On the Wings of a Storm! (Detroit 1976)

 On the Wings of a Storm!

By Pauline McLeod

Daily Mirror

May 23, 1976

    The lead guitarist, Jimmy McCulloch, was slumped against a wall, exhausted, staring into space. Drummer Joe English was chatting with well-wishers. Denny Laine, rhythm guitarist and keyboard man, was playing darts with a couple from the horn section, and in the middle of the chaos, Paul and Linda McCartney were perched on a tabletop, enthusing about America. 

    Wings were coming back to earth in a barely furnished room backstage at the Detroit Olympia. The success of the evening showing on their faces. The 17,000-strong audience had gone wild when the band appeared on stage. They rushed into the aisles, climbed on each other's shoulders, and a stood on the seats. They reached fever pitch and were still screaming for more 20 minutes after the show was over.

     Detroit was the third stop on the band's 31-date tour of the United States and Canada. This tour is McCartney's return to the American stage after 10 years. The last time he was in San Francisco  in 1966 as a Beatle. 

    "Tonight was incredible," he said. "The kids gave us such a feedback that we did not want to finish the show. We are achieving what we hoped for."

     "I think a lot of people came to see Paul the Beatle, even though he's dead and gone, but I feel sure they left the place tonight with Wings on their brains." Linda, his 33-year-old wife, broke off from explaining to an earnest young man that she and Paul are not tax exiles to flash a bundle of snaps of the latest addition to the McCartney household, Lucky Star, an 18-month-old stallion bought in Texas. 

    "We'll be shipping him over to our home in Scotland, and I'll start breajubg him in when we get back," she said. "But that won't be much before the end of June. "

    The whole American trip is rife with rumors that the other ex-Beatles will be joining Paul to do a quick turn. Paul's reaction is to laugh lightly and ask, "What will they think of next?"

     And he said, "I'm not sentimental about it, and thinking, 'oh Christ, but it's not like the 60s.' I've moved on to other things. That period of my life is over, but I don't feel sad about it.

    " I've seen John in New York, and of course I'd love him to come to a concert, but he's not really into that sort of thing now. He wants to stay at home with his family. I don't really think he would feel very comfortable if he was to come to one of the shows, but I understand that entirely and respect him for it. I haven't heard from the other two. I don't know where they are at present."

     On May 24 and 25th Wings play New York's 20,000 seater Madison Square Garden. "What a night that will be with all the Daily Mirror Pop Fan Club there," said Paul. "We'll flood the place with the British."

Linda Hits a Sour Note (1976)

 

Linda Hits a Sour Note

By Peter Senn

Daily Mirror

May 31, 1976

     Jealousy has reared its ugly head in that most harmonious of relationships, the marriage between ex-Beatle Paul McCartney and his lovely wife Linda.

     Linda, who believes avidly that everyone needs love to keep going, was decidedly unromantic when Paul left her table at a party in New York to chat to Jackie Onassis, who was sitting at a table next to theirs. The party was at Madison Square Garden after the mammoth concert that marked McCartney's return to the New York stage.

     Jackie, 46-year-old widow of President Kennedy and Aristotle Onassis, was there with merchant banker Skip Stein when Paul joined them. Linda, in a great show of feminine fury, rose from the table too, and stalked off to talk to friends elsewhere.

     Unfortunately, they asked her the wrong question. What was it like sitting that close to Jackie? Snapped back, Linda. "Jackie? All she's ever done was marry a brilliant man, and I mean Kennedy." Concurred, another woman, even more bitchily, "Come, come, you must admit, she throws spectacular funerals."

     Jackie was oblivious to all the chatter. She spoke briefly to Paul, and then concentrated all her attention back to Stein, knees closed and eyes locked. The new romance is going down big in the United States, and so are the ex-Beatles. Ringo Starr is there, and so is John Lennon. The only one missing is George Harrison.

No Film Starr

 From the Daily Mirror

May 21, 1996 

Macca and Mr. Silence Beatle Off (1990)

 

Photos by Vic Crawshaw

Macca and Mr. Silence Beatle Off

No Writer Listed

Daily Mirror

December 28. 1990 

 Two former Beatles jetted off to America yesterday, and it was easy to spot the difference. Talkative. Paul McCartney could hardly stop nattering about his plans, but George Harrison, the group's quiet one,  didn't say a word. 

    Paul, 48, rushed to Concorde with his wife Linda and three children, saying, "We're going to New York to do  a few bits and pieces this and that, you know, the sort of thing."  He chatted about his oratorio to be performed in Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral in June. "It's going great!"  He mentioned his next album. "We'll be recording it in Britain", and he wondered about another tour. "We may go on the road again!"

     Within hours, George, 47, was leaving the same airport, Heathrow, for Los Angeles, but he kept a strict silence as he headed for his flight with wife Olivia and son Dhani, 11, clearly a hush-hush trip. 

Linda - My Life with a Legend (1973)

 

Linda: My Life With a Legend

By Romany Bain

Daily Mirror

November 29, 1973

    Even after more than four years, Linda McCartney has still not been forgiven for marrying Prince Paul Charming. We've accepted the other Beatle girls (give or take a Yoko), but at 32, Linda still seems to be represented as an interloper, not good enough for our lovely Liverpool lad.

     She's none of these things. She's friendly, sympathetic, and unaffected. She smiles a lot, and her husband adores her. When I met the McCartneys, they were dubbing mouse voices for a TV cartoon film. "Be kind to her. She's nervous and not used to interviews," called Paul as we left the studio.

    The McCartneys are inseparable. "Doesn't it put a strain on a marvelous marriage when two people are together as much as you are?" I asked.

 "You have to have a special understanding," She smiled. "We just feel that it's very important to be together when we are working. I hate it to become like two male partners yelling and blaming each other. I don't want to dominate. For me, life is warmth and friendliness."

     "Has marriage changed Paul?"

     "Not really, except that he used to club it and chase chicks, and now he's very involved with his family. He's still a boy with a very Beatles sense of humor. He's a bit moody, being an artist and a Gemini. I'm calmer. I'm a Libra, and we're supposed to go together. 

    "Paul brings out the maternal in me, and I definitely mother him. Yet he is my strength. I don't blow up as easily as I used to. We don't seem to say all those negative truths which are so hurtful. Our fights are brought on by outside pressures, not personal bitches, and they always end happily."

     "Had Linda any idea what she had taken on when she married a Beatle?"

    " Absolutely not. I was very naive. I had no idea how much I'd be resented. It made me unhappy, but I've learned to accept it though."

    "Does she feels she was responsible for the Beatles breaking up?"

     "There was so much friction and bitterness all around. John was already restless and more into working with Yoko than Paul. So Paul quit. Suddenly, he was out of a job. Imagine that! It could have destroyed him if he hadn't been McCartney, the professional trooper.

     "I said, 'Let's go live in the country'. He began to unwind for the first time. He experienced total freedom. We herded sheep, and he clipped them. He built with stone and worked with wood. He would make a marvelous carpenter. He'd make a marvelous anything," she sighed happily. 

    "But didn't he miss the old life?"

     "He missed the personal appearances and the companionship. He wanted someone to share his music. He began to teach me. We played for fun and for pleasure, and slowly, the idea of forming a new group, Wings, was formed."

     "What about the other Beatles?"

     "We see Ringo a lot. He's lovely, and his wife, Maureen, is a dream. She's most like me, very family minded. We see George and Pattie, and John has mellowed a lot, and we'd like to get friendly again."

     It was time to go back to work. Paul came over and kissed her. "You're blushing again," he said. And hand in hand, they returned to the studio.

Daily Mirror Contest

 In 1976, 200 contest winners from the UK won a trip to see Wings at Madison Square Garden in NYC through the newspaper The Daily Mirror.  They got an opportunity to get group photos with the band and some of the 200 got individual photos and autographs.   Did any of you win this contest or know someone who did?  I would love to talk to them! 

Totally not related, but at first glance I thought Paul had a cell phone in his hand. 

The Daily Mirror Golden Ball

50 years ago today a often overlooked and forgotten Beatles event occurred:  The Daily Mirror Golden Ball.   The most information I can find on this event was from a Christie's auction for a set of Beatles autographs that were from February 18, 1965 at the Golden Ball.    I can't find what songs the Beatles performed, although it must have been something from their Christmas show that had ended a month previously.    The only oddity that I find is that other information states that the Beatles were in recording sessions on this date.   However, the newspaper and this fan have proof otherwise.

This autographed guest list is extremely interesting as it appears to document a previously unknown performance by The Beatles in February, 1965. Further research with the Daily Mirror archive has revealed that the Golden Ball was organised by the newspaper to celebrate reaching record sales of five million copies per day. The ball was held on Thursday 18th February, 1965 at the Royal Albert Hall, London and tickets went on sale for 25 shillings.

The vendor worked for the Daily Mirror in the Publicity Department at the time, and recalls that the Beatles arrived at the Royal Albert Hall to perform a couple of songs on stage with various other artists, and were invited by the Directors of the paper to have a drink in a private room following their performance, which is when she acquired their autographs.

all photo by Mirrorpix