Музыкант-имитатор Битлз случайно встретил Пола Маккартни и пошутил, что тот похож на Джона Леннона

Gavin Pring was still in his teens when an aunt told him he looked a bit like the Beatle George Harrison. Pring — who performs as the guitarist with Beatles tribute band The Fab Four on Sept. 13 at the Charleston Coliseum Theater — thought that was the worst. “I took offense at the time, you know?” he said. “I had, like, spiky 80s haircuts.” But he couldn’t shake the comparison, especially as a lad growing up in Liverpool, England. A couple of years later, Pring was at a club, watching a tribute band called The Bootleg Beatles. During the break, a man at the bar asked him when he was going back on. “When do I go back on? I’m not on the gig," he told them. Leaning in Finally, a girlfriend got him to go to an audition to be part of a documentary about early Beatles drummer Pete Best called “Best of The Beatles.” The Beatles were one of the most documented bands of the 1960s. Camera crews followed them around for years, but there were gaps in the early part of the group’s career. The producers wanted stand-in look-a-likes to help recreate moments. Pring went to a “cattle call" for John, Paul, George and Ringo look-a-likes at the Casbah Coffee Club, the place where the Beatles played their first public show. “Basically, it was Pete Best’s mom’s house,” Pring said. “It was a place where all the kids in the area could see live bands.” In line, Roag Best spotted him and got him in front of Pete Best. Best was impressed. Pring got the job. Making it official The tribute artist said he nearly got another stand-in job for an American production. They’d already cast a “Harrison” for their show, but while waiting around, Pring met the John and Paul from another Beatles tribute band called The Blue Meanies (a reference to the Beatles' 1968 film " Yellow Submarine "). They asked him if he’d ever considered being in a Beatles tribute band, playing George Harrison. Pring told them, “Not really.” But he did play a little guitar. The guys from The Blue Meanies handed him a book of Beatles songs and told him to learn as many as he could. “So, I learned some of the hits,” he said. It was a while before they called, but they told him, “Our George has fallen out. We’ve got a gig this weekend.” It was six shows and they wanted him. Pring said, “But I haven’t even rehearsed with you. I don’t know if I can even do this.” They told him to just do his best. “Luckily, I had one show with them close to the Cavern Club,” he said. “So, I played and basically did my own solos except for 'Twist and Shout.'” The rest of the band played off his awkwardness as just George being George. The audience bought it. “That’s how it all got started,” he said. “It was weird.” Stories you might like On the Town: 'Inside the Huddle' with Tony Caridi, sponsored by United Way of Central WV Dear Abby: Widow's new beau doesn't pull his weight, is distant and unloving Dear Abby: Former spouse accused of murdering one of her offspring Dear Abby: Visiting niece starts smear campaign against her father Expanding musical horizons Now 50 years old, Pring has performed as George Harrison for nearly to 30 years. Many of the songs he has memorized, but that doesn’t make them easy, he said. Harrison didn’t just play the guitar. He also played the sitar. “You don’t play it like a guitar,” he said. “Your guitar, you play with your fingertips, but a sitar, you play with the flats of your fingers.” When he was beginning to play the sitar, he cut his fingers a lot. “I’d play it and literally get blood all over the sitar because I have no calluses on the flats of my fingers,” Pring said. Still, he loves the influence of Indian music on Harrison’s playing, which became part of the Beatles with songs like “Here Comes the Sun.” The song doesn’t have a sitar but is best known for a catchy guitar riff. Pring said, “That’s Indian music timing. It's quite beautiful that George could bring in very subtly his Indian influence into a Western song.” He added, “I think that's what was great about the Beatles and what was great about George.” Getting it right Pring knows a lot about Harrison. He has books related to Beatles history, but a lot of the lore about the band comes from the superfans. For example, during the famous rooftop concert — the last public performance by the Beatles — Harrison had a dab of red paint on his left shoe. A fan asked Pring why his shoe was clean. He’d never heard anything about it. “I went through loads of photographs and didn’t see it,” Pring said. “But there it was in one picture, as bright as day.” So, he put some red paint on the left shoe of his rooftop concert costume. Pring said the details count. “We play to the 1%. If you play to the 1%, the 99% will love it — but if you play to the 99%, you’re always going to have fans coming up to say, ‘What about the red paint on the left shoe?’” Meeting the real deal Pring’s career as a tribute musician was unexpected, but he’s had a good time and met people who were in Harrison’s orbit. Along with Pete Best, he met Harrison’s ex-wife, photographer and model Patty Boyd. He also ran into Paul McCartney. A year after Harrison’s death in 2001, the city of Liverpool put together a tribute concert for Harrison. “There was another, bigger concert for the country, but this one wasn’t widely televised,” he said. It was more of local thing, celebrating a local hero. Pring was playing with the Blue Meanies. They weren’t supposed to be on the show, but another band got stuck in customs. “We just literally dressed up as the Beatles and waited outside the club,” he said. The gamble paid off, and the Blue Meanies got to do a couple of songs. As they were coming off the stage and walking into the dark, Pring stumbled into a crowd. He bumped into a man who was chatting with them. It was McCartney. Pring stood with the rest of the group as the Beatle told stories and talked about how much Harrison would have appreciated the concert. Finally, the manager of the Blue Meanies introduced the members of the band to McCartney. McCartney looked at Pring and said, “You know what? You look a bit like George,” Without missing a beat, Pring told him, “Yeah. And you look a bit like Paul.”