Jimmy McCulloch

I debated on posting these photos, but then I figured that I might as well since I have them. These are photos of Jimmy McCulloch. I am sad to admit that I had to look up his name because I couldn't remember it. Jimmy McCulloch was a member of Wings from 1974-1977. He played the lead guitar. Since he was in the band in 1976, he was the guitarist that toured with Paul, Linda and the rest of Wings on the American Summer tour, so a lot of fans had access to him for photos.

Now I have to confess that I am not a big Wings fan. I do like a lot of their songs and have Wingspan and most of their Cds. However I am not into the history of Wings at all. I can't keep straight who quit when and the names of who was in the band.

But once I looked up Jimmy McCulloch, I did recall that he was the guy who died of a drug overdose before Wings even disbanded. What a sad ending to his life....

As many of you know, I run the Beatles solo photo forum and before it moved to the new server, someone with the nickname of "Winojunko" sent me these fan photos of Jimmy Mc. They were taken over the 2 days Wings played NYC in May 1976.

More Pattie Boyd

Just a few more Pattie Boyd fan photos to share. I seem to have more fan photos of Pattie than any other former or current Beatle wife. Either Pattie was more willing to stop and pose for a photo for fans or fans were more interested in taking a photo of her (or maybe it is a mix of both things). I know that when I met her, she was extremely nice and kind. It was getting late in the evening and she was happy to pose for a couple of photos and sign my book. Several people were mad because she was charging money if you wanted additional items autographed. I only wanted one thing (my copy of her autobiography). I had purchased it prior to meeting her and brought it from home, so it didn't cost me anything. Some guy in front of me had an armload of stuff that he was going to sell on eBay. I don't blame her for charging actually.....

More from Eileen

Here she is standing outside of John's house.

I am not sure how much time Eileen of NJ spent in England, but she does have a couple more photos of interest to share....

Elieen's story

I am sure you aren't reading this blog in the order that I am posting things, so everything is going to be backwards. Oh well. This is a continuation of what I just posted before this one. It is about Eileen, who I assume was the Beatle fan from New Jersey. She went to England and in June 1967 (I figure from the Lost Girl Tapes) with a friend. Here is what she had to say about meeting George , this article . These photos are the ones she and her friend took after taking the one of George and Klaus painting the house (see previous entry)

Not much of a story, really. It was 1967, I went to England on my own
and met up with a British fan who knew where they all lived, and one day
we did the pilgrimage to all their homes. Today we'd be
considered stalkers, but back then, there was no security around any of their
homes.

We'd been to George's house earlier in the day, rang
the bell, and his housekeeper answered, told us George and Patti were still
asleep, we should come back later.

So that's what we
did. We came to the driveway and there were George and Klaus, painting the
house. That's when I took the photo. We slowly approached, George
saw us, said a word or two to Klaus and graciously came to greet us. I
have no recollection of the conversation other than when I asked if I could
shake his hand. He let us take a few photos of him, excused himself to
return to his work and we left.

We'd done a lot of walking that
day, miles and miles, and our feet were killing us. After we met George,
my friend said to me, "Do your feet still hurt?" I wasn't feeling a thing, other
than my heart beating so hard I thought it would burst out of my
chest.

I love it when things come together....

You all know that I am obsessed with the "Little Girl Tapes." That is the two seperate interviews Leslie Samuels and Donna Stark made in 1967 at Paul and George's homes. I am so crazy about the tapes that I sat down and transcribed them the best that I could. I am such a geek! Anyhow...in the George interview, Leslie shows George a photo that a friend of hers took of Klaus Voormann and George painting Kinfuans. Here is that part of the tape....

Leslie: My friend was here last month. Hahaha. From Chicago. I don’t know. My friend was here last month.

George: Yeah.

Leslie: You got to get this signed for me.

George: Look we’d just started painting then.

Leslie: Yeah, my friend said you’ve got to go back when it’s done; I’ve got to come back or something. I guess I’m here and I guess it’s done.

George: Yeah.

Later in the conversatin, Klaus Voorman comes in. That part of the tapes is like this:

George: Have you met Klaus? Good and Tall Klaus.

Leslie: No—hi. Maybe you can sign something we brought.

Klaus: like what?

Leslie: letters.

George: Say hello to people in New York.

Leslie: I knew you were here painting the house cause Eileen told me. It looks fantastic.

George: Oh yeah—his picture is in the photo. She has a picture from when we were painting. Show him the photo. Oh yes—remember that day?

Klaus: Oh yes!

George: And look there—

Klaus: Nice

George: Lovely

Klaus: Yeah.

Leslie: Glad I had this picture and…

George: Absolutely fantastic

Leslie: My friend from New Jersey took it.

Klaus: I said hi to some American girls.

Leslie: She stopped by one day.

George: Yes, she talked about you.

Leslie: She did?!?!

George: Yes cause I remember your name anyhow because of the so many letters.

Leslie: Oh! Wow!

George: And the badges you send.

Leslie: Oh wow! I can’t believe it! You remember me you just said it. (George laughs). And I haven’t fainted. Aren’t you proud of me? I didn’t scream. No one will believe me. Thank you for it.

Well never did I actually think that I would ever SEE the photograph being discussed here of George and Klaus painting Kinfuans,but what do you know! Here it is!!!

Wings

Some small photos

Here Paul is meeting the family of the catering manager in Hull in 1964 (The person who posted the photo on flickr is the small boy in the photo. No idea why he decided to make it so small)


The Beatles with an opening act member backstage in Huddersfield in 1963

I met the Walrus

Many of you have heard about the short film and book written by Jerry Levitan called "I met the Walrus" about how he met John and Yoko in 1969 and interviewed John. That interview turned into a short film that is pretty well known because its interesting animation. I found the full story about his meeting with John and I wanted to post it. The top photo I had posted before but I didn't realize who was in the photo, plus this one is larger and clearer. The bottom photo is Jerry today sitting by his John Lennon wall. I believe if you look closely, you will see other photos of John taken on that day. He also has some video footage that was shot. Wow!

So, it’s a Sunday night, I’m 14 and I’m taking a shower and listening to CHUM fm, which was sort of the only game in town. It was the type of station where for a half an hour a DJ would play the side of an album and have a very chill voice. After one of the songs, the DJ said, "Somebody just claimed he spotted John Lennon at the airport, we'll check it out and get back to you in a bit."

That was all I needed to hear, I was on a mission.

I got out of the shower and started calling all the hotels in Toronto. I called the Royal York hotel and said "Hello, is John Lennon there?" They checked and said, "No, he’s not." The thing is, when I called them, the people weren’t presuming it was John Lennon of the Beatles. So, when I called the King Edward hotel and they hung up on me in response, I knew that was it.
The next morning I didn’t go to school. I dressed in a way I thought a reporter would look (but clearly I was not a reporter.) I grabbed my brother's Super 8 video camera, but didn’t know how to operate it and didn’t know if there was film in it. I also took my sister's camera - I had all these things hanging from my neck.

I took my copy of the infamous Two Virgins album, as well. I was probably the first in Canada to get it because I used to hang out at Sam the Record Man and call Capitol Records to ask when the Beatles record was being delivered. I would know when the truck would be showing up in the alley behind the store and they knew me. With the delivery of the Two Virgins, they opened the box, I took my copy of the album and then the police came in and confiscated all the records because it was deemed obscene. But I had it.

I went to the King Edward at 7 o’clock in the morning and started knocking on every door on the top floor. I woke up a lot of people and, at one point, the cleaning lady said, “Are you looking for the Beatle?' If memory serves me well, she was Irish or Scottish, she had a heavy accent.

I went down to floors, turned a corner and there was a little Asian girl on her stomach colouring – I recognised her as Yoko Ono's daughter from her first marriage; so, I knew I had found them. I went up and talked to her for a bit, but she didn’t really give me the time of day. So, I just stood there trying to figure out what to do.

A cameraman and a reporter came by, they knocked on the door, it opened up a little bit, they said, "CBC," it opened up more, they went in and the door closed. I stood there for 10-15 minutes, my heart starting to beat fast – it was like Al Pacino in ‘The Godfather’ when he's about to kill the cop. I knocked on the door, it opened up, I said, "Canadian News," it opened up more and I shuffled in, looking down. I sat on the floor near a tripod, looked up and there in front of me were John Lennon and Yoko Ono.

The two of them were in the middle of an interview, but John looked at me and chuckled a bit and kept talking. I thought I better get my cameras out and start looking like a reporter. In my video, you could see me zooming in on his feet - he was barefoot - and everywhere around the room.

After the interview, I went up and asked him if he could sign my album. He said: “How did you get that? I thought the Mounties came in on horses and took them all." At that moment, Derek Taylor, who was at the time the Beatles' PR guy, came in. He said: "John, we have to go to Customs to clear some stuff."

They started clearing the room, but I took a long time to get out, taking the long way out of the suite. I walked by [Lennon’s] bedroom and he was by himself trying to push this big English sea chest onto his bed. He says, "Hey, lad, come here, give me a hand." So, I’m pushing the case and we're like nose to nose, and he’s not very strong and I’m not very strong. At that point, I thought, "I’ve got to do more." I said, "John, can I come back later and bring a tape recorder and do an interview on peace so I can let kids listen to it?"

He says, "Yeah, great! Yoko, Derek, this kid has a good idea, he's going to do an interview and take it to his school. That’s why we're doing this! It's great, great, great! Set it up!"

Derek told me to come back at 6pm. I floated out of the hotel room and onto King Street.
The first place I went was my mother's work. She worked at a kosher chicken store at Eglinton and Bathurst. She freaked out because she thought something was wrong. "Why aren’t you at school," she said. I told her. But it was still a rumour that [Lennon] was in town and it was in the days before instant communication – I didn’t have a Polaroid camera, I didn’t have a tape recorder with me – there was no way to prove what I was saying.

I was in junior high and when I got to school it was recess. This was in the Bathurst/Shephard area – the suburbs. Everyone was outside and I was ranting and raving - there was a crowd all around me and all the girls believed me, and all the guys didn't. Then the vice principal came out who, in retrospect, handled it really well. He assessed the situation and took me aside and put his arm around me and said: "Jerry, take the day off. Go home."

I went home and crashed.

I woke up around three o'clock in a panicky sweat because I realised I didn't have a tape recorder. I called up CHUM and, by now, the word was out. I called the news desk and said: "Hi, I’ve got an exclusive with John Lennon at six. If you bring the tape recorder I'll let you use it for the news." The guy said, "Yeah, right." So, I said, "Call up Derek Taylor at the King Edward hotel and he'll confirm it, here's my number."

Five minutes later, the guy calls me back and he's my best friend.

I took the bus from Bathurst and Shephard. In those days, newspapers came out three times a day: the morning paper, the afternoon paper and the evening paper. At every bus stop, you could see [Lennon in Toronto] was front page news. The closer I got to downtown, the more I thought: "Holy s*, this is really happening. Are they going to let me in again or was it just a ruse to get rid of me?"

It was pandemonium in front of the King Edward – cops on horses, kids roped off, vendors. I go into the bar and there’s a guy drinking with a big reel to reel tape recorder next to him. I said: "Are you from CHUM?"

We take the elevator together, the doors open, I bounce out, and a big cop pushes me pretty aggressively sending me crashing into the back [of the lift]. The CHUM guy took his card out and said, "No, he’s with me. We're press, we've got an interview.” We go into the hall and, roped off with cops, there were about 300 kids there – a couple of them kids I knew from school.
Down the corridor leading to [Lennon’s] suite, there were chairs in single file with reporters from everywhere [seated in them]. A reporter grabs me and says: "Where are you going?"
"I have an appointment at six," I say.

He says: "Yeah, like the rest of us."

At that moment the door opened up and Derek Taylor said: "Where is the lad?"

He took me in, sat me down on the couch and said: "John and Yoko are just getting dressed, they'll be out shortly." It's at that moment that I realised I hadn't prepared one question.

As I'm panicking, John sits in front of me with Yoko. I still had my camera and he said: "You want a photo with me?" The CHUM guy took the photo and then [Lennon] said, "Ask away." So I started asking.

I asked what young people of Toronto should do for peace. He said: "Well, you can go to school for peace, or not go to school for peace. You can piss for peace – whatever you do, do it for peace." That started the dialogue and it went on for about 40 minutes.

I talked about how much I loved Beatles music, how much it meant to me in my life. I asked about the other Beatles. I told him how kids were saying bad things about the Beatles and how it upset me. I told him about the butcher. (My parents knew I had [the Two Virgins] album but they were freaked because I walked around with it all the time. My mother's boss, the butcher, Mr. Rosen, saw it and said: "Put that away, it's pornography." Then I said, "What do you call that?" He had a girly calendar up on the wall. He said: "That's art.")

Derek Taylor popped in at that moment and said: "What’s this about?" John was laughing and said: "Some butcher called the Two Virgins pornography."

I talked about Trudeau, I was a huge fan at the time. I always felt that I had a role in John Lennon wanting to, and ultimately meeting, Trudeau. You hear him on the tape saying: "We've heard about him swinging in London with a leather coat, and if kids like you think he's cool, well, maybe we should see him."

He didn't stop the interview, I stopped it. I realised at one point that I couldn't talk to him forever. That’s how kind he was and sensitive to the fact that I clearly was a kid who loved him and needed to talk to him. He accommodated me completely and generously and sweetly. And they didn’t throw me out after that.

After the interview, Derek Taylor came back in. There was an Apple Records recording artist named Mary Hopkin who had a smash hit at the time called “Those Were the Days.” She was a Paul McCartney protégé (from what we know now, at that time Paul and John were at each other’s throats.) She was opening up for Engelbert Humperdink, who was also really big. Derek Taylor says: “John, Mary Hopkin just flew in, she’s opening for Engelbert Humperdink and sends her love.”

“Send it back,” says John.

Derek: "She wants you to come to the show tonight."

John: “I don’t want to go to that f*ing thing. Hey, you want to go in me stead?”

Me: “Sure, I’ll go.”

John: “Have the kid go in me stead, give him the VIP treatment.”

I walked from the King Edward to the O’Keefe Centre and sat front row and centre. Afterwards there was a party and everyone was around Engelbert Humperdink. Mary Hopkin was around 17 at the time, she was sitting by herself at a table so we talked. She said, “What are you doing tomorrow? They’re giving me a tour of Toronto in a limo, would you come with? You probably know more about Toronto anyway.” So I said: “Sure.”

I came home and I told everybody, my mouth did not close. I told my brother that [Hopkin was] picking me up in front of what was then the Electric Circus, which was just east of Church St. on Queen. My brother and my cousin went down with me and totally didn’t believe me.

When we were about to leave, a limo pulled up and Mary pops out and, with a Welsh accent, says: “Hi, Jerry, come in.” I’ll never forget the look on my brother’s and cousin’s faces.

We went to the Electric Circus, I danced with her, and my recollection is that we kissed at one point. And that was it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmR0V6s3NKk

Flying: Meeting George Harrison

I am home sick from work and bored, so I am looking online for some stories or pictures for this blog and found this really great story by Lewis Lustman on when he met George Harrison in L.A. in 1987.

http://www.rickresource.com/rrp/harrisonlax.html

I had the great fortune to meet George and speak with him. He was as warm, gentle and funny as his close friends have stated in the days following his death on November 29, 2001. I miss him very much. I hope this reminiscence helps you through the loss we share.

In May 1987, I had to fly from LA to Boston on business. I got to the airport a little early and went to the American Airlines Admiral's Club to kill some time. Since I was in the travel industry at the time, I had entrée to the club even though I was far from being a big shot. When I entered, I saw a guy I knew who worked there and he said, "Guess who's here today? George Harrison!"

So he points to this longhaired guy with really big sunglasses sitting in a remote corner of the Club. His hair was kind of wavy and I thought he looked more like a George Harrison wannabe than the real thing. Still, it did kind of look like him. A woman, probably a “meet and greet” type from a travel agency or American Airlines, was hovering near him.I knew what I had to do.In spite of it being 7:30AM, I went to the bar and had a glass of wine. As I finished, the woman who was shepherding George left, leaving him alone. Good timing - the wine was starting to take effect on my empty stomach.

I summoned up as much nerve as I could and, keeping my arms at my sides in as non-threatening a manner as I could muster, walked up to George and said, "I started playing guitar 20 years ago because of you and I just wanted to thank you for introducing me to something that's given me a lot of enjoyment for a long time."Instead of brushing me off, he looks up and asks, "Do you still play?" So I joked "Yeah, more to piss off the neighbors than anything else." He grinned and invited me to sit down. I sat next to him. He's looking at me and I'm looking at him, and 20 years of questions as to who played this and what guitar was used on that song just evaporated. And we're sitting there staring at each other. I noticed he was wearing these goofy tennis shoes, like the ones you see him wearing in "Magical Mystery Tour." Finally I said, "Do you still have the Rickenbacker 12-string you used in "Hard Day's Night?" and he emphatically said, "Oh yeah!" like he’d have to have been crazy not to keep it. So much for giving away guitars! We talked about The Guitar for a while and I asked him if that was the first one they made. He said it was the second, that some American woman had the first (which I later read about in one of the books on Rics).

The Beatles albums were being released on CDs at that time and I think "Revolver" was the latest. I asked him about one of the songs I always loved (although never a hit) that I heard on the way to the airport, "And Your bird Can Sing." He said he had just gotten the CD himself and said, "Oh yeah, I just was listening to that. It was a good song." I asked him how he played the lead, since I could never figure it out and he said, "Oh Paul played one of leads and I played the other." My cordial response was "I've been trying to figure that lead out for two decades and now you tell me it took *two* of you to do it!" We both laughed.

When I asked about the 360/12, he also said, "A friend of mine - do you know Tom Petty? - (I nodded my head - I had actually heard of him) has one just like it."Anyway, we talked about 20 more minutes about guitars and music, and then a woman came to escort him to his flight. He got up, we shook hands (very gentle handshake, like you see him give Ed Sullivan), he smiled that famous toothy smile and said "Take care, nice talking with you," and left.

I felt proud not to have asked for my idol's autograph. Just two musicians chatting about guitars and music.I hope this story brought you a smile. It does for me every time I think of talking with George Harrison, ex-Fab, guitarist, singer, songwriter, and nice man who took time to treat a fan like a friend, all those years ago.

This account was written by Marianne Goldsmith and it first was published in the June/July 1982 issue of Beatlefan.

Back in the Beatlemania days of the '60's British Beatlefan Marianne Goldsmith won 5 pounds by sending in an account of meeting Paul McCartney to Fabulous magazine. What follows is that account plus another tale of meeting the Beatles.

My sister I lived with our parents in St. John's Wood which was close to Paul McCartney's house and the Abbey Road Studios. One evening a party was going on next door and an Aston Martin was parked in our driveway. I had to go next door and ask if the car could be moved.

Guess who it belonged to? Yes, Paul, so he came with Jane Asher and said he was just going. He and Jane got into the car. I managed to say, "please can I have your autograph" and he turned to Jane and said, "have you got a thingy?" and she gave him a pen.

I produced an envelope for him to sign. His hand glided across it. He put "To Marianne, Love, Paul McCartney xxx." As he handed it to me my hand touched his and I stuttered, "Thank you very much. I don't know how I can thank you." He said "what about a kiss." I think he had been drinking. So I leaned into the car, forgetting about Jane, and kissed him. My head swooned and before I knew it, he had driven off into the night.

Another interesting occasion when we met the Beatles was in December '63 or thereabouts, after the Southampton show at the Gaumont. My sister and I were very excited to hear them live once again, but the screaming was so loud you didn't hear much and if they made a mistake, it would have covered it up.

They sang songs like "From me to you" and "I saw her standing there" They usually started with one of these. Also, "She loves you" and "I want to hold your hand" and rockers such as "roll over Beethoven" and Ringo's speciality, "Boys." Then Paul would sing "All my Loving" or "Till there was you" The atmosphere was electric and everyone enjoyed themselves. I'm glad I was around to experience it at the time as it's hard to describe to anyone.

After the show, my sister and I went around to the side door where about six others had gathered. In the early days, it was easier to meet them later.

AS the crowd was small, the manager let us in because we showed our membership cards -- although this did not give one the automatic right to see them, as we found out on later occasions. The boys were sitting around sweating and catching their breath and discussing the show. Everyone wanted to talk to Paul and he loves to talk to people.

I talked with Ringo. He was very nice to me and in the early days I preferred him, but later preferred Paul like most of my friends. Ringo asked me if I had enjoyed the show. He signed several autographs for us on photos and anything else we had with us. We told him they were for other friends of ours, but we kept them ourselves. It was nice to boast to your friends how many autographs you had and how many shows you had seen.

John asked me if I was a mod or a rocker. I suppose that craze was coming in at the time. Before I had time to answer, John said I was a rocker.

I suppose we spent about 5 or 10 minutes with them, then someone came in and said we had better let them get changed as they had another town to get to. So, reluctantly, we left but still with the memory of the meeting and the kind words they had for us.

Fan photos that are a little messed up....

This photo was totally taken from here

As I have said before, I have been collecting Beatles fan photos for many years. But even after all of this time, I forget how old these pictures actually are and how long some fans have been hanging on to them. Photos aren't made out of steel and over the years they can get damaged. Here are two great examples of that. Even though they look like they have been through the ringer and back, they are still amazing photographs!

Tahiti

The story behind these two photos is that on May 23, 1964 a fan from New Zealand was on vacation with his family in Tahiti. He goes into the Tahiti hotel where they are having a dinner and Polynesian floor show. However....much to his surprise John Lennon and George Harrison (along with Pattie Boyd and Cynthia Lennon) are also there vacationing and seeing the show! Can you imagine the shock this guy must have felt!! I would guess that he is the guy in the red flowered shirt in the one closer photo and that he just snapped one of everyone eating without their knowledge.

Cute Julian snapshots

I do not know very much about these photos. They appeared in Pete Shotton's book, John Lennon in my Life. And all they say are that they are Julian's Grandmother, Lillian Powell and Julian. I wonder where they were taken. I don't think it was at Kenwood, but I am not sure. I would guess that Pete Shotton took the photos, but John might have been the photographer. I am not even sure of the year, but the glasses little Julian is wearing looks like 1966. That would make him 2 years old, which seems believable.....

John Lennon's fan photo

I think this is just really neat.... On May 10, 1960 The Silver Beatles backed up Johnny Gentle during a concert in Scotland and while there, John Lennon met Billy Furry and got his autograph. This is the photo of John obtaining that autograph! So while I typically post photos of Lennon fans getting John's autograph, this time I am posting a photo of John getting someone else's autograph!

Waiting for the Beates....

Carol Bedford wrote a book in the 1980's about her time waiting outside the studio and Beatles' homes called "Waiting for the Beatles." I have heard some pretty bad things about the book, but I would really like the opportunity to read it myself and see what I think. I actually enjoy reading trashy Beatles books (heck...I read Francie Schwartz book!) and have learned to take everything written in them with a grain of salt. However, this particular book is next to impossible to find! It really frustrates me. Does anyone know where I can purchase "Waiting for the Beatles" for under $75??? I am serious. I would really like to read it. Here is a photo I had in my files and just recently realized what it was. It is Carol Bedford with George in 1969 at Kinfauns.

Here are a couple of extremely professional looking fan photos taken at Friar Park.

Jenny Boyd

Jenny Boyd was Pattie Boyd's (George's first wife) sister. They are very close and Jenny spent a lot of time with Pattie and the Beatles. She is the muse to Donovans wonderful song, Jennifer Juniper. So Jenny Boyd went to India with the Beatles and she ran the Apple Boutique. Here are some fan photos of Jenny. I think I might have "met" Jenny during my meeting with Pattie Boyd in 2008. While Pattie was signing my books, I mentioned to her that the date was 8-8-08. And she turned to the woman who was her assistant and said, "Did you hear that, Jenny? Today is 8-8-08!" And I looked and Jenny and thought that she did resemble the other Boyd sister. But I was way to embarassed to ask.....

Peaches

This story was from Ric Burnett and was first published in Beatlefan magazine in the October/November 1981 issue. The photo I included with this photo is when Wings played Atlanta in 1976.

May 19, 1976 will be a day that will be forever embedded in my memory.

I was working at Peaches Records and Tapes in Atlanta at a time when this record chain was still fresh, exciting and healthy. Paul McCartney and Wings were in town to perform two shows in two days at the Omni.

One of the first things a visitor to Atlanta's Peaches will notice nowadays is the display of food and hand prints left by visiting recording artists. On occasion, an artist would stick their hands and/or feet into wet cement in conjunction with an in-store appearance to meet the public and sign autographs. It was not unusual, for security reasons, to handle the making of the prints in the back room of the store and later move them to their permanent position outside the front of the store.

As you can imagine, it did not take long to decide that we wanted to immortalize McCartney's hand prints in cement. This was no easy task and it took day-long negotiation that Wednesday with both Capitol Records and McCartney's management company. I was not a part of any of the phone calls. My job, which I learned form a three-year stint in the construction business, was to prepare and supervise the pouring of the cement into a wooden form.

Those in charge of protecting the members of Wings would not allow them to come to the store for security reasons. The second idea proposed was to haul the cement by truck to the Peachtree Plaza Hotel where the group was staying. This did not prove to be very popular with the bigwigs either. In fact, we were being told all along that McCartney wasn't crazy about this whole idea anyway.

We soon learned that negotiating would have to take the form of begging. We also had to be ready in a moment's notice in case we were lucky enough to get the go-ahead. A truck was rented, the cement mixed and a crew from Peaches lined up to take the truck wherever we had to go.

Finally, someone gave in. We would be allowed to take the wet cement to the Omni, where the group was to perform that night. Five or six of us made the trip and I had the pleasure of driving the truck. Everything was loaded and we departed form the store that night after Wings had already started their concert.

Once we arrived at the Omni, orders were to back the truck up to the big door around back where equipment trucks and limousines arrive and depart. A man came outside to speak to us and I have no idea who he was. He said that he could back the truck inside after the concert and then the group would meet us about a half-hour later.

This man soon became very unhappy. The sliding door on the back of the truck was open so that a couple of guys could smooth over the concrete which had shifted during the trip through town. It was sternly stated to us that only three of us could bring the truck inside when the time came.

The guys in the truck climbed out and the man went back inside. The guys then jumped back in the truck and we slid the door down.

The time came. The big door of the complex slowly opened and I backed the truck inside. There were two other people sitting in the cab with me. The people in charge of looking out for Wings wanted to see the cement-turning-concrete right away. worry set in. I raised the back door and there were the other three guys smoothing over the concrete the best they could with light form matches. Those in authority did not seem too pleased and they walked away to have a talk.

They had told us only three and we had six people inside now. nobody in their right mind would volunteer to stay outside. Everyone figured we'd blown it and that all of us would be told to leave.

It didn't happen. Ten minutes later, here came Paul and Linda, Denny Laine, Joe English and Jimmy McCulloch. They looked happy but also tired from the show. They climbed into the truck and they put their hands into the cement. McCartney, wearing a leather jacket, also left a shoe print and then they signed autographs. Both Paul and Linda signed my copy of the "Speed of Sound" album.

McCartney was very cooperative and extremely nice. I only spoke to him a moment after shaking his hand and don't remember a thing said, I probably said or asked something stupid. But I did not figure on meeting Paul McCartney in the back of a truck.

The group was only in the truck for about five minutes and then they left. We were not allowed to take pictures and only ones taken were by people form MPL communications. It was later learned that McCartney had only heard of the idea after the concert and was all for it. The people running the tour were just being very protective and hesitant.

After McCartney and company left the truck, I climbed into the cab to drive out. The big door opened and I saw about 50 other fans standing outside to get a glimpse of McCartney as he left. All they saw was us. The Peaches people in the crowd, who had just seen the show, cheered loudly because they knew we had succeeded.

We parked the truck outside to give the cement about an hour to set and dry. During this wait, two limousines pulled out and we all waved. It was dark and we could not see inside the cars. The cars sped off.

However, then a smaller door of the building opened up and Jimmy McCulloch walked out. He came to the truck and climbed in to see the results. They had turned out just fine. He chatted for awhile with us and then left. It was over.

What a day it had been! I knew I had really met McCartney and talked to him. It was hard to believe and it took a long time to soak in. I was in heaven that night. It really dind't matter that I had met the members of Wings. What mattered was that I had met one of the Beatles. Nothing else was important.

Unfortunately, Beatlefan online had a very sad footnote to this story:

The first of the now-defunct Peaches chain's superstores, located on famed Peachtree Street, had a display of hand prints and autographs in cement left by visiting performers, and McCartney and Wings did the honors (though the cement was taken to them; they didn't come to the store) on May 19, 1976. The Wings prints occupied the prime place of honor outside the front entrance to the store, which closed six years later. Unfortunately, a dispute between the owners of the property and the last owners of the store resulted in the decision to destroy the collection of stars' prints, which were sledgehammered into little pieces, some of which were carried away by fans.

I love how the fan in the bottom photo is wearing a Paul button badge of the top fan photo. Awesome!

Mystery?

What is this paper thing that John has in both of these photos???

Sara the Beatle fan

While digging through some Beatles stuff tonight I found this photo from my local newspaper, The Alton Telegraph, from 1995. It is me being the first person in my town to buy the Beatles Anthology 1 on Cd! My mom is standing in the background and you can see that Iam wearing a Beatles Live at the BBC T-shirt. This made me smile and laugh and I just felt like sharing it.

Pulling Strings

I re-located this article about John Lennon's 39th birthday party today. I have had it in my collection of "Beatles stuff" for a really long time. I got it from this computer system they had when I was in college, where you could get old magazine articles printed out on any subject. So I put "Beatles" in a hit print and got hundreds of articles.

Anyhow...this was written by Bruce Edwards Hall and was originally published in American Heritage magazine in the Feb/March 1994 issue. While I do not doubt that Mr. Hall is a Lennon fan, I find it amusing that he does not remember the date (yeah John and Sean's birthday are well known) and that he claims that Yoko was naked and in London during the bed-in! LOL!

The photos I have included are from the event, including one of Sean watching this very puppet show! They came from the Fred Seaman book.

Pulling Strings

I no longer remember the exact date; I can only recall the stark terror of the event. Sometime during the fall of 1979, my employer summoned me to the studio for an emergency rehearsal. I was working as a puppeteer for a little, old-fashioned Manhattan-based marionette theater that performed sweet, beautiful, but somewhat shabby Victorian versions of popular fairy trades in grade schools around the country. My original intention on graduating from college was to move to New York and support myself as an actor at any cost, but this had been the closest I could get. The director was a charming yet hot-tempered Italian with a taste for opera. Long years in the business had left him with no patience with young aspiring actors who didn’t know a shoulder string from a leg bar and whose dreams of staring on Broadway made them reluctant to get up at six o’clock every morning t drive to Long Island for the umpteenth performance of Puss n Boots. Periodically, when another title from the repertory was called for, we would haul our decades old puppets, set, and sound equipment to be subjected to two or three days of manic rehearsal before being dumped into a beat-up old van to start what would inevitably turn out to be a disaster-prone school tour. The vans broke down. The sound systems short-circuited. Prince Charming’s head always fell off as he bends over to kiss the princess. One day, a puppet moose burst into flames during a performance when he was backed into a hot lighting fixture. We rushed offstage, dunked him in a nearby toilet (the only water available), and went on with the show. That charred old moose continued to reappear in puppet plays for years. For all I know, he’s still working.

So it was with this background that my boss wanted me to help him prepare a little show for a birthday party to be held at Tavern on the Green in two days’ time. We both hated working parties and neither one of us wanted to go to any special trouble, so we grabbed whatever familiar puppets we saw on the shelf, spliced together a tape of some musical numbers we knew, and created a very ad hoc marionette revue. After all, it was only a birthday party. We could wing it, just like we always did.

On the appointed day, I drove our old Dodge up to the doors of the famed eatery and we started to unload into a large and sunny private dining room. There were a number of other high-class party entertainers present, as well as a sumptuous buffet that bespoke a very fancy do. My boss was in an especially irritable mood and we had a lot of equipment to set up, so I didn’t pay too much attention to our booking agent as she schmoozed with the roomful of performers and staff.

You know who this party’s for, don’t you?” she asked importantly. I was busying being yelled at as I tried to screw two pieces of the stage together, so I answered her somewhat shortly.

“Well!” She chirped, gearing up to put me in my place, “It’s for John Lennon and his son, Sean. They’re both celebrating their birthdays today, so Yoko Ono is giving them a party. Oh, everybody will be here, Yoko’s mother and….” And on and on, one famous musical star after another, but I had ceased to hear. The entire substance of my universe had riveted on that one name ---John Lennon. The Beatles. The very demigods of my formative years, and soon here would be their most legendary member, the guru of my generation. I literally felt dizzy as I staggered up to my boss and tried to get his attention.

“Wait! Listen!” I chocked, clutching that screwdriver so tight my knuckles were white. “Do you know who we’re performing for? It’s John Lennon and Yoko Ono!”

“Yeah yeah, so what? Plug up those lights! Get that stage up!”

“But, but it’s John Lennon! It’s the Beatles!”

“Who cares? I just want to get this over with!” He was from an earlier generation. He liked opera. Maybe if it had been Ezio Pinza…

“But you don’t understand! We’re performing for John Lennon! The Beatles! And…and…our show is crap!” Actually, I think I used a stronger word.

The guests started to arrive. Here was Yoko Ono, saying hello and giving us our performance schedule. Yoko Ono! They very one who conducted news conferences while sitting naked with John in a London hotel-suite bed, talking to me! She seemed different, somehow, dressed in a designer suit. Sean Lennon arrived, an adorable four-year old with a mop of auburn hair, shaped in that famous Beatle cut. And there he was –John Lennon, in his trademark little wire glasses, acting something like a big kid, leaping around, taking photographs, thoroughly enjoying himself.

There was food. There were presents. Yoko gave both John and Sean life-sized doll versions of themselves. I wondered where they would put them until I remembered that the Lennon family lived in a zillion-room apartment in the Dakota. Then the guests assembled themselves in polite audience fashion as a signal for the entertainment to begin, and my heart stood still.

First there was a clown in full regalia. He made balloon animals. He told jokes. However, unlike other party clowns, he was good. Very good. The audience showed its appreciation with delighted surprise.

Then there was a magician. His performance was smooth, his tricks unusual. The children and adults in the room were a model of hushed concentration. I had rarely seen so polite a party crowd.

The other acts when through their paces, and all were in top form. The audience oohed, aahed and was wonderful throughout. This seemed a good sign, because last of all was our turn to perform.

From the beginning I knew we were in trouble. Our music tape revealed the haste with which it had been assembled, some numbers far too loud, others barely audible. The set fell down. Every string on every puppet got tangled as we forgot our unrehearsed routines. WE desperately hissed instructions at each other, trying to coordinate our actions in some semblance of professionalism, while that prince puppet’s head tumbled onto the floor.

Not that any of this mattered, as no one was paying attention anyhow. Almost as soon as we began, the adults started talking and the children leapt to their feet and began to run around. Reveling in our discomfort, they grabbed at the puppets and taunted us with catcalls as we gamely tried to get to the end of our program. Yoko gossiped with friends. John took a few pictures and then concentrated on a bowl of ice cream. Only Sean sat in the middle of the maelstrom, solemnly watching our self-destruction.

At long last it was over. We were frantically tearing down the set, anxious to get far away from that place fast, when the maitre d’ came over and told me that John and Yoko would like us to stay for lunch. I paused in my flight and looked longingly across the room. There were the other entertainers sitting down to a glorious spread, and in the midst of them was John Lennon.

“Hey! They asked us to stay for lunch!” I said to my boss, by now in the foulest of foul moods.

“We’re not staying for lunch! I just want to get out of here! Pack those puppets! Where are those boxes?”

“But, but it’s John Lennon! The Beatles!” I pleaded, “The Beatles have asked us to lunch!”

“Who cares? I want to go home! Help me load that truck!”

I had to do as he said because not only was he my boss, he didn’t know how to drive. I was nearly in tears.

It was a little more than a year later when I woke up to that awful news on the radio. For days I watched television images of famous people I had bored into stupefaction at what turned out to be John Lennon’s next-to-last birthday party, and I mourned along with the rest of my generation. Fourteen years later, I’m still a puppeteer, only now I work on television on in film, sometimes with very big stars. But there is one performance that has always stuck in my memory (or should I say, my throat?) and I’ve always wondered if somewhere, in one of the Lennon family photo albums, there isn’t a snapshot or two of a mortified young man holding the body of a puppet prince whose head rolls helplessly on the floor.

Meeting the Beatles offspring

Paul's daughter, Mary, winning an award for PETA in 2005.

A couple of photos of fans with John's youngest son, Sean.

George's look-alike son, Dhani

A fan with John's oldest child, Julian in 1999

I would guess that being the child of one of the Beatles isn't the easiest thing in the world. You would always have to wonder if people wanted to get to know you just because your Dad was a Beatle. The "Beatle kids" seemed to have handled every pretty well. Here are some photos of a few Beatles kids taken by fans.

This fan story was written by David Lustgarten about when he met George Harrison in Los Angeles, California in Los Angeles on May 28, 1983. It originally was published in Beatlefan magazine in the Oct/Nov 1983 issue, so at the time he wrote it his meeting with George had recently occurred.

Of all places to meet a Beatle, I never thought it would be here in Los Angeles. George Harrison rarely seems to be sighted outside of Henley, but I luckily got to talk with him and get his autograph.

My friend Vadom and I were at Second Time Around Records on Melrose Avenue, just three blocks from my house, when around 1:30pm Vadom said to me, "Isn't that the Beatles guitarist?" I quietly said, "shut up" and glanced over to see who he was talking about. I looked at George and I didn't even recognize him at first. He had short, wavy hair, a dark blue fluffy army jacket, jeans and brown suede Nikes with think moonwalker type soles. He looked very spiffy and when I got a clear look at his face I finally knew it was him.

I watched him but two Lenny Bruce albums, "The Sick Humor of Lenny Bruce" and something like "Lenny Bruce Live." He walked out leaving his friend, who I believe was Derek Taylor, buying two shirts -- a John Lennon Rock and Roll shirt and a Pretenders shirt. Taylor was also looking for old Little Richard records on the London label. I believe he might have been buying these things for George. After they left we told our friend who runs the store who he had just waited on and he was amazed. HE didn't recognize Harrison either.

Vadom and I took albums from the store and headed up the street to find George. We walked up Melrose checking in all the sops until we go tot Flip of Hollywood, a huge used clothing store specializing in '50's and 60's type garments. We didn't see him and were going to head home when he seemed to appear out of nowhere and walked out of the store. He was now wearing dark sunglasses and still nobody had recognized him. He was freely walking around alone (I don't know what happened to Derek) and browsing about.

On the corner of Curson and Melrose I called his name twice and he turned around. HE looked very surprised that we recognized him and must have thought it strange that we had followed him down from the record store.

I said, "Thought I recognized you, could you sign these for us?" George looked at us slightly awe-struck and then led us across the corner street and said, "sure."

I asked what he was doing in L.A. and he said, "Just hanging around." HE said he'd just been down in Long Beach. I knew he liked racing and asked, "For the Grand Prix?" He said, "Yeah" I held out the "George Harrison" album and as he signed it he asked, "Why don't you have the new album?" I smiled, "Oh, I got it at home but we just came from the record shop."

"Which new record is it?" he asked. I don't think he believed me. "Gone Troppo," I answered. This seemed to perk him up and he said, "I don't think it's been getting much radio play out here." I said, "No" and he grimaced with disappointment. Vadom handed him the Beatles Rock n Roll Music album that the record store wanted signed and George almost chuckled and said, "You want this signed too, eh?"

We thanked him for the autographs and he smiled and said, "Bye" We watched him continue down the avenue alone to check on some more shops.

George was nice and didn't mind talking to us at all. He looked healthy and had a suntan. Perhaps he'd been to Greece recently. This is one day I will remember forever. It's funny but I even have the pen that he used to sign our albums. Meeting George Harrison was a real dream come true!

Back of the photo

One of the funniest photos I own is this one. I purchased it in 2000 or 2001 at Beatlefest at the dollar photo table. The picture itself doesn't seem to be a fan photo, but it must have made its way around pen pal circles because of what is written on the back.

I think I like the fact that someone wrote "early chesty sweat" better than the fact that they spelled the word "lens" "lense"

Beatle photo pen pal exchangers....I love you!!!!