Astridge, Gary

Gary Astridge, a sincere and dedicated Ringo fan from childhood and the world’s leading authority on Ringo’s Beatles-era gear will be joining us again at IBW2024.
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Gary originally launched ringosbeatlekits.com back in 2006 as a gift to drum enthusiasts and collectors everywhere. His goal was to help others make more informed decisions when collecting and researching Ringo Starr and his Beatles-associated instruments. For years he’s conducted photo forensics, researched books and articles, visited websites, viewed videos, conducted interviews, and compiled his findings on a site that has become the primary resource for Ringo enthusiasts, collectors, and fans. All of this work was done for no reward other than the satisfaction of helping others. Yes, he’s that nice a guy.
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In 2012 things changed for Gary when The Grammy Museum in LA announced a major exhibit honouring the unparalleled career of Sir Richard Starkey, aka Ringo Starr.  They would host displays featuring memorabilia from Ringo’s long and storied career.  There would be stage clothing, documents, awards, photographs, art, music, AND DRUMS, amazing, beautiful, iconic, goose-bump-inducing Ringo drums!

Of course, over the years, Mr. Starkey had surrounded himself with a dedicated and professional support team who immediately began cataloging the massive inventory of artefacts from his career so that they could be organised for the Grammy Museum exhibit. That’s when Gary Astridge got the unexpected and almost unbelievable call from Team Ringo inviting him to come to LA in support of this massive project.  He later related that he thought he was being pranked, but it was very real and was the beginning of a fascinating relationship with the Ringo Starr organisation that continues to this day.