Ringo marks 72 with peace and love
The 1960s mop top is gone, but Ringo Starr is still showing the peace sign.
The former Beatle marked his 72nd birthday in Nashville, Tenn., on Saturday by holding a “peace and love” moment at noon. He asked people worldwide to do the same at 12 o’clock in their own time zones.
Hundreds of fans joined Starr at Hard Rock Cafe, shouting “peace and love” at the magic hour and holding two fingers in the air. The crowd sang “Happy birthday” and the chorus of “Give Peace A Chance.”
Organizers presented him with a star magnolia tree that will be planted nearby. He also cut a cake shaped like a flower pot with a giant sunflower growing out of it.
Starr’s family and friends showed up, including country singer Vince Gill and Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh. Walsh played in the first All Starr Band in 1989, which features a rotation of celebrity musicians. Now they’re related. Walsh married Marjorie Bach, who is the sister of Starr’s wife, Barbara Bach.
Stone says U.S. grows best pot
Oliver Stone has smoked great marijuana all over the world, from Vietnam and Thailand to Jamaica and South Sudan. But the filmmaker says the best weed is made in the USA and that pot could be a huge growth industry for taxpayers if it were legalized.
Stone, whose drug-war thriller “Savages” opens Friday, has been a regular toker since his days as an infantryman in Vietnam in the late 1960s and knows a good herb when he inhales one. He insisted in a recent interview that no one is producing better stuff now than U.S. growers.
“There’s good weed everywhere in the world, but my God, these Americans are brilliant,” said Stone, 65, who sees only benefits from legalizing marijuana. “It can be done. It can be done legally, safely, healthy, and it can be taxed.”
The birthday bunch
Singer Jerry Vale is 80. Singer Steve Lawrence is 77. Actor Jeffrey Tambor (“Arrested Development,” “The Larry Sanders Show”) is 68. Actress Kim Darby is 65. Children’s singer Raffi is 64. Actress Anjelica Huston is 61. Actor Kevin Bacon is 54. Country singer Toby Keith is 51. Guitarist Graham Jones (Haircut 100) is 51. Keyboardist Andy Fletcher (Depeche Mode) is 51. Singer Joan Osborne is 50. Actor Billy Crudup (“Almost Famous”) is 44. Actor Michael Weatherly (“NCIS,” “Dark Angel”) is 44. Singer Beck is 42. Country singer Drew Womack (Sons of the Desert) is 42. Guitarist Stephen Mason (Jars of Clay) is 37. Actor Milo Ventimiglia (“Heroes,” “Gilmore Girls”) is 35. Actress Sophia Bush (“One Tree Hill”) is 30. Actor Jaden Smith (“The Pursuit of Happyness”) is 14.