 Hey everyone. Thanks for checking out this video. Just a quick background. I had the opportunity to go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and visit the awesome The Beatles Get Back to Let It Be exhibit that they just launched, which was great, which I heard about from my friend Gary Astridge, who is joining us today. So Gary, welcome on to this cool little video we got here today. Thank you, Bart. Nice to see you again. Why don't you explain to folks your involvement with The Beatles and with Ringo, I should say, and then we'll talk a little bit about getting these iconic drums to the Rock Hall. All right. I guess in short, it's always hard for me to describe. It's always different projects and things, but I would say I'm curator for his Beatles era drum kits and historian. There's been times where Ringo would ask me to dig up a little history and things for him. And I work on just a number of projects, both confidential and public. And your website is ringosbeetlekits.com. And it's just, I mean, if you're ever curious about anything, it is on there and it's very, very detailed. There's another video interview and there's another episode. There's two episodes with Gary on the podcast, which I'll put in the description of this video. But all right, for starters, Gary, let's maybe talk about what the process was like from point A to point B, point B being the Rock Hall of getting this drum set there. Okay. Once the deal was made and approval, there's so many little details that come into place. One mainly is insurance, who's going to cover from the time it leaves the vault in LA till the time it comes back a year later. So that had to be set up. And then it's very, very detailed where we set up a program that's almost like you'd see in the military. Even though the drum's in there, the drum kits are all in a vault, highly secured. They'll still go through everything and then just make sure that everything is there. We retake photos of the kit and close the road cases up. They get locked and I get the key. So then they get shipped overnighted to the Rock Hall. The people there are absolutely great. I'm going to say this time and time again. But so when the drum kits arrived, they were crated. So we had to uncrate them, roll the road cases into this room where they log everything in and then they do a condition report of every single item. So it's just a repetition of things. And it's funny because I guess there was this magical moment in time where all of Ringo's Beatle kits are now historic artifacts. Yeah. So there's a lot of reverence there. And you can see that. I'm kind of used to it. But when you see the people at the Rock Hall, it's like you're expecting them just to drop to their knees and start bowing. But when we went into this, when I first got there, they gave me gloves and walked into this room. I had no idea what it was. We're just a large room with a table and there's laid out all of the clothing that you see on display. And George's Rocky guitar, Lenin's Epiphone Casino. And I turned into a little kid because it's like right there. Yeah. I mean, you are a Beatles fanatic like all of us. I mean, you're a king of it. It's like you're not impervious to the excitement of that. Oh, yeah. It still makes your heart beat. And it's interesting because the other thing that I noticed this a long time ago, I mean, I've seen people at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the past when I set up Ringo's Oyster Black Pearl super classic kit. I did that after hours on one specific evening the following day, the exhibit opened. So I went back. I just wanted to see people's response. And it was interesting because here comes a group of young guys, like four guys and they were in a band and the drummer does bow down and whatever. But then you saw people coming over and they're just like touching the plexiglass standing there looking at the kit, you know, some just staring at it in amazement, some crying. And I'm off in the corner, nobody knows me and I'm watching this and I start crying thinking, I cannot believe the effect that this has on people. You know, when people see these, and I'll call them artifacts, right? You see the emotion and it's like, oh my god, I have a chance to actually see this stuff. And that is like one level, but it's a whole other level when you don't have the plexiglass and they're right there and you're the guy handling them. You know, that is, that's where the reverence comes in. That's where the soberness comes in of being responsible, you know, or having Ringo allow you to be responsible. It makes me think of that, that, you know, everyone's done that where you're turned around and you turn your back and you bump into the ride stand and it falls into the base drum or something. But you're obviously not doing that, you're very careful, but oh, you could see a nightmare situation where something like that happens with one of these unbelievable artifacts, which thankfully you're in charge and that will never happen. Yeah, you know, it's interesting is that even when I set the kit up this time, you're so focused on trying to set it up exact to the way Ringo had it, you know, and yet you don't realize because you're so focused, there's an audience there, you know, because there was contractors there building the, you know, the variety of employees and workers that were there, you know, so, you know, maybe eight to ten people and watching every move, you know, so, and it was funny because as you're adjusting the symbols and stuff, it's almost like an artist, you know, having the paintbrush, putting the final touches on, you know, so. The little wing nut, like one more time. I did hear from the press, a couple press people, which again, I had a press pass, which always feels weird to me because I'm just a guy, you know, and but the podcast, people like it, but fortunately I could get a press pass, but these were like news people from like cleveland.com and stuff. And you know, I talked to them and they said, they said, oh, man, Gary was awesome at the like of, I guess you, they saw you where you met some of them or you talked to some people. One guy in particular was like, oh, he was so cool. He was so nice to everyone. So you've got a good reputation in Cleveland. Yeah, that's nice to know. In fact, one of the guys, and I'm sorry that I can't remember his name, he had said that he goes, you know, when you were here some years back and you set up the super classic kid of Ringo's. You know, he said that there was two guys that helped me, you know, that once I had it on, they built the plexiglass security around it. And one of the guys name was Frank. And he said, you don't know what that meant to him. And he goes for him to be with you doing that, you know, and it's funny because, you know, like you, I just feel, hey, I'm just a guy. I just lucked out to have a really cool job. But yeah. Well, yeah, he'll remember that the rest of his life. I mean, absolutely. I mean, these experiences of, I remember touching Gene Krupa's bass drum that Don McCauley had at the Chicago show in 2019 that Charlie Watts had purchased and just, I'll never forget that, that experience of just being close to that drum. But you've got it set up then. And then, I mean, when they encased it in, I'm sure it's like, all right, everything better be right here. Because we're putting the glass up and you're not really tweaking anymore. Yeah, actually, it was interesting when I got there, they had the platform and then they have plexiglass on the front already on one of the sides and on the top. So there was just the one fiberglass panel on the right if you're inside, if you're on the drum looking out at the area. But when I set the kid up, I'm going like, hey, guys, there's no room for the drums tool. It wasn't built deep enough. So it's like, and thank God, there was enough space to put on the bass pedal. But yeah, but it was tight. So anyone will notice that. Yeah, which age old drummer problem, not having room to fit into your area. But as people will hopefully go back and check out your episode about get back in particular, the throne and all that stuff is very detailed. I mean, there's a lot of information in detail that you can go into about that. But I think maybe now, can you give a kind of a brief rundown of the drum set? And again, for people listening, there is a lot more information in the two previous episodes where Gary goes full Beatles, you know, for the Beatles nuts out there who will like that, but maybe describe the drum set that we're talking about. Yeah, so it's a 1967 Ludwig Hollywood model, through a gloss kit, you know, but you know, some people call it maple. So you have Ringo's snare, right? The jazz festival. And as far as the kit, you know, you have a 8x12 Tom 13x9 16x16 and a 22x14 bass drum. One thing I wanted to mention, talking about the bass drum or the kit actually, you know, Ringo at one point had all of the drum city logo stickers that you see a lot of people could question, you know, what is that? What's on it? And for people watching this, here's something for you. If you're looking at the bass drum, squat down, look up, and you'll see one of the stickers is in the bass drum that was put there on the inside. So you get a good idea to see what the original looks like. Yeah, because they're not, and I'm looking at a picture over here, they're not on the drum set anymore, but you can very clearly tell where they were just by the nature of a sticker. What's the little blue? I believe it was a number, like a printable, like a label. What is that? Twice. There was blue labels and then there was black as well. They might be removed, but at some point, somebody was cataloging all of the drum pieces, but we couldn't find any book, any record, nothing. Seems bold to print a label and stick it onto the artifact itself. I think this was done way, you know, like, yeah. So the point is, who knew then, right? I mean, how this was going to get. But to go on with the kit, so we have the symbols, you know, there's a 20-inch sizzle, an 18-inch, a 20-inch, and then 14-inch hi-hats. So that about covers it. And there was calfskin heads on the kit. We actually have the original from the bass drum. It's not on it. But we thought we'd put those on because that's how the kit came with calfskin. Yeah. But they're newer. They're not the original, they're newer. Do you know who made the calfskin heads just out of curiosity? Well, they would have been Ludwig. I mean, on the newer ones that you guys got. The newer ones? I think it was Sterling. Okay. Yeah. It was a company that we obtained those from. Cool. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Those will last forever. That's what you always hear is those things will. But I'm sure there is that little case that the two guitars and the drum set is in. I'm sure that's like humidity controlled and everything in there is very... I know that the Plexiglas is like UV protected. Yeah. And I think that the museum is set at a temperature and humidity throughout the facility. Yeah. Yeah. And one thing I wanted to mention that people might not know, this is going back to their clothing. A, Ringo's red raincoat, the one that he was wearing and that's on display. That was actually Ringo's wife, Maureen. That was her coat that he was wearing. Wow. And there's also a black and gray shirt of Paul McCartney's that's on display. And what's interesting about that one is if you go back in history and start going through photos, Paul was wearing that way back at the beginning of the Beatles and it keeps showing up. I just think that was kind of amazing. Yeah. So we're not alone though. We're like, I put on a shirt that I have had since high school and my wife is like, get rid of the shirt. Paul's doing it. He's got his shirt. It's a little different though. And then we also have John Lennon's jean jacket there and then George Harrison's iconic pink pinstripe suit, which boy, out of these four items, George and Ringo, that coat are very, those are very iconic. And it looks like we have Ringo's pants as well. Yeah, there's a pair of pants there too. I don't know if he wore that on the roof. I'm assuming he did. I didn't get involved in that other than being told that that was coming and it would be in the road case. Yeah. Super cool. And I was mentioning to Gary before we started that when you go in these things and you're filming and you have a press pass, you're in a different mindset. It's like if you work an event, it's not as fun as just attending the event. Not to say this wasn't extremely fun to do, but I actually would love to go back at some point because it's here for a year, I believe, and just really soak it in or even look at my own photos and videos a lot. But I highly recommend that people make the trek to see it. And like I said, it's a relatively, it's not going to take you all day to get through it, but there's so much other stuff at the rock hall you could spend the entire day there. And because there are outside of the exhibit, there's also another wall of Beatles stuff. Exactly. So for people that want to go there, for the Beatles experience, when you add those two, there is quite a bit. Yeah. Were you involved with any of that stuff? Because I saw there was a drum stick and some other gear. Did you do anything with that other wall over the years? Yeah, that was the wall. But at one point, I think it was from 2015 into 2016. Ringo had his 1964 Oyster Black Pearl. So I set it up and took that down. And that was, yeah, because I set it up in March or April of 15. And that was right around the time when they were prepping things for Ringo's induction into the Rocker Roll Hall of Fame as an individual. Sure. Oh, man, so cool. So then to wrap things up here, I mean, you will then go back in a year and you will disassemble and take it all back, right? Yeah. And then hopefully, I have to mention that the people in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, you know how you're going to have people that work at Disney World, Disneyland. And it's like, oh my God, I love my job. I feel like a kid every day. And at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, that's how every single employee is. Not only are they quality people, great personalities. I don't know what their hiring process is, but everybody there loves what they do. And there's such a deep passion. And every time you go to, I know for me, when I would go to do something, it wasn't people, hey, I want to help you so I can hold Ringo's symbols thing. And they genuinely wanted to just make sure that they were there to do whatever they could to help you. They're just great people. I can't say enough. And the other thing is that hopefully during this year, I might be invited there to do a talk. So yeah, because they're looking at doing a lot of beadley events during the course of the year while they have this exhibit. That's great. Yeah. I mean, I got to go in an hour early, which was super cool. But then at 10 a.m. when it opened, I mean, people were like, it was on. I mean, it was a steady flow of people. And actually, while we're talking about the staff, I want to thank Shauna Wilson, who helped set up the media stuff with me, which was just awesome. I got to park right in front on the sidewalk in front of the rock hall, which was a weird little purge that was kind of fun for a picture. And and Mandy Smith, who's been on the show, who does the education great person director. And so on that note, after we wrap up with Gary and this video is kind of ending at the end of this, stick around because I'm going to put in a video of the garage, which is the cool area where you can go up. I forget what floor it was on. But you could go up and play instruments and Mandy's really did you check that out? Absolutely phenomenal. Yeah, I loved it. Yeah, I know she's done a ton of work, all of them. And I met the folks there and they were it's very cool. It teaches you there's a video screen and all that stuff. But anyway, anything you want to mention as we kind of wrap up your Gary? No, we're good. Yeah, all right. I mean, this is actually mentioned this, but but I'm heading out to the to Liverpool on Thursday. Yeah, yeah, that's awesome to the UK drum show. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Looking forward to that. Cool. Well, hopefully this will be out in time for that. And anyone who's over there and around can can check it out. And you'll be seeing our friend Andy Dwyer and all that good stuff. Gary, thank you so much for taking the time to come back on and being such a good friend of the podcast and the show. So I hope you have a great trip and someday we'll meet in person. Yeah, someday. Thanks, Gary. Thanks, Bart. Okay.