Paul and Linda in town

Photos by Pat Simmons 

 October 1, 1973

George Harrison tour stories part 3

 This is the last part of the story of the fans that were going to various George Harrison concerts during his North American Tour in 1974.    This time they are at Madison Square Garden.  This was written by Pat Simmons.

And then there was New York….

Mysteriously enough, Kris, Marla, Deb and I had all come down with malaria that Friday (December 20^th) and were unable to go to work.   Beautiful blue skies awaited us in New York City and Mary Ann had volunteered to pick us up and take us into Manhattan.  The temperatures were well into the 40s and it looked like it was going to be an all-around beautiful weekend.  We just regretted that Joy wasn’t able to afford to come with us.  We just barely, by the time we’d landed and met Tempy and four Mary Ann’s car, had enough time to go to our hotel (Park Lane – and no, he didn’t stay there.  He stayed next door at the Plaza), dump our rubbish and bop over to the Plaza to try to see George depart for the concert.  We waited right up until ten minutes to four (the show started at 4:00).  We had seen Billy, Tom, Willie, and just about everyone else leaves, but not George.  We figured out later he must’ve bopped out the side door.  We all crammed into taxis (along with Jean and Cyn from Minnesota) and proceeded toward Madison Square Garden averaging about two miles an hour most of the way.  The crowds not only with the concert but with last minute Christmas shoppers were just unreal, considering NYC is usually a rat race anyway.  Not to mention that by the time we approached Madison Square.  It was also the beginning of rush hour with people leaving work!  The group in the other taxi gave up about ten blocks from Madison Square and ran the rest of the way.  They were smarter than we were.  We finally got there and were seated about halfway through the second song.  We were in the lower balcony about halfway back.  You could see beautifully (especially thanks to Mary Ann’s binoculars!) but if you own an Instamatic camera, forget it.  It seemed hard to believe that just 3 ½ years ago Bangla Desh had happened in that very place.  This time George was wearing plaid trousers and white shirt, looking as good as ever, but also looking very tired, about to fall over.  It’s been a LONG tour.  He changed the order of songs somewhat, doing “In My Life” as the 3^rd song in the first half instead of in the second half.  During that song, instead of singing “I love you more” he sang “Olivia more” which really blew our minds – pass THAT one on to Gloria Stavers, folks!   He introduced that song by saying, “The net song is about some old friends of ours.”  And during “Sue You Sue Me Blues” he sang, “Bring your lawyer, don’t bring Klein.”  And when Billy sang “Will it Go Round in Circles” he said, “I got no melody…gonna sing it to my George.”   George introduced Ravi by saying “I would like to introduce to you the man without whom my life would be a misery and very boring.”  Lakshmi had her Apple watch on – one of the watches Ringo sells – is that right?  Anyway, it seemed funny to see her wear it.  At one point George said that he, in his other NYC shows, had been getting knocked because during the Indian section people were shouting “ice cream!  Ice cream!” And he said, “So would the people selling ice creams please shout “ice cream” a little quieter?”  That cracked everybody up.  (They didn’t shout “ice cream” any softer by the way).  That was weird seeing people bop around the aisles selling ice cream and pop (pardon me, you New York people, SODA) during George’s concert!  IT was like being at a football game.  George said before introducing “Zoom Zoom Zoom,”  “I’d just like to say that as we’re finishing this tour, what there appears to be is a battle against people’s concept of what we’re supposed to be, and this plays a big part in the battle of concept.  So, the easiest way to enjoy anything in your life is not to try to pre-judge it.  And we’d like to continue with a piece of music called “Zoom Zoom Zoom.”  When George finished introducing the Indian musicians, Ravi stepped up to the microphone and finished the intros saying, “and the fifth one, George Shankar!”  It didn’t get much response.  And during “Dispute and Violence” during each beat, George would do things like kicking his leg or slide forward or lift his guitar – that man can’t keep still even during the Indian music part.  Shame on him.  When George introduced Jim Horn and all of them, he added, “You name it, they’ll blow it.”  He once in a while would look behind him as though remember he had an audience behind him and would say, “Forgive me.  I tend to forget about you.” 

He changed the order of the songs in the 2^nd half too.  He introduced “Tom Cat” by saying “It’s a pleasure to be playing in Tommy Scott’s band.”  During “Dark Horse” he was having amplifier trouble – kept giving off a high-pitched squeak.  He kept looking around and thought things, “somebody do something!”  Eventually, somebody did, because it was all right after that.  There was an extra-long version of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” with a long, long guitar duet between George and Robben.  He received tremendous applause afterwards, to which he said “Thank you.  Thank you.  God bless you all.”   During “Nothing From Nothing” George kept pitching in little comments, like Billy would sing “Nothing from nothing mean nothing, ain’t that right?” and George would say “Yeah, that’s right.”  Oh, when Tom did “Tom Cat,” he came up behind the unsuspecting George, who had his back to him and stood next to him.  When George finally realized someone was behind him, he turned around, grinned, put his arm around him, and proceeded to do the Harrison soft shoe!  And during the encore, he tried again to get the audience to participate saying that they’d be the back up band and the audience should be the singers.  “The Lord lives within all of us – we are a reflection of each other.  The sooner we discover ourselves within our hearts, the sooner we’ll have united nations, because it’s the same sap that runs thru the maple tree – whatever you like.  The message is to see God – it’s so hard, but it’s so easy.  And I’d just like to tell you that this band is a gas!  It didn’t take them long, did it?”  It brought the usual response, which wasn’t much, but oh well, we had fun anyway.   Just watching him on stage was worth the price of the ticket.

Between that show and the second, which would be the very last one of the tour, Cyn, Mary Ann and I went to scrounge up din-din at a coffee shop underneath Madison Square (*you’d have to see that place to believe it.  It’s fantastic!) Afterward, we ran into some scalpers who had 2nd-row seats for sale, which we promptly bought.  IT turned out that they were 2^nd row lower balcony about ¾ of the way back.  WE met up with everyone else.  Tempy and Deb had managed to get front row seats from a scalper!  Marla had one about ½ way back, the main floor, which she traded with me so that I could be on the main floor instead of the balcony.  Before the show started, while sitting there, I had itchy feet, so I bopped down to where the first half started to talk to Tempy and Deb.  Somehow, I managed to double-talk my way into the first half of the main floor.  There was an empty seat next to Deb and I managed to keep it until about halfway through the second or third song when the owner of the seat finally showed and the little man in the red coat kindly ushered me out.  I thought for a while he was planning on throwing me the rest of the way out.  I was scared to death.  Before being escorted away, dear Deb shoved her ticket at me so that I wouldn’t get thrown out altogether, and mumbled “come back during intermission and I’ll trade seats with you.”  I must have the nicest friends in the whole world or at least the most unselfish, which seems to be a rare trait in the “Beatle fans” today – generally, it seems “everyone for herself” which is rather sad.  Anyway, I wormed my way down an aisle to lose the ever-following little man in the red coat, and then wormed my way back.  Never having made a practice of this, I continued to be scared to death.  Eventually, I found an empty seat in the first section, about a third of the way back, and the seat was toward the middle where the usher couldn’t reach me, so I wormed my way in there and plonked myself down.  Still was a beautiful seat.  I noticed a couple of empty seats ahead of me a couple rows and only wished I could get the attention of Mar, Kris, Mary Ann, Cyn, and everybody else who were still back there in our super-gyp scalper seats.

I even had an extra scalper ticket for a seat up in peanut heaven which I hadn’t been able to sell at all.  People had approached me asking me to give it to them for free, which I wasn’t about to do, so it became a souvenir, an expensive one, but a souvenir.  Anyhow, I sat there in the middle of that section, terrified I would get chucked.  After a while, I got over that feeling and was finally able to enjoy the concert.

You could just feel the tension in the air because everyone, absolutely everyone it seemed was expecting Lennon to show.  But he never did.  I was really disappointed.  So were a lot of people.  We heard later that Lennon had been backstage but had decided not to join George onstage because he didn’t like the way George changed the lyrics to “In My Life” and George wouldn’t sing them the way they were supposed to be sung, so that was that.  John couldn’t have been overly mad at him though because he did show up at George’s after-tour party later that evening.

I forgot to mention that this show was a bit late in starting and guess how the extra time was filled in?  By a group of people singing Christmas carols.  And George wore this time the overalls and a yellow shirt and red tennis shoes!  He opened the show saying “Good evening, New York, take 3!”  He introduced “In My Life” this time “I’d like to do a song written by two old friends and one and a half new friends.  You figure out which is the half! (ooooh!) however we all live and learn, and the Lord bless us all.”  He again ended the song by saying, “God bless John, Paul, Ringo, and all the other x’s.”  The intro to “Sue You Sue Me Blues” – “I’d like to do a song off the Living in a Material World album which was born and bred in New York City.”  Introduction to the Indian musicians: “We’d like to enlarge the band or orchestra or whatever you want to call it and hopefully bring new preconceived ideas as to what the Lord should and should not do in our lives.  It’ll take a minute or two to plug Bushy Barkley pickups in, and hopefully, you may enjoy it depending on the kind of concept you like (Bushy Barkley pickups – what is that?).  When, one time, George went up to the mike to speak, at first it wouldn’t work and he looked panic-stricken.  He tapped at it, going “Hullo, hullo, hullo.”    Before one of the Indian songs, he mentioned “Shankar Family and Friends” album “on the Dark Horse label at your local deals now – plug, plug, plug again!”  This is called “Dispute and Violence” and you know all about that in New York!  Introducing the rest of the band: “Ace lunatic on percussion, Emil Richards!”  After introducing Robben, he announced that he was only 18!  And Jim Keltner threw his drumstick in the air, and as usual, he missed!   He introduced himself as Carl Marx.   The introduction to Maya Love was the topper when he said, “Not to be confused with My Love.”  Before “Tom Cat,” his amp broke once again and this time it really took them a while to fix it.  The band started up some background music while George inquired, “Well, anybody got any jokes?  No?  Well…”  During the Indian part, George introduced “Na Da Dani” by saying “It’s Swahili or Benga!”  Also during “I Am Missing you”; George and Kumar sang real loud and very off key trying to out-do each other and Lakshmi sounded very much like Yoko.  The two in a duet would’ve been far out.  But Yoko didn’t show up either!  Tempy did thinks she saw Julian to the side of the amps at one point.   Oh, it really took a while for that amp to get fixed and finally George plucked s trying and said “ahhh!” and the show was underway again. 

Anyway, George once said “I must tell you, since 1971, New York is much more patient and that’s a nice sign.  Thank you.”  During the encore, he tried again to get people to participate by asking them to blow the rafters off the place.  We didn’t do as bad as we thought, but in the very end George said, “See you in another 8 years.”  That was one bummer about this tour – he seemed to be totally intolerant of those who wouldn’t accept his religious beliefs, tried to shove it down your throat whether you wanted it or not, and was very sarcastic at times.  That kind of business turned me off, but it was hard staying mad at him, watching him bop around the stage and singing in what was left of his voice – a hoarse voice just ain’t too bad at times.  No sir.

During the intermission, I had bopped up front to talk with Tempy and Deb at which time Deb said “I’m switching seats with you.”  Just another little sample of how unselfish some people can be.  Turned out she was sure glad she did switch with me because after the show, while standing on Tempy’s coat, I felt this vise-like grip on my arm and there was Deb, dragging me off the chair saying “you aren’t gonna BELIEVE this…”  Turns out that just after intermission, when the house lights had gone off again, who should sit down in front of her, directly in front of her yet but Paul accompanied by Linda!  I wish you could have seen this poor kid – she was so excited.  It was her very first time ever seeing any of them close up, particularly Paul, who happens to be her fave-rave.   I was so glad it had happened to her – to someone who certainly deserved it, and to someone who had never had any kind of luck in seeing them before.  But I’ll let Debbie tell about that bit later on in this newsletter – I don’t think she’s recovered since!  Nothing, absolutely nothing, is ever quite like the first time seeing one of them close-up.

Very much elated, we bopped down the stairs of Madison Square, while I sang a rousing chorus of ’Give me Air, Give me Air…”  We were just unable to believe that the tour was over and that we wouldn’t be bopping off somewhere next weekend.  Even if Rolling Stone and the critics hadn’t liked the concerts, each one had a special meaning.

We had heard that there would be an after-tour party at a place called the Hippopotamus and we took a cab there in an effort to crash.  That bombed-out – would you believe TV nearly wasn’t let in and they didn’t let Robben in and was he mad!  We saw George arrive and when Lennon arrived, that was the REAL topper.  I heard Tempy say, “Lennon!” and I said “Lennon?”  And there he came bopping up from behind us with May Pang, grinning away, grinning even more when someone screamed.  I would’ve thought he would’ve been annoyed, but he didn’t seem to be.  When he came out he held up his arms and said “Keep cool, keep cool!”  (I did get a photo of him but it’s really blurry…blah).  Lennon was so cute.  George came out and looked very, very stoned with a blank, dull look in his eyes – it was frightening.  He was being assisted to his car.  His dad came out accompanied by a groupie!  His hair really is long.  And he used to complain about the length of his son’s hair?  Looks like George has brainwashed him into the Krishna bit because he wears those buttons and symbols all over his coat too and we hear Peter, George’s brother, who also accompanied him on part of the tour is very much into that too.  One of the best parts of the whole weekend had to be when Alla came out, you know the pudgy little bongo player in Bangla Desh and he was plowed!  Two people were helping him walk up and down the street to get some air.  He was that tanked – not realizing his problem was one too many.  I thought he was sick and walked up and asked him if he was all right.  He just grinned back and said “I’m all right.  I’m all right” and I caught a whiff of his breath and almost passed out.  That struck me so funny.  I thought their religion said they weren’t supposed to drink.  Come to think of it we never did see Ravi leave.  Anyway, that was THE perfect ending to a most perfect day. 

The next day we bopped over to the Stanhope where Paul was staying and after having a drink in the hotel’s pub in an effort to thaw out a bit, we whiled away the time fussing over every dog that trotted past.  We always seem to attract the dogs!  Mary Ann had waited with us at the Hippo but had caught the flu and couldn’t go with us to the Stanhope.  I was really sad about that.  I really wanted her to see Paul.  She had been one of the ones who’d never seen any of them either, until seeing George and John at the Hippo.  Anyhow, after about six hours of waiting, Paul and Linda finally bopped out and somehow when you see him, the waiting is always worth it and you suddenly forget that you were frozen solid just a minute ago.  They were dressed to kill, on their way to see the Sgt. Pepper play.  When he first came in, Paul’s mouth dropped open in mock astonishment and he exclaimed, “are all of you waiting for me?”  What a ham, but he was as gorgeous as ever.  There were even some older people hanging around waiting for him, wanting autographs.  Though he’d hate that, but the really loved the attention and was quite enjoying himself.  They were out there for about 10 minutes.  Don’t know how Paul could stand the cold win.  He just had a suitcoat on, no other coat, and it must have been in the 20s by then.

Sunday we spent hanging around the Plaza, having learned that George was supposed to leave that day, but after hours and hours of waiting in the freezing cold, we finally learned that he’d cut out at 6 that morning.  Leave it to George to think of something sneaky like that.  We hit the Stanhope briefly but decided we really didn’t have the time to wait because we did have to fly home and go to work the next day.  Just when we caught a cab in front of the Plaza, Kris, Mary Ann and I had gone precisely one block when we saw Jeff Raven out in front of the building and two limos slither up, so we shoved a dollar at the cab driver and wailed over, only to see Tom Scott leave. To think we paid a buck to go one block to see Tom Scott … then again, he ain't half bad!

Off to the Stanhope for about a half-hour where we finally split up, all going to our appointed airports to catch flights for home.  It was sad, breaking up the group!  Still, McCartney’s coming soon (so he says!).    We talked to Jeff a bit at the Plaza when we saw him, and when we mentioned that line George said at the last show, “See you in another 8 years,” he seemed very surprised and said that George had been saying he was very pleased with the way the tour went.  So to the people, especially the Clevelanders, that never got to see him, it seems he’ll be back again before long, and this time, maybe he’ll learn and tour in the summer.  It’s so weird being back to the “normal routine.”  Being at those concerts gave you a feeling you can’t explain in words…but you will find out when he comes back!

 

 

Following the Dark Horse Tour - part 2

The last time we read about the group of friends following George Harrison on the Dark Horse Tour.  In part 1, they saw him in Chicago and were on their way to see him in Cleveland when a snow storm came through and the Cleveland concert was canceled.   That is where the story picks up and they get a wild idea to see George in Detroit.   This part of the story was written by Pat Simmons. 

We went to drown our sorrows at McDonald's and then trudged on home, ending up amusing ourselves by looking thru photo albums and scrapbooks, listening to the Chicago concert tapes we had made, and realizing how fortunate we were to have seen George at all.  Then we were posing for insane pictures, singing obscene spontaneous songs, and just generally getting slap-happy in trying to cheer ourselves up.  Stephanie and the rest of the Cincinnati gang left for home later the next afternoon, Tuesday and Tempy left for Boston and I left for work.  I met Kris for lunch that day to cry over our Cokes – why Cleveland?  We kept moping.  It had finally stopped snowing (after 3 days of blinding blizzards) and the road had been salted and plowed and the airports finally opened the day after the concerts had been scheduled.  If only the concerts had been on December 3^rd instead of the 2^nd.  We got to wondering if Detroit’s road were cleared up like Cleveland’s now and if so, wouldn’t we just be stupid enough o drive up there, despite the show being on a weeknight and both of us having to get up at an ungodly hour for work the next day, to try to get scalper tickets, if the concerts there weren’t canceled.  Kris called the Olympia Stadium in Detroit later that afternoon and found out the shows were on one at 5:30 which we’d never made, and one at 10pm.  10PM???  Would we really be that sick?  I called the Cleveland Auto Club to find out how many miles it was to Detroit and learned it was only 177.  That’s only a 3-hour drive maybe.  Kris obtained directions to the Stadium by calling there for information.  By 6:00, armed with Howard Johnson’s popcorn and potato chips for supper, she and I and Joy and Deb were on our way to Detroit, never having been there before, hoping we had the right directions, realizing we’d only be getting there about an hour or less before the 10:00 show was to start, having no tickets and praying we’d be able to find scalpers, knowing we’d be up the entire night and Kris and I not only having to show up for full-time jobs the next morning but also both of us having to work part-time jobs that night, all with no sleep and only 3 nights ago, I’d had another night with no sleep and not more than 4 or 5 hours each night ever since Thanksgiving!  We only regretted that the Cincinnati girl and Tempy and Brenda had already left and couldn’t be insane along with us.

When we got there, we found the Olympia to be in a VERY bad area and there seemed to be no such thing as a parking space, so I invented one, on a side street practically in the middle of a snowdrift.  We found a scalper with 11^th row seats, learned that the first show had started over an hour late because George had still been stranded in Chicago and figured out show probably wouldn’t’ start until nearly midnight, so heaven only knew when we’d be getting home!  It was about a half hour after we arrived when people started to pour out of the stadium after the first show, and we waited over a half hour more for the doors to open to let us in, and over another half hour before everyone found their seats and sat down.  The crowd was very loud and rowdy and I was wondering how this concert was going to go – I’d heard of Ravi nearly getting booed off stage in some cities, which needless to say really upsets George, and I was praying that after all this, things would go well.  While waiting for everyone to sit down and while choking on that horrible smell of pot and feeling slightly ill as a result we artistically went about drawing up a sign signifying “CLEVELAND” thanks to some artistic talent and a magic marker, for which we were sure George would be most thrilled when and if he would see it.  Some guys in the row ahead of us were just incredulous we’d come all this way and that we’d also been in Chicago.  One of them had coincidentally been in Tulsa on business while George was there and he’d attended that concert and said that Leon Russel had joined George on stage and sang with him!  Anyway, these just were most impressed we’d come so far with no tickets and took such a chance, especially learning we’d have to go to work the next day as well and we received a round of applause from them for a moment.  That was most swift.

Finally the concert began.  George came on stage and said, “Good evening Detroit – take two!” and as usual George seemed a bit reserved at first, as if waiting for the audience’s reaction to him.  Billy Preston has seemed to outshine him in getting the audience enthused and participating in the concert and I think his feelings must be a little bruised that he can’t generate the excitement Billy can.  Once the audience is going, once Billy has gotten in a participating mood and enthusiastic and on their feet, then George is fantastic and seems to love the concert and generates just as much enthusiasm as Billy, but the audience has to respond to him before he seems to want to warm up the audience.  Tonight we was wearing light blue blue jeans and a white shirt.  He and Billy did the can-can again during “Outta Space” which George seems to really love.  George explained that Ravi was sick and back in Chicago, and he seemed at a loss without him.  Ravi’s sister had to direct the Indian musicians in place of Ravi and she was really nervous over how she would be accepted, it seemed, but everyone gave her a resounding burst of applause when George put his arm around her and said how she didn’t want to be doing this, but with Ravi sick, she had to.  The applause seemed to make her feel a little better and each number was patiently listened to by the audience and applauded to.  George was off to the side, beating a tambourine against his thigh, singing along and having himself a great time off in his own little corner as he looked on.  He thanked the audience profusely afterwards, saying he was glad we liked it.  His voice was even more horse tonight even though he hadn’t done a concert for four days, and now he was coughing.  He hadn’t done that in previous concerts.  He really sounded awful.   One time he had problems with the strap on his guitar again and had to put on foot up on a platform and balance the guitar on his knee so he could play it.  During one of Billy’s songs George and Billy continuously pulled faces at each other while George harmonized (or tried to with what was left of his voice) and they kept cracking up – George was changing the lyrics a bit but I don’t’ remember exactly what he was singing.  It sure was funny at the time!  The audience got more and more enthusiastic and were on their feet on top of their chairs clapping and in a permanent standing ovation from after Billy Preston’s songs – who seemed very surprised and pleased at the fantastic reception each of his songs got – and the enthusiasm never died down until the end of the concert.  George was enthused and excited by the audience and put everything he had into the last 5 songs – Maya Love, Give me Love (that one got a fantastic reception), Dark Horse, What is Life (really got the audience going – shouting for more) and of course the encore, My Sweet Lord.  He seemed to happy the way people were so enthused and involved. Well that is until he got them to try to shout the various names of the Lord during My Sweet Lord, which always seems to go over like a lead balloon, though he assures everyone he’s not swearing when he chants “Om Christ” and he said “call he Lord anything.  It doesn’t matter.  I don’t give a shit what you call him.  It’s not important.”  Oh, after In My Life he said “God blues Joh, Paul, Ringo and the ex-ex-exes.”  And during What is Life, the house lights came on and we stood up on our chairs, Joy and I, and held the Cleveland sign up and he looked directly at it, did a double take, a quick grin and said into the microphone “Yeah, sorry about that!”  And just as he went offstage for the last time, pulling Billy and Willie together in a quick hug, the audience was cheering so loud and demanding more and more, that he came on the speakers instead of Indian music as he usually has it and everyone began to pack up and leave, unable to believe it was all over.  It was really about the most exciting of the concerts I saw.

Somehow we stumbled down the street (the sidewalks were still covered with snow), managed to find the car and were on our way back home again, finally arriving at my house at quarter of 7AM, one half hour before I usually get up to go to work.  I just had time to change, take Kris to the rapid transit so she could go to work (she has to be at her job an hour before I do) and go to Joyce’s with Deb to eat breakfast and try to wake up enough to be able to function all day at work.  How I made it through that day until 9:30 that night after going to my part time job in the evening, I’ll never know.  But somehow, George makes it all worth it and you know that if I had to do it all over again, I sure would!

 

July August 1969 (London Esher Liverpool) - A DVD Review

Photo by Pat Mancuso (notice the little camera on the ground?)

If you have been a reader of this site for any amount of time, then no doubt the name Pat Simmons should be familiar to you.   I would guess that Pat is most known for being the co-editor of the "With A Little Help From My Friends" fanzine in the 1970s.    It along with "The Write Thing" was the best Beatles fan newsletters at the time and they are the model that I used in making this site.

Prior to the fanzine, Pat was the Area Secretary for the Official Beatle Fan Club as well as a member of the George Harrison Fan Club with Pat Kinzer as president.   Both Pats traveled to London during the summer of 1968 and 1969 and met George himself.  That story has been told her many times over the past 11 years.

Today I am reviewing a DVD that recently was published by APCOR of the time Pat went to England in the summer of 1969.   Pat rented a super 8 camera and filmed much of her experience in London, Esher, and Liverpool.    Parts of her film made it into the bootleg circuit on a dark and grainy VHS in the 1980s.    APCOR outdid themselves and present everything Pat shot in cleaned up color.  You can actually SEE what is on the screen.   Sound has also been added, which only enhances the footage.

Much of what you see is London in the summer of 1969.  Carnaby Street, Hyde Park, Picadilly Circus, etc are all featured.  If you have been to London - it is interesting to see how things looked at those locations in the groovy summer of 1969 compared to today.   It is your basic home movie and at times Pat moves the camera around a little too fast and you say to yourself, "Oh Pat -- slow down!" 

What doesn't make this a regular home movie is the cameos by the Beatles.   The Fabs were at EMI making Abbey Road at the time and Pat was able to capture moments where you can see them (except for Paul) leaving their cars and heading up the stairs at EMI.   In a blink and you'll miss it moment, you even can spot Lizzie Bravo on the steps!   Besides the Beatles cameos,  you also spot George Martin, Mal Evans, Kevin Harrington,  and Terry Doran in the footage.   Pat also recorded 3 Savile Row and Paul's house on Cavendish Avenue. 

She took the camera up to Liverpool and one the ferry across the Mersey and Lime Street Station.  She visited with the Harrison's and you can't help but love seeing Mrs. Louise Harrison blowing bubbles. 

The highlight of the film is when George Harrison comes to the door of Kinfauns and you watch has Pat Kinzer hands George item after item which he graciously signs. 

The package for this DVD is amazing.  There is a little booklet where Pat S. tells her entire story of being in the UK in the summer of 1969.   The photos and memorabilia printed in the booklet are awesome. 

This DVD might not be for everyone.  It is a great visual of what it was like in England in the summer of 1969 and many Beatle fans will find great interest in it.  Others might think there's too little Beatle content and too much of Pat and her friends acting silly or footage of the park.   It depends on what type of Beatle fan you are I suppose. 

Pat is a personal friend of mine and I want to commend her on sharing her footage with the world.  It is important to so many of us to see and I hope it encourages any other fans out there to also release the video footage they might have tucked away.   Thank you Pat!

If you want to order your own copy of the DVD, you can get it as part of a bundle with the "A is or Apple volume 3" book or it can be purchased on its own.   

Go to http://www.apcor.net/news/  and check it out.


Note:  It supposed to work on any DVD player around the world.  However -- here in the United States both myself and Pat Simmons could not get the DVD to play on our DVD or Bluray players.  We were able to watch it on desktop computers without any issues.  Something to keep in mind.

#9 Dream

Tonight is another John story from a fan.   It was written by Anne Tishelman and was published in the October 1979 issue of 'With a Little Help From My Friends."   

Photo taken on October 8, 1979, by Laura Choby 

It all started when Pat S., Laura C., and Pat D. decided to come to New York to hopefully see John.  They came on Saturday, October 6 (1979), and stayed with me, as I live just outside of NYC, 12 miles from John.  On Saturday night we stopped by John's, but it was about 8:30pm, and we really didn't expect to see him.  We just wanted to make sure that he was here and not upstate at the farm or anything.  Well, he was here.   We were all excited as long as we knew he was at least in the City, we had a chance.  We talked to the doorman for a bit and then came back to my house for the night, feeling very hopeful.

On Sunday, the 7th, we got to John's early in the afternoon, figuring John probably likes to sleep as late as the rest of us.   We got there about 1:30 pm or so, and just as we got out of the car, out comes Sean and the nanny!   It was quick and took us by surprise.  Sean waved and said "Hi!" a couple times.  He is SO adorable!  He's got very long hair - as long as John's (if not longer) very small eyes (but then so does John), and he's got the Lennon nose!  Off they went down the street, leaving us marveling at our luck and hoping to see Daddy!

We waited around for a while, getting colder and colder.  A couple more people came around Laura decided she needed cigarettes (after we'd seen Sean and a friend, the nanny and an older man go off into the park we figured we'd be safe going then because they'd probably be there for a while so we wouldn't miss anything), so we went for a little walk.  Coming back, we decided to walk a bit in the park.  We went in, and Laura was taking a few photos of the many roller skaters we saw.  I glanced over to the left, and in the distance, we saw the nanny.  We looked ahead of her a bit and saw Sean running around with two other little kids. The man was there, and there were two women with them as well.   They walked down one path, and Sean was throwing a Frisbee. They started back a little, so we went around and past them.   The kids started playing a huge rock -- more like some sort of boulder stuck in the ground, and we headed towards there as well.  Sean climbed up to the top and then would slide down the other side, and the other kids followed him.  We hung around there looking very touristy but with our cameras hidden.  Sean started playing soccer and then again with the Frisbee.  The other kids came around, and they all started generally running around.  We kept hearing them calling "Sean, Sean!" and it was just so cute.

The three kids were playing with the older man.  He was a monster for a while for them.  They were playing around in the grass.  At one point, the man was on the ground, and Sean started pulling grass up out of the ground and throwing it at the man singing, "It's raining it's pouring, the old man is snoring."   Another Lennon voice!  Maybe we'll get an LP yet from a Lennon!  After Sean, then the other kids started signing as well.  Then while the man was still on the ground, he pulled on the cuff of Sean's jeans, and he said, "What's the matter, Sean?  Doesn't anyone ever sew your pants?"  Laura and I just laughed.  They kept running around, laughing and having a good time, and we were just nonchalantly watching.  It was so adorable.  Sean is a doll with much energy, but at the same time, it kinda pulls on your heartstrings seeing Sean so happy romping around with this other man, whoever he was, and not John.   I'm sure he does play around with John, but seeing that just made us think a bit.  A lot more people would've been watching if it had been John Lennon and his son in Central Park.  I doubt if anyone else around there that day knew who he was.  Anyway, they started calling the kids together to go.  They started walking towards 72nd Street, and we did too, far enough behind them, so they didn't see us.  They stopped as the kids started eating oranges, but we were too close to stop.  We slowed down a bit, pretending to be generally looking around, but caught up with them.  We were right next to Sean.  He was wearing Sassoon jeans, no less! (A 4-year-old!).  There was a sort of fork in the path.  They went towards the left, so we went to the right.  We waited until they were ahead again.  Then we stayed on the opposite side of the street from them.  When we got to 72nd Street, Pat and everyone were still in front of the Dakota, and we motioned to them that Sean was coming.  They saw him but didn't see us.  They didn't go in the Dakota; they walked past.  We waited a while, but as it got later, colder and rainier, we figured John wasn't going to come out.  We were waiting after the others had left.  It would've been polite of John to come down and say hello to the four of us.  We talked to the doorman for a while, Tom and his friend Craig came, and we all went to warm up somewhere.  Didn't see John but it was a good day.

On Monday we decided to go a bit earlier.  Monday, October 8, 1979 - a day we'll not soon forget!  We left my house at about 9am.  We had breakfast and the Dakota Restaurant and then went over to John's.  Sharon and Julie were there again and a couple of other people.  At about 11:15 am a limo pulled in.  Was it for John?  The doorman confirmed it.  He was coming out in a little while!  Knowing he was coming, we just did not feel the old at all anymore.  We were getting more and more excited with every sign of movement from the office/lobby.  Every time the doorman walked in we were waiting for John to come out with him.  The state these Beatles reduces us to!

As we were waiting, a delivery truck pulled up and the man took out these two HUGE  boxes that were wrapped in white with big bows on top.  We all noticed them I think, guessing they were for John and Sean.  We joked that the boxes were so big that Ringo had probably sent them and Paul was in one and George in the other!  We found out the next day that they were the gifts that John and Sean gave each other -- each gave the other a life-size doll of himself!  Imagine getting a life-size John doll for your birthday!   At 11:45am, out they came.   The limo was in the driveway, so when we saw them come, we all moved toward the car.  John came out first, got in the back seat, then Sean right behind him, and Yoko behind Sean.  The nanny got in the front seat.  What a shock seeing John!  He looked so good!  Tall, thin, dressed in black, with a ciggie.  His hair is long again and he has a beard.  He looks like he just stepped across Abbey Road - 1969 all over, except the beard is a bit thinner.  As he came out and saw everyone, a big smile came across his face and he waved before he got in the car.  I don't care what anyone says, he loves it as much as Paul!  Sean was wearing a cowboy hat, and all I remember of Yoko is that she was wearing the big dark glasses she used to always wear.  We stayed on the driver's side of the car as that's where John was sitting (behind the driver).  As the car backed out of the driveway slowly, we just watched John.  It stopped right next to us before pulling out into the street.  John never stopped smiling and he was talking to Yoko.  As the car pulled out into the street we moved out a bit, and as it started to drive off, John turned around to us and waved int he rear window.  Laura and I were dying.  This was the first time either of us had actually "met a Beatle" and seeing John in such a good mood and so obviously happy, well, it just made it that much better!

Okay, so they were gone.  We figured they had to come back, so we'd wait.  We sat around talking about John and how great he's looking.  a few more people had come around.  We began to feel the cold again.  After a while, Pat went to get her car and double park in front of the building so we could still be on the lookout for John without freezing to death.  Pat and Laura were in the front, Pat D and I in back.  We were definitely warmer in the car, but we all were getting pretty drowsy.  "Limo watching" is tiring.  We were expecting John to come from the same direction which they had left; the direction we were facing.  Thank God Pat had looked in the rearview mirror when she did.  She glanced back  and said, "Silver Limo!" and I turned around, saw the license plate number and said, "It's him!"  We piled out of the car so fast.  Laura got out with me right behind her.  Pat swung her door open in the street, nearly hitting the limo.   Pat D.couldn't get the lever that moves the seat forward to get out of the back, so she crawled through the tiny space between the seat and the car -- now we're becoming contortionists!   Laura and I went up to the driveway as they pulled in, so that when he got out, we were right there.   I dont' remember Sean or the nanny at this point, and all I remember of Yoko was that as she got out right in front of me, I saw she's the same height as me and had a lot of gray hair in the back.  She went right in, but John stopped for a minute.  As he got out Laura shook his hand.  He got out and started taking out balloons and presents and things (we found out later that they'd gone to Sean's birthday party) and someone said they had a present for him, to which he replied, laughing, "I haven't enough hands!" and held up the balloons.   People were calling him and he said we had to "keep it down or they'll kick me out!"  to which we all laughed.  Hearing his voice, that voice it's enough to melt me away!  He had us pretty near tears I think.   Then Laura said, "John, can I take a picture John, please John?"He said, "Okay luv, but make it a quick one."  Laura took two and as I heard him say it was ok, I figured this was my chance.  I picked up my camera, focused it, and then realized my shutter-release-button lock was on.  By the time I got it unlocked, he was well under the archway.   I snapped one anyway, but of course, you can only make out the outline of his head, which is completely blacked out.   Just as he was about to go in, we called out "Happy Birthday John!" and he turned, gave us a big smile, waved and called "Thank you."  Then he went in and as soon as he was out of sight, Laura and I grabbed each other and started babbling and laughing and jumping up and down. 

Sure, we all miss hearing from John, but if he's that happy now just being with Sean and Yoko, then I think he deserves that happiness.  Sure, we'd all love to hear from him again, but if he never records again, I think I'd understand.


We went by for a little while on the 9th, but there were a lot of people around and we really didn't expect him to come out.   On Wednesday we were there for quite a while, and it snowed that day!  Luckily we had found a parking space right in front.  We knew he was in, and that alone is enough to keep us sickies waiting there.   We talked to various doormen there a lot and found out little things.   John's only got three apartments in the building (we had heard rumors that he had up to seven).  According to one of the doormen, there's the one they live in, one for the nanny, and one is a studio.  He's got three now and he's out to "buy the building," said one doorman.   On Thursday, Sean was seen coming home for lunch, going back to school, and coming home from school again that afternoon.  We didn't see John anymore.  We saw his secretary, who said that as far as he knew, John had no plans to go out that day.  We left some cards and gifts for John and Sean which the secretary took upstairs with him, and had to leave early as we were heading back to Cleveland that night to make it in time to see HELP on TV on Friday afternoon, and the Cleveland convention Saturday and Sunday.

One thing one of the doormen said that I forgot to mention.  He said Paul had been there last spring.  Also one time we checked out the Eastman's apartment and talked to the doorman there who said that Paul was due in the next day to sign a multimillion-dollar deal - the tour!  We nearly had a stroke and proceeded to act like our usual mature selves while driving down Park Avenue.  The next day though, Paul didn't show -- apparently he'd changed his mind and decided to come to NY at a later time.


We met John and Sean, we had a good time together.  We met John!  I still can't believe it.  I wonder if I ever will.

MPL and Air '73

I love finding the stories that go along with the photos I have in my files.   I am excited that I located the stories that go with my all time favorite photo of Paul and Linda!   I am also happy that this story was written by Pat Simmons.   I love Pat's style of writing.   She always makes me laugh and writes in such a way that I really feel like I am there with her.    

This story is found in the Fall 1981 issue of the McCartney Observer.

Air ‘73

Pat Simmons

If you ever want to meet one of the Beatles and make a complete idiot of yourself, invite me along.  I seem to have a knack for doing just that.  After 17 years, I’m still totally awestruck by them, and when seeing any of them, my entire being seems to turn into one large blob of Jell-O.  Let me demonstrate.

It is October 1973, the last time I’ve been to England.  Kris S., Kathy B. and I are nosing through a huge bookstore around the corner from Soho Square.  Kris, who has been in England for several weeks already, asks us if we’ve seen MPL yet.  We hadn’t, so Kris takes us there.  When we arrive, we see a limo conspicuously waiting outside – you couldn’t miss it, it was taking up the whole street.  Quaking Kathy and I push brave Kris up to the car to try to worm out of the driver if he happens to be waiting for Paul, and of course he snaps an irritable “No!”  Deciding he probably is, we cross the street to the square to hide behind the shrubbery and hope.  Sure enough, before too long, out bops Paul and Linda.  I was so complete startled to be seeing them so totally by accident that all I could croak out was “there he is.”  Kathy and Kris, who’d been sitting down on a bench with their backs to MPL’s doorway, said later that I said it so calmly they wondered “that who is?”  When they saw my gaping mouth however, they whipped around and saw them too.  Kathy had never met Paul before and was becoming so unglued that she managed to get hopelessly entangled in her camera straps, while doing a little jig trying to get free and swearing for all she was worth.  My but it was quiet on that street…

Our legs like lead, it took us a while to get our butts across the street, and by that time, Paul and Linda  had gone around the corner and disappeared into another building.  We stared at each other dementedly for a few minutes, and then decided to station ourselves at the corner.  When we saw them come out of the building again out of the corner of our eyes, the three of us proceeded to stare straight ahead at the lamppost.  Something about the way we were staring at that lamppost with our eyes bugged out of heads and cameras around our necks might have given Paul a little clue that we were fans, so he walked right up to us and shone a flashlight in each of our faces.  Kathy and I went into spastic silence, wanting so much to say something intelligent, and our brains not cooperating.  Kris managed to squeak out, “Is this a stick-up?”  Paul and Linda cracked up, and lingered for a minute, wondering if we were going t come out of our comatose state and be able to carry on a conversation.  My jaw was flapping up and down like an unhinged door but nothing was coming out, so giving up, they started walking toward MPL again.

Realizing they were leaving, Kathy came out of her stupor and said something like, “We’re blowing this, somebody do something!”  Yes, it was a quiet street.  He had to have heard her, and was probably eating up the entire episode with a large spoon.  Kathy’s outburst had shocked me out of my stupor, and suddenly, saying “Oh, ok!” on legs that certainly couldn’t have been mine, I started trailing after Paul, mumbling, “Uh….Paul?”  He didn’t turn around, so I croaked a little louder, “Paul?”  This went on until the time they had reached MPL, and suddenly Paul spun around, nearly giving me a coronary, and raising his eyebrows, said “Yes?”  He does like to make people suffer, doesn’t he?   I babbled out, “Ah, er..would you think I was obnoxious if I asked if you’d pose for a photo?”  Even as I said it, I couldn’t believe it.  Meantime, Paul seemed to be getting more amused by the second.  “No, I wouldn’t,” he said patiently, grinning broadly.  I could hear Kathy, still at the corner with Kris say, “all right!” and the town of them joined me.  The first photo I took, after feeling a tad guilty and asking Linda to be in the photo too, I was shaking so hard that Paul said, “You’re shaking, you’d better take another one!”  The fact that the second photo did come out much clearer was no doubt largely due to the fact that he was at the time looking toward Kris and Kathy as they took a photo.  Something about when that man looks straight at you that definitely puts you in an unbalanced state.

While posing for Kris and Kathy, Paul noticed Kathy’s camera, and whistling and seeming impressed, he crowed, “Ooooh!  Top Conn, ooooh!!!”  I thought later I should have held up m y camera and said “ooooh!  Instamatic, ooooh!!”  but it’s one of those things you don’t think of til a week later.

It seems to me some other things were said, but in the state we were in, it all seemed like a dream.  It would be one thing if we were at a studio where he was recording and knew we’d be seeing him eventually leaving the building; it’s quite another thing to see him totally by accident!

After Paul and Linda had gone back into MPL, Kris took off to call a couple of friends, who made it there in record time.  A short time later, when they emerged from the building again, Marla sent them off with a huge wave which, once in the back seat of the limo whose driver had said he wasn’t waiting for Paul, and turning around to look through the back window at us, Paul skillfully duplicated.  My worst humiliation of the whole event came a few hours later when I realized what I was wearing:  a jacket with HDN and Sgt. Pepper patches sewn on it!  Well, all I’d known was that we were going to a bookstore!  Embarrassed is not the word (try mortified!)

At this time, Paul was working on “Helen Wheels” at Air Studios, so just about every day, we’d go over there to see him arrive.  He delighted in parking around the corner on a side street  (illegally; he got tickets every day!) and walking through the crowds of people on Oxford Street, preferably in rush hour, enjoying immensely the double takes office workers would give him, staring after him as though to say, “Nah, it couldn’t be him!”  The one time he created a real stir in the throngs when he arrived decked out in plaid jacket, a top that looked like a maternity dress, baggy trousers, and complete with a “hat” that looked like underwear or shorts!  Linda was dressed equally weird (but then she usually was anyway), and they passed at the doorway of the studio to do a little dance step before going inside.

Another time at the studio, Marie had stopped him just before he went in the door to show him some concert photos she’d taken of him earlier in the year.  He stopped and admired himself for a while and when he turned to go into the building, collided straight into me.  For the briefest instant he grabbed my arm, said, “Sorry” and once again left me a babbling idiot.  He can run into my anytime!

The “guards” in this building were really nice, a lot nicer than EMI guards had been of years past.  Many times when it was cold outside they would let us wait in the lobby, and eventually even over by the elevators.  One particular night after hours and hours of waiting, my bladder was about to explode.  I    hated the thought of leaving and missing him, though.  I continued to wait, pain mounting, till I could stand it no more.  I walked up to the guards’ desk like a penguin asking if they knew if there was a commode nearby in a pub or something, and noting my slightly green coloring, took pity on me, saying “You can use the one on the 4^th floor here.”  They had been so nice to us I didn’t want them to get in trouble.  Particularly when I found out that was also the floor Air Studio was on!  But they insisted it would be all right if I hurried and came right back downstairs.   I begged someone to come with me, but nobody would budge so the elevator door closed and took me up to the floor.  I was even petrified to get ouf the elevator.  I would hate to have to answer Paul’s question of “What are you doing up here” if I should run into him.  But, when you’re desperate, you’re desperate.

I followed the directions once up there that the guard had given me, but I couldn’t find anything remotely resembling a bathroom.  Beyond one of the doors seemed to be closet, but I wasn’t THAT desperate.  I was just about to turn around and go back downstairs and ask for directions again when I heard whistling and several people talking at the same time.  And one of those voices was Paul’s!  Panic and full bladder to not mix.

I couldn’t run to the elevators, I’d never beat him down there.  So I did the only think I could think of, which was to hightail it down the stairway.  Did you ever tyro t run down four flights of marble stairs with a painfully full bladder?  I wailed down those stairs like a steam locomotive, and by the time I reached the lobby, God only knew what colors I was turning while I was panting to get my breath back.  The rest of my friends were still waiting by the elevators, so when Paul and gang paraded into the lobby I was the only fan up there at the time, and he looked straight at me and broke into another huge grin, either having heard the commotion of me stampeding down the stairs while waiting for the elevator, or who knows, maybe he remember my HDN patch.

Ah, the embarrassing moments we fans have known.  But we wouldn’t’ trade those memories for anything, would we?

 

Lennon Sightings by Pat Simmons

In the Feb/March 1985 issue of the fanzine, Instant Karma!  Beatle fan, Pat Simmons was asked to write about her experiences "sharing air space" with John and/or Yoko.   Pat wrote up the following letter.   Only one of the photos she sent was published in the fanzine.   I would like to hear more about the party after the George concert at the Hippopotamus club.   Recently photos from that event have surfaced. 

Sean and his nanny:  October 8, 1979 (eek! it was my 3rd birthday!)  photo by Pat Deese

Sorry I never told you about seeing John and Yoko.  Actually I never really met them, just saw them so there’s a not a lot to tell.  I saw them at EMI in August 1968 and 1969.  Most of the time then, John would just help Yoko out of the Rolls, wrap himself around her just about, and go up the stairs with her.  He was Very protective of her because “fans” (if you can call them that), would call Yoko various uncouth names.  He never stopped and talked and I can’t really blame him.  None of them would really.  Well, I saw Paul stop a couple times but only to sign autographs on the run from car to stairs.  The crowds were unreal.  In 1968 when we were there, I‘d say about 50 or 60 people were waiting around EMI.  By 1969,, more fans had begun working and of course the first thing you saved up for just about was to go to England!  So the crowds by ’69 were closer to 100, and Emi is on a tiny street.  With a tinier parking lot crowded with cars.  About the most outstanding thing that happened was one time when getting out of the Rolls, Yoko caught her foot and fell forward, colliding into Lynn (my high school friend I was with).   Both Yoko and John apologized, while Lynn looked at John as to say, “Run into me anytime you fool.”  But John hadn’t run into her, Yoko had.

The next time I saw John wasn’t until 1974 when we were in New York for George’s last couple of concerts.  That was funny!  We were waiting around at the club where the after-tour party was with our eyeballs glued to the doorway to see who would arrive.  We’d found out Paul was in town so we were kinda hoping we’d get a double whammy and get to see Paul and George.  Anyway, I was busying staring at the doorway when one of my friends said under her breath, “oh my God, it’s Lennon!”  He had arrived by limo but the limo had pulled over to the curb a fair distance from the club doorway because of the traffic and parked cars. So they had to walk from there to the doorway.  Anyway, after Tempy, the friend of mine, made her announcement, I whipped around and said, “Lennon?”  I was so shocked!  By that time, Mr. Lennon was about a foot away from me with a big smirk on his face – he’d heard me!  I couldn’t have said, “John” right?  I had to say Lennon.  I felt so stupid.  John, meantime, was immensely enjoying watching everybody whip around and their eyeballs popping out of their sockets.  He said, “Keep cool everybody, keep cool.”  And looked at me and grinned, and then I knew he’d heard me.  I wanted to crawl under the pavement!  It lasted a split second, it was embarrassing, but God, it was neat!

The only other time I saw him was for another split second in 1979, the day before his birthday when he took Sean to Tavern on the Green.  We saw him come out of the doorway, get into his limo, which was parked under the archway, and then when he came back, he got out of the car and stopped long enough to take some birthday presents from some fans.  Laura, one of my friends sitting in the car with me, whipped outo f my car, ran up to him, shook his hand until his arm nearly fell out of its socket., and said “happy birthday John God I can’t believe this….”  Despite the crowds, he ate it all up, particularly getting the presents!  Laura managed to babble something about would he mind if she took a photo and when he said no, go ahead, she took one but she was shaking so hard it’s a tad bit blurred.  Knowing Laura, she also probably forgot to focus too!  Poor child.  It meant a lot to see him because we’d been waiting all week and only saw him that once, and after not having seen even a photo of him for so long.  One last thing – when I first saw “the” license plate number (which we’d industriously memorized when the limo picked him up and pulled away earlier) in my rearview mirror and announced John was coming, I opened my door and nearly crammed it into  that limo, which by then was right beside me.  I could just see me putting a big dent in that limo!  Two other friend of mine (Pat Deese and Ann Tishelman) were in the back seat and we were so flustered in getting out of the car (I zipped out into a street full of moving cars without even looking and left my car door wide open!)   I forgot to move the seat lever so that Pat could get out of the back seat.  Pat was so flustered she forgot the seat had a lever, so she contorted her body and squeezed out between the seat and the car, landing on West 72^nd Street on hands and knees, whereupon she crawled over to the curbside.  It must’ve been hilarious!  I laughed for an hour when she told me about it later.

I’m enclosing the photos my friends and I took. I took a whole roll just about at EMI, and that particular roll was in the camera that I LEFT ON THE TRAIN on the way to Liverpool!!!  I was more upset about the film than the cheapo camera, needless to say.