Monday, March 18, 2024

Their day in Court




March 18, 1969 - George and Pattie in court 
 

Bearded John







 

March 18, 1964

The coolest older couple award goes to....


 

Paul in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame!





 March 15, 1999 -

Oh what an exciting time this was!  Sir Paul McCartney was inducted into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. Stella's shirt said it all!  

George and Olivia Wogan Show interview (1990)

 



This is an interview with George and Olivia from June 1990 when they were on the Wogan program.  



W: This week, former Beatle George Harrison and his playmates in the Traveling Wilburys band released a new record, "Nobody's Child," a suitable title in view of the fact that it's in aid of the Romanian orphans. The Traveling Wilburys, "Nobody's child." It's an attempt to help thousands of abandoned, sick, and hopeless children who are the victims of Ceausescu's terrible regime in Romania. George's wife has been at the forefront of the Romanian Angel Appeal, which first marshaled public opinion to try and help the victims of this dreadful human tragedy. So, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Olivia and George Harrison. 

W: George, I know that wild horses couldn't normally drag you into a television studio, you are a private man; why did you decide to speak out on this particular issue?

G: Well, actually, I've been on television before, I do occasionally go on television, but...I know what you mean, yeah. 

W: It's jsut this program you probably don't want to appear on, I don't blame you. 

G: Partially because, you know, the wife asked me if I would do this song. 

W: Or told you to do it. 

G: Well, yes, she said, "or else..."  No, she asked if I could talk to the guys who are the Wilburys into doing the song. And partially because of what it is. I think when you see the photographs, and what's happening, babies in their cribs, it sort of, you know, we all have to do something occasionally. And I thought it was a good thing to do. 

W: Yes, it is, and obviously, it's a very moving thing and terribly disturbing, particularly to see children be treated so badly, and obviously, that's what motivated you to start. But what was the single factor that started you on this Romanian Angel Appeal?

O: I think it was a photograph in the newspaper, but it was sort of a gradual assault on my conscience. It was slowly wearing away at me, and I decided that perhaps we should try to contribute some money, and I began to write charities and try to see what we could do who was doing what, and in the end found myself responsible for lots of money and felt that I should go down and just see what we could do, what could be the most effective thing to do. Since Elton and Linda and Barbara and Ringo and Paul and Yoko had donated with us. I went down there and was just ... overwhelmed and devasted and shocked by the situation there. 

W: How many children do you think? The kind of figures we're getting is like 15,000. Do you think it's much more than that?

O: I think there's far more than that. I mean, I've heard of 40,000. I've heard of 50,000, I've heard 400,000. Virtually every few miles, there's an orphanage. We had a list of 400 and we didn't see any of them on the list. We just started to go to one, and they'd just point us to another and another and another. 

W: What are the conditions of these orphanages?

O: Shocking.

W: Somebody said it was like Auschwitz, I mean it's....

O: It's actually very bad, worse than you can imagine, especially now. I mean, this year, this point in time, everybody is enjoying such luxury in their lives, and nobody's ever had it better, and you go there and see children, and for 150 children, you have no sanitation. And on a practical level, that's what we're trying to do, make their lives more tolerable. It eases my frustration because I, basically, they need to be taken out of the orphanages, I think.  Every child needs a family and some love and nurturing. 

W: Let's establish how the children, why should there be so many children in the Romanian orphanages for a state?

O: Well, Ceausescu felt that if Romania had 30 million people it probably would give him more power and become a more formidable force in Europe. And women were forced to have five children at least. And abortion and birth control were illegal. So the lucky ones in the orphanages grew up to be in his army, the Securitate, but those were the lucky ones. 

W: They were known as his children, or he used to call them his children. 

O: That's right, that's right. And they were turned over to the state, they were like, um...I mean, I saw a trolley of babies, you know, like loves of bread. The sad thing is, you know, life goes on, politics change, but nothing changes in their lives. Day after day, year after year, their entire lives are spent in these institutions. 

W: And they've all got -- there's a lot of diseases, and mental handicap and physical handicap. Well, are you saying you'd like them to be adopted, and if so, there is a certain amount of resentment, isn't there, or reaction against the adoption of Romanian children over here. 

O: Yes, I've been steering clear of that question a bit because it is a difficult one, but I think if somebody -- I know a woman that just brought a baby back, and she felt she had to do that, and she went down, and she went through the system and was given the runaround, but she succeeded. I think that if you feel that in your heart, if that's really what you have to do, then that's a personal decision. 

W: How much money have you raised so far?

O: Through the Daily Mail, we've raised £835,000, I mean to the credit of the British public. Because there have been letters, I mean, they keep piling up, I'm gonna answer them right, but -- and form people who maybe whether it's £5, a pound, or £10, and there have been large donations, but I always remember Bob Geldof saying during the Live Aid thing, "pity, the man who did nothing because he could do so little." And really, the British public, you know, haven't been shy in donating a pound or £5. That's what's done it. 

W: We have the address that you can send your donation to: Romanian Angel Appeal, 32 Galena road, London W6 OLT. And no matter how big or small, you'd be delighted with the donation. 

O: Yes, absolutely. 

W: Now, your donation, in a sense, George, has been the record. How did you first come abreast of what was happening? Obviously, you read it in the papers, but Olivia called you, didn't she?

G: Well, I was in Los Angeles at the time, so I didn't really know about it til she told me by telephone. Then, to my amazement, she suddenly said, "I'm going to Bucharest tomorrow." I had a call from Bucharest, and then when she returned and brought back a lot of photographs and stuff, but she called me and said, "It'd be a nice idea if you would do a song. Maybe you could put a single out, help raise a bit more money." So I thought, well, that's easy enough for me, particularly at that point, because I was in a room with other musicians and a recording engineer, we had the tape machines and stuff, so, for me, that's quite easy at that point to do something. you know, I mean, plumbers can go down there and plumb in toilets, but I can pick up a guitar and make a song. As it happened, the other guys that I was working with, they said, "well, okay, we don't mind doing it" when I explained it to them. What song should we do?  That was the most difficult thing. Luckily I remembered this old song that, it's an old American song that Lonnie Donegan did in the Fifties called "Nobody's Child" which we just heard a little. And that seemed apt. 

W: Did you know the words of that, you recall Lonnie Donegan...

G: I remembered the chorus so when I called Joe, you know, Joe Brown, who I thought, "he's bound to know it."

W: He's the fount of all wisdom in country music.

G: He happened to give me the verse, the lyrics to the first verse. So I asked him, "Call me back, give me the second verse."   Meanwhile, we went into the studio and put down the track. I was waiting for the phone call for the second verse, so, um, it never came through. I realized it was already 5AM in London, so I thought, "Well, I'll just make up the lyrics to the second half," because I thought at that point it was just a traditional song anyway, which it wasn't. Turned out to be written by two guys. So that was the problem, then we had to chase up the publishrs and ask them if they minded us writing words to the second half of the song. And we just did it. We did it and sang. We decided Tom Petty should sing the first two lines, I'll sing the next two, Jeff Lynne sing the next two, and Bob Dylan sing the last two. 

W: And all the proceeds will go to this Romanian Angel Appeal?

G: Yeah. And since then, somebody had a bright idea, well, we had a song, or an instrumental from Dave Stewart to put on the B-side and then somebody suggested we make a few phone calls and make it into an album. There's a fellow who manages a couple of people in the States and does Dylan's tours. [it] was his suggestion, so within a couple of hours, we had Edie Brickell and a guy named Roc Ocasek in a band called the Cars. They volunteered a track, and so I got on the phone, and we have Eric Clapton and Elton John, as Elton said the other night, plus Stevie Wonder, Mike, and the Mechanics...

W: Wonderful line up...

G: all kinds of...Guns and Roses. So it's quite a fun album and...

W: Should make a great deal of money for the Appeal. Let's hope so. You've been back to Bucharest and have  you seen any of the effects of the money that you've already brought in? Have you seen it?

O: Yeah..

W: Any good being done with it?

O: Just the beginning, this last trip I took, during the earthquake, I went down to visit two orphanages we've started, and it's...I'm very emotional about the whole thing, but to walk in there and see them, little sinks with mirrors, don't forget these children have never seen themselves in a mirror, sinks with mirrors and showers with hot water heaters and bathtubs, so little for us, things that we wouldn't even think about. 

W: Do you hope to go there, George, to have a look and see what's happening?

G: Not particularly. I'm not saying that I wont' go there, but it's not part of my idea to go down and join in with plumbers and electricians, but in that respect, you know, I can do more in this way, to help get the money to people who actually know what they're doing. 

W: Well, let's hope. You're hopeful.

O: I'm very hopeful, yeah. I'd like to say that it's good news now, now that it's started happening. 

G: It's going to be better than it was, and it's just a matter of time to get 'round to all these places and get them all wash basins and toilets. 

O: He was going to be an electrician...

W: Yeah..or a plumber.

G: Or a plumber, yeah, yeah.

W: What did you eventually become?

G: I don't know, really. I don't know... just some object for the newspapers to make fun of, probably.

(Wogan and Oliva are laughing)

W:  I think what you do is very laudable and terrific, and I'm sure it's going to do an enormous amount of good; it already is. Thank you both for joining us. 

O: Thank you

G: Thanks a lot.





Sunday, March 17, 2024

The Honeymooners have arrived







 March 17, 1969 - Paul, Linda and Heather arrive in New York for the start of their Honeymoon. 

Relaxing in Palm Springs Pho


Photos by May Pang

 

March 15 or 16, 1974

Heading to the Ambassador's Club


 March 17, 1964


An Interview with Elle





The Power of Age

Elle Magazine (From France)

August 1986


Except for a wife, three children, and some gray hair, at 44, the old naughty boy of rock hasn't changed. Between two studios, Phillippe Manoeuvre met, in rural England, the one that used to be called one-half of the Beatles, Paul McCartney. It is a place in the English countryside where the rain falls lightly. Three ducks are heading for a little, misty lake. Those ducks don't have to worry because they live with Paul and Linda McCartney. Paul, you know, the Beatle? You can be blase, tough, satisfied, used to everything, you can say you don't care, you can act cool...there still are a few things in life -- like interviewing one of the Beatles -- that do impress you.  The Beatles - and one gets never tired of repeating it over and over again -- -were the most successful group ever. With their billions of sold albums they rediculize the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, the Who and Queen together. Paul McCartney, "one half of the four," won 43 gold records with his group but also 21 solo. An absolute record. He also wrote, by the way, the most recorded song ever, "Yesterday."  1186 artists have already re-recorded it in
their own way, leaving "My Way" a long way behind with only 735 recordings. 

James Paul McCartney was kind enough to send a limo to Heathrow to bring us to his place in Sussex, where the exclusive interviews are being held, one for each country! Because Paul McCartney, 44 years old, is made like that. he might have written half of this century's memorable tunes, he might have given his wife, the photographer Linda Eastman, three beautiful children, he might well have enough money to be considered the second fortune of the British Empire..but he can't be still for a long time. Our man runs from one studio to the other. He just done the finishing touches to his latest solo album "Press to Play", one of his most strategic albums, made with interesting people like Phil "Genesis" Collins on drums, and Pete "Who" Townshed on guitar. Paul McCartney is simply made like that, and 16 years after the break up of the Beatles, he still poses on the sleeve of his new record with his other half, Linda. And there is something very touching about that. Something flagrant. Like old lovers never wanting to resign and go under. Ah yes, despite the fame, the millions of dollars, after 3 children, 64 gold records, after 9 days in a Japanese prison, Paul and Linda tell you, like always and still that they are in love. 

Q: How did you meet, Paul and Linda?

P: We were just coming out of a recording studio in London, and we went down to a club called the Bag O'Nails. It was getting really late, and we were watching and listening to Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames when I suddenly noticed this girl at another table. And I told myself, "Oh dear! Hello, Hello, Hello!" A little later, she passed our table. I said, "Excuse me," and I started talking to her. 

L: And so we went to another club...

P: And another one...

L: And everything started like that.

Listening to them makes you believe that everything really happened that way. While John and Yoko were going crazy all around the world, turning the George V, the Ritz, and the Pierre in New York into a mad-house, Paul, in his beloved countryside, loved Linda simply. And so much that he made her three children. In life, the ex-Beatle is significant. A charming prince. Nice hair where just enough gray hairs are seen to make it reasonable, a flat belly, and smooth, fresh skin, and that look...those vivacious eyes, playful eyes where that old flame of the old naughty boy of rock can still and always be seen burning. 

Q: What's new and what's changed since the Beatles?

P: At the time, when I was still with the Beatles, there was one big difference with today.  I had no children.  I had so much time in front of me...enough to produce other groups and I was a bachelor. In other words: I had my whole life still in front of me..especially all the girls!!! (Linda taps his hand).

He laughs heartily and goes on

P: Today I am married, have nice kids, adorable kids, normal kids. We listen to records together. 

Q: What sort of records?

P: They like Bowie -- well some of his records, anyway, and they also bring home albums by Simple Mind, Dire Straits, UB40..groups you can really listen to.

Q: Will your children become musicians?

P: Should they ever come up to me and tell me, "Dad, I'll be a guitarist," fine. But I'm not like those footballers who want to turn their kids into champions, one way or another, and absolutely.

L: We didn't even force them to learn to play the piano.

P: Exactly. And it wouldn't be me to force them to do the same job. Because it's a job that changes you. Quite often in a negative way. 

It's already midday. The couple tells us they'd like to go to eat something. Since they are vegetarians, you imagine a quick lunch. But they only reappear after 3 hours. 

Q: Linda, people say that you and Yoko were the main cause of the Beatles' break up. 

L: I never heard a more stupid thing. Try to think a little bit. Why should we, the women of those musicians of that group called the Beatles, have tried to stop them? Why? In fact, the group started breaking up before I walked into the scene. But it is so easy to put all the blame on the people that nothing to do with it all, in this case, the women. 

Q: Do you see the other Beatles from time to time?

L: We saw George recently, and his wife and their son.  Last week. They came to ride a bit And we always see Ringo. Believe me or not, we are the best of friends in the world!

Q: Paul, you've always had the image of the "nice Beatle." Isn't it annoying sometimes:?

P: You are what you are. It's exact. I have that image. Okay, but that "nice" Beatle, that might be just an appearance. Look, John Lennon had a reputation for being hard and tough and he was everything but that!

Q: Still, you always hear about the fights in the pubs in Liverpool. John Lennon was rather violent, wasn't he?

P: Just on the surface. Underneath, he was hiding a heart of gold. I don't know how to explain John to you. His father left home when John was three. I don't know, but I...in his place...I would have concluded that my father hated me, therefore. To top it all, his mother died when he was 16. Killed by a car! John's life wasn't pink and easy. And I, who knew him better than anyone else, can assure you that he was absolutely charming. 

Q: But some interviews prove that you weren't on the best of terms with him at the time of his death. 

P: That's not true! We had small disputes. So what? We shouted at each other like two brothers occasionally do. And anyway, I know why you are saying that. After John's death, too many books came out, all taken out of context. For my part, okay, I'll admit that one day, I said that John was a manipulating swine. but what doe that say, really, what does that prove? It only says that in this inhuman show business, John liked to control things. He loved saying one thing and doing just the opposite. And that's true, and there's nothing mean about me saying that, God! Journalists took that line from a private conversation. They just made that one line to a big headline: "Ah! Ah! Paul McCartney declares:'John was a manipulating swine!!'"

Q: Don't ever trust a journalist...

P: There! Absolutely right! Never! NEVER!

The last 2 years were especially difficult for the McCartney family. First of all, Michael Jackson decided to buy Paul's songs. For al little nothing of 50 million dollars. Paul could not -- or would not--follow.  Then Paul agreed to go back on stage for Live Aid. In front of billions of spectators, just as he started singing "Let It BE," his microphone went off.  And finally, his feature film with Linda and Ringo, "Give My Regards to Broadstreet" flopped around the world. Looking back on all those things, Paul just says one word: annoying.  Which makes you wonder what makes him REALLY mad?

Q: Do bad reviews really upset you?

P: That makes me rather more sad than upset. See, you spend 12 months in a studio, and a journalist destroys your hard work with 12 lines. Oh, well, okay. No, what really makes me mad are those people who beat up their children, those disgraceful parents burning their babies with cigarettes.  That, and Mrs. Thatcher's attitude concerning Apartheid. That, and President Reagan talking about Apartheid and reading the wrong speech (Paul imitates a low voice with a Yankee accent): "Regarding Apartheid and the situation in South America..'  He really said that! That's incredible, after all. 

L: Me, I would like people to stop eating meat, I love animals. I would like to be considered the English Brigette Bardot. I am less a photographer and musician than simply a woman who would like to make the world better. 

Q: Have you been a vegetarian for a long time?

L: Ten years!

Q: And your children are vegetarian, too?

L: Yes.

Q: Are you sure it isn't dangerous?

L: I don't see what good there is in meat. It's disgusting. My God, imagine that you are being pulled to the slaughter house, and you are flipping because they are going to kill you, and all that adrenaline comes up...and after all that, someone is delighted to eat you.

Q: What sort of vegetarians are you?

L: I will eat anything as long as it hasn't been killed. Okay, we have hens. If they lay an egg and sit on it, we leave it to them. If they abandon it and the egg becomes cold, we'll eat it. 

Q: Paul, Linda, do you think you'll go back on stage one day?

P: If we can find the stage door! (laughs) No. We'll have to reform a nice little group first. Then, yes, because I always like giving concerts and paying for people. Just recently, I got on stage for that charity concert for Prince Charles's Trust. I sang "Get Back" with Tina Turner. Aahhh!

Q: Paul, what's your favorite story about the Beatles

P: (Thinks for a long time. At least 10 seconds).  I've got one! Finally... the first one that comes to mind.  I had all my family from Liverpool come down for the premiere of "A Hard Day's Night" in London. They'd never been invited to a premiere before. And my Auntie Gin wanted an exceptional robe for the occasion. So she took her curtains from her living room and made herself a robe out of them.  That's how she arrived at the premiere, with her sister, Millie. After the film, we all went to the Royal reception. When I saw Princess Margaret enter the room, I turned to my dear aunties and said, "Turn around to see who just arrived, but please, please, for Heaven's sake, don't say anything!" The two old ladies turned around, and Gin started screaming, "Oh, oh, good Lord, Millie, do you see what I see?"  And Milled shouted back, "Oh Lord Gin! It's Margaret! Margaret in person, Millie!" "Oh dear, Gin, oh dear!"  My two aunties went back to Liverpool. And the gala robes became curtains once again!


Thursday, March 14, 2024

George Harrison exploring Australia incognito





 

This story about George in Australia in 1982 is from the Australian Women's Weekly and was first published on April 28, 1982.  It was written by Liane Maxfield. 


George Harrison --Exploring Australia incognito

By Liane Maxfield

He could have passed for a local fisherman in his shorts, thongs, and khaki bush hat. The only thing that might have given former Beatle George Harrison away was the Liverpudlian accent. 

But even that did not evoke interest among the holiday-makers strolling along the Shute Harbour jetty on Queensland's Whitsunday Coast. they were far more fascinated by the luxury $3 million cruisers at the wharf. 

George himself barely rated a glance as he jumped aboard and began stowing his gear. A few minutes later, the vessel pulled away. 

And that's the way George Harrison likes it, "I've spent the last 10 years trying to become un-famous. And I think that, just maybe, I have succeeded. Only two people have recognized me during my stay in Australia," he said. 

With the exception of a satellite broadcast for the TV show "Good Morning America" last year, George has not permitted an interview for six years. 

I was lucky enough to be invited to join George and his family on a cruise across the Whitsunday Passage to Hamilton Island as the guest of Queensland tourist entrepreneur Keith Williams. George and Keith met through a mutual friend, British racing driver Jackie Stewart. 

For three weeks, George, his wife Olivia, and their three-year-old son, Dhani, had been trekking around Australia as "typical tourists," visiting wildlife reserves, feeding kangaroos and koalas, and picnicking in national parks. 

For George, it's his first return visit since the days of Beatlemania. This time round he said with a smile, he is here as a "real person."

He loves Australia -- from the north Queensland tropics to the rugged beauty of Tasmania. 

"Everywhere I go I find myself thinking how happily I could live here. There's no tension," George said. 

And he stretched back in his deck chair to soak up yet more of the sun. 

"A lot of Australians don't know how lucky they are. It's a happy country.  In Britain, one almost feels guilty for feeling happy. Winter is so depressing. Strikes and more strikes. Everyone's miserable. It's a constant struggle not to let the attitude of others rub off on you."

But there is another reason George is not too keen on the British winters. He is unable to pursue what has become one of his grand passions -- gardening.

The Harrisons' home, Friar Park (a magnificent mansion built in the late 1880s by a millionaire Victorian eccentric), has a 14-hectare garden. 

"The gardens were a wilderness, " he said. "They had been unattended for about 40 years. And you know what they say about gardens -- for one year they are let, it takes three to restore them."

It took George and nine gardeners to accomplish the task. 

One of the garden's intriguing features is a series of three lakes, all built on different levels so that if a man crosses the middle lake on stepping stones from the house, he appears to be walking straight across the water. 

Because tropical plants cannot be cultivated with any great success in Britain's harsh climate, George is thinking of buying a home "somewhere in the South Pacific" to allow him to use his green thumb to its fullest advantage. 

Back home in the UK he loves pottering around the annual Chelsea flower show. Here in Australia, he has been visiting our botanic gardens, collecting ideas for the South Pacific hideaway he may buy one day. 

These days, record making is little more than a hobby.  George's priorities have changed dramatically. 

After the split up of the Beatles, he spent years "finding himself."  Devotional yoga helped him in the rough spots. 

His philosophy is simple. "It's a matter of finding out who I am, where I am coming from, and where I am going.

"I see life as a huge university. You come here to get knowledge to free the soul. The trick is to find out who you are before you kick the bucket."

Not that he sees "kicking the bucket" as the end. George believes in reincarnation. "I wouldn't mind coming back as a grain of sand," he grinned. "At least I'd never have to worry about the press hounding me again." 

Gone, along with the confusion, is the long, shaggy hair that caused such a sensation in the '60s. Today, George's locks look as if they have had a brief encounter with a blunt lawn mower. 

Olivia, his second wife, whom he married in 1978, is Mexican born.

She was working in his Los Angeles recording studio when they met. 

Both are semi-vegetarians. "We eat chicken and seafood," George explained as he tucked into freshly cooked prawns and mud crabs. Their son, by choice, is a total vegetarian.

Dhani (pronounced something like Danny) is a delight. His name is made up from two notes of the Indian musical scale, dha and ni, and doesn't mean "wealth" as was reported soon after his birth.

He is a bright, creative child, currently hooked on space toys. He speaks with a quaint upper-class English accent. Mum and Dad aren't quite sure how he picked it up. 

Perhaps it is the influence of his nanny, Rachael. Not that she is the plum-in-mouth, sensible-shoes type of nanny so often depicted in British films. She looks more like a flower child with her cheesecloth dress, flowing hair, and scrubbed, glowing skin. 

There is none of the relegate the child to the nursery where mama and papa will visit routine in the Harrison household. 

Olivia spends hours each day playing with Dhani, and George talks to him like an adult and patiently answers his never-ending stream of questions. 

Consequently, at three and a half, the boy prattles away in a manner that would put to shame children twice his age.

George feels they spoil Dhani, but admits he is drawing comparisons with his own childhood: "We were lucky to get one present at Christmas time."

Most of Dhani's toys are educational. When he outgrows them, they are passed on to charities.

According to friends, George's generosity is legendary. English comedian Eric Idle described him as "one of the few morally good people that rock and roll has produced. He's one of the people who have turned their attention to goodness. He's extremely generous and gives support you'll never hear of.

George stepped into the breach to put up a reported $4 million when Idle was having difficulty finding a backer for his Monty Python film, "The Life of Brian."

The stories go on. When George heard that another friend, Barry Sheene, was tryng to raise $280,000 to race Formula One cars, he promptly offered to pay the money for Barry NOT to do it because he was worried about the risk. 

Another recipient of Geoge's benevolence is the Hare Krishna religious sect, to whom he donated a magnificent manor in Hertfordshire, UK, estimated to be worth $500,000. 

George admits that if he doesn't work more than another hour again he will still have enough on which to live in comfort for the rest of his days. So, he is more than happy to help those less fortunate. 

Back in the early '70s, he raised $6 million for the child victims of the Bangladesh war by staging an all-star concert in New York. 

"I learned a lot from that exercise," he said. "Because of managerial bungling, we are still trying to get money from the concert into the right hands."

Now, he endeavors to keep news of his humanitarian endeavors on a very low key. 

But that's George Harrison today. He's unassuming, keeping a low profile, happy to be a family man, and, when weather permits, "mess around in the garden."