The Penny Lane Barbershop

 

I recently heard that the Penny Lane Barbershop in Liverpool is currently closed.   I have heard two stories. The first is that the lease ran out and the woman who was renting it could no longer afford it.   The second story was that the hairdresser that owned it had retired.    Either way -- it is currently sitting empty.  I hope that another hairdresser moves in soon!  

Dad's birthday bash!

Marching with Macca

Macca wave

Just crossing the street

High Kicks with Macca

Who Cares?

Obviously I do!   Love this photo!

An important stance from a friend

Thank Paul!

Japanese fans meet Paul and Nancy

Channeling his inner school boy

Halloween in Japan

October 31, 2018 

Paul has gone LooneyTunes!

There is a new promotion going on.   If you buy the CD or vinyl of Egpyt Station, you have a chance to be entered in to a contest to win one of 20 lithographs of the Cavern Live signed by Paul McCartney.    If you look at the one in the middle, he signed it "James Paul McCartney," so that would be extra awesome to win.

However ---  why wasn't this offered, I don't know, before we all bought the album?    It has already been at #1.  Is this how he plans on getting it back on top?   Everyone that already bought the album will buy it a second time to have a chance to win his autograph?   

A company named "Looney Tunes" is offering this promotion --  and frankly, that is what I think about all of this -- it is looney!!    Will I give in and buy another copy and try to win??   hmmmmm?????

https://ltcds.com/paul-mccartney-and-the-greatest-contest-in-looney-tunes-history/

Not the best thing that happened to me yesterday....

All photos by Madix Photography 

Soon-to-be newlyweds Jen Roscoe, 39, and Steve Gregg, 38, were having their wedding photos taken along Winnipeg's Waterfront Drive on Saturday afternoon when Paul McCartney — still in the city after a Friday night concert — rolled up on a bicycle.
"He went by on the bike … and he said congratulations as he rode by and Steve said 'that was Paul McCartney,'" laughed Jen about the experience.
But McCartney and the two security guards riding with him were on a path that hit a dead end. So they were forced to turn around and come back to the couple, which wasn't going to let a golden opportunity pass by again."As he was coming back up we said 'hey man wanna photo bomb our wedding?' And he was gracious enough to stop," said Roscoe.
'All everybody's been talking about'
In all, Gregg says the encounter lasted about 20 seconds.
"It was very brief, he shook our hands, said congratulations took a couple quick photos and then they were off," he said.
"We said 'are you enjoying Winnipeg?' he said 'I am' and that was about it."
The meeting was quick but the moment will last for much longer thanks to Roscoe and Gregg having a professional photographer with them to preserve it.
MADIX Photography, who took the pictures, posted the photos to their Facebook page Sunday.
The couple, who were married at a ceremony at Fort Gibraltar later in the evening, say they've been bombarded with questions from curious friends and local media since the photos were posted.
"It's all everybody's been talking about and I'm just like 'we got married yesterday,'" laughed Roscoe.
While they haven't got the photos back from the photographer yet, the couple, who say they like the Beatles but are "not Beatlemaniacs or anything like that" do plan to include a couple of the pictures with McCartney in their wedding album.
"This is was a nice thing on a day filled with wonderful events," said Gregg.
"But certainly not the best thing that happened to me yesterday."

Grandude

I was surprised by the news that Paul is writing another children's book!   This sounds like a fun one -- all about "Grandude" and his magical adventures with his four "chillers."     However -- we have a year to wait until the release.   I hope he does some book signings like he did for "High on the clouds."


Side note:   What is with the backdrops that Paul uses these days?   Are they handmade?

Congratulations Sir Paul!

Wow!  Paul's album Egypt Station is currently the #1 album in the United States on the Billboard charts!    The last time Paul had an album at #1, it was 36 years ago with Tug of War.      Way to go Sir Paul!     You make us proud!   

And way to go us!    Who does he think buys his albums???   

Ringo's tribute to John

I love these photos that have appeared today of Ringo in New York participating in a Bed In staged to help the New York Public Schools.    What I love so much about this is how much love Ringo was showing for John.   Besides getting a photo with a huge smile on his face at a table with a John self-portrait drawing, he was also wearing a pin of the new John Lennon stamp. 

It touches my heart to see Ringo remember his best friend this way. 

Ringo Starr and his All Starr Band - A Concert Review

This  photo was taken by Sara Schmidt  Do not use without permission

I saw Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band in concert on September 7, 2018, at the Fox Theater in St. Louis, Missouri.     This was the 5th time I had seen Ringo in concert, and this was by far the best one I had seen.    The entire band was full of energy, and they all sounded amazing.    There was a wonderful feeling of peace, love, and music everywhere and I believe the band fed off that and gave the audience a performance that won't soon be forgotten.


This year's All Starrs included Gregg Rolle (Santana),   Steve Luthaker (Toto),  Colin Hay (Men at Work),  and Graham Gouldman (10cc).    These rock stars were really well received as they performed their biggest hit songs.    The song, "Africa" is a BIG deal of a song right now, so it was no surprise that was a fan favorite.   "The land down under" was another one that audience enjoyed, especially when Colin Hay started to dance a little jig.    The unsung hero is Warren Ham, who plays every instrument you can think of perfectly.  From saxophone to flute to various keyboard and percussions instruments, Ham nailed it each time.          I enjoyed most of the All Starr's songs.  However, as I have always said, it is so difficult for me to pay attention to the other songs with Ringo playing drums on the same stage.  I find myself staring at Ringo playing the drums and losing track of the song.   

Photo was taken by Sara Schmidt.  Do not use without permission

The main reason for this concert was Ringo Starr, and he also did not disappoint.   Ringo was so full of energy.   His voice sounded really good and pretty strong.    He sang many of his expected hit songs:  Yellow Submarine, It don't come easy,  Boys and Photograph.    I was most pleased to hear him sing his song on the Rubber Soul album, "What Goes On."     Other highlights from Ringo include Don't Pass Me By and You're Sixteen.

The only thing I really found wrong about the show was that Ringo seemed to start on the wrong note on "I wanna be your man" and the first part was out of key.  However -- he seemed to pull it back on track once the other guys started singing with him.   

I know that Ringo's tour is still going on.  If you were on the fence on if you should go or not, I want to tell you that you really need to go.   If you haven't seen Ringo in a long time or never at all, then you especially need to go.    This is a must seen show and you don't want to miss out.

Egpyt Station

Sure it is nice to see a photo of Paul holding his latest album, but what I like even more is that he is standing by his MPL jukebox. 

I met a Beatle...for Real!!!!!!

Blog owner, Sara and her mom, Coral with Ringo Starr September 7, 2018 backstage at the Fox Theater in St. Louis
Copyright belongs to Sara and Coral Schmidt.  Do not use the photo without permission.

I met a Beatle...for Real!!!
By Sara Schmidt (exclusively for Meet the Beatles...for Real)


Dreams can come true.  I always knew that I would someday meet one of the Beatles and I ever gave up hope.   It always annoyed me that I ran a blog about people that met one of the Beatles in person and I never had a story myself (well except when Paul read my sign in Memphis in 2013 -- that was pretty amazing).   

How my mom and I got to meet Ringo Starr is all about money and luck.     Here is a short version of how it came to happen.    Several months ago I saw posted on the facebook page for Ringo's art stating that you can meet Ringo during his next tour.    Since I  already had tickets to see Ringo in St. Louis, I contacted the site and was told that I would get an email with details in early September.   Meanwhile, I went to the Fest in Chicago and talked to the someone at Ringo's art room there and learned that the meet and greets only take place in certain cities on the tour and that St. Louis was not on the list of meet and greet cities, but sometimes exceptions can be made, but it is rare.      It costs money to do a meet and greet with Ringo.  It isn't a free thing, which I know I have written about before.    The deal is that you buy a piece of Ringo's artwork that is autographed by Ringo and you get to meet him backstage for a few minutes and get photos taken.    You get one piece of artwork and two people can meet him.   

I got the email and sure enough St. Louis was not one of the two cities on the list.   Only eight groups of people would be able to meet Ringo on this tour and with St. Louis not on the list, it wasn't likely my mom and I were going to get to do it, but I emailed and asked if an exception could be made just in case.   Long story short, Ringo had to be asked more than once if it would be okay to meet some major fans in St. Louis and he usually just likes to stick with the planned cities, but for some reason, he agreed to meet us!      The concert was on Friday and on Thursday, I still wasn't totally sure if it was going to happen, so I kept it a secret (although if you look back on my Thursday post of the young Ringo I said I was "spending some time with Ringo" which was a mini clue).     


That was HOW it happened, but now let's talk about WHAT happened.    My mom and I were told to stand in the line to get into the theater.  So we got in a very long line that was wrapping around the Fox Theater and stood there, expecting to go in and have our tickets scanned, meet up with the person we were to meet and then wait another half hour or so to meet Ringo.     While in line I get a phone call saying to get to the door that has a lady in a Paul McCartney t-shirt standing out front and have the guard let us in because Ringo was ready for us right now, so we better hurry!     So we practically run to the front of the line and low and behold there are several ladies wearing Paul McCartney t-shirts standing outside the different doors.    I start looking inside and the guard is telling me I have to get in line and wait.   I try to explain through the glass that I was told I was going to be let in.    I am sure he thought "yeah right lady...whatever"  but then I saw the man that was going to take us backstage and he vouched for me.   Thank goodness!

We are rushed through the bag check and ticket scan and before I could even comprehend what was going on, we were rushed through the theater and to the backstage area.    I think I can speak for my mom on this -- we were standing backstage and we were so nervous.   I felt like my heart was beating out of my chest.   Was this really going to happen?    I started to worry about how we would act -- would my mom faint?  Would I cry?    What if I have bad breath from the salad I just ate?   

The Ringo appeared from behind a door and my nerves were a lot less.   He was so friendly.   He said, "I am here to meet you!"   First, he gave my mom a hug.    She said "Oh I guess I have to let go" and we all laughed.  Mom had dreamed of hugging Ringo since 1964 and told him how she had been a fan of his since she saw him on the Ed Sullivan Show.   Ringo said, "Oh that can't be -- how old were you then, 6?"   Again we all laughed.   Then he hugged me.   Ringo felt so small, although he was taller than I thought.  I couldn't believe that Ringo Starr gave me a hug.    Then I gave Ringo a copy of my book.    I told him that it was a book a wrote about the Beatles in St. Louis and it talks about all the concerts he has given here as a solo artist as well.    He happily took the book from me and flipped through it.   He saw the photo of his drum kit that I took at the Rock n Roll Hall of fame and said, "there's my old kit."    Then he flipped to a photo of The Beatles playing at Busch Stadium in 1966 and stated, "There I am with the lads."    He really seemed happy.   He put my book inside a trash can.   He must have noticed the strange look on my face because he said, "Oh--there is just towel in there."      I was nervous about giving the book to him.   I didn't want to seem too crazy of a fan, but now I am glad that I did it.   I mean how many Beatles authors can say that one of the Beatles looked at their book in front of them?   Even if Ringo let it behind in St. Louis, at least he flipped through it!

Ringo Starr looking at "Happiness is Seeing the Beatles" book written by Sara Schmidt
Copyright by Sara & Coral Schmidt DO NOT USE THIS PHOTO!

After that, we got our photographs taken with Ringo.    He told us "peace and love" and we said, "Peace and love Ringo."  I told him that we are looking forward to the show tonight and he said something like "enjoy it" and gave us another "peace and love" and left.   

We were then rushed out of the backstage area and out into the lobby where we saw our friends and were freaking out that it all really happened.    We showed them our photographs and gave them both a hug so that they could be the next people we hugged after hugging Ringo. 

It happened fast but yet it was so memorable and is the new highlight of my life.

Lastly, I want to say that I wish each of you were there and could have met Ringo too.  He was so nice to agree to meet up and was just so nice to us.    You read that Ringo isn't very nice and all sorts of stuff about his personality, but for the five minutes or so we spent with him -- he couldn't have been nicer.    I think he really loves his fans, but gets tired of the fame.     

I will review the concert on Wednesday and share my concert photos then.    If you have any questions feel free to ask, although I don't really want to talk any more about how I got to meet him.   I would rather focus on meeting him, because that is a much more exciting thing to talk about.

PEACE AND LOVE!

Freshen Up

Anyone else survive the stress of ordering Paul McCartney tickets this morning?   I tell you what -- if someone was checking my blood pressure throughout the whole ordeal, I bet it was sky-high.    But I managed to score tickets for Lexington and Moline.   The sad thing is that I have to wait 9 months to use them!

And for the record, I think "Freshen Up" sounds like a slogan for female hygiene products and not for a Paul McCartney tour.