Just like the October 31st tax date, there was another important deadline to be met this year: October 20th, the day on which anything fan-related arriving through Ringo Starr's letterbox would be "tossed". We're just crossing our fingers that our mail arrived by the 19th - nothing would make us happier than Ringo signing that special copy of 'Octopus's Garden' (limited edition with 20 percent extra crap lyrics and free set of psychedelic earplugs).

Looks like our hopes have been dashed, however, as Ringo seems to be in a perpetually bad mood these days. His video message - during which he basically told people to shove their fan letters up their Cavern Club - was bad enough, but now he's gone one step further and has actively started firing out insults.

 

Following his collection of a gong at the World Music Awards, Starr has come under fire for allegedly telling a female fan to "get off me" and "fuck off" when she tried to give him a hug. According to reports:

 

"A middle-aged woman ran over and threw her arms around him, almost knocking him over. Ringo was a bit shocked, he just wanted to get away. After he shouted at her, she looked absolutely stunned, but he just walked away."

 

A little rude for a man who goes around shouting "peace and love" like a scratched Donovan record, sure, but it isn't exactly hard to see where Ringo's coming from in this instance. A surprise hug can be just as devastating as a slap in the face, or - even worse - being forced to listen to Liverpool Eight.

 

A similar thing actually happened to us the other day - some random person ran over and flung their arms around us. We managed to escape, but it really freaked us out. Particularly the way he was wearing a policeman's uniform and shouting "why are you stood outside Bono's dressing room with a handgun?".

 

Tsk. Some people.

by CJ