July 07, 2008

Ringo Starr brings peace campaign to Chicago

Fans flock to Hard Rock Hotel to fulfill Beatle's birthday wish of 'love'

By Melissa Patterson |Chicago Tribune reporter
1:53 PM CDT, July 7, 2008
Peace and cupcakes

Former Beatles drummer passes out birthday cupcakes Monday outside the Hard Rock Hotel in downtown Chicago as he celebrated his 68th birthday by asking everyone around the world to flash a peace sign at noon local time. (Tribune photo by Charles Osgood / July 7, 2008)

Outside Chicago's Hard Rock Hotel on Monday, ex-Beatles drummer Ringo Starr glanced at his watch and threw his hands in the air.

"Twelve o'clock—peace and love!" he yelled, flashing double peace signs with his fingers.

A crowd of about 300 lining both sides of South Water Street for a solid block erupted in cheers, then serenaded him with a rendition of "Happy Birthday." The embrace of his message for the day, simply "peace and love," was his 68th birthday wish, he said.

"It's a fantasy, and it's a dream I have," Starr said, "that one minute, one day, one month, one year, everyone will go peace and love."

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Perfect Peace bakery, which was celebrating its first birthday this month, baked about 300 miniature cupcakes and a sheet cake bearing the Hard Rock logo in honor of Starr.

mlpatterson@tribune.com

Spokeswoman Kathleen Henson said the hotel had arranged a celebration honoring Starr's birthday a few weeks back, but when planners heard the drummer would be in Chicago, they asked him to attend. Starr is on tour with his All-Starr band and will play in Chicago on Sunday.

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