June 29-30, 1969 - John and Yoko travel to Scotland and visit some of John's family members. I always thought Julian and Kyoko looked adorable in their matching outfits.
An online Beatles fan club for and about Beatle fans
Sunday, June 30, 2019
Scottish Holiday
June 29-30, 1969 - John and Yoko travel to Scotland and visit some of John's family members. I always thought Julian and Kyoko looked adorable in their matching outfits.
Bob and Brian
I'm never sure what I think about Bob Whitaker's photos. He had some interesting ideas such as adding himself twice into this photo he took of Brian.
Thursday, June 27, 2019
Close Encounter of the Third Kind
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| Ann and Paul 6/25/75 |
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| Margie and Paul 6/25/75 |
Close Encounter: Of the Third Kind
By Margie Paturzo
The Write Thing
February 1978
It's hard to believe, but it's almost three years since my friend Ann and I met Paul. It was an event that even we found hard to believe, that why we thank God that we were able to get pictures to prove it.
It all began that first day we arrived in England, June 23, 1975. After checking into our hotel room, we took a taxi to Paul's house in St. John's Wood. Upon arriving, we rang the bell and waited. Nothing happened. We later learned that Paul was in Liverpool that day.
Next day we were back again. This time when we rang the bell, something did happen. We heard voices and suddenly the gate opened to reveal Mary, Stella, and Rosie, Paul's housekeeper. Somehow I got up enough nerve to ask Rosie if Paul was home. She replied in the negative. Meanwhile, Mary and Stella stood by her side, curiously looking us over. They were beautiful. I then told Rosie that we knew one of Paul's relatives and we wanted to give him a belated birthday gift. She motioned with her lips to us to return the next day at 12:30. She didn't want the kids to hear her telling us that. Anyway, we thanked her and asked if we could take pictures of the children. She told us no, saying that they tell their father and mother. So, we watched as they walked down the street, headed for the park. Then we left.
The next day we overslept. Typical, right? We got up at 11 a.m. instead of our intended time of 7:30. We rushed around the hotel room getting ready for what was to be the biggest day in our lives. At 12 noon we left the hotel and went to a liquor store to buy Paul a bottle of his favorite wine. We also picked up a belated birthday card. Then we got in a cab and head for "the gates."
We arrived a little early, believe it or not! So, we sat down. Ann on a milk crate and myself on the ground. We watched as people walked in and out through the famous gates. A lot of important businessmen were amongst them, so we figured Paul had to be home.
Finally 12:30 came and I got up to ring the bell. Rosie answers and I explained that we were there the day before and she had told us to come back and all. Well, there were some workmen drilling and stuff across the street from Paul's and Rosie couldn't hear me talking. So she said, "I'm sorry, I can't hear you" and that was it. I went back to Ann, positive that she wouldn't come out to see who we were. All of a sudden, the gate opened and there was Rosie. We ran over to her and showed her the bottle of win and the car, which she took. Then she told us to wait and went back inside. We nervously giggled and tried to prepare ourselves for Paul. After waiting for what seemed like ages, Rosie returned. By this time we were back to sitting on the ground and on his milk crate. She motioned us to get up off the ground, telling us that Paul didn't like to see us sitting there. She then told us that Paul wanted to thank us for the gift, so he was coming out. then she shut the gate.
We were left standing there in shock. When we finally realized what was about to happen, we began to pace back and forth nervously. I kept going over to the keyhole and looking through it, reporting to Ann everything I saw. After a while, we heard a car starting up and coming towards the gate. I looked through the keyhole and saw it coming. Then it stopped and we heard a door slam. We backed away from the gate and stood there, waiting for what was to happen next.
The right side of the gates swung open and lo and behold it was HIM! He looked so good in blue striped grayish colored pants, black velvet slippers and blue t-shirt His hair was in a long shag and he looked so young. We just stood there so he said, "Hi!" as he walked out. What followed I'm putting down in dialogue form.
Us: Hello
Margie: Happy belated birthday!
Paul: What?
Margie: Happy belated birthday!
Paul: Oh, thank you! (He walked over to the other side of the gate and opened it, then came over and stood by me).
Paul: Where are you from?
Margie: The States
Paul (slightly amused) I know that. But where?
Margie: Connecticut...Connecticut (Ann later told me that I repeated that about five times, showing how nervous I was).
Ann: Can I... (She motioned with her camera)
Paul: Why sure! you want her in it too? (He reached over and put his arm around me and mine immediate went around him)
Ann was shaking as she tried to take the picture. Paul must have gotten a kick out of that because he began shaking motions with his hand on my shoulder. By this time, I had tears of joy rolling down my cheeks. Anyway, somehow, somewhere, Ann got up enough courage to say "don't do that Paul."
After she took the picture of me with Paul, I told her that I would take one of her and Paul. I went over and took the camera from her and she went over to stand near Paul. Right at that point, Mary ran out and hugged Paul's leg, something Ann and I were just dying to do! Ann thought for sure that Paul would forget about his picture with her, but he didn't. He gently easies Mary off his leg and reached his arm around Ann, pulling her against him. Ann immediately put a huge smile on her face. for that matter, so did Paul. I must have been shaking too cause he started the shaking motions with Ann the same way he had done with me when she was taking the picture. I almost died, and Ann did too. She said that she could feel his whole body shaking next to hers.
After that, we thanked him for the pictures and he started towards his car. As he was walking (or rather, bouncing) back to his car, Ann yelled out, "Love your new album!" which at the time was "Venus and Mars." He turned back to us and said, "Why thank you!" Linda was in the passenger seat and Joe English was in the back seat by then. Paul pointed to Joe and said to us, "Here's another American. He's from Rochester. Can you believe it? Rochester," as he bounced back to the car. I said, "Who, Joe English?" and he said, "Yeah, Joe English." He was so very pleasant.
Paul got in the car and began to drive slowly out the driveway. We stood there, watching him. When he got to the curb, he stopped to look both ways before pulling out into the street. He waved and smiled at us. Then he pulled into the street, went a little way, turned and waved to us again. Then he was gone.
Rosie was standing there with Mary and Stella as we both burst into tears. Mary and Stella looked at us like we were nuts as we blurted out, "Your father is beautiful!" or something like that. Rosie was smiling and she asked us why we were crying. We told her it was because we were so very happy. Then we told Mary and Stella how beautiful they were. Those eyes, just like Paul's. Then we said out thanks to Rosie and began to walk away, still crying.
It was surely a dream come true. My favorite is John, but I think that if everyone can get to meet one of them, it should be Paul. He is definitely the nicest and easiest to talk to. No matter what, I believe that he does love us. All I can say to him is "thanks" with much love and warmth for that special day in 1975.
Wednesday, June 26, 2019
Preview
June 23, 1969: George comes out and sings "Here Comes the Sun" for the Apple Scruffs (and any other fans waiting at Apple)
Tuesday, June 25, 2019
Double exposure
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| Photos taken by Ringo Starr |
The top photo is one that Ringo shared that he said was on a slide that was damaged. However, I found the same photograph in the magazine that published Ringo's photos in 1964. The top photo is reversed because Paul always wore his ID bracelet on his left arm.
Paul in France
Much thanks to our friend, Ben in France for sending this photo along with this information: Paul McCartney & Gary Brooker, Whisky à Gogo, Cannes, Midem January 1968, France
Monday, June 24, 2019
George Driving Up To His Home
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| Photos by Sil Perrone (September 1977) |
Story by Sil Perrone
The Write Thing
February 1978
It was a beautiful sunny day and just perfect to go to Henely. so we did. Iw as with my friends from Germany and New York. As we approached the big gates we didn't hesitate to go up to the castle. The grounds were green and breath-taking. I couldn't believe how beautiful it really was. When we reached the front I noticed a familiar site. A sign leaned against a tree that was from the film and said "Crackerbox Palace". I was so amused I had to take a picture. There was no one around as far as we could see, so we walked on to find him. The house was another unbelievable sight. Old and mysterious. We turned to our left to see what we could find and as we passed a big window I could see pictures of George in concert and as a little boy with his brother. And a huge black Dark Horse statue was in the middle of the room. A whole room was filled with goodies. I've seen the Dark Horse statue at our L.A. Beatlefest. Then a voice from above was asking us what we wanted. We pleaded with him to just let us see George. I must say we were very nice. It was Kurnar Shankar who lives there and he backed down to our politeness and said he wasn't there. So we all agreed to go away and just be thankful we had come this far.
As we were leaving I heard a voice call to us, "Hello! Hello!" It was Olivia and she didn't seem happy to see us. Again with our charm she backed down and advised us to "go have lunch and come back in two hours, then George will be out." That's when I realized that if we would have made a right instead of a left at the front of the house we would have ran smack into George and Olivia sitting in the sun in their backyard. Olivia had on short embroidered cut-off jeans and a summery blouse. The temp. was about 75 F. She was very nice. I especially liked her because after hearing her California accent it made me feel like home.
So off we went to have lunch at a pretty quaint Henely restaurant. We were looking forward to our excitement. Back at the gates we waited, waited and waited. We began to think we were too late. Then a blue Mercedes came rolling in and I was determined to find out if this guy saw George. It came back out shortly after and I asked. He said yes, George and Olivia were coming out soon in a brown Porsche. Sure enough, it came rolling down his little road and we all got ready. He stopped with a beautiful wide grin and the pictures went snapping. He seemed shy as usual by very sweet and gentle. He wanted to know where we were from and everyone blurted out their city or country. When he hard me say California, he looked right at me and smiled as if to say, "Oh California, nice place!" It warmed my heart so I took his picture. altogether I took 10 close-ups. His hair was curly and shined like gold. He had a denim embroidered Levi jacket and was strapped into his seat, ready to take in the Grand Prix. We hoped he was gonna be careful. I asked him when he was coming to L.A. and he said, "probably October." He didn't lie. But we missed him. Then I asked when he was going to tour again. "Everyone is waiting in the States for you to tour." He looked straight into my eyes and again gave me one of those melting smiles and he seemed to be very happy and flattered to hear that. But he said, "I just can't get into the music right now." I didn't really know why he said that because he can do no wrong with music as far as I'm concerned. As all of this was going on I was on my knees clicking away. George finally drove away and we watched his car go out of sight. I couldn't help but think how sweet of a guy George really is. John is usually the one for me but after seeing George and just getting a taste of his kindness it is hard to separate between the two or four, or whatever.
Sunday, June 23, 2019
A special guest at Friar Park
This photo and story were shared on Instagram by the legendary skateboarder, Tony Hawk.
"We were doing a demo near London during a Bones Brigade tour in 1990 when a kid asked if we’d like to come to his house for dinner. It was an unusual request, but he had confidence and explained that his dad would be excited to meet us. We quickly learned that his name was Dhani Harrison, and his dad was the legendary George Harrison. We agreed, and headed to his place (castle) after the demo. His mom Olivia was a most gracious host, offering us homemade pizza. She proudly gave us a preview of a charity album she organized to benefit Romanian orphans that featured the Traveling Wilburys, who would be recording at their home studio the following day. We were led into the living room where George and Tom Petty were fixated on the World Cup finals. It was surreal. Dhani showed us his room and some of his guitar techniques he had learned from Bob Dylan, who was scheduled to arrive later that night. Dhani and I have remained in contact to this day, and it has been inspiring to see how him forging his own way as a talented musician while keeping the grace and humility of his legendary father."
Thursday, June 20, 2019
Wednesday, June 19, 2019
Tales from the Nosebleed Section of a Paul McCartney concert.
Over the years I have informed you all about my experiences at various Paul McCartney concert events: soundcheck, third row, limo watch, etc. My reasoning was to give fans the information to make the right decisions for them. I have heard of the years that it has been helpful to many fans, and so tonight I am going to explain what it was like seeing Paul in the nosebleed section of an arena.
Paul McCartney concert tickets are expensive. That is a fact that no one can disagree. The tickets at the top of the arena (known to most as the nosebleed seats) cost in the $100 range. There are a lot of people reading this that don't have an extra $100 laying around. When you add up wanting to take your husband and kids or whoever else, it gets expensive really fast. Is it worth buying the tickets in the "cheap" seats just to be there or is it not worth the money?
I saw the Paul McCartney concert in Moline, Illinois on June 11, 2019, from section 204. I was very close to the tip-top of the arena. I have had floor seats and I have had the middle section, but this was my first top tier concert since 2002. The biggest thing I can say is that if you are on the floor, you are PART of the concert. Paul makes direct eye contact with you and those around you. He is reading signs of the people there, you might get on the big screen during Hey Jude, etc. If you are sitting at the top, you are an observer the entire time. There is a big disconnect between you and Paul.
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| "You give me lovin in the palm of my hand..." Photo taken by Sara Schmidt (do not use with out permission) |
It is difficult to get to your seat up at the top. The incline is steep and the stairs are a little frightening for some. The seats are tight together and there isn't much wiggle room (although the same can be said for seats on the floor). Once you get to your seat, it easiest to stay there, but tons of people will be getting up and leaving to get beer throughout the show, causing you to have to maneuver around to let them through.
The folks that are with you up at the top don't seem to be die-hard McCartney fans. They don't react to Wings or solo songs and let's not even talk about the brand new stuff. If they aren't reacting to "1985," then they sure aren't going to react to "Who Cares." The fans down below are doing specific movements during certain songs (Roll it comes to mind, but there are others). If you are doing these things, you are out of place. These people just want to hear Beatles, and not any deep Beatles cuts but the #1 hit songs. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but if you think you'll pull from their energy, you are wrong. That is not to say that there aren't any serious fans up there -- but the majority at my concert were not.
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| Photo taken by Sara Schmidt (do not use without permission) |
The good part is that you can hear Paul no matter where you are sitting. You can also see him (that is as long as someone isn't blocking your view). The big screens on each side of him (and the little ones for those with an obstructive view) make sure that you see him very well. Without those, he looks like a teeny tiny Paul McCartney -- but you can tell without a doubt that it is him. The viewpoint from the top is interesting and one you don't get elsewhere. I could see him entering the stage and other "backstage" stuff going on. You get a very good overview of the stage and the entire band.
If you want to see Paul McCartney and the top tier is what you can afford, I will say that you should go ahead and get them. If you have mobility issues, make sure you get there plenty early because it would be almost impossible to get up the steep steps if you need any assistance with a cane or someone's hand in the dark. You will enjoy the concert and you will see and hear Paul, which is the reason for attending.
However, if you can afford the $150 seats in the first tier, I think you'd have a better time overall. Not only is the view better, but the energy from the fans around you makes the show a blast.
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