By George Tebbens

A couple of George Tebbens McCartney photos that were taken the same day.  I know I have the story that goes along with these on here as well....

George Tebbins in December 1974

George Tebbins has to be one of the luckiest fans ever.   A lot of what he experienced in meeting the Beatles had to do with making the right connections with the right people and just being in the right place at the right time.   In this story from the May/June issue of "The Write Thing," George travels to New York City  in December of 1974 in hopes of seeing John Lennon perform with George Harrison in concert (which really did almost happen).  What an exciting time!  Three of the four Beatles were in New York City at the same time!   And George stumbles upon Paul and Peter Brown in Paul's hotel room looking at papers?   I wonder if this was the day that we see in the 'Living in the Material world' documentary.   Did George Harrison show up?   Did George Tebbins indirectly see the legal break up of the Beatles in person?   Wow.   

On December 19 (1974) I heard John would be playing with George for his last show in N.Y., and that’s when I decided to go.  Since I didn’t know anyone there at the time, I tried to get in touch with Billy Preston.  Billy seemed like the only one who could get me in the concert.  While Harrison was in Chicago I met Billy and one night as he was going out he asked if I’d like to go to a bar with him and a friend so I said sure.  We went to a bar owned by the Staple Singers called Peru’s House on East 79^th Street.  Well, I finally reached Billy and he got Chris O’Dell to get me a ticket.  Miss O’Dell is George’s secretary (remember the “B” side to “Give me Love”).  In N.Y. I met Margie and Ann of ‘MACLEN’ and Nancy and Sue of Maryl at the Plaza.  We were there for the same reason (a Beatle, or as George puts it, an ex-Beatle.  Funny thing is that he still acts very much like a Beatle with his wall of “guards” who say he’s tired).

The five of us stayed together all afternoon and then went to the concert.  After it was over I was going to go home but I couldn’t get a flight so late.  That was my excuse to stay.  Really I stayed because I heard McCartney was in town and where he was staying.

After following Harrison around for a while I checked into the Stanhope around 3am.  I woke up around noon and called Paul’s room.  What a surprise to have him answer as I’ve always heard that was Linda’s job.  He told me he was very busy and said he’d talk to me later.  Around two I decided to send flowers and a card as a Christmas gift to the family, then follow it up later.  This as I found out later worked.  It really softened them up.

Around 4 I went up and Heather answered the door and got Linda.  I explained why I was there and why I sent up the flowers.  She was extremely friendly to me, something that I heard she rarely was.  Well, anyway Stella and Mary came to the door while we were talking just to look and say hi.  Linda said I was a “friend” of “hers and daddy’s.”  Linda then told me Paul was busy in the living room going over papers with whom I believe was Peter Brown.  Paul said hello and waved as I left and Linda told me that they’d pose for pictures later around 7 or 8.

Finally after about 3 hours they came down and walked right outside.  Linda tried to stop Paul, but he pulled her right past me to the crowd in front of the Stanhope.  Here they signed autographs for everyone.  I just kept clicking away with my camera.  Linda saw me trying to get a shot of Paul and told him to look over at me (the guy who sent up the flowers).  This is when I got a great close-up of him.  Then they went off. 

Close-up of Paul by George Tebbins (this is the on that he mentions in the story)

I stayed around with some new friends.  It was getting late so about 1, Cindy and I were the only ones left.  About 45 min. later Paul and Linda came back and were in a good mood.  Linda told Paul I sent the flowers up.  He shook my hand and thanked me about 10 times.   Linda was also appreciative and thought it was nice that I included her and the kids in the card.  She said people usually just sent things to Paul. Linda got Paul to pose for me.  He let me take two shots and let Cindy take a shot of me with them.  He told me to ride up with them so we could talk.  In the elevator I told them that I’d been in touch with Alan Crowder one of his managers on the possibility of working for Paul when he’s on tour.  Paul said to keep in touch with Alan because he does the hiring.  Then Linda broke in and told me to tell Alan that I met them in N.Y. at the Stanhope and that they like me.  She also said as far as she was concerned she’d like me to work for them while on tour.  Then the elevator door opened and we said goodbye.

A couple days after I got home the girls from N.Y. sent me Paul and Linda’s autographs.  Paul said to say thanks and he was sorry that he didn’t write any messages since he was so busy.  Then money I spent on that weekend in N.Y. was really worth it.

Wings Over America

Here is another story from The Write Thing.   It is written again by Barb Fenick and tells the exciting story of her, George Tebbins and two other girls during Wings 1976 "Over America" tour.   This first part was really neat because it is about how they got into and were able to watch (for over 3 hours) Wings rehearsals for the tour.  This story is from the July/August 1976 issue of the fanzine.   Included in a photo I scanned from a book of Paul's daughters during the rehearsal.   

 

When we got to Dallas/Ft. Worth, after driving almost non-stop for over 20 hours, it was already Thursday. April 29^th.  On the British tour last fall I had learned that Showco, which is based in Dallas would be making all the stage and sound equipment up especially for this tour, and the band would thus logically want to rehearse where all this would be the handiest.  So we made Showco’s main office our very first stop.  After the front desk receptionist feigned complete ignorance of anyone’s whereabouts, we realized slightly sneakier tactics were required.  Going around to the side of the building, George Tebbens, our intrepid driver and cohort, asked one of the workers there where we might find Trevor Jones (Wings tour manager).  In Forth Worth “at the hall” was the answer.  So we thought we had it cinched then and drove anxiously the 30-odd miles between these twin cities and headed straight for the Tarrant County Convention Center where Wings would be appearing in just a couple days.  Once there though Joanna Rakowski (of Long Island fame!) and I had second thoughts about actually coming face to face with Paul McCartney at that very moment.  Having just driven all day and al night we looked like two terminal jaundice cases – slightly green, not to mention sweaty, dirty, wrinkled, etc.  But try to tell a guy you can’t go see Paul at this moment because you haven’t any makeup on and see if they care.  So we just “hid” behind our sunglasses.  But all our worries were for nothing, the place was teeming with teenage girls, but they all turned out to be “Future homemakers of America” (one good look at them and I knew damn well they were too clean, straight and homogenized to be Beatle fans!  No offense intended but we fans do seem to have that wild look in our eyes that gives us away, you know.)

Couldn’t find a trace of anyone even remotely resembling a member of the Wings crew, so we tried phoning hotels in Ft. Worth, using up over five dollars worth of change with absolutely no luck in locating them.  So we called it a night, finally, and prepared to start afresh in the morning.

Back to point A, Showco in Dallas and this time George asks where is Trevor staying and is given the name of the hotel.  It’s the Le Baron, Dallas’s “finest hotel”, and it’s just a few blocks away.  Wings t-shirted roadies are hanging out in the lobby and the first really familiar face we see is Alan Crowder’s.  Remember the reception Mr. Warmth gave us all through the British tour, I wanted to run the other way when I saw him.  But he is Paul’s assistant manager so he cannot be avoided for long.  Biggest shock tho was he came up with us with a smile and an outstretched hand even.  He welcomed us and said, “Come over and see Jimmy” and was about to pull us over to where Jimmy was sitted but was interrupted.

I spotted Thaddeus Richard across the room and went over to say hello.  Unlike some of the others who have been carried away on a superstar trip, Thad always remained natural and approachable.  He seemed happy to see a familiar face. He told us the band would be rehearsing at 2 in Ft. Worth at “Will Rogers’ Hall” (Crowder had told us he didn’t remember the name of the hall they were using ---cough).

Before we did anything else we went up to the front desk and made a room reservation.  Our next priority was to hit Neiman-Marcus in downtown Dallas to buy Paul and Linda the present we had in mind for them.  We had a nice bar set gift wrapped there and then bought some yellow daisies and red roses from a corner vendor.  By then it was already almost 2 and we still had the 30 miles between cities to drive, plus had to locate this “Will Rogers” place.

The truth is that when we’d started out in the morning we really hadn’t verbalized what might happen to us that day.  At first we were absorbed with the immediate problem of finding the hotel they were staying in.  I thought we might spend the entire day just driving from one place to another, and when we did find them we had so little time left to get our errands accomplished and get out to the rehearsal hall that there just wasn’t time for organizing our thoughts or being adequately prepared for the eventuality ahead.

But there we wer eat Will Rogers and knew by the guard at the stage door and the two fans chatting him up that we were in the right place.  We tried a different door off to the side to see if it might lead right inside, but that was locked at the end of the hall and as we came back and passed a window we saw none other than Mr. Mac C and family trotting right in that stage door.  My intentions had been to give him the present and the flowers at the door when he arrived, but that was out.  But to our advantage the two fans left, so we composed ourselves and made a straight line for that door.  With all of us looking straight ahead and George in his Wings shirt, the guard just naturally assumed we were with the tour and opened the door for us, smiling and nodding “good afternoon.” And that door opened up right onto the stage, but still allowed us some shadows to observe without being observed for at least a minute.  The very first sight I had was of Paul dancing in center stage, he seemed joyous and uninhibited; the place was dark and only he was lit up.  He kept shouting, “All you rocking hep cats!” over and over!  Then other people came into focus and Linda was coming toward us smiling as we held out flowers and the present (peace offerings?)  and I saw Paul look up and notice us just as Trevor came striding purposely towards us keenly intent on tossing us out but fast.  Paul, looking us all in the eye, put out an arm to stop Trevor and said, “It’s alright, I know them.”  And he made some comment about George being superfan, and being everywhere.

Linda was by our side, accepting the present and flowers graciously, all excited that she had been included, “for me too?” she asked.  We all moved closer to Paul, still in the center of the stage.  George reminded Paul about how he’d followed the British tour, and Paul nodded and shook his hand.  Then George said, “Remember Barb, she was there too.”  And Paul looked over at me and said, “Yeah, I remember you too,” in his breezy, lilting manner and put out his hand for me to shake too.  Then I said, “You remember Joanna.” “No,” he said, “I don’t think I’ve met her.”  So I reminded him about her visit on Christmas day out on Long Island.   And he smiled, “Oh yeah, the Long Islander!”  He shook her hand too.  What a cutie!

George showed him the present he had for him, a bird whose eye lit up which he could wear as a pin.  He had one for Linda too, and when she put it on the kids asked her why it was lighting up, and she replied, “I’m electric!”

I had brought along some enlargements to give them and took them out to show Linda.  On top were the ones of Paul with Joanna and her sister form last December.  “Oh yeah,” said Linda, “you got him up from his Christmas dinner, my poor husband, that was pretty nice of him, huh?” She looked up and was smiling.  The next picture was an 8x10 of Paul in concert from the British tour.  It was a very dramatic pose and she seemed quite impressed with it, asked me who took it and when I said George she replied, “He’s better than Bob Ellis.”  That was partly to take the mickey out of Ellis who was lurking behind her, coyly trying to see the photos.  Ellis tried to keep it light and joked, “Well I guess I’m out of a job.”  Her remark had  definitely not endeared him to us.

Linda’s exclaiming over that picture attracted Paul’s attention back again too.  Slightly strange sensation to watch him examining his own picture.  The next one was of both him and Linda and Lyndsey and I in the lobby of the Glasgow hotel, and when Paul saw that one he looked up at me wide-eyed and serious said, “Oh, you cut your hair.” Like the recognition that was vague before was crystal clear now and he could finally place me and that made him feel more comfortable.  That slightly unnerved me, his intent look, so I turned to Linda and said something daft about how I’d just wanted a trim, but they took too much off.  Paul was still looking at me and he nodded when Linda said, “You can’t trust hairdressers.”  (I thought to myself, this is extremely weird this is Paul McCartney and I’m talking about hairdressers?!? What happens to all those vital things I’m dying to say to him?  I suppose for him it beats getting asked one more time about the Beatles reunion).  Paul had taken the whole pile of pictures along, “I said, “This is your famous looking up in the sky pose.”  He looked up surprised, with a touch of something else in his face, wariness or admiration it was hard to say, but he said, “Yeah, that’s my special pose.”  I guess he just didn’t expect  me to be on to the fact that he does that kind of pose for fans often, but then he doesn’t know about the grapevine we fans have going!

He gave back all the photos to Linda and I told her she could keep them which she seemed to appreciate.  Then Paul asked George where he got his Wings shirt (it was a “Speed of Sound” shirt, yellow with the guy climbing the ladder on the back) and George said from Capitol, and Paul asked him to turn around and model it and told him that they didn’t even have any of those yet.

Since Paul was otherwise occupied and Linda had moved off, I went over to talk to Steve Howard.  He said, “you cut your hair!” I’d been sending him the newsletters so we talked about that and also their European tour, and then I asked if we could stay and watch their rehearsal.  He said sure, take a seat.  I looked around the stage and everyone seemed preoccupied with their own tasks to complete, no one seemed ruffled or anxious about our presence so we moved down to the seats and quietly chose seats in the 3^rd row on the left.

At first we were so conscious about somebody minding us there that we kept as still as the proverbial church mice.  But nobody paid us any mind so we relaxed and by the time they had all tuned up, turned down the lights and launched into “Venus & Mars” we were leaning forward in our seats totally amazed to be the sole witnesses to this last informal pre-tour rehearsal and trying desperately to drink in every sight and sound. It wasn’t anything like being at the actual concert because without that crowd excitement and tension building up to a busting point something very potent seems missing.  Without the screaming, cheering, bustling, applauding and picture-snapping crowd, seeing them do the show was an entirely different experience.  Of course the band too was a lot more laid back and low key without that very same audience feedback to get high from.  We felt rather odd seeing him do the show without giving him back anything, but three people clapping in n otherwise empty hall would have seemed like an intrusion on their privacy, so we contented ourselves with just smiling a lot at him and each other.  Joanna had never seen him perform live yet, so when he bobbed up to the piano and burst out with a very deep and lusty “Maybe I’m Amazed” she gave in to tears and let out some of the pen-up emotions we all had to conceal.

He changed a few words in that song and one line came out, “baby help me to give it to you.”  Linda looked around form her organ and smiled at him conspiratorially.  Then still on an up-swing he launched into a spirited  version of “Mean woman blues” putting himself in an Elvis mood.  This was really a surprise because up to this point every song had been straight from the British tours and suddenly there he was breaking up the routine.  Then he did a slow song which was unfamiliar to me, but was so pure and sensitive that I was holding my breath throughout it.  At first I thought it was an original composition of his that he was trying out, but later I realized it had to be some old classic that was a favorite of his.  When it hit me that I’d never hear him do that again I really began to regret not having a tape recorder secrected away in my purse preserving all this.

Eventually there was a break and everyone went scurrying around in different directions.  We moved up to the front row center. I don’t remember what everyone else was doing because my eyes were glued to Paul.  And he was putting on quite a show whether he knew it or not, and I suspect he did the flirt.  Thad was at the piano and Paul was leaning over it to talk to him with his back to us and in his tight blue jeans he swayed back and forth.  Quite effective, ah yes…bad for the heart, but quite effective.  He also had on a loose fitting red print silk shirt and black slippers with ducks on them.  Linda was also wearing jeans and painted t-shirt and Heather, who’s grown into your all-American teenager, was also wearing jeans and a flannel shirt. 

Stella and Mary were running back and forth trying for everyone’s attention and getting it too.  They received countless glasses of Coke, lots of hugs from Robert Ellis and even some chewing gum from Joe English.  Joe asked Paul if it was alright to give them the gum, and Paul replied, “Just one or you’ll get me in trouble!”  And when the horn section was practicing and the kids were climbing up their legs, Paul remarked, “the horn section has its first fans.”  Stella even crawled inside Joe big drum and had a bit of a tantrum about coming out of there until Paul put his foot down.  Then they amused themselves by coloring on paper plates, which they brought over to Paul repeatedly for his approval.  They’d wait five minutes holding up one of their masterpieces til they’d get a nod from him and move off satisfied.

When they started up again the moved into the acoustic set and did all of those number, but when they got to “Yesterday” and Paul messed up some of the verses the whole thing broke up.  Paul didn’t say anything about it at all, but just started singing old rock n roll songs almost to himself at first.  Then everyone joined in and it became a jam session, Paul still sitting with his acoustic guitar, Denny standing next to him on rhythm, Jimmy playing the drums, Linda at the organ and Thad on piano, and the other horn players drifting on and off the stage.  I took a couple pictures of all this and it shows how Paul’s in the center of it all, comfortable in his chair with legs crossed while Ellis photographs him and Humphrey Ocean sketches, and Heather watches it all. (I’d print them but they wouldn’t reproduce in black and white very well).

They did oldies but goodies for about an hour and a half, some Elvis songs and a lot of Buddy Holly.  The titles I specifically remember were, “Maybe Baby” and “that’ll be the day” by Buddy Holly, and “Slow down,”  “Crush on you,”  ‘Summertime blues,” “Train coming down the line” and “Get a Job.”  They were not the most spirited versions I’ve ever heard, they certainly weren’t doing them to get people rockin’, but to work through their own pre-tour jitters it seemed to me.  Paul seemed almost withdrawn at times, burying himself in his own music.  It seemed pretty obvious that he was filled with a lot of nerves and fears about this big production he was facing.  And he was anything but relaxed, loose or natural.  He hardly said anything at all to anybody.  Once he hugged Stella and kissed her on the lips.  One Elvis song he was doing really affected him though, he began to act the part, pretending to be Elvis, and to round off his impersonation he jumped out off his chair and tried to fling his arms out.  Completely forgetting his guitar was plugged in and the chord was too short for such gymnastics, he managed only half an Elvis-wiggle before falling back into his chair with a plop.  Everyone laughed and it had to be the lightest moment of the afternoon.

When they all weren’t involved doing a specific song, the others might be walking around talking to people, but Paul would stay in his chair and busy himself with his own guitar picking.  At one point a man and a woman came in, obviously acquaintances of Linda because she came over to talk to them when they sat down in the front row, but Paul just nodded at them and then stage whispered to Heather, “Who are they?,” and she shrugged.  The couple hugged Stella and Mary and then busied themselves taking pictures of Paul, so we figured if he didn’t mind their using flash then we could as well, and took a couple pictures ourselves.

After a while, Trevor came up behind us, tapped us on the shoulder and said, “Not now, but in a little while you’ll have to leave.  When the lights go down.” He insinuated that we’d already witnessed a lot more than any fans had the right to.  It was obvious we weren’t there with his blessings.  Well the lights never did go down so we weren’t about to get up and go, but then he came over again and insisted, saying things were going to “get serious now” with the rehearsal.  What we realized when we left is they were going to run through the new “Speed of Sound” numbers and they didn’t want any outsiders to see them do that for some reason.  We’d already been watched them for 3 ½ hours, so we certainly shouldn’t have felt bad about missing the last half hour or so they still intended to play.  But at first we thought it was arbitrary on Trevor’s part, coming from the grudge we had against us for going over his head in his view to be there at all.  And from that day on Trevor was right there blocking our access to Paul at every turn.

We thought of waiting outside for them to leave and thanking Paul for letting us watch the rehearsal and maybe get a chance to take some photos of him, but since it was raining out it seemed more logical to get back to the hotel and try to see him in the lobby when he got back. 

Missed him in the hotel lobby and just saw everybody else in the band and on the staff around down there.  This hotel had a disco of its own so we went up there for the evening and soon the whole Wings tour was up there, his manager Brian, good old Crowder and Trevor, Paul’s house keeper/nanny Rosie (who was soon up dancing vigorously with JoJo, Denny’s “wife” of sorts).  They all had their wives or girlfriends along at this point, Daryl, Joe’s wife was there, and Jimmy had a blonde girlfriend from Scotland along, Trevor had his wife and even Brian had a woman friend (wife?) along.  They all took a table right alongside of our, and Crowder in fact was sitting only inches away from me, so after awhile I asked him about that afternoon, if anyone minded us being there.  And he replied, “No, if they want you to leave they’ll tell you.”  So I asked where they’d be rehearsing next and he told us they’d be moving the rehearsal to the Convention Center and they’d be setting up around 2 or 3 the next afternoon.  I asked if it would be alright to come, and he repeated again, “If they want you to leave they’ll tell you.”  We took that was an invitation considering it was coming from Old Stone Face himself.

We spent three hours the next afternoon watching them set up, practice running the “Band on the Run” posing film clip, and then after all that time a security guard, one of Concert West’s people came up to us and told us we’d have to wait outside until Alan Crowder could give us special permission to be in there.  All the limos arrived shortly thereafter and Paul was actually driving the lead car!  He had his hand up in a salute before he even saw who was waiting there.  And we were the sole greeting committee he had.  We started to going after the cars to talk to Alan but someone must have given the guards a no signal because we were asked to leave.  It was never easy to get in again after that first day at the Will Rogers hall, once the Concerts West people came in security was rigid.  Everyone had to have a plastic badge with their picture on it or else forget it.

Before we’d gone there we’d had lunch at the hotel with Rosie and she even thought that power had gone to a lot of their heads when it came to security  She also talked about how condescending they all are towards the fans and even anyone of them that ever associates with or is nice ot the fans.   They hassled Rosie because she was nice to us, insinuated that she was slumming.  She was talking about Crowder above all the rest but Rosie is very natural, earthy person and doesn’t have to take that kind of shit so she said she told him in no uncertain terms to “Fuck off” Ten points for Rosie!

We found out for the first time that Paul and Linda and the kids were not staying at the hotel but were living in a plush ranch home not too far away.  They had their own swimming pool and horses to ride.  And an FBI man guarding the kids at all times.  Rosie only went over there at certain times to babysit.  She told us so far she hasn’t been able to see any of the signs in Texas and how she and the kids were extremely anxious for a glimpse of real Texas cowboys!  So we mentioned that on Sunday we were going to the Six Flags Amusement Park and would love ot take her and the kids along.  She loved the idea and said she’d bring it up with Paul, but didn’t think he’d let them go.

One member of the tour whom Rosie would only refer to as “The Tart” had asked her in a negative tone about us the night before and she had replied, “Leave them alone, they’re the fans, they’re the real fans.”  Good old Rosie.

We had run-ins or encounters with them all eventually (even found ourselves next door neighbors to Trevor!) and it certainly was an eye opener to the kind of people Paul has surrounded himself with, some so marvelous and so many donkeys.

George November 1976

If you pay attention to the comments section of this blog, then you might have read on that post of George in the sweater with the pretty girl on his arm that I had found out more about those photos. The answers came from a story George Tebbens wrote for "The Write Thing" for the Jan/Feb 1977 issue of the fanzine. I couldn't help but think that these photos were taken in November 1976 in Chicago. George should have have traveled 6 hours south to see a new-born Beatle-fan...me!

On November 1, 1976 it was announced that Warner Bros. was to throw a press party to celebrate the signing of George Harrison and Dark Horse Records. As most anyone who knows Hari, the announcement of this was a shocker. I couldn't believe someone as anti-press and anti-fan as George had seemed to become would do something like this much-less give fans advance notice on a pre-party radio interview.

The party was Nov 15 and that afternoon a friend on a newspaper here invited me to go along with her. From what her invitation said it was to be a small gathering for the press to meet George. As it turned out there were 100 in attendance plus for a short while about 20 other lucky fans who managed to crash. The party started at 7:15 pm and George showed up around 8pm. As soon as he walked in a barrage of flashes went off. It took me a minute to finally reach him. When I did, he was smiling and posing for about 7 or 8 photographers (actually some were fans) and not for just one or two shots but for dozens each. Throughout the remaining hour George spoke to several columnists form each of Chicago's 3 major newspapers, about a dozen D.J.'s, a few newsmen from local stations and the Chicago based executives from Warner Bros. and their guests.

About 9 pm everyone headed into a banquet room for dinner. I still don't know if George ate the prime rib or just the potatoes and string beans. Dinner lasted til about ten, at that time Mo Ostin, head of Warner Bros. Records (U.S.) gave a little speech about George's career and welcomed him to W.B. George got up to a round of applause and started joking about the ad in Billboard mag. the week before. "Well, unaccustomed to full-page ads as I am, I'd like to thank everyone." He also dedicated "Learning How to Love" to Herb Alpert, head of A&M Records who just sued George to get rid of him and Dark Horse Records.

Everyone at the dinner was given a 33 1/3 press kit and t-shirt that said "I was with George Harrison at 33 1/3". George had a booklet from the kit in his hands and went over some of the songs as they were played. The first was "Woman don't you cry for me." It reminded me immediately of something from All Things Must Pass. Next was "Beautiful Girl", after hearing this I was really impressed cause this is the first slow song in years George has done that didn't drag and wasn't religious. "Beautiful Girl" reminds me of something from around Rubber Soul especially the way he sings the verse that starts with "and when I saw the way she smiled at me--ee"

After the song finished, George checked out the video-cassette machine and told everyone the next two films to be shown were produced by Eric Idle of Monty Python. He explained that the reason for making the films was to use them as a means of promotion in areas outside the US where radio isn't so varied.

"True love" was the first film to be shown. George and a female companion were dressed 1920's style and riding in a gondola. You had to see it as it was very funny and hard to explain why. The second film was for "Cracker Box Palace" again it was very Beatle-Pythonish. These were filmed on the grounds of Friar Park (George's home for anyone who doesn't know) and showed George more as a Beatle circa 1965 than an "ex", which is what he's like to be known as today.

The last song was "This Song". Although the film was shown on Saturday Night Live it wasn't ready for the party. Instead George told everyone to dance along with him and his partner. This shock was too much for everyone, we all just watched. "This Song" ended and the party was over. He did pose for some publicity shots and answered a few more questions. He told one reporter, "I'm going to India for a week, then to a friend's wedding in L.A. December 15." When asked who's wedding, he said "My friend Keith Moon." But everyone knows by now Keith messed up a possible Beatles reunion by postponing his wedding.

By now it was 10:30 and George left. Back at the hotel where he stayed a couple fans got ot see him. He was still smiling, stopped for autographs and didn't mind anyone taking photos.

One girl asked for another autograph, this time for her sister. He turned and obliged and said with a smile, "What a cheap excuse for a few more photos." After saying goodnight he went to his room to tape a few radio interviews.

I don't know why George's attitude had changed so. It may have hurt his ego being dumped by A&M or could it be he may be tired of Paul getting all the glory and touring America so successfully without the kind of bad press he received. One can only speculate.

After listening to 33 1/3 and seeing how he has changed on a personal level, maybe in 1977 George will shine again as a true star. 33 1/3 is a step at giving his fans what they want. Hopefully he will tour this summer as planned the way he should have done it two years ago.

The last week Wings recorded.

Paul tells what the Dentist did to him

Another meeting of Paul found in the "Write Thing" in the April/May1979 issue. Another one written by the lucky and talent George Tebbins.

It seems when Paul records in London there are two things you can count on: that damn silver rain and a group of ten or so loyal Macca fans. this March was no exception. Wings have no finished their new LP. During the making of this album a few surprises came about, one was the super session with Pete Townsend, a couple Zeppelins and a dozen more veterans assembled to rehearse and record a couple of Paul's new tunes, one called "Rockestra Theme"; and then George Harrison showing up at the studio a couple of times, for what we'll have to wait and see. Not lucky enough to be there a those times, I did get to see Wings during one of the last weeks of recording.

It was the last week of March and we would go to the studio about noon each day expecting an hour and 1/2 wait (get there early just in case) and during that 90 minutes the queue begins to grow as the local fans start to arrive, only to spend their lunch hour waiting for Paul or a favorite Wing.

When Paul finally arrived everyone lined up for the daily greeting committee. As he steps out of the Rolls, the cameras start clicking, autographs are given, conversations that are always incomplete are attempted, and then he's gone.

During the few minutes you try and find out as much as you can, which is usually very little. All Paul said was he had one more week of recording (ending 1st week of April) and they would start touring soon. Lawrence was more friendly, he'd stop for photos and autographs and be more helpful on inquiries. He said the single probably won't be on the LP and new illustrated cover will be available with the 12" single. Denny and Steve were obliging as well. More photos, autographs and more information. They tell us the albums will be out in May followed by a British tour of small and large halls.

Then there is Linda who seems to be above it all. Believe me I've really tried to like her, but after she came out alone one night and spoke to two of the fans for ten minutes being sweet as can be, then went back inside and spoke to the guards in the office, demanding all the fans be tossed out of the parking lot, puts a strain on any admiration one can have for her.

All in all, I'm pleased Paul was great and the group was friendly and I got a few things autographed and took some nice photos. You can't ask for more than that. It would be worth it to just seem them and say hello.

Crackerbox Palace visit

Another fan story from Friar Park in the late 1970's! This one is from veteran Beatles meeter and photographer, George Tebbens (I have no idea who this fellow is, but his name appears a lot in the 1970's-1980's as taking photos and meeting the Beatles). His story took place in early December 1978 and it was published in "The Write Thing" magazine in the Jan/Feb 1979 issue (he wasted no time sharing his good fortune with other fans, that is for sure!)

I arrived in London on the morning of December 7 and went straight to St. John's Wood where my friends (neither of whom knew I was coming) were staying. But they weren't in. So there could only be two places they'd be, right? Wrong! Dropped by Abbey Road and found out Paul finished recording earlier in the week, so I decided to go by the house and still no one was around. By then I thought I'd bum around London. At 6 I was back at the hotel and only had to wait a short while for my friend Char to get in. When she saw me she was certainly surprised, but immediately told me Eric Clapton was playing his last concert of the tour that evening in Guildford (about an hour 1/2 train ride from London). She wanted to go because she thought George Harrison might be there, but no one would go with her. But when she saw me, she knew if there was any possibility of seeing George on my first day in England, I'd go. After saying yes, I started having second thoughts, I'd been up for the past 24 hours and the rain was pouring down. But second thoughts of being tired don't last long so we were on our way.

Finally we were at Guildford, but a little late and couldn't get in. Bribes, sneaking, lieing and begging didn't work, so we waited outside the stage door. During the last encore the crowd noise got louder than anytime during the show. As the show ended, Eric's car was moved away from the crowd at the stage door and we followed it. On the way we saw this most unusual car with OM stickers on it. Yep! George's Porsche! Nearly frozen, wet and dead we waited and it paid off, we got to see George. That's it, just see him. We talked to a couple of fans who told us that George and Elton John joined Eric for the encore. Had we known for sure, somehow we would have gotten in.

Back in London after 6 hours getting there form Guildford (due to famous British train strikes) Char, and 2 other friends and I planned our next trek. We thought we'd go to Friar Park on Saturday December 9. The weather was remarkably good, sunny and no rain! We were there abqotu an hour just standing at the entrance gate waiting fo rthe famous Porshe to roll down the hill,l when to our surprise George was just coming in, heading back from town. He looked as though he was going to drive past us, so I held out some photos and Circus magazine with the photos of him in it that I took at the 33 1/3 part in '76. It worked. He stopped. I gave him a bunch of photos I'd taken and asked for an autograph. He obliged and as he was signing he asked where we were from and why we were there. We told him we'd come over just to see him and he seemed really pleased. At that point I asked if he'd be touring, he said, "I don't think so right now, cause it's a hassle getting a band together." So I told his we'd (anyone who likes his music) would appreciate just hearing him alone on an acoustic guitar. He then laughed, and said, "Really?" Kind of like he didn't imagine something like that would please a crowd. We asked about the album and he said it would be out around his birthday. We also asked him what song he'd down with Eric, and he said, "I don't know... Going down the Road, or something like that." He asked us if we were there. We said yea, but outside. he told us he's sorry we missed it. not as sorry as we were!! He really looked better than he has in years. His hair is much shorter, but not as short as in '75 at Paul party in L.A.

He seemed to be as excited about meeting a group of fans as we were in seeing him. He didn't just rush off, but posed, smiled, answered our questions and let us take pictures of him.

After he left, I took one more look at Crackerbox Palace and saw Olivia walking Dhani in a buggy. To get a better look we walked down to the middle house, but she kept going down towards the gate. Sure enough she came out. She was hesitant at first but turned out to be real friendly. I asked how Dhani's name was pronounced, she said "It's Donny only spelled differently." She said, "I wish I knew you were coming, I'd have asked you to bring some Pampers!" She said we could take a picture but without flash, as we shot she said, "Dhani, you can't have a picture taken with a dummy (pacifier) in your mouth." Then we said goodbye, wished them a Merry Christmas and were off. Another shot in the dark (horse) paid off.

Brighton Beach Memories....

More from that same issue of "The Write Thing" (January 1980). This is a little story of when Barbara Fenick and George Tebbins saw Wings in concert in Brighton UK in 1979 and had Paul sign a photograph that George had taken of Paul in 1976. The autographed photograph (along with a colored version of this photograph of Paul signing it) ended up being the winning prize for a Paul trivia contest the magazine was having! What a prize!!!!

We drove up to Brighton with George the next day and had a great time stopping to take pictures of the castle in Arundel and the wildlife preserve. Still managed to get into town in early afternoon, picked up Susie and Doylene at the train station , get a hotel and get in line at the Brighton Centre box office. Already about 50-100 people were lined up around the building, for last minute standing room seats. We thought the box office might be holding our tickets there, but the security wouldn't let us in to check and the British fans were screaming at us about line-crashing. We did finally get in by the end of the line and our tickets were all there, it was general admission anyway with standing on the floor and seating in the balcony. We still had time before-hand to look for the hotel the band was using and we found it just a block or two down the street. Crowder (who is this??) was standing out in front with the the sourest expression I've ever seen, even for him! The night before he'd unbent a little and given us girls all Wings enamel badges (although he refused to give George one!). Now when he saw us he pantomimed throwing a bomb in our direction. And we were standing there very quietly, yet he said to George "haven't you anything better to do?" At 5 0'clock in Brighton what else is there to do? Anyway we hadn't traveled 3,000 miles to take a nap. So we continued to wait outside, checking out all the cars driving by. The hotel looked too posh for the likes of us, so we thought we'd have better luck waiting for him to drive up.

When the guy warming up the tour bus suddenly got up we knew that was the signal and Paul's car soon pulled up, double parked in front of the hotel entrance and he and Linda came around towards the crowd (it always grows) waiting for him. There was a mother with two babies, a couple workmen and few other little boys. All of whom of course managed to stand directly in front of me.

I waited patiently as everyone else was flashing their camera, waiting for just one moment when I could even see Paul. Finally the crowd parted to let Paul thru and as he came towards me I had him perfectly focused so I snapped. The flash went off in his face, just three feet away and he did a little jump back, I was so embarrassed I said something dumb like "I got one."

He went inside to join the rest of the band and we waiting around the stairs. I had a photo (which George had taken of Paul during the '76 tour) and everyone else stood back in kind of a semi-circle to give me a chance to get Paul's attention and so they could photograph him when he stopped. I gave my camera to Mary Ann.l The picture shows that he did stop for me, taking my pen and signing as he walked. Most of his name ended up on the black part of the photo but he tried!!

I had some words all rehearsed so I'd remember to say them and blurted out that it was Doylene and Marie's birthdays. Paul looked back at me, "today?" I paused, they didn't' say anything to help me out. (He wasn't supposed to say that). so I said, "No, Marie's was Wed. and Doylene's Sat." I think he just went "oh." Nonplussed or perhaps beyond hope, I continued about how we'd been in Tucson on his birthday, and we'd sung "Happy Birthday" to him. I don't think he heard a word of all that. But I sure felt like a perfect twit! Everyone had a good laugh about it later. I'll just have to wear a bag on my head the next time I see him. On the bus Paul was looking back at us all and lifting his eyebrows (Still trying to figure out what in the hell I was talking about?)

A different frame of a familar photo

I had to go through my "John denim jacket" files several times to make sure that I didn't already post this particular frame of John and Yoko. It is a personal goal of mine to locate all of the photos I can of John in this jacket, because I think he looks gorgeous in it!

George Tebbens' photo

I think this is a great John and Yoko photo from the late 1970's. It is a shot I don't believe I have seen before! It was taken by George Tebbens. Looks like a windy night in NYC....

Beatlefan magazine scans

1976: Strolling in New York City

Photo: Geroge Tebbins




An intimate photo of Paul McCartney taken by Fred Walters of Oklahoma City, OK



London '67 McCartney and Jane Asher

Photo: Mark Gunter Collection




Harrison at home in '68

Photo: Fred Walters

(although this looks a lot like a photo taken by someone else in 1967 that I haven't blogged about yet)






November 1970: McCartney and Mary in New York

Photo by Linda S. Woods


I have a large collection of Beatlefan magazines. I LOVE Beatlefan. I have subscribed every issue since 1994 and have bought many back issues plus to the 2 hardback books. I often referr back to them. Anyhow, I scanned some of the fan photos that have been submitted over the years. Beatlefan magazine doesn't always scan well, but I think for the most part, these turned out ok. I am thinking of typing up some of the stories of when fans met the Beatles for future installments of this blog.