#fan recollections 1990s

George Harrison, Ringo Starr, and Billy Preston, Bar One, 9 October 1990; photo by ‬The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images.

“Nancy and I met George in 1990, at an L.A. dinner party. […] George was perfectly friendly throughout the dinner — in fact, he brought along a tape of the still-unreleased second Traveling Wilburys album, which he eagerly played for all of us on the Donners’ stereo like a proud teen showing off his garage band. I found that sweet. But Nan and I maintained a cordial distance from him, fearful that the word ‘Beatle’ would come out of our mouths in an involuntary, Tourette’s-like outburst.
After dinner, we all retired to the Donners’ screening room, where Dick had arranged for us to view an advance reel of The Hunt for Red October. I ended up sitting right next to George on the couch, with Nancy on my other side. Dick Donner, an outgoing, no-B.S. guy with a thick thatch of white hair, announced, ‘Does anyone mind if I smoke a doobie?’ […] I gently nudged George, who was engrossed in the movie, and offered him the spliff. He looked at it, smiled, and in his best documentary-narrator’s voice said, ‘Ah, the sixties!’ He happily accepted the funny cigarette and took several drags on it […] [and] became totally amped, very gregarious and chatty, talking right over the movie.[…]
‘Guys,’ [Lauren Shuler Donner] whispered, ‘shhhhh!’
George and I both went quiet like reprimanded kids in the fourth grade. After a moment, I turned to him and whispered, ‘Way to go, asshole!’ The two of us burst out laughing, eliciting, now from the entire group, a new round of shushing. […]
Just a few months after his death, I was in Bungalow 8, a New York club that Paul Shaffer had dragged me to, when I noticed a skinny fellow who was the spitting image of George, only young George, coming right toward me. Before I could say anything, this young man embraced me in a tender hug. And then pulled back to explain himself. ‘I’m Dhani Harrison,’ he said. ‘One of the last things my father told me was that if I ever come across people who were important to him, I should give them a hug.’” - Martin Short, I Must Say: My Life As A Humble Comedy Legend(x)

Mark McEwen with George Harrison and Ravi Shankar, May 1997; photos courtesy of iammarkmcewen.blogspot.com, and © Mark McEwen.

“We discussed Ravi’s music, his new album [Chants Of India], why George thought it was so important, and then came the moment when I brought up the subject I wasn’t supposed to bring up. ‘You were in the Beatles, the biggest band in the world,’ I said. 'You met kings and queens and talked to movie stars and captains of industry. What was it about this man that made you stop?’ George’s eyes twinkled as he answered. 'We’d met everybody and hung out with everyone and all kinds of people told us we were this and we were that. Truth was, I was tired of all of it and then this little man (and there he turned and smiled at Ravi) came into my life and made it worthwhile again.’ He talked about how Ravi knew very little of who the Beatles were. George talked about how special and unique Ravi was. He talked of how Ravi taught him to see the world in a totally different way. And more.” - Mark McEwen, iammarkmcewen.blogspot.com, 23 August 2015 (x)

George Harrison; photo by Terry O'Neill.

“A waitress came over, and George ordered tea, explaining that he was already highly intoxicated (knowing Bob [Longhi], undoubtedly extremely potent ganja), and could not handle an alcoholic drink. […] When I expressed great admiration for his own playing, [Harrison] confessed with graceful modesty that he had ‘no idea’ what he does while playing the guitar. […]
Harrison peppered our conversation with humorous observations and jokes, providing a refreshing diversion from the esoteric musical and philosophical subjects we focused on. Together with his immersion into Hindu philosophy, he was clearly a street-wise person who had been catapulted into the upper echelons of world society.
At one point, Harrison mischievously teased me about my preference for computer instruments with his famous accent, asking if one gets as horny with computer music as you do playing rock and roll. My music absolutely has a sensual dimension, but I knew he was joking, and laughed out loud.
[…] Harrison apologized several times during our extended conversation for being overly intoxicated, but he seemed fine and completely lucid to me. I was surprised by how animated and talkative he was because I had imagined he would be shy and reserved.” - Michael Robinson on chatting with George Harrison at Bob Longhi’s restaurant in Hawaii, January 1990, Azure Miles Records, 2001 (x)

“From across the restaurant [Harrison] appeared youthful, tall and thin, and his stride was unusually smooth, almost seeming to glide across the floor. Now he was sitting across the table, and I was struck by hundreds of little lines on his face, suggesting an extraordinary map of experience. […] Saturday evening in January 1990, and my girlfriend and I decided to have dinner in Lahaina [Maui]. […] During all this, we were joined by two friends, one of who had spent time with George and his wife [Olivia] in Hana. Knowing my reverence for the Beatles, she asked if I would like to meet Harrison. I wanted to, of course, but there were no empty seats at George’s table, and I didn’t want to walk up like some annoying autograph seeker, not to mention that I was somewhat intimidated. So we sat there stealing glances, and after a few drinks, my inhibitions were subdued. When I noticed one of the men leaving George’s table, the friend who knew him said, “Let’s go!” and I found myself following her in a dream-like state. […] Harrison peppered our conversation with humorous observations and jokes, providing a refreshing diversion from the esoteric musical and philosophical subjects we focused on. Together with his immersion into Hindu philosophy, he was clearly a street-wise person who had been catapulted into the upper echelons of world society. At one point, Harrison mischievously teased me about my preference for computer instruments with his famous accent: ‘But can you get horny playing a computer?’ indicating that this was one of the joys of playing rock guitar.“ […] One regret I have from that evening is how I failed to respond when George asked me if I wanted to go walking down Front Street with him to ‘Look at the T-shirt shops!’ stated with the enthusiam of a young boy. Somehow I couldn’t believe I was really hearing this invitation, and I also wrongfully thought that Bob would not approve of me wandering off with his friend who didn’t visit Lahaina very often. So the opportunity passed, and we continued our conversation.” - Michael Robinson, An Evening With George Harrison, 2002, azuremilesrecords dot com (x)