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ROBERT HICKSFormer Beatle Ringo Starr brings an All Starr lineup - Sheila E., John Waite and others - and fun to the Mahaffey Theater.
NEW YORK - A cheerful and peace-loving Ringo Starr sauntered onto the Radio City Music Hall stage late last month.
"Peace and love everybody," he said. "We're here to bring peace and love."
Starr sported black-and-white sneakers, white slacks and a black T-shirt emblazoned with a guitar and the words "Summer Music Love Enjoy" in bold white letters. That pretty much sums up Starr's recent music career, highlighted by summer tours with a varying collection of musicians he calls his All Starr Band.
This year's All Starr lineup, coming to St. Petersburg's Mahaffey Theater on Saturday, includes John Waite (vocalist/bassist from the Babys and Bad English), Paul Carrack (vocalist/keyboardist from Ace, Squeeze and Mike and the Mechanics), Colin Hay (vocalist/guitarist from Men At Work), Sheila E. (vocalist/drummer/percussionist with Prince) and saxophonist Mark Rivera.
"Everybody sings," Starr said. "The audience comes to see Ringo and they expect to hear my solo work. Then they see Sheila E. and the others, and they wonder what's going on. Two numbers into the show, they realize we're having fun. That's our goal: to have fun with the music."
Each performer sings the lead on past hits.
Among the selections are Waite's Missing You; Bad English's When I See Your Smile; Squeeze's Tempted; Ace's How Long; Mike and the Mechanics' The Living Years; Men at Work's Who Can It Be Now? and Overkill; and Sheila E.'s The Glamorous Life and A Love Bizarre.
It's very likely, too, that the band will perform Beatles and Starr staples from past All Starr tours such as Yellow Submarine, With a Little Help From My Friends, You're Sixteen and It Don't Come Easy.
The 35-city tour started on July 24 at Casino Rama near Toronto, where Starr and the band recorded a live performance as well as some backstage antics and interview footage for a forthcoming CD and DVD called Live at Casino Rama.
The band will also be playing some new songs from Starr's latest CD, Ringo Rama, released on Koch Records in March. The new songs include Never Without You, a tribute to fellow Beatle the late George Harrison.
"It was my way to say how much George meant to me and how much he will be remembered," Starr said. Eric Clapton, who is not on this current tour, played guitar on Never Without You on the CD.
Other members of the All Starr Band have their own solo projects. Carrack just released a new album, It Ain't Over. Hay also has a new CD, titled Man at Work. And Waite plans to re-release his 2001 album, Figure in a Landscape.
Starr, 63, is still excited to be performing with musicians whose first successes came in the '70s and '80s. He's not quite sure, though, if that makes him an elder rock statesman on this current tour.
"I feel blessed that I get the opportunity to play with these youngsters. I feel blessed to play with all musicians, really. I'm blessed that I'm still playing.
"Youth is a relative thing. I guess I'd have to play with someone like B.B. King for me to be considered a young musician," Starr said. "That's a little musicians humor."
The former Beatles drummer said he feels that, as time goes by in his solo career, his personality is emerging more in his music.
"It's easy to show my personality during the summer while we're touring. We work very hard in rehearsals and we have a lot of fun when we start to tour. I think good music and fun come across to people," he said.
So what gives him the most satisfaction in his music career now?
"It's still playing as a band, playing drums, playing in front of an audience. That's the best thing. That's the drug of it," he said. "That's what keeps me going."
Preview
Ringo Starr and the All Starr Band, 8 p.m. Saturday, Mahaffey Theater, 400 First St. S, St. Petersburg. $50-$70. (727) 892-5767.