Van on the Run

 

George at the 1993 Adelaide Grand Prix in  Australia.  Interesting van behind them, don't you think?

Meeting McCartney was a thrilling event (1993)

 

Meeting McCartney was a Thrilling Event For Newspaper Reporter

By GaryLeftwick

The Time-Herald

May 8, 1993

    It's been said that one should never aspire to meet his heroes. Several days ago, before my long journey to meet Paul McCartney came to a somewhat unexpected halt, I would have agreed with that statement.

     Last Saturday, I was lucky enough to get to meet McCartney face to face before his concert at the Georgia Dome. The saga began when I first heard that Paul was going to follow up his triumphant comeback tour of 1989-1990 with another agenda of concerts this year.

     On a cold morning in February, several friends and I bought tickets to the Atlanta show. After being fortunate enough to get seats in the 16th row, I was brash enough to suggest that I should try and get a press pass to photograph the show. Little did I know what was to follow.

     A few days later, I sat down and composed a letter and faxed it to Cellar Door Productions, the promoter of the tour. For the next several weeks, I waited, but no answer arrived. Then last Friday morning, I was working busily to get a major story finished before a deadline, the phone rang. "Good morning. This is Gary," I said, with my usual rehearsed greeting.

     A woman on the other end began talking so fast that I missed her name and had no prayer of catching her in the conversation. However, I did pick out the words "Paul McCartney".  I have developed a talent for recognizing those two words; just ask anyone who knows me. The adrenaline that shot through my body was enough to be lethal. The gist of the conversation was that I was to meet with other members of the press at gate E of the Dome for a press conference. I was shocked that what I was just a flippant suggestion had become reality.

     I called my friends and family and people who I'm not sure that I actually met, to tell them the great news. Eventually, but not nearly soon enough, it was Saturday. I arrived at the Dome with my fiancée, Becky, and began a long wait. 

    Security people were the most unorganized group I've ever seen. But then I met Paul McCartney's publicity staff. Soon, 15 other photographers and I were herded to where a photo opportunity was going to be staged. 

    While waiting, I saw this teenager who looked exactly like Paul. In an instant, I knew exactly who he was. "You're James", I said to the red-headed youth after I realized he was McCartney's only son; the resemblance was amazing. "Yeah, right", he said.  End of conversation.

     The next thing I knew, I heard someone say, "Here we go". I looked down the long hallway of the Coliseum, and there was Paul. I won't say the time stood still, but I'll be darned if it didn't slow way down.

     Being the semi-alert journalist that I am, I stayed conscious enough to aim my camera at McCartney, and I looked through the lens. He stared right at me and said, "So you want to take some pictures?" I think it was at this point that I realized I actually was going to meet Paul McCartney, but I must confess that I was more like, I'M GOING TO MEET PAUL MCCARTNEY!.

     I fired a roll of film as Paul, his wife, Linda, and his band clowned around in a bath of camera flashes. Then I realized that I had to hurry back to the press conference. We had been warned sternly that if we were not in the press room before he arrived. We were not going to be in the room when he was there.

     I made it to the press conference and grinned at the sour-faced publicists as I took my seat in the middle of the front row. Soon, Paul arrived and charmed those of us in the room. After listening to a barrage of questions, which can be best be described as dumb, I decided I had come up with a good question .

    Before I knew it, my hand was in the air. Paul ignored it several times, then his personal aide announced that there was time for only a couple more questions. Soon, Paul looked me in the face and asked for my question. I've listened to a tape of the press conference several times and swear that my voice did not quiver. I asked Paul about a return to live music and acoustic instruments, which is making music more energetic these days. Paul went off autopilot and seemed genuinely interested in answering my question. I then told him that my band is called Sea of Green. We took the name from a line in Yellow Submarine. Paul smiled and said, "Great, cool. Well, good luck."

     That was it, my band had received the blessing of Paul McCartney, the most popular figure in music and perhaps one of the most recognized celebrities in the world, had wished us luck

    . After that, McCartney was whisked away, and we were left to wait half an hour before being escorted into the Dome to shoot the first two songs of the show. There we were, a group of photographers standing in front of the stage, being eyed with envy by people sitting in the front rows.

     Then the film, which opens the McCartney show, started, footage of McCartney frolicking for a camera in late 1969 flickered across the single screen. Then with a flash, all the screens came to life with film of The Beatles performing the song "Help". That is the point where I lost it. The fact that I had met Paul and was about to stand 30 feet from where he would be performing hit me like a ton of bricks. Watching images of John, Paul, George, and Ringo, four people whom I've dedicated my life to studying, I began to cry. This was it. I had reached the summit. I had met Paul McCartney. I had met one of my greatest heroes. 

    The concert began as Paul and the band launched into "Drive My Car." After getting comfortable with the audience, McCartney came over with a puzzled look. He searched out my camera and played right into it.

     Next thing I know, we had been shuffled out and robbed of our photo passes. I was running to stash my camera and head inside for the rest of the show. It was when I reached the floor of the Dome that I realized I had actually achieved what I'd so jokingly suggested months ago.

     I felt different since last Saturday. In the short time we spent in the same room, I realized that Paul McCartney is probably the most optimistic person I've ever met. I've come to believe that hope is contagious, and I've noticed that things no longer bother me as much. Thanks, Paul. You were so right when you said "And in the end they love you take is equal to the love you make."

Ringo was a hero

 Ringo at the Pediatric AIDS Carnival on June 3, 1993, in Los Angeles.  From what I read about this event, different celebrities manned the stations at different booths at this carnival for children with AIDS.   I wonder what booth Ringo and Barb worked at.   

Australian musicians

George with Australian musician Rick Faulkner in 1993. Photo is from the book ‘A History Of Plucked Stringed Instruments In Australasia, The Players, Makers & Composers from 1836 - 2012′ by Ron Payne

Superdome

 

Photo take April 24, 1993 at the New Orleans Superdome

Paul Vs. the "Big Boys"

 Paul v. the Big Boys

Written By Mark Cox

Reading Evening Post

February 12, 1993

    Paul McCartney is stuck for words. The ex-Beatle, famous for his beautiful ballads, said the state of the world is making him swear. Paul explains the obscene lyrics on his latest CD single as a protest against "men in suits," greedy businessmen, and the government putting profits over people. 

    Paul, 50 says the effects of the recession and holes in the ozone layer are giving him sleepless nights at his sheep farm in Scotland, and he said that's the reason he's used blue language on the controversial track Big Boys Bickering for the first time in his 30 year recording career.

     He said,  "It's just about men in smoke-filled rooms deciding our future and nearly always deciding a lot of things we don't want. It's a protest song against that kind of thing, people just arbitrarily signing our future away. I had to use the F word in it, which, to me, isn't that shocking. Instead of saying, 'They're mucking it up for everyone,' I used the F word. I've never used it before in a song, and I don't use it that often in conversation, but I felt it was essential to the plot in that song."

     Some radio stations have banned the track, but Paul is defiant. "Basically, I'd advise people with young kids who don't want them to hear that word on my record, to lock them out of the room or not buy the CD single. As far as human rights issues go, I don't really want to go around the world preaching, but I'm the father of four kids, and I think people like to hear me standing up for things like human rights and ecology."

    " If the governments sort out, then I'll sit down because I don't really want this job."  Paul added, "I'm not saying I'm depressed about the state of the world because I'm pretty optimistic normally, but it's in a bit of a funny state. Now, you've only got to look at the news and stuff with the with the recession and stuff over the last few years, it's obviously got very difficult for people. Maybe it doesn't affect someone like me, who's well off so much, but you still sense the climate, and you still look at the news, and you still say, 'Oh God, it's all going wrong.' 

    People will say, 'Hey, you're just a pop star. What do you know? You don't know the details,' but I am a person, and I'm talking as a person and as a father. And it doesn't take much intelligence to see a 50-mile hole in the sky letting in skin cancer to have an opinion on it."

     Paul said writing his last batch of songs took him back to his heyday with The Beatles. "I suppose in the 60s, we did a lot of that kind of stuff. And I don't see anything wrong with it if you can express that spirit."

     And he gets back with the other two Beatles, George Harrison and Ringo Starr later this year. "They (a television company) are making a 10-part documentary series about the Beatles story. I suggested that if they wanted any bits of music that they needed, it might be a good idea for me, George, and Ringo to maybe make a fresh piece of music. It kind of gives us an excuse to get together, really, without a heavy pressure situation. It's only a little revival."

    Making this new album was a useful warm-up for his forthcoming World Tour, which takes off in Australia in March, and it was an exercise in pure nostalgia at a one-and-a-half-hour rehearsal concert for fan club members and invited guests at the London Dockland.

     Paul and his band went down a storm performing songs from the new album, as well as Beatles classics like "Lady Madonna", "Let It Be," "Michelle," and "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". But Paul has no plans to re-record Beatles favorites. I" don't think there's much chance of buying the Beatles songs off Michael Jackson. He was able to buy them because they were just for sale on the open market, and he had a lot of money after his Thriller album. In actual fact, I advised him to get into music publishing, and he said to me, 'I'm going to buy your songs'. I thought he was joking."

     Paul's personal wealth is 380 million pounds. It is probably higher than the Queen's, about 150 million, but he still feels as strongly on issues like vegetarianism. Paul said, "Normally, I just talk about it at home with Linda and the kids or with friends or whatever. When I get this higher profile, I think it's silly to waste it, and I feel that people don't mind me being their voice for these kind of things."

Backstage photos

 

These two guys have been through some stuff

 

In Brazil

 December 3, 1993

30 years ago today Paul was in Brazil and he is back in Brazil again tonight.   

Greeting fans in Japan in 1993

 November 20, 1993 

George in Australia

 November 5, 1963

Paul McCartney might be in Australia now, but 30 years ago it was George's turn to travel down under.  

Paul was live in Paris

 October 13, 1993 - Paris, France 

Concert in London

 September 11, 1993 - London 

Another year -- another Buddy Holly Party

 September 7, 1993 

The Red and Blue

 September 9, 1993

The Red and Blue albums were some of my first avenues into The Beatles' music.  My favorite is to listen to disc 2 of the Red and disc 1 of the Blue.  

Off the Ground in Germany

 September 3, 1993

Barb and Jeff

 

Paul is Live album shoot

 

July 22, 1993 

The Paul is Live album isn't one of my favorite live albums that Paul made, but it sure has my favorite album cover!  Paul and Arrow are so cute crossing Abbey Road!  

I just love 1990s Paul and Linda

 July 5, 1993

This one's for the children

June 23, 1993