Do you wanna know a secret?

 June 5, 1964 - Amsterdam

The Beatles and the Blonde

 June 5, 1964 

Jumping in the canal

 

Meeting the girls in Amsterdam

Always stock the mini-fridge when 1970's Ringo comes to town

Amsterdam

If all is going according to planned, I  will have went on a Beatles tour of the Netherlands and will be heading back to the United States tomorrow.    It is sort of strange saying that since as I type this it is the early morning hours of June 16.      In celebration of the trip I am about to take, but by the time this is posted, I have already taken---here are some snaps of the Beatles canal trip in 1964.   I hope I was able to do this while in Amsterdam!

A line between reporter and fan is blurred

Looks like a Beatles selfie

Fish-eye on a boat

The excitement of the wave

Happy times

Riding in a Beatle boat

I have always enjoyed the photos of the guys riding in the glass boat in Amsterdam.  I think they look really happy and I also think it was a great chance for a lot fans to see the Beatles outside of a concert.   Here are some more photos.

Wooden shoes

Waving on the boat

Just signed on

Ringo in Amsterdam after signing a record contract with Atlantic in 1976.

Tell me what you see

Take a good long look at this photo.  There is so much going on!   We see Paul on stage and most likely 2 other Beatles and a Jimmie on drums are also performing.   But there is also a crowd that is pushing and shoving in the front, a girl getting carried away, a young girl in a wheelchair watching the show and what else?   What other interesting things do you notice in this concert photo?

All the lonely people...

There is George walking the streets of Amsterdam basically all alone.  Where is everyone?   Didn't they hear the news that a Beatle is walking around their city?

August 1972

This is another article (I have several to type up) from the issue #1 (January 1973) of the fanzine by Marie Lacey called "McCartney Lovers and Friends."   It is about some fans who meet up with Paul during his Wings European tour in 1972 and then right after the tour at his home.   What I find the most interesting is this one sentence about how one of the girls was a "baddie" and was known as the girl who threw chocolate mousse in Paul's face.   What?   What happened there?  Why did she do that?   This story was written by Kris Martell who lived in New York City but was staying in London at the time.

 

McCartney’s Lovers and Friends

January 1973

Written by Kris Martell (NYC)

After a lot of disappoints and much confusion, Pat Miller and I were off to see Wings in Holland.  We were not sure if we had tickets or not.  We had called Holland a few times and got different answers every time.  We wanted to go to all of the concerts in Holland, that being Breda, Groningen, Rotterdam and Amsterdam.  After several calls to the Dutch Tourist Office, it seemed that Paul kept changing his mind and cancelled out on a few (Breda included).  With the little money we had, it seemed that Amsterdam would be all we would make.  So, on august 19, Pat and I were lucky and got a KLM flight (stand-by) to Amsterdam.  We were really happy that we got that flight because if we didn’t, a boat that left that midnight was the last resort and that didn’t please us too much!  Everything was so sudden that I left with just a knap-sack on my back and we were off.  We were in the Netherlands by 9:30p.m. and headed for the Dutch Information Center.  They found Pat and I the cheapest dormitory on Kriserstraat, right on the docks (it was beautiful there) for only $2.00 per night, breakfast included.  The next day, we must have walked all over the city, every place from Ann Frank’s house to Rembrandt’s.  But, our first stop was the Concert Gerbou.  Stopping to ask some of the natives for directions, we came upon a group of young people who told us the concert was the night before.  Pat and I just couldn’t get over it, we believe it so much.  He had changed dates so many times right and left, why not Amsterdam as well?  It wasn’t until we had our tickets in our hands that we were happy.  You might say we floated across the city for 7 ½ hours.  We looked all over for his hotel, including Dam Square because we thought that would be the most likely place, but no such luck.  So we walked around the canals, took a boat trip and just enjoyed the beautiful city.  The concert was at 7pm on August 20^th so we got to the Concert Gerbou at 5:30 pm.  Around 6, we saw a little white bus coming towards us to Paul, Linda and the rest of the group, plus Mary, Heather and Stella.  Pat and I were the only visible fans around.  A few technicians were scattered nearby as they were using the Stones Mobile.  Paul came out in his white jacket holding Stella.  Mary was holding onto Denny Laine, and Heather to Linda.  He came right towards us, gave a big smile and said “hello girls” to which Linda turned around and smiled.  By this time, we were both getting a bit spastic!  Pat was totally shocked because her relationship with Paul wasn’t exactly the best (She was one of the “baddies” known for throwing a chocolate mousse in Paul’s face).   Was just so happy because he made it just so personal talking to us.  Well after the concert they all came out to listen to the playbacks in the mobile.  By this time a crowd had assembled but nothing like what I had experienced in Frankfurt.  He came out of the hall, giving the “thumbs up” sign, smiling and wearing sunglasses.  The whole family went into the mobile after him.  We could hear the playbacks from outside.  One of my friends managed to get inside and another of my friends followed.  They were two English girls that had been standing outside his home for all the years that he has lived there.  One of them went over to Paul, who was sitting in a chair listening to the playbacks.  She went over to him to say that she was not going to hang around the house anymore.  Paul seemed very pleased, took her hand and said that it was for the best.  Linda shed a few tears as they left.  It was really a very touching thing, the best way to end off the evening.  Paul must have been very happy, knowing that they had come this far to see him, and then to get in his van and say something like that.  Linda kept saying that she didn’t mind them coming in after a concert like this and talking and they seemed pleased that they had enjoyed themselves at the concert.  In 45 minutes the group came out and went into the white van.  Everybody cheered and Paul gave the “thumbs up” sign again.  The notable bus was absent.  Pat and I got to the airport and slept there for the night.  That was some experience.  I’d never done it before!  But it was great fun and by this time we were on Cloud 9.  I didn’t realize so many people sleep out at airports but half of the departure lounge was full of people.  I’ve got many memories from that night including banging a vending machine at 3am (we were hungry and had no money) then cleaning my feet in the bathroom and then trying to sleep while some janitor vacuumed the airport floor.  But the best memory was the Concert Gerbou!  We got to London the next day, literally exhausted. I slept all day and felt a bit sick.  At 9pm Alf from the Apple Offices came over to our flat and stayed for two hours.  He had his white Rolls parked right in front of the apartment – wonder what the neighbors thought!?!  By the 23^rd I was still sick and sleeping.  Pattie went to the “Godfather” premiere with Neilson.  By the 25^th (Friday) I was well recovered.  We thought that Paul might be coming home.  The concert in Berlin was the night before.  I really had my doubts though; we all thought he’d be going to Scotland for a rest.  Besides myself and my two friends from L.A., there was Harllet Vdo from Germany, Karen from Kansas, Angela, Mirella from Italy and two girls from Georgia that I had met two years ago.  We spent a few hours at #9, when Rosie came out and said that he’d be home “shortly.”  Food arrived, Martha was home, everything looked great!  I still had my doubts from previous experiences.  He was scheduled to come home between 6-7 pm.  We waited all day and never left, just to make sure.  We heard the phone ring and a few times we were so sure that it was Paul calling saying he’d be home in a week or so and not then.  Well at 8pm, the red Lamgerghini came around the corner.  (I still wonder how it got to the airport to meet him).  He got out to open the gate and had on a beautiful yellow and green shirt with his suspenders and tight black pants.  He said, “You know we really don’t like people hanging around the house.”  My friend said, “Well, we just wanted to welcome you home, Paul.”  Paul said, “Yeah, but we don’t like people hanging around the house.”  My friend said “We saw you in concert and it was really good.”  At the time, Paul was down on the ground unlocking the gate and he only half-heard what she said. HE looked up and said, “What?”  My friend said, “We saw the show in Paris and it was great.”  Paul said, “Oh thank you.”  As he was closing the gate, she gave him a letter from one of the English girls and he said, “Oh Ok.”  And “Goodbye.”  While this was going on, my other friend was talking to Linda who was in the car.  We had gotten flowers for her.  My friend gave them to her and said, “These are for you.”  Linda looked a bit surprised and said, “oh.”  Then my friend said “These are for Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Montreux.”  (I had gone to Frankfurt and Amsterdam, she to Paris and Karen to Montreux).  Linda took them and winked!  So did Heather, who had Stella on her lap.  When they went in, we all left, except for the two girls from Georgia.  They waited for Rosie, and walked her to the station.  Rosie said Linda came in and said, “They’re still out there.”  But Paul wasn’t affected by it at all.  Rosie said that they had been having some arguments and things were being thrown around.  She asked us if Linda was really as rich as the papers made her out to be.  She just couldn’t get over the fact that she was from such a well-to-do family.  Rosie also mentioned that the only thing Linda cooked for dinner was soup, some vegetables and sandwiches (all the time). 

Amsterdam airport walk

The guy in the background who is wearing the glasses is what makes this photo for me.  The look on his face is one of just pure awe and amazement.   I love it!

Amsterdam '77

Thanks to Guus (yet again) for sending along these photographs of George Harrison in Amsterdam on February 3, 1977. While they aren't the best quality photos, they still are really neat!