Sunshine, Music and Ringo Starr

Note:  Photo just for reference.  It was not taken on the day of the story. 

Here is a story of a fan encounter found in the March 1973 issue of McCartney Lovers and Friends.


Sunshine, Music and Ringo Starr
By Sher


During our trip to London in 1970,  Sarah and I were lucky enough to see John, George and Ringo at various times while they recorded at EMI.  This particular day was extra special to me as Richie was so nice to us and it was also my 20th birthday.    And so on October 3, 1970, Sarah and I arrived at the studios at about 5pm and met up with Valerie.  Soon after 3pm some of our English friends (who were at one time known as Paul's baddies), Marion, Adrienne, and Eileen came and we tried various ways to pass the time.  One of those ways was to try to sneak in by the side entrance.  This didn't work so we just stood outside the gates directly in front of the opened studio doors.  Every once in a while we'd see Ringo or George pass by in the hallway.  Ringo was recording his single, "It don't come easy" and George was helping him. 

George had on a gray-ish blue shirt, orange pull over, and faded blue jeans.  Mr. Starr wore a dark suit jacket and a pink flowered shirt.  Plus, as was the style of the day, George's hair was in a ponytail.  During one break in the recording, we watched our English friends went to pull a joke on George just to see what would happen.  They went to a phone booth nearby and called the studio saying it was Pattie wanting to talk to her husband.  Sarah and I had stationed ourselves so that we could see George when he came out to get the phone.  He picked up the phone, looked towards the street where we were, and seemed to be having quite a nice chat.   The girls had never really thought he'd believe it was Pattie after hearing the voice and they thought that he would appreciate the fact that it was a joke.   Well, he seemed to be enjoying himself from what we could see of him, and he kept leaning on one leg and then the other -- looking out towards us.  After about seven minutes he got off the phone and the girls came back from the booth.  They told us that he'd really taken the joke well and kidded around with them on the phone.  Little did we know what was really going on inside his head.

AT 10:15pm George came out with Richie by his side.  They both carried guitar case and small amplifiers.  WE around to the gate to George's car as he began to load the trunk with the guitars.  Richie would hand stuff to George and then give him suggestions on how to pack it.  He would tell George, "Put the bigger one in first," which was obvious anyway, so George would just nod.  Then Val said, "Uhh George, I've got a letter from your fan club president but I haven't had a chance to give it to you and I didn't bring it here because I didn't think you'd be here."  He replied, "Well, don't worry about it, they usually write me a lot of old rubbish."  (Then he laughed).  Our mouths fell open in shock because we thought George was fond of the fan club president.   Sarah and I both said, "Ohhhhh" and George looked at us as if we were nuts.   Then, to try to change the subject, I asked him when the album would be out (All things Must Pass).  He looked up at me as he loaded the trunk, "I think the first or second week in November."   Then Richie shook George's hand and said, "Well, thanks for everything," and went back inside. 

George went to his car door and then stopped short.  Here is comes.  He turned towards Sarah, Val, and I and snapped at us, "Who are the ones who made the call?"  They had left about an hour before, so we told them this.  Well, he glared at us so intensely that I finally said, "We're not lying George!!"  With that, he got into the car.  Obviously, he didn't find the joke as funny as he had when the call was first made.   He spoke to Carolyn Mitchell at the car window for a while and then roared off.  Not five minutes later he came back, this time with his beautiful hair down around his shoulders.  He ran inside the studio, picked up some albums he had forgotten, and raced off again.  After George had gone most of the people waiting around left.  It seemed so rotten that no one bothered to wait for Ringo so we decided to be the ones.  Once more, the three of us Sarah, Val, and I sat in front of the doors.  This time inside the studio grounds.  We'd see Richie go by in the hallway and he'd look out at us every time.  It was obvious by his expressions when he still sees us sitting there when it was nearly midnight waiting just for him.  Not many "Beatle people" do that over there.  We felt happy that he'd realized we were waiting for him.  Only problem was that Val and I had to go to the bathroom so badly that we were doubled over with hysterics.  I'm sure it wasn't hard for Richie to guess what was wrong when he'd see us without legs crossed and laughing our heads off.  Finally, at the ungodly hour of midnight, Richie, Mal, and Richie's driver and another guy came down the steps.  Richie had a guitar in his hands and he was singing and playing!   We got a private impromptu concert!  He kept looked at us as he approached the car, which we were standing next to.  We walked up to meet him and he stopped playing.  For a minute there was sort of a nervous silence and Richie just said "Goodnight."  I panicked for second thinking after all our waiting he would just get into the car and zoom away, so I said, "Wait a minute!"  He looked up at me with a big smile and I felt sort of embarrassed at having given him a command.  Val said, "Can I talk to you, Ringo?"  He said yes, and she said, "I wanted to say I bought your album (Beaucoups of Blues) and it's fantastic!"  He smiled again and said, "Thank you very much."  When she asked for his autograph he jokingly answered, "Anybody who bought MY album deserves an autograph!"  He signed it while leaning on the neck of the guitar.   While he signed it, I asked him how Maureen was (she was pregnant with Lee at the time).  He replied, "Fantastic, thank you."  I said, "When is she due?"  "Six and a half weeks," he answered and I told him that was great and Val said, "Hope it's a girl."  Richie turned from the car door and said, "Well you never can tell."   Then we said goodnight again and we walked out of the gate and watched as the little car sped down the road with Richie waving at us from the back seat.

The Missing Glasgow Wings Concert

If you've been following along with the posts about the American girls that followed Paul McCartney and Wings around the UK in May of 1973, then you will know that most of the girls in the story did not see Wings perform in Glasgow because they thought they might get stabbed and because of issues with the train.  One girl went ahead to Glasgow and wrote her story in the Summer 1973 issue of McCartney Lovers and Friends.


Since most of the girls didn't make it to the Glasgow concert (primarily because their train passes had run out), and I did, I thought this would be a good concert to report on.  Of course, being a glutton for punishment, I couldn't let myself miss out on even one concert!  The songs he sang and the clothes he wore were the same as the other concerts, and since I'm sure you've already read the full details on such matters elsewhere in this newsletter, I won't go into it all over again.

We picked up our reserved tickets at the box office and the seats we had were fairly good (left center) -- but we used Marie's tickets instead since they were a lot closer (front left).  While we (Madeline and I) were waiting for the concert to start, two groupies with tight silk pants and lots of makeup kept wandering up and down the aisles.  They were obviously stoned out of their minds and of all things one of them came over to me and sat right down on my lap!  I nearly died!  Then she said, "May I sit on your lap?"  I imagine I had a look of my face like Iw as going to be ill and I tried to push her off, but by that time one of the security guards came over and got her.  That's the first time anything like that had happened to me at a concert! 

I think this was one of the liveliest audiences of all.  It was like a time bomb waiting to go off.  But the security was very tight.  If someone even stood up (Paul got a standing ovation when he came out) he or she was in trouble.  They were pushed down immediately.  Later I found out from a boy how much trouble they've had with concerts in Glasgow so that was probably why.   I read in a newspaper that performers in Glasgow that did anything on stage that was dirty -- even words to a song, would be arrested.  Good thing we didn't have to visit Paul in jail!   I guess what we'd heard about the people being rough was true.  The same guy said, "So you can imagine with someone like Paul doing a concert why security was so tight."

During the first part of the show, a girl sitting right behind me yelled, "Paul!"  That got his attention and he looked over and pointed.  I Was right in his line of vision, so that was nice.  Once Paul walked over to Linda while still playing his bass and whispered something to her.   That got a shriek from the audience and a skipped heartbeat for me.  "Hi Hi Hi" -- people were screaming for that song all night.  "This is the one that got banned so anyone with sensitive ears out there better get out -- fast!  (Just for the record, no one left).  Up until the end of that song, people were still being forced to stay in their seats.  But during "Long Tall Sally" there was no holding the crowd back, though they keep on trying.  The whole theater went insane and I had a lovely view while standing on my seat.  Then Paul, seeing that the audience only had the chance to unwind during one song did "Long Tall Sally" one and a half more times.  It was really beautiful.  Oh, the way that man moves -- that brings to mind that he did a nice little swivel before "Hi Hi Hi" again -- God!  Also, raised his arms several times exposing quite a lot of "midriff" which I didn't enjoy at all. 

When he went off stage that crowd just wouldn't calm down so he came out again and the announcer said, "They say he's the greatest so let's let him know it!"   They really brought the roof down and Paul looked so proud.  Then he thanked everyone again and said he'd see them next time.  The police would not let us wait around the theater so we walked to the hotel we heard he was staying.  however, we'd been misinformed and two Scottish boys took us over to the Albany Hotel where he was staying. 

He was already inside but we were lucky enough to get there just as he was walking out from the elevator to the dining room.  We had a perfect view of him from the glass windows and he waved to us all.  At one point a man came out of the restaurant and asked us if we were waiting for Paul and we said yes.  So then he said, "Well, you're going to have a long wait because he hasn't even had his soup yet!"  One of the Scottish boys tried really hard to get me in but it didn't work.  Finally, we gave up and decided to leave around 1:30am.  (The police had made us move across the street anyway).  Then two Scottish girls helped us make our way back to our hotel.  Before I end this fabulous bit of writing I just want to add how really great all of the concerts were.  Paul had never sang or played better and I came home a real believer in Wings also.  Paul is really on top again -- this time with Wings -- and this is only the beginning for them!

WIngs fans head to London 1973

More fun times with the American fans from the McCartney Lovers and Friends club found in the Summer 1973 issue of the fanzine.


Paul flew down from Scotland on May 26.   Sil, Angela and I saw Paul at his house. He said hello and all that and he looked really tired.  Sil made this huge blanket where she had embroidered "Wings" -- it was really beautiful.  She gave it to Rosie who gave it to Paul.  He didn't see it until the next day but really flipped over it!  He was going to put in on the organ that night, but for some reason, he didn't. 

I came out with a real winner:  "Are you as tired as we are? ha!"  He said, "Tired as YOU are??!! Tireder!!"  The show was fantastic.  We were just about in the middle.  For some odd reason, I was the only one in the section that got up and clapped.  It was okay though because Paul pointed at me and grinned.  Three of us saw Paul again the next day.  I gave him some flowers from all of us.  This went on for a while and he said, "Hey!  Thanks for the flowers, Luv!"  We were walking down the street and Linda was driving.  They beeped the horn at us all the way down the black and as they turned the corner.  Paul had his head hanging out the window, waving at us. 

That night the three of us got in to the pit, which was the best place to be because it was directly in front of the stage and you could move around and not get killed.  It was the photographers' pit and you needed a pass to get in, but we just made like we belonged.  Goldie and Robin (our friends from New York) had arrived that morning and they were there too which was lucky for them since it was their first concert!   Anyway, it was really great, because you could bop around without worrying if you were going to get smashed. 

At the third and final concert in London, we were al lin the pit again and this time Ann came and also Sarah and Vicki.  It was a great ending.  As I told you, Sarah is a real comic and when Paul went into his bit about "My Love" he looked directly at us and shrugged his shoulders and smiled as if to say "can't do anything for you up here!"  Well Sarah puckered up and his eyes nearly popped out of his head and he was laughing really hard.    By this time, we were really desperate!  During "Live and Let Die" Linda would sort of raise her arm in the air to the beat so we did it to -- only on time.  Talk about raised eyebrows! 

So much happened, it's hard to put it all down on paper.   At the end of the show, Robin came over to me and told me there was a party.  I was really out of it,. and I do not remember this happening.  She told me later that I just kept saying, "I know, I know, but I'm going backstage."   Some of the girls saw Paul from this window later.   But that night we all went to the Cafe Royal on Regent Street near Piccadilly where the party was.  Around 1am, who should come walking down the street but Paul and Linda.  Paul sporting a yellow suit with short sleeves and Linda with a halter top and Frankenstein shoes.  Oh yes, Paul had his pants tucked into his brown suede boots.  Anyway, this weirdo stopped him as he went in, telling him about this "beautiful place" somewhere.  It was very strange with PAul that night -- he's a true Gemini.  Oh yeah, to complement his outfit, he had gone home and painted his thumb yellow and had put on red, while on a few others he painted them half red and half dark blue (By the way, Linda usually wore red on a few fingers, blue on one, and green on the other).  I'm sure this was to impress the other people at the party.   He stood at the door for a while, talking to John Entwhistle from The Who.  Denny Laine got Goldie and Robin and some of their friends into the party at midnight.  We got there late.  If we had only arrived earlier we could have gotten in too.   I hope that Goldie and Robin will write a column about the party. 

Paul's chauffeur was there.  We were pretty aggravated by this time, so I said, "Well, you want to take us home now?"  Much to our surprise, he said yes!  He was really a nice guy.  Paul had hired him just for the weekend.  He usually works as David Bowie's chauffeur and bodyguard.  He showed us Paul's "Macca" jacket, which was in the trunk.  We all loved that jacked and were certainly excited to see it!  Each of us even tried it on.  That was nice.   Well, that was the en f our few weeks in heaven.  None of us know how quiet to digest the whole thing.  I just can't wait for the next tour! 

Wings head to Scotland in 1973

Our friends from McCartney Lovers and Friends now follow Wings to Scotland on the 1973 tour.  This was published in Summer 1973 issue of McCartney Lovers and Friends 

We were in Scotland for two days -- the countryside is really beautiful.  It was strange to really see the fog come from the ground.  I was quite disappointed with the city of Edinburgh.  It was really gloomy and the "castle" was a big let down.  The people are very strange and obviously don't like intruders.  there were two concerts that night.  

We saw Paul arrive on the bus, looking particularly gorgeous as he was unshaved.  He had a radio with him and he bent down and looked at us and started dancing off the bus!  He hopped off and got swarmed by the autograph hounds.  Linda gave us a big smile and a hello.  Paul continued to bop on in, and Linda stopped to sign autographs.  He looked back to see where she was and saw her signing and said, "Linda!  Come on!!"  She went in fast.  

That night we had front row seats in the balcony for both shows.  At one point during the "dance" part, this girl started to faint.  So, a guard picked her up and put her on the stage.  She started dragging him over towards Paul instead of going off to the side.  Suddenly she gained consciousness and she grabbed Paul from the back, digging into his chest and making him fall back.  He pushed her off then the guard and Dave picked her up by her hands and legs and dragged her off.    We saw her later talking with friends and the "poor girl" was so excited that she had to sit down and cry all over again.

We saw Paul at the hotel that night.  We were the only ones there, but when the bus arrived, out of the nowhere 20 people arrived and he was swarmed.  There was a show in Glasgow the next day, but our train passes ran out, so we had to get back to London.    We were hesitant about Glasgow anyway because we hear a lot of stories about it being rough.  If they don't like you there, they get you with razor blades!  I was going to ask John (one of the roadies) to give me a ride down to London from Glasgow, but he arrive din their van with the other roadies and some groupies, so I didn't.  (If any of you are wondering about groupies and Mr. Mac-- forget it!  No chance!).   

We got back to London the next day.  One of us went to the show in Glasgow, so I will leave it to her to review it.   

More of Wings on Tour 1973

Let's continue to journey along with those kooky Americans as they keep attending all of the Wings concert in the UK in the Spring of 1975.    As with the other installments, these were all from the Summer 1973 issue of McCartney Lovers and Friends  

The next day, we had a DAY OFF and Sarah took us on the old tour of Liverpool.  We went to the Cavern -- which was torn down the week after -- it was moved across the street I hear.   We visited Paul and George's old school and John's art college.  We then went to Paul's old home at 20 Forthlin Road in Allerton -- it was beautiful.  I don't know whoever gave us the impression that they were poor, because it's as gorgeous there!  It wasn't a mansion or anything, but it certainly was a nice area.   Sarah also took us to see Paul's father's house and Mike MC's house  (VERY NICE!).  The countryside around Liverpool is really breathtaking!

The next concert was in Leeds.  This was the place where you go on a "first come, first served" basis.  Sher and Vickie decided that they wouldn't be able to hack that, and thought it best that they skip that concert.  However, so of us are gluttons for punishment and can't miss out on a thing.  So we took off in Sarah's car.  We were traveling along, minding our own business when Sarah comes out with, "I don't want to get funny or anything, but there's this strange-looking bus in front of us."   We all went "Aggggg!" at the same time.  Sure enough, it was THE bus.  We passed them, and Linda was sitting at the window.  I looked back and saw them sitting there.  Paul sat up in his seat and looked just as we were speeding on.  We passed them again, and this time, both of them were waving and giving the thumbs-up sign.  Paul was going absolutely insane, waving, grinning, and carrying on.  he was talking to someone about us and pointing (love to know what he said!).  It was really great.  We felt like we were friends.  What was really weird was that I was wasting my time staring at this picture that appeared in that day's newspaper when Sarah spotted the bus.   

We went on our way to Leeds.  After a while, we got in line and naturally were the first ones.  I had some more roses for Paul.  When were let in, we ran like hell and sat in the first row -- namely the floor.  There was a line of roadies to keep everyone in line.  Brinsley came on first as always, and at one point, he said, "this song is for all our friends in the audience" and looked directly at me.  I wondered what brought that on.  Then he pointed at me and said, "especially you!"  So I buried my head in the roses.  When the novelty act came on, that stupid gorilla woman tried to attack me and my roses.  I nearly kicked her!

The MC kept saying that the concert was being filmed for TV.  Paul came out and we got a lot of special attention.  Just before "My Love" Henry opened his big mouth and said, "C'mon get up!"  And with that, we were thrown around and smashed against the floor.  I was a bit more fortunate than the others, and the only person in front of me was a roadie.  For some unknown reason, he was having more fun looking at me, so I figured, what the hell, and asked him to let me stand in front of him, which he did. I now had a great view, right in the front.  

Meanwhile, during the concert, the others were having a terrible time being crushed and some slobs were pinching them.  I threw the flowers on stage and then, Linda, Denny Laine and Henry threw them back and forth and looked at them a while.  They made their way back and forth in the audience as well.  At one point, I saw them at Paul's feet -- except no more roses  -- just stems!  Haha!

We drove back to Liverpool, drinking Coke -- our bottles had Scotch mixed in with them.  Yum!  We had been drinking before the concert too, so we were kind of zonked out.  When we got back to Liverpool, we stopped at Sarah's C's house to see her cat named Fred who thought he was a dog and retrieved bones!  Ann was really gone and could not get out of the car.  Meanwhile, a dark looming figure came up and stood near the car where Ann was resting.  Slowly, it started opening the car door, and successfully scared Ann half out of her drunken sits.  It was a bobby who wanted to find out why the car lights were on!  

We had another day to spend in Liverpool. I really liked it there.  Our next stop was in Preston.  Everything was so screwed up there.  I named to walk into a rehearsal.  I wasn't expected it, because I just walked in and there it was.  I was only there for five minutes, having a nervous attack because of the others who I thought would be able to come in too, but that's another story.  Paul had on the same white shiny jacket that he wore in Manchester and the whole group was looking at me.  Dave walked over and tells me that he told me at the "other" rehearsals that I wasn't supposed to be there.  He turned out to be a real bastard.  Anyone who was there will agree with me.  I asked him WHAT other rehearsals he was talking about.  Maybe I forgot I got in to them?   Meanwhile, there were two ladies sitting behind me and he told them the same thing, but their little trick was that they had no place to stay that night, so could he help them?  So he said that he'd arrange it so they could stay at the same hotel.  However they had to leave too, but then he told me I could stand behind an amplifier or something.  I didn't know what was going on, and I didn't know what was going on with the others, so I just walked out.  

At the concert, we managed to obtain lousy seats, sort of in the back.  I couldn't hack a seat so far back, so Ann and I mossied on down to the front and perched ourselves in front seats.  Eventually, the rightful owners claimed their seats and I ended up sharing a seat with a friend and Ann sat on the floor.  There were people behind the stage as well.  Paul and Henry were joking around about how the people sitting behind the stage got shipped so Paul turned to each side and kept saying, "How's that, can you see me now?"  

We were in the second-row center and we were really in bad shape.  You see, there was this "person" on stage staring at us.  And when I stare, I mean stare.  This went on the first half of the show, constantly.  We kept pinching each other and saying, "He's not staring at us too much is he?"  At one point, he saw Ann all crushed up on the floor, looked at us, then pointed at Ann and laughed and kicked at her.   

We were preparing ourselves for the end of the show when everyone would get up and dance.  As soon as he starts his little spiel, I started to sort of get up.  He noticed what we were doing and that we were half standing and half sitting, just withering away waiting for him to finish.  He dragged it out on purpose.  Finally, when he started, we just loomed up to the stage.  It was really embarrassing because Ann and I soon discovered we were the only ones who got up.  But we didn't care b because Paul smiled at us, as did the rest of the group.  All of a sudden everyone else joined us, and Ann was pushed and thrown around by the crowd.  I was prepared for it, so I was ok.  Ann ended up someplace.  My friend nearly had all her hair pulled out and they just kept pulling it.  Linda saw us getting messed up and gave us a really sympathetic look.  Meanwhile, my dress was being yang and pulled down.  It was quite embarrassing, especially because Paul McCartney was there.  

Anyway, there was this nutty girl who kept screaming at me to get his microphone.  I told her to buzz off.  She kept jumping over me to try and trap his legs.  So I grabbed hold and pinched her until she stopped.  The whole floor just shook and you didn't have to move your feet and you'd still be dancing.  We were really getting pushed around and my friend was really in pain since they were jerking her head back and pulling her hair.  By this time, the whole group noticed our predicament.  I think Pau was under the mistaken idea that we were having a good time.  It's great being right in front of him, but the hell you go through for it.  I don't understand why the people just can't get up and dance and have a good time.  They all want to get up on the stage and it really ruins it all.  Of course, we've forgotten the pain we went through and just remember how fantastic it was to be right in front of him.  

Paul pointed to the people behind us and told them to move back.  We thought that he was doing it for us -- really, it seemed that way because he pointed directly to the ones that were crushing us.   The reason was because the place was beginning to fall down!  They didn't cut the show sort, as the newspaper said.  Anyway, we went to the hotel, which was about two blocks away from the hall.  You could see the hall from there, and we knew when was coming because we saw the bus waiting, and the flashes and screaming.  

The four of us were the only ones there with the exception of two girls, about the age of 15.  When he arrived, they immediately began to leap in the air and got their little autographs.  There was an alleyway sort of leading to the hotel entrance, and he's still signing when he got there while they jumped up and down around him.  It was so stupid.  All of a sudden, one of them literally attacked him, pulled his head down to her and kissed him on the mouth.  She wasn't satisfied with just one.  She kept doing it while Paul was trying to pull himself away.  I remember my mouth hanging open because I just could not believe it.  Paul didn't like it at all.  You can just imagine how well it went over with Linda.  I couldn't get over it.  They were squealing away and he's yelling "Girls!  Stop it!  I'm married.  I have three children!  Girls!"  When they were done, they just screamed and ran away.  It's people like that that you could sock in the mouth. 

Manchester & Liverpool Wings 1973

More stories about Paul McCartney and Wings Spring tour of the U.K. in 1973 from the Summer 1973 issue of McCartney Lovers and Friends.


The next morning, we left for Manchester.  It turned out to be the longest, dragged out ride of the whole trip.  Normally a 6-hour ride took 8 hours because the engine broke down!  We were sure that we were going to miss the concert.  When we finally did get there, it was about a half-hour before the show.  We jumped in a taxi and speeded off to the Manchester Hard Rock.  While we sat and worried, I happened to notice a white bus.  It was Valient Silverline.  "Valient Silverline????!!!!!"  A second later I looked up and there was Paul leaning his head against the window as if he were bored stiff.  He had on a black and red checkered jacket.  It all happened so fast, I couldn't open my mouth. I just grabbed Ann's arm and said, "Do you know I just saw Paul!?!?!" and started muttering it out.

He was going in the opposite direction, so we assumed the taxi driver was jipping us.  We merged onto a main and sure enough, just in front of us was the bus.  The taxi driver was a maniac and proceeded to pass the bus.  We were dying.  It was like something you see in the movies.  We passed the bus and Paul was resting his head against the seat, with his arms folded, looking straight ahead and sulking.  It was weird that he was just as bored with the rotten traveling as we were! 

We beat him to the theatre, and just got done paying the taxi when the bus pulled in.  He sat up and looked at all the people in disbelief.  When we got in the theatre, we discovered that we had the rottenest seats in the house.  Sure, they were close to the stage, but there were stacks of amplifiers blocking our view.  We couldn't believe the theatre had enough nerve to sell those seats.  In any case, I was definitely spoiled by that time, and it was in the front or nothing for me.  so I just went and stood right in front of the stage.  The night before, his press agent had given us some "Red Rose Speedway" buttons (like Paul always wore) and stickers, and I just made like I belonged there.  I'll tell you, a Pentax does wonders also!  You'd be surprised what a 35mm camera can do for you.  Sarah and Ann stayed more over to the left -- which was good also. 

This was the crappiest audience yet.  I was the only one clapping, and I turned around and looked at the people like "aren't you gonna get up?"  By the end, a lot did, but they were really a dull audience.  Just sat there and gaped at him.  There was a girl standing next to me, and this big roadie came along and threw her down and told her if she got up again, they throw her f'ing so and so out.  Well, I figured I was next, but they looked at me and smiled.  I couldn't figure that out.  But who cares


  There was another concert in Manchester the next night.  During the day, we went into the city.   We were buying some musical papers and I asked the man if he knew of any magazines with any articles on Paul.  He checked for me and said, "oh, did you know he's upstairs?"  "What?"   He then told me that Paul was in the Picadilly Hotel, which was in this mall.   Roger Moore was upstairs visiting Paul. 

At the show that night, I again made my way to the front of the stage.  Paul change his outfit!  (shock!).  He wore a shiny gorgeous white jacket with pictures of  Marilyn Monroe on it.  At one particularly beautiful moment, Paul looked at me, opened his eyes real wide, winked, and shot at me.  (My big trill of the day)  This time, the audience was normal and everything went well.


Now, onto Liverpool.  I always expected Liverpool to be a dirty, scruffy place but it wasn't.  It was really nice there!  We all got a hotel near the theatre.  You wouldn't believe these little boys that were following us around -- real punks.  They were trying to steal things from us, but we gave them a proper warning and they left us alone.  You wouldn't believe it, they must not have been more than 7 - walking down the street smoking. 

James left his jacket on the seat by mistake and they stole 100 pounds from him!  (About $250).  We had seats in the 7th row this time.  All of Paul's relatives were in the audience, including his father.  It was really great.  While waiting for the show to start, these characters were yelling out things like "Hey Macca!"  and give me a "W" give me an "I" give me an "N" and give me an uhhh oh "G" give me an S!"  W-I-N-G-S!!   Claire, a girl that used to run his club in England, got on stage with the gorilla!  The show was fantastic, and Paul said it was really strange being up on stage there because the last time he was there he was "up there" (pointing to the balcony) watching Cliff Richard.

Linda, by the way, also changed her outfit from her black dress to an orange one.  The audience went wild at the end.  Good old Sarah was there and she had forgotten to get us all tickets to the second show, but she did get some off some crook outside for $25.  Since our seats were not all together, we decided to stand up in the back (This theatre was really small, so we weren't really that far away).  We stayed there, and there were these lights on us and they could see us.  We were up there bopping around and in general, making fools out of ourselves, and once we clapped loudly for Denny and Denny said, "Thank you, girls, in the back!"   During "Say you don't mind," I decided to get myself down to the front of the stage for when Pau would do "The Mess".  I ran down and then it began.  It was really fantastic for awhile because was directly in front of Paul, who by the way, had changed his jacket again and wore the black and red checkered one.  It was really great, but suddenly about 1000 people decided that they wanted to be where I was.  I stayed right where I was, but kept being pushed against a rail.  I was sure that I would be sawed in half.  James was behind me waving flowers in the air and Paul noticed this and grinned at James first and then me.  It was like a private joke.  James threw the roses on the stage and Paul kicked them.

Suddenly, everything started going black.  I was passing out.  I couldn't breathe and I was so scared.  If I had passed out there, I would have been crushed to death by the crowd.  It was definitely the most frightening thing that ever happened to me.  I really got hurt.  There was a roadie in the pit next to me and I screamed that I was going to pass out.  He tried to lift me up, but I was so crushed he couldn't.  I don't know how I managed to keep myself up, but I did.

Paul sang the encore of Long Tall Sally again, and the others started walking off.  Paul told them to wait and Linda asked him what he was going.  He just told her to wait a minute and then went into Long Tall Sally again! 

After the show, I was like a zombie.  I couldn't even walk and conked out of the floor.  Didn't know where I was -- nothing.  After I went hysterical for a while at the hotel, we went back to the theatre.  Oh, we heard this big roar so we knew that he had come out of the theatre or looked out the window and sure enough, we found out he stuck his head out the window.  Luckily for Paul, he got wise and snuck out by the front entrance in his rented car.  (A yellow Ford with a black top)

Onto Cardiff and Bournemouth!

Continuing one with the journey of the Americans following Paul McCartney and Wings around the U.K. in May of 1973 from the Summer 1973 issue of McCartney Lovers and Friends



Now, onto Cardiff.  Would you believe we had to stop off in Bristol again to catch a connecting train?  Anyway, we finally did make it to Wales and registered in a hotel right across the street from the theatre.  You had to lean out the window to see anything, so while I was writing a letter, I kept sticking my head out the window every two seconds.  All of a sudden I saw the bus (arriving hours ahead of time for rehearsal) and naturally I missed Paul by a split second.  I saw everyone else going in, but brother!  We met a friend for the first time outside the theatre and since then, we become traveling buddies and went nuts on the train together.   She and Maddy and front row seats and our seats were awful.   They were off the side, and not being six feet tall, I was having a hard time seeing anything.  I was having a nervous attack when Ann spotted two beautiful, gorgeous empty seats in the second row - center!  Luckily enough, we snuck over to them about 10 minutes before Paul came on, but God, we were so nervous that the proper owners would show up and kick us out.  John Eastman was sitting right near us.  The show was great, and I loved our seats.  god lots of nice looks from Mr. Mac, which didn't bother us at all.

At the end, when everyone was up, Ann and I decided to make ourselves noticeable and stand up on our chairs.  Well, it worked!  Especially when we both fell through the seats at the same time!  It was so funny!  We were both dying from laughter that we hardly noticed the pain.  I pulled a cutie and tried to get back up on the chair, and leaned all my weight on the let that was stuck behind the chair.  I was sure that I had broken my ankle.  I had a black and blue mark half the size of this page which didn't go away from about 5 weeks.  In order to balance ourselves, we threw our shoes off.  It was hysterical, really.  We kept having visions of Paul seeing our heads and then all of a sudden "where'd they go?"  Ann got stuck so bad that she just let her foot stay behind the seat and danced on her one remaining foot.

Guess who came and sat in these3ats were ere so happy to give up?  Mary McCartney and Paul's manager, Vincent Romeo (They say she fell asleep during the show).  Mary was right next to Sher -- so Sher was happy.  We went to the stage entrance behind the theatre, where the bus was.  Linda stuck her head out and throw some frisbees.  Oh!  I almost forgot -- at the end of each show, the roadies would come and throw hundreds of frisbees into the audience and at times, Paul would throw them too.  They were blue and red and said "Paul McCartney and Wings  -- Red Rose Speedway".

Picture from Tracks 

Anyway, the bus went out to the front entrance.  the night before in Oxford, I asked Linda where the kids were.  She told me they'd be there, and sure enough, they were!  When Paul came out, he was swarmed again, and yelled, "Dave!!"  He looked at Ann and rolled his eyes as if to say, "their assholes..."  Vincent was carrying Mary and everyone was pushing.  Some nut was heading right toward Mary, so I pushed him away from her and said, "Don't push!"  Mary was SO CUTE.  She looked at me with the cutest little smile.  I could kidnap that kid.  We went over to the side where Paul was .  Linda was sitting at the window and someone gave her Stella.  Linda waved and then started Stella waving at us.  this went on for 10 minutes.  Stella is so cute -- she's got his features in her coloring.  She was so cute and happy, waving to us and we kept waving back.  It was hysterical.  We just kept waving on and on for 10 minutes!  Paul was devoting his attention to the hysterical side of the bus but were having all the fun with Stella and Linda.  Mary was next to Paul and all we could do is drop our mouths as we compared profiles -- exactly alike.

Finally, Paul decided to give us poor creatures standing over there alone some attention and waved and gave the thumbs-up sign.  Stella was still waving at Sher, Ann and I and Paul noticed and starting singing to her.  Ann swears he said "You're a bad girl" because she read his lips.  He was waving and smiling and gave some mucho nice looks.  After the bus left, we went back to our hotel and the owner opened the closed bar for us so that we could have some drinks.   Ann and Sher and I had a little theme song going, which went to the tune of the song Paul sang at the end of the special (before Yesterday) "so here we sit at the end of another day, end of another day..."  Our words were "so here we sit at the end of another concert, end of another concert... 

Bournemouth is on the southern coast of England -- on the English channel.  That was the most beautiful place I had ever seen.  It was incredible -- very clean, parks with gardens all over the place and water was nearby.  It was gorgeous.  If you ever go to England, plan that as one of your stops.   One of their restaurants had the best lasagna in the word (and by the way, John Aunt Mimi lives there).

We were there for a total of 2 days since there was a day off.  We went to the Winter Gardens early so that we could take some photos of the theatre as well as the surrounding area.  Sher and I were taking photos of the front when we noticed this person on the roof.  It was Henry, who was practicing on his guitar.  There were some nice guys around who wanted to get some photos of Paul -- later on, they were talking to Henry and Henry said that once Paul arrived they, including me could go backstage, providing it was alright with Paul.   Naturally, Paul arrived too late, so that flopped.  Anyway, we sat around and waited a few hours.  I had gotten some yellow roses for Paul and the bus arrived.  It was only us, and Denny Laine spotted us and therefore, proceeded to stand up and wave and smile.  Paul noticed us, and jumped up and started waving and grinning and before long, everyone was waving at us.  I went around to the side where Pau was because they were opening the gate for him and he followed me around to that side.  He was smiling and I held the roses up and he went "Oh!  OK!" nodding his head.  I pointed to the front of the bus, and he nodded his head ok, so I went to the front to meet him.    I had this big plan to ask him to sing the "Hold me Tight" medley.  He came off the bus, looking like a little kid at Christmas time.  He had this huge grin and an expression like "ok! Can I have my flower now?"   I handed him the flowers and said "They were living once"  (they had sort of wilted during out vigil).  He said "Thank You" and walked in, so I never did get to ask him about that song.   It's better that he never did sing it because, with those words, we would not have been responsible for our actions.

We had second-row center seats that night which were fantastic.  I was talking to this particularly gorgeous guy next to me before the show.  he couldn't understand what we saw in Paul that would make us follow the tour around.  Well, after the show, all he kept saying was "Now I know why you're doing this!  Fantastic!  Absolutely fantastic!  That was the best show I ever saw!"  When the show began, I immediately had a heart attack when I saw my flowers sitting in Denny's drums!  The show went along beautifully, as always, with a lot of special attention from Paul.  At the end, however, the stage got rushed and we just about died.   Something like that makes you want to run up and punch those silly people.  Paul saw it coming, dropped everything, and ran like hell!  I was so frightened my heart was in the my throat.  When they cleared everyone off, he did come back out.  Linda was so scared that a roadie put his arms around her as if to protect.  She put her hands over her face and she was crying. I really felt sorry for her -- that really scared me too!  None the less, it was a good show, except for that scene near the end.

We waited near the stage door and were joined by 100 other people, so we separated ourselves from that.  We were very tensed up and afraid of what would happen when he came out.  As usual, he was swarmed, flashed at, and had to sign a lot of autographs and smile at the same time.

Oxford Press conference

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The tour begins

Continuing one with the story of the American girls that followed Wings on the 1973 UK tour as found in the fanzine called "McCartney Lovers and Friends" from Summer 1973.



May 11th started the tour.  Ann and I decided to get rid of the car and enlist ourselves on the British Rail.  I'm not exactly a whiz at maps and Sarah decided it would make her nervous if I followed her, so to avoid missing out on half the concerts and risking our lives, we decided to leave the driving to the train conductors.  Oh, the night before, on May 10th "James Paul McCartney" was on.  We stayed at the Park Court Hotel that night so we could see it.  (You'd think for $14.00 each you'd get a color TV, but no...and the place had mice too!  We didn't get a view of Hyde Park either.  Grrrrr!).  Anyway, it was nice seeing the special again -- especially at the end, where we were shocked to find out that instead of singing "Long Tall Sally" he sang "Hi Hi Hi" (which was rather shocking since it was banned here). 

We arrived in Bristol.  What a weird place.  It used to be a big seaport.  Lots of sailors.  A dirty place.  To make matters worse, we stayed in this haunted house.  What had happened was Sarah called this guest house and was told that there were no vacancies, and two seconds later the lady changed her mind and said to come over, and maybe they'd have a vacancy when she got there.  Sarah just mentioned that there were two girls.  When they got there, this weird woman says "ooohhhh..are the other 3 like you too?"  There was absolutely no one in the house, and she put them in this weird room on the top of the house.  When the rest of us got there, we were the lucky ones who met up with her weirdo husband, who stuck us in a room next to Sarah.  It was the type of place where you expected some eerie figure to come out of the wall.  There was four different types of wallpaper in each room and he would not give us a key to the room.  At first, we decided that he was a vampire but Vickie saw his reflection in a mirror and some of the wallpaper had crosses on it, so that theory was out.  I was sure that he was going to lock us up in the rooms and make us prostitutes.  When it came time for us to leave for the concert, we found out we'd have to wait 45 minutes for a taxi.  Well, the owner decided we didn't have much of a choice.  During the ride, he announced that he lost his way, but would soon find it again.  the reason he lost his way in his own city was because "I was looking at you..."  I just about jumped out the window! 

We did get to the Bristol Hippodrome.  Before the show, I spoke to the tour manager, Dave, and to make a long story short, he said that we would be able to attend a press conference at the Randolph  Hotel in Oxford the next evening - so we were really looking forward to that!   The show began with a group called Binsley Schwarz.  At first, I thought, "Oh God, if I have to go through this every show, I'll crack up. " but, after a while, they really grew on us.  They're a good band - quite popular in England.  We became pretty friendly with them and made up nicknames for each one.  The funniest thing was the drummer because he looked like our friend, Linda only with short hair.  We called him "Mr. Moo" because one night he had a shirt on with the saying "Once in a Blue Moon." 

During intermission, they would have a "novelty act" with these two old corny folks and their cute little poodle.  It was really a terrible act, with this old woman trying awfully hard to be sexy and her husband wore this toupe and thought he was the greatest performer on earth (we all know he came on after) He would trill everyone by standing up on his wife's stomach and after he performed this great feat, would urge everyone to clap for him (Corny).  His wife would come out dressed as a gorilla and attack people in the first few rows and drag up on stage (we got it a few times!  How embarrassing!) We went practically crazy after sitting through this 15 times.

Finally, a few minutes after that act, the big moment would come.  It's always so hard to put into words the feeling you get at something like this.  how can you explain how you felt when he walked out on the stage -- the excitement, how he looked, and how proud you were of him.  I'll TRY and tell you how it went -- all the shows were basically the same, so I'll just review this one in detail, and then tell you the special parts in each concert thereafter.  Ok?  The MC came on and said, "do you want to see Wings?!?!?!"  and with that everyone clapped and cheered.  Denny Laine walked on and the MC said, "do you know this fella, Denny Laine?"  And then the whole group walked out!  Paul came on giving the thumbs-up sign and grinning.  He must have been awfully nervous, but that soon went away because the audience's reaction was tremendous!  Before any word was said, Paul began with "Soily" a fabulous rocker, sort of an introduction song.  "Now people gathered here tonight.  I Want you to listen to me..."  A great song!  Straight into "Big Barn Bed", which is so great anyway, but even better in concert.  After that Paul said, "Hello Bristol!  How are ya?"  After Big Barn Bed, Paul would stomp and dance over to Denny's drums, which you all know didn't bother us a bit.

 We were in the 7th row, and much to our surprise, Paul really DID spot us and looked over a lot and smiled!  Oh, before the show people were warned not to try and take any pictures or tape the show.  We all have 35mm cameras and weren't going to use a flash anyway, but this man walked over and told us that no photography was allowed.  We really had no intention of listening anyway, but a few minutes later he came back over and said, "Are you the five American girls that came all the way for the tour?  Oh! I'm so sorry I told you you couldn't take any pictures.  You can take as many as you want!"  He kept apologizing.  I just couldn't believe the special treatment.  We kept hearing people say, "They're the ones -- going through the whole tour non-stop!"

  Anyway, Paul sang "When the Night" and then said they were going to do a song off one of their old LPs -- "Wild Life".  They used a blue spotlight and the stage was dark.  HE sang it slower.  Denny would then introduce Linda's song, "Seaside Woman," explaining that it was the first song she ever wrote and to give her some encouragement and sing along.  They used bright yellow lights and Paul really bopped around.  He really wanted people to join in, but no one knew the song, so it was a bit hard.  He jokingly said, "ohhhhh c'mon!  You're terrible!"  There's a few lines in each verse which go like this, "Papa catches fish from the bottom of the sea, Momma sticks around, she keeps an eye on me.  Crazy little mama smile all day.  Papa comes home and at night they lay.. Ohhhhhhh seaside woman..."   During the middle of the tour, Paul added aline which he spoke.  I couldn't catch onto it too well, but he would say something and end it with "I only want to be with you."  So, after that, Linda would get up from the piano and Paul would sit down.  He'd drink water and say, "cheers!"  He used to make a lot of nice little comments like "Sure is hot up here.."  Then, if you remember the special, Paul sang "Little Woman Love" and then "C-Moon" (which everyone went crazy over) and then back to "Little Woman Love." 

Then he would introduce "Live and Let Die" by saying it was the music he wrote for the new James Bond film and then he'd shoot up in the air with both hands and go "boom boom".  If you think the record is great, you should hear and see it in concert.  Amazing!  They had psychedelic lighting during the fast chorus and it was really wild.  Linda and Henry would dance and carry on while Paul pounded away. The lights made everything look like it was in slow motion and it was really cool.  Every time I hear that song, I have a mental vision of those lights flashing on Paul's face, and Linda running across the stage in slow motion.  by the way, at the end of the song, Paul didn't let it drift off like on the single -- he'd pause, and then there'd be a rousing one last boom on the piano.  It was fantastic!  Then Paul would do "My Love".  He say something like this, "OK, now if there are any couples in the audience, you can kind of snug, cuddle up to this song..."  Naturally, Henry, the big joker would make a couple comments or someone in the audience would make a remark and everyone laughed for a while.  Then Paul would say, "It's called 'my Love.'"  This, too, was remarkable!  Then into "Maybe I'm Amazed."  Beautiful. Paul was so proud -- really...

Then he'd introduce Denny Laine, who then sat down at the piano.  Henry sang his little song, "There was a wee man and he had a wooden leg..."Then, Denny sang "Go Now."  Fabulous, naturally.  It was strange to hear Paul on that song.  Denny is really talented.  Then, Denny would sing "Saw you don't mind."  I love this song and I hope they'll put it on one of their LPs -- it's really fantastic!  During this, Paul would share the mike with Henry.  Henry is a real character.  He's really funny.  Before Denny did this song, Paul would say, "You've been a good audience, you've sat there and enjoyed yourselves.  But if you feel like clapping or shaking your bums a little big, then please do so."  After Denny's song, Paul would again urge everyone to get up and believe me they did for "The Mess."  This was my favorite part of the concert.  Paul would really sweat this number out and there was not one person sitting down.  Everyone was up clapping and dancing and having a great time!  Then he'd introduce "Hi Hi Hi" by saying the song was banned.  He thought because he heard it was "dirty."  Everyone would go "ooooohhhhhh!!!!" and when he started that number, people went absolutely berserk!  Paul would end the number and then wave and walk off stage.  The audience would go CRAZY, thumping and stamping their feet, yelling, "more, more, more!" over and over.  IT was too much.  Paul would come back out and do "Long Tall Sally" as an encore, and then say "Thanks" and walk off again.  Well, 99% of the time that just wasn't enough for the people and he'd have to come out again and say how great everyone was "I love you all!" and then explain that they had no more numbers to do, and they'd see everyone "next time."  When Paul set out to give everyone a good evening out, he gave them a good evening out!

After the show, everyone was waiting outside the stage door.  It was like 1964 again -- really scary.  We were so nervous about what would happen when he came out.  The bus was waiting for him, but then pulled away.  The police were there, but no one would leave.  The bus, by the way, wasn't the same one they had last year, rather a rented Valient Silverline bus.  Then, a photographer told us that he was going to come out the front.  Thank God there weren't too many people that knew that.  But when he did come out, it was bad enough.  I nearly turned gray within two seconds.  Those animals literally attacked him.  Pulled his hair, yanked at his jacket, screamed, and yelled.  All I could do was say, "Oh God, please don't hurt him!"  Paul didn't seem to mind all that much, but it really scared me to death.  I just can't stand people treating him like that.  Meanwhile, Paul got on the bus and sat on the left side.  I was in such a rage.  I could have killed all those people.  Then it dawned on me that I should go over to the left and see him.  There was about 7 people there, including Ann -- it as nice because he just sat there and waved at them for five minutes.  Naturally, I missed most of it because I was too busy turning gray on the other side, but fortunately, he continued to ham it up for a while longer, waving and giving the thumbs-up sign. I stood away from the people, alone.  When the bus took off, I waved and he waved back at me -- then he realized it was me!  He took a double-take and looked back at me and gave the nicest smile and little wave, so I was extremely happy about that. 

Meanwhile, we had to go back to the haunted house.  The two girls next door froze to death in their room, and we scared each other to death by discussing what we thought was wrong with the house.  We ended up staying up until 3, left the lights on, put a chair up against the door and all slept in the same bed.  We were never so glad to leave a place as we were to leave Bristol!  Now, onto Oxford.  This was a big place -- for the press.  There was only going to be one press conference and it was going to be that night.  Luckily for us, we had front row seats!  IT was really fantastic, being right in the center-right within his line of vision.  He gave us a lot of nice looks and smiles and once winked and kind of waved.  It was only the beginning of the great evening for me....