Paul and Linda in NYC

 

March 27, 1969 -

It appears in the photos  Paul and Linda are looking at some photos a fan has handed them. 

Looking so hip

 

The almost Fab 4

 

George in New York in '63

screenshot from "Now and Then" video 

Photo by Peter Harrison 

George Harrison on the roof deck of the Pickwick Arms Hotel - end of  September or early October  1963. 

The small clip of George in New York in the New and Then video has me excited that all of the 1963 George film is still around and has been worked on and cleaned up.   I  have heard about George and his brother shooting film in Benton, Illinois from many of the locals there when they were alive and I have longed to see the footage.   Little snippets keep popping up here and there.  One day Olivia or Dhani will allow us to see it all.  

Lucky Contest winner meets The Beatles

 

Charming the press

 

Paul invades the U.S. (New York) 1984

 Paul Invades the U.S. – New York

By Pat Deese

Believe it or not, walking down Park Avenue in NYC, I actually spotted someone I knew – Jennie, so I rushed across the street, caught up with her, and asked if she knew where Paul might be.  She said she had just seen Trevor go by in the limo and was trying to figure where he was going.  She then told us that she had heard that Paul was supposedly going to do an interview with “Entertainment Tonight” at the Carlisle Hotel on 76^th Street.  So Kathy and her friend LouAnn and I headed off to look.  We saw a group of fans there as we arrived.

A little while later we saw some “ET” people arrive, so we thought he must be coming.  The security got ready to some cops arrived.  At about 1:20, Paul arrived. As he got out of the car, he was besieged with the fans, handing him boxes of flowers and presents.  Some were really shoving and he said, “Please don’t crowd.”  I stood back and snapped a few photos.  He proceeded to go in as it was a bit wild.  He wore dark pants and a jacket.

As we waited to see him leave, we were across the street when someone yelled, “Julian!” and we looked to see him bouncing out of a car.  After that, we decided to wait across the street.  A while later, Linda arrived, and still later, Heather came (to see Julian perhaps).  They left later and I got a photo of Julian leaving, but he would not slow down for anyone and basically everyone let him be.

The security started joining forces and the cops arrived once more, so we knew that Paul would be leaving soon after.  It was about 4:15 when he left. This time Linda was with him, and he had changed and was wearing a red jacket.  This time he did not even attempt to stop, just walked towards the car.  The crowd waiting was quite large and passersby were also waiting across the street in hopes of catching a glimpse.

We were then told he was attending a party at a club on 60^th Street at 6pm, so we headed off in that direction.  IT was much more crowded with fans and photographs alike.  Kathy and I managed to get close to the entrance and proceeded to wait as various celebrities, including most of the MTV crew, arrived.  We were rewarded finally around 7:30 to the sight of Macca bouncing out of his car and proceeding to entertain the fans and photographers with a lot of bouncing and smiling and posing and jumping about!  I caught a fabulous glimpse of this as I was standing not 10 feet away and the photographer directly in front of me was bend down leading on a table they had earlier put up as a barricade.  I took a few photos at first but was unable to tell if I was in focus, plus I was being jostled by the crowd. I switched to my movie camera.  I was rewarded with a wild pose and a knees down arms outstretched pose right at my camera.  Needless to say, I nearly dropped the camera.  He looked gorgeous and wore a dark suit and tie.

 

Some of the people left there then and headed for the premiere, but we decided to wait at the exit as we would be much closer to him there.   I got up and kneeled on the table for close to an hour.  Kathy eventually stood on it along with Louann.  I was so sore, but I was not about to let that stop me from catching a glimpse.  He came out somewhere after 8:30 (which of course made him late for the premiere!) and after snapping a few photos and getting a good look, we headed for the theater, which was about 5 blocks away.  We sure had a feat ahead of us, and that was to get there ahead of Paul.  So, everyone was running.  Picture maybe 50 of more fans setting off running up the street, across streets, probably in front of stunned drivers, yelling, laughing, passing bewildered New Yorkers casually strolling down the street, turning, looking, staring, wondering why was everyone running, what was happening, who did you see?  I could barely breathe after the first two blocks, so I slowed to a fast walk.  Actually, the only thing that had kept me going was that he was going to be there.  It was like the chase scene in “Hard Day’s Night.”  We had not sat down or eaten in over 12 hours, and had walked and run all over New York.

We got to the premiere and there were tons of people.  Luckily, we did beat Paul there, although with all the people there, we did not see him.  I did however see his hand go in carrying roses and giving a victory sign to the screaming crowd! It was wild and I guess he really enjoyed it and did a whole number of the crowd and press.

After that we decided to watch him leave from across the street at McDonald’s, where we could actually see him in the distance.  Jennie and her friends stayed there and saw him arrive, so that’s how we knew he “milked” the crowd.  We saw the mounted police arrive on their horses and knew he would be soon departing.  He left ahead of everyone else and waved wildly to the enthusiastic crowd.  We walked across the street and managed to get copies of the programs and some girl gave us tickets that had been handed out for the premiere.

The whole thing was an exhausting experience, but I would do it all again for the man. 

Taking a walk on a difficult day

 

June 22, 1998

Paul was spotted going for a walk in New York City before Linda's New York memorial.   I remember it was this big controversy at the time because Yoko lived in New York, and she wasn't invited to the memorial.  I don't think Paul even cared about the controversy.   He just wanted to remember Linda.  

John & Yoko (new photos!)

 

Photos taken by Tony Palmieri  

December 1, 1980 - John and Yoko at the Que Vadis Restaurant in New York City 

Nothing makes me as happy as seeing photographs of John Lennon that I have never seen before. It is amazing that after all these years, we STILL see "new" shots. I love these. John was looking good!

New York Stroll

 October 1, 1972 

An Evening With the Beatles

 September 20, 1964  - New York City 

Another Day in New York City

 

A Chance Meeting in New York

 

April  29, 1977 -  What are the chances?   Paul McCartney is walking in New York City with his wife and Ringo Starr is walking on the same street in New York at the same time with his fiancee?    Well, it happened 45 years ago!   People bump into their old friends all the time, but can you even begin to imagine being one of the fans that witnessed this?   1977 and 2 of the Beatles are just walking down the street chatting with each other?  

John, John! Speaking!

 Be on the lookout for a lot of fan memory stories in the upcoming months!  I was just gifted 6 huge boxes full of Beatles fan newsletters and magazines.   They are full of amazing stories of people that met the Beatles!   I have dug into box 1 and am going to start sharing some of the discoveries.   The first one is a quick story of a brief meeting with John outside of the Plaza Hotel in 1974.   The photo above was taken just a few hours before this encounter happened. 

John, John! Speaking!

By Bonnie Belle

Working Class Hero

January-February 1975

On Saturday December 21^st, much to my surprise, I found myself standing in front of Lennon’s 5 o’clock shadow face.  Oh no!

Sue Link and I were standing outside the Plaza Hotel waiting for none other than Hari.  Of course, he never did come out, though Sue did speak to him on the phone, by accident.  Anyway, as we were standing outside the hotel (Sue on one side, Laura and 2 others on another side, and me in the corner), I saw Laura and the others crowd around a man.  Now, John was the furthest thing from my mind, and I just kept looking and squinting wondering if that was him.  As I started to walk up to them I realized it was John!!  I walked (or should I say RAN) up and just stood in complete awe in front of him.

He was signing an autograph and I looked straight at him and said, “John?”  He seemed to be in quite a hurry and now I know why.  (Quite unfortunately one of the girls was standing back there saying “I love you, John, I love you, John.”)  He looked up at me and I smiled.  I said, “Thank you, John.”  He pushed the pen back in Laura’s hand and said, “Oh, that’s all right,” turned and walked away.  It was one of the strangest feelings I’ve ever experienced.  My head was screaming “OHDEARGODTHANKYOUFORTHISEXPERIENCEOHSHITJOHNIFYOUONLYKNEWHOWMUCHILOVEYOU”

Unfortunately, I missed seeing Julian and May Pang.  They were standing there in back of John waiting for the limo.  God, I could kill myself for missing Julian.

I just wonder if John had any idea of what I mean by “Thank you.”  I wanted to say “Thank you for all the happiness you’ve given me” but it just came out “Thank you.”  Jesus, it was so good to be standing right next to him.  It made me think of all the dreams I ever had that seemed unreachable.  This dream came true and it was one of the greatest experiences of my life.

 

What is John saying?

 

Someone was saying on Facebook how Alf Bicknell passed away on March 8, 2004.   I met him once at a Beatlefest in Chicago and it just seemed like it wasn't that long ago.   Anyhow -- I then spotted this photo and thought it was great.  

Andy photographs the Beatles

 Has anyone ever seen photos taken by Andy Warhol during the 1965 Beatles press conference in New York?   

Plaza Press Conference

 

February 10, 1964

Beating the storm

 

January 29, 2022 -- Paul arrives at JFK airport to meet up with his wife.  Nancy's Dad passed away and Paul came just before the snow arrived to attend the funeral and be with his wife during this difficult time.   Our sympathies go out to the Shevell family and pray that they are comforted by their memories.  

Talking to W-A-Beatles-C

 

Another day in the life of John