Ringo Turning 70, "Being Kind" To The Met

As we noted last week: Ringo Starr is turning 70 years old tomorrow, and his golden drum will be on display at the Met in tribute. The former Beatles drummer will be celebrating the milestone birthday right here in NYC, but you aren't invited. He'll be at a private event in the morning at the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square, and later that night he'll perform at Radio City Music Hall (a public event, but alas, sold out).

You can still help him celebrate, however, in what seems like taking a page from the Yoko Ono playbook, he's asking that fans say the words: "Peace and Love" at noon tomorrow. And then, you know, go visit his drum. About that drum—CityRoom asked him about the Met transaction, and, well, seems like Ringo may be taking interview tips from Spike Lee! Here's an excerpt:

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is taking one of your drums. They’re taking a whole snare drum. I’m lending it to them because, it’s well-documented, in 1964 that old Bill Ludwig, he presented it to me... and that’s the one that’s going into the Metropolitan for a year.

How does that make you feel, to have one of your possessions on display at the Met? Well, yeah, cool.

That’s it? I mean it. I’ve had a couple of pieces of clothing in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame isn’t too shabby, but come on, this is the Met. It’s cool. That’s all I can say.

Are they letting you borrow anything from their collection in exchange? Yeah, they’re giving me Tutankhamen’s tomb. No, they’re not giving me anything. I’m being kind to them.

Well, at least Old Man Famouspants threw a joke in there.