For the next three weeks every spare minute I had was spent
waiting outside that studio. I cut so
many classes I flunked my math and science courses. I had to go to summer school because of it
(it was worth it). There was a group of about
12 (including me) of us who were there all the time. Allen Crowder really got aggravated with
us. He kicked us out of the hotel so
many times I think he lost count. The
roadies, Stave and Mike, really hated us too.
Sometimes they were really rough when it wasn’t necessary.
Every once in a while there was something out of the
ordinary to amuse the group of regulars.
Like one day this cab drives up and this girl gets out. All she had on was a dirty white
t-shirt. All of a sudden the girl takes
off this t-shirt and she’s standing there naked. Allen Crowder came outside and got her. Someone heard that she used to go out with
Jimmy and she followed him down to New Orleans.
That was just one of the crazy things that happened while Paul was
there.
Every day we’d stare down the same street (we renamed it
McCartney drive) just waiting to see that white Delta 98. You’d be sitting on the ground talking about
the Beatles and you’d hear somebody say, “Here comes Denny.” That meant within the next five minutes, Paul
would come zooming down the street. We always
had about a five minute warning before Denny and the others were coming because
the two roadies would come outside and wait for them to arrive. The roadies were so mean. Paul even told them sometimes to leave us alone. He was always really nice to the fans. Paul would go out of this way to be
nice. Linda would usually go straight
in. Almost every day Paul was asked the
same question, “Can we kiss you?” He’d
always answer with something like, “You don’t want me wife to get mad at me,”
or “Do you want Linda to be jealous?”
But one day Linda was sick so she didn’t come into the studio. It was their second-to-last-day at the
studio. I had never asked Paul if I could
kiss him but I decided this was the best time to ask. After he got out of the car I said, “Can I
please kiss you Paul?” and to my
surprise and delight he answered, “Sure.”
After I kissed him, he was swamped by kisses. You could tell he loved every minute. He was bubbling all over.
The last day that Wings came to Sea-Saint was Friday, Feb.
21, 1975. There were about a hundred
fans there that day. The TV stations did
an interview with Paul the day before and they gave all the information out, so
there were a lot of people that day. It
was so crowded, you could hardly get near him, but after most of the crowd left;
Allen O’Duffy (the engineer Paul had brought with him) came outside. He told us they weren’t leaving town until
Monday night. He wasn’t sure what time
so he told us to give him a ring Monday and he’d let us know. He was so nice. Sunday, the TV news said that Paul had left
earlier that day so that eliminated a lot of people showing up at the airport.
We talked to O’Duffy Monday and he gave us the flight number
and the time the plane was leaving or L.A. We went to the airport not knowing
what to expect. One of the girls that
was with me called her father from the airport and he told her to go talk to
some man because he might be able to help us get into the room where you could wait
for your plane to leave. Well, this man
got us into the room. We sat there with
all the passengers. We didn’t know what
to do. We decided we’d try and act like
we were just normal people but that didn’t’ go off too well. We were so excited – my mind was gone. I had two flowers, one for Paul and the other
for Allen O’Duffy. I wanted to thank
Allen for being so nice. After five
minutes passed and we were still sitting there scared stiff. I thought Linda or Allen might kill us when
they saw us waiting to attack Paul. Anyway,
they all came in the room and sat down right across from us. Allen O’Duffy didn’t even sit down – he came straight
to u and brought Paul and Lidna over to us!
I was just about to hand Paul the flower I had for him when
Linda grabbed it out of my hands (and I mean grabbed!) and said, “Is this for
the lady?” I didn’t know what to
do. I was so shocked I couldn’t believe
she actually did it. She knew the flower
was for Paul. I mean it only had a big
card on it that said PAUL. Paul looked
like he was embarrassed when she did that.
My mouth just flew open. Paul
tried to help the situation out by asking me my name and where I went to
school. He was so sweet. He took the flower from Linda and he told me it
was really nice to give them a going away present. He kept asking us how we got past all the people
without a ticket. I think he thought we
were flying on the same plane as they were at first. We told him we had connections all over the
place! We also said we had a lot of good
photos from the studio, and Linda said she’d really like to have a few. So
Paul told Brian Brolly to give us their address in London and the address of
the hotel they would be staying at in L.A.
Then some man from the airline asked if they’d like to go across the
hall to a private room while the other passengers boarded the plane. We waited outside in the hall. A few minutes later Mike (one of the roadies)
came out with the three girls. He was
taking them to the bathroom. On the way
down the hall to the bathrooms there were some candy machines. Stella started saying she wanted some candy, and
then Heather and Mary said they wanted some too. Mike told them there was no time and they had
to hurry up. Stella started screaming, “I
want some candy!” Mike told her no again
but Stella wouldn’t’ take no for an answer.
She hauled off and kicked Mike smack in the shin. I never laughed so loud in all my life – Mike
was so mean to all the fans; he deserved a good swift kick! He ended up getting the girls candy.
A few minutes later they all came out and started to board
the plane. Paul kept winking at us and
making all these cute faces. I loved it
and I loved him. We kissed Denny, Jimmy
and Joe goodbye. Linda wouldn’t let us
touch Paul. A man from the airline asked
us if we’d like to go on the plane and say goodbye again because the plane wasn’t
leaving for a few minutes, so we all went on the plane. I was too scared to go near Paul and Linda so
I went and told Denny and Jimmy goodbye.
I talked to them for a little white and kissed them goodbye again. Allen Crowder looked like he was going to
have a nervous breakdown when he saw us walk on the plane. I asked Allen if I could kiss him goodbye and
he said yes (I knew Allen had a heart under all those dirty looks he gave
us). We each kissed him about 4
times. He kept saying, “Now stop that,
you’re holding up our plane. You have to
leave.” We just laughed at him.
We finally thanked them once more and got off the
plane. As we were leaving the plane Paul
winked at us. I knew that was probably
the last time I’d ever get to see that wink.
We left the plane and as it took off all I could do was cry. The dream was over. I knew he wouldn’t be back for a very long
time.
The months of January and February will always bring back
happy memories I’ll never forget the
look on his face the first time I saw him
He was so beautiful. I know that
memory will never fade away.
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