Here Are Some Beautiful and Adorable Postcards Sent to Ringo Starr from John & Paul & George

Last weekend there was a sale at this bookstore in my neighborhood that I generally try to avoid on account of its bad vibes and also because it was featured in the movie Celeste and Jesse Forever, which is some of the lamest and most anti-feminist bullshit I've experienced so far in 2013. However! On Saturday I passed by on my way home from buying an apple and a Snoopy t-shirt at the Silver Lake farmers market, and in the window there was a book called Postcards from the Boys by Ringo Starr. It was part of the sale and I got it for nine bucks and it's definitely the best and most delightful nine bucks I've ever spent in my life. It's a collection of postcards that John and Paul and George sent Ringo "through the years," and each postcard is accompanied by some bonkers story from Richie -- here's a pretty solid example of his storytelling approach:

"The sad thing about going to Wales was that was when Brian died. Later we went to Rishikesh and it was amazing. It was always difficult for me because I had this food situation so I always took a suitcase full of clothes and a suitcase full of beans so I could eat! Now I take all those great protein bars. There was so much good music in Rishikesh."

I also really like this sentence: "The first German I learnt was the word for 'cornflakes' and Stu Sutcliffe took me to this Chinese restaurant that did pfannkuchen - pancakes - and they were like eight inches thick with lemon and sugar."

Eight-inch-thick lemony/sugary Chinese pancakes in Germany! Holy cow. Anyway this page with a postcard from Paul (aka 'you-know-who') sheds some light on Ringo's love of postcards and makes me cry a little because, hi, how sweet is it that "Ringo loves postcards" was something the other Beatles cared about and totally indulged? It's so sweet. A little while ago my housemate John said something about how "It seems like the Beatles took care of each other in a way that the Rolling Stones didn't" and that's such a nice point.

This is the front of Paul's "Woof! Woof" card, btdubs:

Paul's kind of a goofball! Here's another 'you-know-who' card:

Paul's also a big fan of the "apology postcard":

And this one just kills me: 



Paul even sends postcards in rebus form! I mean, of course he does. If there wasn't a rebus postcard I'd be like "WHAT THE FUCK PAUL MCCARTNEY. Slacker," and he'd totally agree with me.





The John and George postcards delight me less but here's a cute story about Ringo and John being stoned and trying to put on a fireworks show for their kids:

And this John one's fun: 

Ringo explains: "This is John telling me what sort of things to record - he used to say, 'Do this sort of track.' 'Do it in a disco style!' He'd obviously just heard Blondie's 'Heart of Glass' which we all loved - that was a really cool record. Debbie Harry's a very nice woman. In '79 my career was heading for hell anyway." Awww. I'd really like to hear John Lennon say the words "Do it in a disco style!", exuberantly.

Lastly, some George postcards from the Great Barrier Reef:

I like how both George and Ringo are so amused by the turtle "humping"/"groupage." They're 12-year-old boys except really they're like 40-something at this point.

So overall I give Ringo Starr's Postcards from the Boys a hundred zillion out of five stars, and totes encourage you to score your own copy the next time the bad-vibey bookstore in your own neighborhood's having a 30-percent-off sale. I read the whole thing on Saturday while eating an apple danish and a Vietnamese iced coffee from the Vietnamese bakery on Echo Park Ave and then started thinking about "Paul and Ringo's last conversation ever." At first I was like "I hope they don't know it's going to be their last conversation ever -- that's just way too intense," but then I changed my mind. It should be intense, the last time two Beatles talk to each other in this lifetime. And anyway Paul and Ringo can totally handle it. They are valorous and strong-hearted. They're the Beatles!