Paul was her first

I stumbled upon this story from last year on The Providence (Vancouver, B.C. newspaper) website.  It is a pretty unbelievable story!   I wonder if she got her photograph signed?  


Would he still hear her, would he heed her, when she's 64 - that's what Tasia Richards wants to know.
Her Paul McCartney story started as a quest for a kiss almost 50 years ago. It's scheduled to end after Paul McCartney's concert tonight at B.C. Place, one way or another.

It's the tale of a teenage girl named Anastasia who in the 1960s schemed for two years how to get McCartney to give her her very first kiss, and who now, for the final chapter, just wants Macca to sign a photo taken in 1966 of him and her husband J.J.

"The two men in my life," she said. "If it's not meant to happen, at least I can say I tried.
"If I don't get this picture autographed in Vancouver, I stop trying.
"This is the stop."

It's counter-intuitive for the Sechelt resident to give up.
Her 1966 virgin kiss with the cute Beatle taught her that if you want something bad enough, you go after it, that nothing is impossible.

It's the drive that propelled her in the 1980s to patent rainproof lawn signs and make a tidy sum selling them to political parties in Canada and the U.S.

She approached her teenage kissin' mission with the same entrepreneurial spirit.
When it was announced the Beatles would play Toronto in 1964, a 16-year-old Richards and a friend set up camp at Maple Leaf Gardens on a Sunday. Tickets went on sale four days later.
Her parents went ballistic, no matter. By the time the wicket opened, the lineup behind her, like an iPad debut today, went down the block and around the corner.

When the September concert arrived, she and her Fab Fan friends waited for the Beatles at Toronto's King Edward Hotel.

In the chaos that ensued, Richards found herself inside a police line and managed to grab McCartney's tie as he darted, a Hard Day's Night style, out of a limo.

A short, comedic tug of war ensued, after which Richards made a life-altering decision: Quit trying to get a piece of McCartney's clothing and figure out how to get him to give her her first kiss.
"As I let go, I made that promise to myself," she said. "Why I made that promise, I don't know. I still don't. I just did."

In 1965, the Beatles returned to Toronto and she put her plan into action.
"It took me seven months to figure out how to get in for the 1965 press conference," she said. "You couldn't sneak in, you had to have a pass.

"It wasn't easy, but I conned my way in."
That got her her first non-confrontational face-to-face with McCartney.
When a Toronto twin-bill matinee and night show was announced for 1966, with a press conference in between, she was ready.

"By this point, I knew how to get into the press conference," she said. "It was easy."
She asked McCartney for an autograph, but neither he nor she had a pen.

It's complicated, but that led to her being invited up to the Beatle's suite at the King Eddie.
L o n g s t o r y s h o r t , s h e a n d McCartney excused themselves and wound up having a long talk about religion, philosophy and life in general in a private room.

The only furniture was a bed. It took a while for the light to go on inside her head, but eventually she finally explained to him what she was after, once she figured out what he was after.

She got her first kiss - "'Lesson No. 1,' Paul said, 'you put your arms around me; Lesson No. 2, look up,' and he lifted my chin; 'And Lesson No. 3, kiss me,' and I just about fainted."

And that, she said, was that. Richards knows it's a far-fetched story. Even her good friends raise their eyebrows. But now in her mid'60s, she doesn't care anymore what anyone thinks.

Countless attempts to get the photo of hubby J.J. and McCartney autographed through official channels have come up empty.

So this is her last hurrah. If not Sir Paul, while drinking tea and enjoying morning crumpets with The Sunday Province in hand, maybe someone from the On The Run entourage will see this story, point it out to McCartney and perhaps a way will be found to finally get that signature.

"I know in my heart Paul would autograph it, if he could just see it," Richards said.
McCartney's latest album is Kisses From the Bottom. Maybe it's a sign, though she hadn't considered that.

McCartney, she said, asked her: How could you feel so strongly about a person you've never met?
"Forty-six years later, I still don't have any answer."

It's conceivable he'd remember a girl who only kissed and just now tells - there can't be too many of those in his groupie-filled life.

She realizes telling her story can make her look foolish. She realizes getting McCartney to sign the photo today is the longest of long-shots.

"If it's not meant to happen, at least I can say I tried," she said. "But if it wasn't for Paul, I wouldn't have met my husband."

gordmcintyre@ theprovince.com
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For the unlikely but true story of how Tasia met her husband through Pau McCartney, go to theprovince.com

Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/entertainment/Paul+McCartney+first/7606857/story.html#ixzz2Mj9QD6YL