

If you did not live through the Beatles age you will have a hard time understanding Beatlemania. But go here and spend a few minutes. Check out the first U.S. tour. Look at the expressions on the faces of the fans.

And hey Ringo.... Happy Birthday.