By himself

A photo taken during one of the rare times in Paul McCartney's adult life when he wasn't involved in a serious romantic relationship.

That time when Paul tried to form a barbershop quartet....

At the Love Shack

Paul with the B-52's during the PETA Millennium Concert in 1999

Pride of Britain Awards 1999

Paul attended this award program on May 21, 1999--he accepted an award in Linda's memory that night.

A Memorable Visit to Henley (repost)

Miss Tammy at the amazing Beatles Photo Blog was looking for this story, which I had posted way back during the blog's first year. I felt like it was time to repeat the story because it was such a good one.   

When I have spoken about this blog at various places, I often get asked the question about which Beatle was the kindest to the fans.  And people are shocked when I tell them "George" because George has this reputation for being a bit of a grump and hating fame and recognition.  While it is true that George disliked the lack of privacy and the mania that came with being a Beatle, we have seen over and over again that George was the first one to stop and talk to the fans and even invite them into his home.     This story from 1999 shows that George's loving heart toward his fans continued even later in his life. 

A memorable visit to Henley-on Thames

By Javier Estrach

Originally published in the Oct/Sept 1999 Issue of Beatlefan magazine

On holiday in England, my wife and I decided to go to Henley-on-Thames for a couple of days just to try to see George. We were sure that it would be almost impossible, but we’d try anyway.

We got to Friar Park on May 23 in the afternoon without a clear idea of what we could do but wait.  We took pictures of the house for a while, and we waited for, I don’t know, how long.  We were going ‘round and ‘round until a few minutes later, we decided to walk by the street beside the stockade on the right side of Friar Park.

So we walked away from the main gate.  After a few minutes, we heard a noise in the woods inside the estate, a sound like footsteps on dried leaves.  We looked over our shoulders and saw a man standing very quietly in the shadows watching us (we were talking Spanish, a foreign language to him, so I suppose that called his attention).  We recognized this very familiar silhouette.

So I started calling him:  “George! George!” Then he said very quietly, “Huh? Who’s there?” 

“George, we come from Argentina just to try to see you.  We have a present for you from our country.  Please, could you give us just one minute?  Please, just only one!”

“What kind of present?”

“It’s a T-shirt.  It’s for you, George.”

“But I don’t’ want a T-shirt.”

“Why not?   It’s a nice one! (I think he wasn’t so sure about us or what kind of people we were).

  Then I reminded him about another present that I sent him earlier in the year.

“George, some months ago, I sent you by mail from Argentina a Juan Manuel Fangio video (the old F1 car racer).  Do you remember?  I know you received it because a couple of months ago, I received from your office this badge and card as a response.  Please, George, give us just one minute.  Please!”

Then he smiled and said the magical words:  “OK, go down to the gate.”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah, go down to the gate.”

I can’t describe it—it was simply one of the most emotional moments of our lives. We were almost running to the gate, and I was thinking, “I can’t believe it! It’s true! I’m not dreaming! I’m here!”

Of course, we got to the gate first, so we had time to calm ourselves.  Within a minute, we could see one of those little electric golf carts coming, approaching the gate.  It was him!  He got out of the cart with a big smile on his face, and we said, “Nice car, George.”

“Yes it is.”  Then he opened a smaller gate beside the big one and shook our hands (terrific!).  We were thrilled and knowing that we were living one of the greatest experiences of our lives.

He was dressed in jeans, white T-shirt, plaid shirt and a dark red jacket.  He looked healthy and had a light, maybe 10 days’ beard, goatee-style.

We started telling him how important he is to us and how important he has been through the years for us; not only his music but his words and his way of thinking and that we learned to be better people because of him.

He smiled and said, “Thank you very much.  Thank you for listening.  Many people hear stupid music now, music without any sense.”

Then we were talking about the video that I sent him earlier in the year and the “Ohm” badge and the card that he sent me back and he told me that sometimes he prefers to send something better than a simple autograph and that the Ohm and the Swami Sivananda’s words help people feel better inside because everyone is special and that we were.

Then smiling he asked jokingly, “How is Gardel?” (A famous Argentinean tango singer)”

And we responded, “Every day he sings better!  It’s an old saying our country.”  He smiled. 

Then we gave him the T-shirt and he looked at it very carefully and he asked us what the drawing was on it.  We explained that it was a drawing of one of the main streets of – and he added, “Ah!  Buenos Aires?”

“Yeah, very good George!”

“Thank you very much, but you don’t need to give me anything.”

“We know but we live very far away from here and this is just a way for us to feel a little bit closer to you.”

“OK, thank you.”

I reminded him about another little present I sent him.  “Did you receive the magnet that I sent you for your birthday?”

“For the fridge?”  He said, laughing.

“Yeah, that one.”

I sent him a little magnet and he’s got it on his fridge!  After talking with him for awhile, we apologized if our English wasn’t as good as we would like; we were a little bit nervous.

But he said, “Don’t worry. Your English is very good. You speak much better English than I Spanish.”

He asked how long and where we were staying in Henley and what places we had been visiting in Europe.  He laughed when he told him that we went to Hamburg and we talked about the Reeperbahn and the Grosse Freiheit.

“That was a long time ago.”

We talked about the similarity between the “red light district” in Amsterdam and the one in Hamburg. But the most important point is that he was comfortable with us and always smiling.

He asked us what life was like in Buenos Aires.  “I’ve never been to Argentina.  I’ve only been to South America when I was in Brazil many years ago.”

“Yeah, we remember.  It was in Guaruja with Emerson Fitipaldi in 1979.”

“Yeah, Emerson is a good friend of mine.”

Then, in the middle of our chat, I asked him, “What about your health?  How are you now?”

“Oh, fine, thanks. I was in America for a lot of tests, and the doctors said I was OK.  Papers are always saying a lot of silly things, but I am fine.”

After all that time at the gate of his house, we felt it was time to start to say goodbye.  We asked for just one minute and he was very nice and gave a lot more.  But first we asked if we could take a picture with him.  “Because our friend won’t believe us, George.”

“Oh yeah, sure.  One picture with each one.”

So my wife, Silvia took my photo with him first.  When I was ready to take the picture of him with my wife, I don’t’ know what happened but the automatic camera didn’t work!  I tried two more times but without any luck and George says, “There’s no more film in the camera.”

“No George, the film is OK.  I don’t’ know what the hell is going on!”  So he very kindly took a look at the camera.  He pressed the red button and –magic!  It worked (He took the best picture of my wife’s feet).  So I took the camera again and attempted to take the picture but again, the camera simply didn’t work.

“I can’t believe it George!”

And he said joking “There are no good photographers these days.”

Fortunately, we had two cameras with us so I used my old ‘60’s Asahi Pentex and this time I took one of the quickest photos of my life with that camera.

Now finally it was time to say goodbye.  He shook our hands I couldn’t help my impulse so I embraced him strongly and he embraced me very warmly.  He and Silvia embraced and George gave her a kiss.

And so matchless was this moment for us, I said to him, “For you, this is maybe one very little moment in your life, but not for us.  This is something that we’ll never forget in our whole life!”

“Oh!  Isn’t that too much?”

“No, it isn’t at all.”

“OK.  Thank you.  Bye-bye.”

“Bye George!  Take care!”

He went back inside, closed the small gate and just before getting into the golf cart, he turned around with our gift in hand and said thank you again.

“Thanks to you!”  We said and we could see the cart moving way into the woods.

the Beatles at Jersey Shore

August 31, 1964 -- The Beatles and Al Black at his home.  photo by Richard Black

Al Black re-connected with Ringo in 1999 and shared the photo with him.

Here is part of an article about the Beatles in Atlantic city with security officer, Al Black.   Click here to read the entire report.

When the Rolling Stones came to town George Hamid  Jr. picked them up at the airport in his convertible and drove them to the boardwalk where he bought them hot dogs and pizza, and hardly anybody recognized them. He couldn’t do that with the Beatles.

By August the Beatles had continued to feed on their skyrocketing popularity and were to be met in Atlantic City by thousands of screaming fans, mainly teenage girls with high pitched voices, so they required special security to keep them safe from the unruly crowds.

Hamid grew up in a circus family so he was used to this sort of thing, and to handle this problem he turned to Al Black, an Atlantic City private eye in the best Sam Spade - Peter Gun tradition. The son of a policeman, “Big Al” was a former marine, around the island swimmer, and later a central figure in an undercover sting operation. A TV detective show with Brian Dennehy - “Big Shamus, Little Shamus,” was based on Big Al’s exploits.

Getting the Fab Four to their gig and then to their hotel with thousands of screaming fans blocking the streets was certainly a big chore, but not for Al Black. Keeping the Beatles on time, safe and secure was something that Al Black could do, with a lot of help from the Atlantic City Police Department.

The police thought they had their hands full with demonstrators during the Democratic Convention, but this was more difficult, as thousands of hysterical teenage girls can be more dangerous than terrorists.

Robert Palamaro, a former AC motorcycle policeman recalls today that, “I was detailed to them, and we brought them in inside a bread truck.”

Palamaro says that, “Al Black was the one who put it all together. His father was a policeman, a detective and a truant officer when I was in school.”

Palamaro got friendly with Al Black, who was also pals with Palamaro’s father-in-law Skinny D’Amato, owner of the famed 500 Club. Since Palamaro married Skinny’s daughter Paula Jane, and served as Sinatra’s bodyguard, he is loaded with fantastic stories and celebrity photos, including one of him with the Beatles.

Assigned to the Beatles security, patrolman Clifton recalled the Beatles arriving in a limo. “We arrived at 5 p.m. the night of the show and at least 1,000 fans lined Pacific Avenue, the street that fronts the stage door entrance to Convention Hall. We were told that the motorcade with the Beatles would arrive at 6. During that hour we watched the crowd in the street grow larger. About 5:45 we were alerted the caravan was en route, barricades were moved into position, creating a passageway from the curb to the stage door. When the crowd saw this happening, it was their cue to move into a better position…In an instant, hundreds of people made a rush across Pacific Avenue, oblivious to moving traffic, concerned only with getting closer…The Beatles were coming…The crowd moved as one, like a great wave of humanity, pushing, showing, straining to see, holding cameras up over their heads, hoping to be lucky enough to get on decent shot. As the limousine pulled up to the curb, an eager fan jumped in front of it, only to be pinned at the knees, caught between the front bumper of the limo and the rear bumper of a police car stopped in front of it….The car door opened and out came the Beatles, wanting to smile, wanting to be friendly. The crowd made its move, rushing forward to greet them. For their own safety each young man was surrounded by police officers. Paul McCartney, the last Beatle to exit from the limousine, was practically shoved through the single opened door that led into the building. The crowd continued its surge and in order to restrain them, police officers picked up the wooden barricades and charged into the mob of people. Finally, the stage door was closed and bolted.”  

The Beatles were in the building.

                                                     

Al Black took the Beatles back to his home for this little-unknown trip

But the Beatles weren’t out of town yet. Al Black had them in the back of the truck so he took them home, to his house at 1112 Bay Drive in West Atlantic City to meet the family and some of the neighbors.

Al Black’s daughter Donna, who now runs the Black security service, was only a child who sat on the shoulders of a neighbor when the Beatles visited the Black’s home. A few photos were taken, but only one survives.

Donna Black recalls, “My babysitter was among the throngs at Convention Hall, and was really upset at missing the Beatles at my house.” But some of the local neighbors came by and the lads from Liverpool got a taste of the real Atlantic City while they were here.

The pit stop in West Atlantic City isn’t mentioned in the Beatlesbible chronicle that says they continued on their Jersey Shore journey: “2:15 pm left Lafayette Motel–Hotel in fish truck which took them to their tour bus, which took them to Cape May where they stayed at the Lafayette Hotel.”

Both Lafayette hotels, the one where the Beatles stayed in Atlantic City and the one in Cape May, were named in honor of the French hero of the American Revolution - Gen. Marquis de Lafayette, and neither are standing today. Although no one today seems to recall them being there, records indicate the Beatles stayed in Cape May for the two days, a short hiatus before their September 2nd show in Philadelphia, when they had to get back on the Beatlemania bus.

Session Men

Paul with some of the musicians who played with him on Run Devil Run

A French horn jam session.   Really I have no idea, but I like Paul's casual look a big smile in this photo.

Macca 1999

One of my favorite Beatles blogs is WogBlog, which I check daily for Beatles information. The person behind the blog is Roger, who posted this photo on facebook and was kind enough to translate it for me to post here. All I can say is that Paul is always welcomed to eat cheese sandwiches at my house if he comes to town!

Following the death of Linda, Paul McCartney made a surprise visit to Norway in February 1999. He stayed for a few days, visiting the Norwegian branch of EMI and dined with a couple of the Norwegian artists in their stable. He was residing at the Grand Hotel in Oslo, and I spent a number of hours standing outside, without getting to see him. One of the days, he wanted to go horse riding, and an EMI staff member arranged for him to borrow a horse and accompanied him to the Lørenskogen farm in Maridalen.
Inger-Lise Lørenskogen (66) remembers it well.
– A very nice, down to earth person! We had heard that he might come to visit, but it was very hush hush! Then he just showed up one day and got himself a nice ride on the horse that I used to ride at the time. He also enjoyed a couple of cheese sandwiches in my kitchen.

George at the flower show

George looked really good at the Flower Show in 1999!

A Memorable Visit to Henly-on Thames

I think this is a beautiful story of two fans meeting George in 1999. This is the last story of a fan meeting George that I know of before he sadly passed away in 2001. What I especially love about this story is that it reminds me of some of the fan stories from the 1960's where they ring George's doorbell and spend some time chattng with him and getting pictures. We often think of George as semi-recluse, especially after John's death. So I find this to be a refreshing story of George meeting his fans. Enjoy!

By Javier Estrach
Originally published in Oct/Sept 1999 Issue of
Beatlefan magazine

On holiday in England, my wife and I decided to
go for a couple of days to Henley-on Thames just to try to see George. We
were sure that it would be almost impossible but we’d try
anyway.

We got to Friar Park on May 23 in the afternoon without a
clear idea of what we could do but wait. We took pictures of the house for
awhile and we waited for I don’t know how long. We were going ‘round and
‘round until a few minutes later, we decided to walk by the street beside the
stockade on the right side of Friar Park.

So we walked away from
the main gate. After a few minutes, we heard a noise in the woods inside
the estate, a sound like footsteps on dried leaves. We looked over our
shoulders and saw a man standing very quietly in the shadows watching us (we
were talking Spanish, a foreign language to him, so I suppose that called his
attention). We recognized this very familiar silhouette.
So I started
calling him: “George! George!” Then he said very quietly, “Huh? Who’s
there?”
“George we come from Argentina just to try to see you.
We have a present for you from our country. Please, could you give us just
one minute? Please, just only one!”
“What kind of present?”
“It’s a
T-shirt. It’s for you George.”
“But I don’t’ want a T-shirt.”
“Why
not? It’s a nice one! (I think he wasn’t so sure about us or what
kind of people we were). Then I reminded him about another present that I
sent him earlier in the year.
“George, some months ago, I sent you by mail
from Argentina a Juan Manuel Fangio video (the old F1 car racer). Do you
remember? I know you received it because a couple of months ago, I
received from your office this badge and card as response. Please, George,
give us just one minute. Please!”
Then he smiled and said the magical
words: “OK, go down to the gate.”
“Oh really?”
“Yeah, go down to the
gate.”
I can’t describe it – it was simply one of the most emotional moments
of our whole lives. WE were almost running to the gate and meanwhile I am
thinking, “I can’t believe it! It’s true! I’m not dreaming!
I’m here!”
Of course, we got to the gate first so we had time to calm
ourselves. Within a minute, we could see one of those little electric golf
carts coming, approaching the gate. It was him! He got out of the
cart with a big smile on his face and we said, “Nice car, George.”
“Yes it
is.” Then he opened a smaller gate beside the big one and shook our hands
(terrific!). We were thrilled and knowing that we were living one of the
greatest experiences of our lives.
He was dressed in jeans, white T-shirt,
plaid shirt and a dark red jacket. HE looked healthy and had a light,
maybe 10 days’ beard, goatee-style.
We started telling him how important he
is to us and how important he has been through the years for us; not only his
music but his words and his way of thinking and that we learned to be better
people because of him.
He smiled and said, “Thank you very mu8ch. Thank
you for listening. Many people hear stupid music now, music without any
sense.”
Then we were talking about the video that I sent him earlier in the
year and the “Ohm” badge and the card that he sent me back and he told me that
sometimes he prefers to send something better than a simple autograph and that
the Ohm and the Swami Sivananda’s words help people feel better inside because
everyone is special and that we were.
Then smiling he asked jokingly, “How is
Gardel?” (A famous Argentinean tango singer)”
And we responded, “Every day he
sings better! It’s an old saying our country.” He smiled.
Then we gave him the T-shirt and he looked at it very carefully and he asked
us what the drawing was on it. We explained that it was a drawing of one
of the main streets of – and he added, “Ah! Buenos Aires?”
“Yeah, very
good George!”
“Thank you very much, but you don’t need to give me
anything.”
“We know but we live very far away from here and this is just a
way for us to feel a little bit closer to you.”
“OK, thank you.”
I
reminded him about another little present I sent him. “Did you receive the
magnet that I sent you for your birthday?”
“For the fridge?” He said
laughing.
“Yeah, that one.”
I sent him a little magnet and he’s got it on
his fridge! After talking with him for awhile, we apologized if our
English wasn’t as good as we would like; we were a little bit nervous.
But he
said, “Don’t worry. Your English is very good. You speak much better English
than I Spanish.”
He asked how long and where we were staying in Henley and
what places we had been visiting in Europe. He laughed when he told him
that we went to Hamburg and we talked about the Reeperbahn and the Grosse
Freiheit.
“That was a long time ago.”
We talked about the similarity
between the “red light district” in Amsterdam and the one in Hamburg. But the
most important point is that he was comfortable with us and always
smiling.
He asked us what life was like in Buenos Aires. “I’ve never
been to Argentina. I’ve only been to South America when I was in Brazil
many years ago.”
“Yeah we remember. It was in Guaruja with Emerson
Fitipaldi in 1979.”
“Yeah Emerson is a good friend of mine.”
Then in the
middle of our chat, I asked him, “What about your health? How are you
now?”
“Oh, fine, thanks. I was in America for a lot of tests and the doctors
said I am OK. Papers are always saying a lot of silly things, but I am
fine.”
After all that time at the gate of his house, we felt it was time to
start to say goodbye. We asked for just one minute and he was very nice
and gave a lot more. But first we asked if we could take a picture with
him. “Because our friend won’t believe us, George.”
“Oh yeah,
sure. One picture with each one.”
So my wife, Silvia took my photo with
him first. When I was ready to take the picture of him with my wife, I
don’t’ know what happened but the automatic camera didn’t work! I tried
two more times but without any luck and George says, “There’s no more film in
the camera.”
“No George, the film is OK. I don’t’ know what the hell is
going on!” So he very kindly took a look at the camera. HE pressed
the red button and –magic! It worked (He took the best picture of my
wife’s feet). So I took the camera again and attempted to take the picture
but again, the camera simply didn’t work.
“I can’t believe it George!”
And
he said joking “There are no good photographers these days.”
Fortunately, we
had two cameras with us so I used my old ‘60’s Asahi Pentex and this time I took
one of the quickest photos of my life with that camera.
Now finally it was
time to say goodbye. He shook our hands I couldn’t help my impulse so I
embraced him strongly and he embraced me very warmly. He and Silvia
embraced and George gave her a kiss.
And so matchless was this moment for us,
I said to him, “For you, this is maybe one very little moment in your life, but
not for us. This is something that we’ll never forget in our whole
life!”
“Oh! Isn’t that too much?”
“No, it isn’t at
all.”
“OK. Thank you. Bye-bye.”
“Bye George! Take
care!”
He went back inside, closed the small gate and just before getting
into the golf cart, he turned around with our gift in hand and said thank you
again.
“Thanks to you!” We said and we could see the cart moving way
into the woods.