Other iconic drums now on view in the Met’s galleries: Kettle Drums, Franz Peter Bunsen, 1779, Hanover, Germany
I have a confession to make that will make me seem even more dorky than you already think I am: Ringo was my favorite Beatle. That’s probably because he was no one else’s favorite Beatle. (I’m a contrarian to the core.)
Still, I had to rub my eyes in disbelief when the latest press dispatch from the Metropolitan Museum hit my inbox yesterday. I was sure it had to be a spoof, or else it had unaccountably been sent with the wrong museum’s name affixed to it. It had actually originated from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Experience Music Project or (less likely) the Brooklyn Museum. Right?
No, art-lings. Brooklyn’s taste runs more to hip-hop than British Invasion. The Met, however, is totally fab:
On July 7, Ringo Starr‘s 70th
birthday, the Metropolitan Museum of Art will inaugurate a special
display of his gold-plated snare drum that will remain on view to the
public through December 2010 in the Museum’s second-floor Musical
Instruments Galleries. On loan from Ringo Starr, it was originally
presented to him by the Ludwig Drum Company during The Beatles’ 1964
visit to Chicago when the legendary rock group, in which Mr. Starr was
the drummer, was on its first tour of the United States.“This special presentation drum–made for the most influential [?!?] drummer
of a generation and representing the highest-end production of the most
important drum manufacturer of the 20th century–holds iconic stature,”
stated Jayson Kerr Dobney, associate curator in the Metropolitan
Museum’s Department of Musical Instruments. “We are so pleased to be
able to display in our galleries this spectacular loan from Ringo
himself, who has owned it since it was first presented to him in
September 1964, for thousands of visitors to see during this landmark
birthday year.”
Gee, Jayson, Stevie Wonder is also having a “landmark birthday year”: He turned 60 last month. Can we please see his harmonica? Janis Joplin‘s Mercedes Benz? Elvis‘ blue suede shoes?
Yes, I’m losing it. So is the Met. But what I’d really like to know is whether Ringo ever played his iconic “special presentation drum”—something the museum doesn’t tell us in its press release. Nor did the Met provide an image of it with the press release (nor could I find one on the website).
For now, fellow Beatles fans, if you want to see it, you’ll just have to click on this account of “The Night that Changed the Music World,” which, at the top of that page, has a black-and-white image of the Met-worthy rare instrument with the Lads from Liverpool. (There’s also a cop in the picture. I’m not sure whether he’s there to guard the Beatles or their gold drum.)
The caption for the photo is at the bottom of the page:
Bill Ludwig and his daughter, Brooke, present a gold-plated snare drum to Ringo and the Beatles before the band made its first Chicago appearance in September 1964.
Alas, no gold-plated Bic pen (my instrument of choice) has ever been presented to me. But I do want to warmly thank Repeat CultureGrrl Donors 135 from Boston and 136 from Cincinnati.
Do you think my former idol might read this and send me one of his iconic rings?