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."

The Beatles in Canada: A book review

The Beatles in Toronto in 1964 (photo from Tracks)

When we think of the Beatles story,   we think about the impact the  Beatles made in the UK and the USA.    We rarely think about the impact the guys made in Canada, which is a shame because Canada was the first North American country to embrace the Fab 4.

Canadian author, Piers Hemmingsen is working on changing how we think about Canada and the Beatles.   Today I am reviewing his first book, The Beatles in Canada:  The Origins of Beatlemania (also known as the "Red book").   The second volume (the "Blue Book") will be published in the near future. 

This book takes us through the history of rock n roll in Canada and how our neighbors from the north broadcast the new music of the 1950's.    It also ties in the author's personal experience growing up in England and moving to Canada as a child. 

Things really get interesting with Love me Do being played on Canadian radio in 1962.   And while the song didn't make the charts, it did expose the Fab 4 to an entire new group of teenagers.

In 1963, songs like From me to You and She Loves you were hitting the charts and the Beatles were making waves in Canada long before the masses heard them in the U.S.    This book really goes into the charts and explaining how things really got going.

The album that the UK fans knew as "With the Beatles," and U.S. fans knew as "Meet the Beatles," was called "Beatlemania!"  With the Beatles" in Canada.   And by the time this album was released Beatlemania had swept through the entire country. 

I loved all of the little tidbits of information in this book.   I especially enjoyed reading about the Beatle family members that moved to Canada and why they moved there.   I especially enjoyed reading about the the fan clubs they had in Canada in 1963-65.   The largest fan club outside of the UK was the Toronto club, ran by Trudy Medcalf.   The story about how she got the fan club started and how she and her vice-president met the Beatles while they were at the Plaza is such a great story!


The Beatles coming to Toronto on tour is also touched upon as well as the premieres of A Hard Day's Night throughout the country.

The Beatles in Canada is a book that all hardcore fans need to have in his/her library.   It tells new stories and the research is amazing.    This book has been a valuable asset for me personally as I continue to research about the Beatles fan club in North  America.

The man in black