They had a great 1975!

 

Encounter with Britain's Beatles Leaves PHS Sophomores in a daze (1964)

 

Encounter with Britain's Beatles Leaves PHS Sophomores in a Daze

By Nancy Karnath

Pensacola News Journal

September 24, 1964

    A Hard Day's Night was spent by Sue Green, Jessica Hendrix, and Linda Maddox, three Pensacola High School sophomores, when they motored to New Orleans to visit the Beatles, England's fourfold answer to America's. Elvis Presley.

     "They're so sweet!" exclaimed Linda. "I love them," chimed Sue. "I was in a daze," interrupted Jessica.

     Arriving in New Orleans at 12:30pm, the girls passed the Congress Inn. "I saw Paul McCartney!" shouted Sue.  Linda and Jessica attempted to convince their friend that she was seeing an apparition. Later, to their amazement, they discovered that Sue had seen Paul, and the Beatles were staying at the Congress Inn.

    On calling City Park Stadium, the girls were told arrangements for their visit had been made, and they were to report to the motel, room 100, that afternoon for The Beatles' press conference. 

    The time arrived, but the girls nearly missed the conference because of a frustrated crowd of fans. Pushing their way through the mob of several 100, they attempted to enter the door. One fan clutched Sue's handbag in an attempt to prevent her from entering. With a slight struggle, and with the aid of Linda, she freed herself and stumbled into the motel. Linda heard one girl shout, "Gosh, we're from Mississippi. Doesn't that count?"

     Approximately 100 members of the press swarmed into the single room for the conference. Sue, Linda, and Jessica were the only fans allowed to sit in. "The Beatles looked disgusted, but had a great sense of humor", said Sue.

     At the press conference, the shaggy Britains termed their New Orleans visit as the "roughest" of their tours. Explaining this, they said their limousine failed to follow the designated route to the Inn. Upon arriving at the motel, the fans were so dense they forced the car to back up and hit a police patrol car. Damage was reported as slight. 

    The crooners were quite relaxed.  They sat at a table drinking lemonade. Reporters fired questions and photographers frantically clicked camera shutters. When asked if his guitar really had 21 strings, George Harrison replied, "Yeah, sure."  When asked what he thought of New Orleans girls, he replied, "Haven't seen any yet."  Asked what they thought of the topless bathing suit. Ringo star quipped, "We've been wearing them for years."

     And accepting the key to the city of New Orleans from Mayor Victor H Shiro, Beatle John Lennon said," You look like a nice fellow, Lord Mayor."  

    The Beatles' disgust with their visit was warranted by their having to be locked in one room because of the insistent fans.  They had to forgo a swim and visit to the French quarters, which they had anticipated. 

    The group said the thing they liked most about the United States was the money, but stated emphatically that they were not multi-millionaires. American tea was singled out as a thing they most disliked.

     Although the girls were unable to present the keys to the city of Pensacola to the Beatles in person, since the performance was 45 minutes late, they did give the keys to George Martin, the Beatles' manager

Making Music at the Mardi Gras (1975)

Paul McCartney: Making Music at the Mardi Gras

By D.J. Claw

Rolling Stone syndicate

March 10, 1975

    Paul McCartney slipped quietly into this graceful city of swamps and sin while the vast apparatus of the Super Bowl cranked up to a climax. He slipped out a month later, in the wake of another local fever known as the Mardi Gras, with an album under his belt and rumblings of his first possible American tour since the days of the Beatles.

     McCartney arrived on January 16 with his band Wings, his wife Linda, and their kids to cut an album at Allen, Toussaint's Sea-Saint Studio, a brilliantly gifted producer, arranger and keyboard artist who has worked with Van Morrison, the Band and Dr John, was recommended to McCartney by Paul Simon when the two met in Jamaica some time ago.

     "Years ago, when we did an American tour with The Beatles, everyone said, what a pity it was. We never got to see New Orleans," McCartney noted, after being a fortnight into the palm fronds and gumbo buckets. "So what we're doing now is combining work, cutting an album, and doing the tourist bit. It gives you a sense of adventure."

     "Actually, we get tired of the cold," Linda McCartney added as she sat next to her husband on the rear deck of the pleasure boat Paul had rented for a brief go round with the press. 

        Much of the time, they had been shuffling back and forth between the French quarters, the Richelieu Hotel, and the Toussaint Studio.

`     Drummerless since the departure of Denny Siewell after the Red Cross Speedway  [sic] album, McCartney has recruited a Macon, Georgia drummer named Joe English.  Until the phone call from McCartney, English had spent the last three years playing with a group called the Jam Factory and living at Greg Allman's mansion in Macon. He has been recommended to Sea-Saint staff arranger, Tony Dorsey, by the Allman drummer, Jaimo.

         Asked if the Mardi Gras was inspiring any of the music they were making. McCartney said, "I wrote a song about it called 'My Carnival', but it won't be New Orleans music. It'll be distinctly McCartney."

        

         Yet he had obviously been impressed by the scene, adding that "This time of the year in New Orleans, there certainly is a great deal of lunacy in the air." The as yet untitled album has an anticipated May release date.

         As for live performance possibilities, so far, talk about the anticipated tour has emanated chiefly from McCartney's able army of publicists. The 1972 European and 1973 British tours have been his only experience with live audiences since the disintegration of the Beatles. And McCartney was careful to point out that the band won't go out "until we're musically ready".

         Asked if the disastrous reviews accompanying the recent George Harrison tour had discouraged him. McCartney said, "No, we loved it. We had a ball! In defense of the audience, though I thought George should have played more of his hits, more of his music. George was not accustomed to a great deal of prolonged singing, and perhaps the tour was too long."  Returning to his own touring prospects, McCartney said that he was "excited by the prospect of getting out before a lot of old, friendly faces."

         And were there any circumstances which might draw the Beatles back together? "I don't think that's possible," McCartney answered. "After all, we came out of the sticks and went full circle with the group. If you ask any of the others, I think you'll find they're very happy with what they're doing. We're all doing something new and stretching ourselves a bit. That's really how it should be."

         A strict security blackout has been posted by McCartney and his production people, with warnings issued to the musicians and the Sea-Saint studio staff against discussing what was going on in the recording sessions. So when McCartney decided to meet the media, it was by way of a vehicle designed to take inquiring minds off their business on a warm, languid February afternoon, McCartney hired the services of the 50 year old tourist river boat Voyager to put- put around the bayou with 50 reporters and photographers for the occasion. 

    

        McCartney also hired the New Orleans Tuxedo Brass Band to liven up the dockside proceedings while sweating delivery men unloaded boxes of freshly boiled shrimp, crayfish, as well as terrains of gumbo. A pair of white limousines delivered McCartney, Linda, and Wings all decked out with Top Hats and walking sticks, plus a somewhat overwhelmed Joe English and studio partners Toussaint and Marshall Seahorn.

         Pulling out of the Canal Street berth, clutches of tourists clad in Bermuda shorts goggled as The Beatles and Co. Voyager made for the lazy, spooky bayous --the mangrove swamps --where, through the course of an hour and a half, McCartney tried to definitely evade telling anyone what he was up to.

         "Yes, I wrote nearly all the music. We came here to see Professor Long Hair, an elderly jazz pianist in New Orleans, a fixture. No, we haven't named the album yet. It'll be out in about two months. It'll be better than Band on the Run."

         His obligations to the press were discharged, and McCartney and Voyager swung back to Canal Street. Waiting at the dock was yet another cargo of good grub, red beans and rice, ham hocks, sausages and mustard greens, bottles of grog, and a second shift of grinning passengers. This dime-a-dozen local musician with whom McCartney would cheerfully spend the better part of the night floating through the swamps, jamming and wailing while clouds of bugs hovered over the ham hocks.

         McCartney spent the muggy night out on the Bayou with the cream of contemporary New Orleans music, Robert "Barefootin" Parker, Earl "Trickbag" King. Lee "working on the coal mine" Dorsey, Ernie, "mother-in-law", K-Doe, Mylon LeFevre, Clarence "Frogman", Henry,  Alan Toussaint, the Meters, a band called Chocolate Milk, and Paul's longed for Professor Long Hair. 

        Under the more than five-hour cruise party, the Meters and Chocolate Milk performed, but it was not long before McCartney and Wings joined the Meters and Ernie K-Doe in a rendition of "I want to hold your hand", quite unlike the 1963 original, one observer reported. Followed by a trust of "Get Back" off the Hey Jude album and a wrap-up Soul melody as the ship steamed back to the Canal Street dock for the last time.

         In a phone interview from the studio later, McCartney described his  Riverboat Shuffle as a "ball." But when asked why he hadn't used any of the local artists on the album, he said adamantly, "because we're recording the ideas to be among the ambiance, not to record with it.  Band on the Run was cut in Lagos, Nigeria, but it didn't have anything to do with Lagos."

    

         As for the actual proceedings, McCartney still refused any attempts to describe it, though he said he was joining the Tuxedo Brass Band momentarily to lay down a track. Evidently, their appearance on the album and some earlier keyboard work by Toussaint would be McCartney's sole exception to his avoidance of the locals.

         Paul and Linda finished recording in New Orleans by the 24th of February, preferring to avoid any additional three weeks of mix downs and polishing. They're evasive about their next steps, but indicated they were bound either West for LA or back across the barney seas to England, or changing their plans, they may always rely on their multidienuous disguises.

Superdome

 

Photo take April 24, 1993 at the New Orleans Superdome

My Carnival

 I know Mardi Gras has just passed, but I have never seen this photo before, so I am posting it now. 

Leaving New Orleans

 

February 24, 1975 

Bike Riding in New Orleans

 February 1975

Paul sure made this kid happy!

 

February 1975  -  This kid is smiling ear to ear -- and you sure can't blame him!  Love this!

Band on the Run shirt

 February 1975 - New Orleans 

Greeting those waiting in New Orleans

 February 1975 - New Orleans 

Paul at night

 February 1975 - New Orleans 

The return of a favorite shirt

 February 1975 - New Orleans 

Venus and Mars Sessions

 February 1975 - New Orleans 

Baby Face Session

 January 31, 1975 - New Orleans, LA 

Making girls swoon

 January 29, 1975 - New Orleans, LA 

Make way for the drummer

 

September 16, 1964 - New Orleans, LA 

Not sure where to turn

 

Paul and George

 

Paul played the Superbowl 20 years ago

 

February 3, 2002 -  Remember when Paul played the Superbowl 20 years ago?  It was actually really exciting.   I can't stand football, and I think this was the only time I ever actually watched any part of the game.   

To understand the excitement of this performance, you have to remember that it was just 5 months since 9/11 and for Beatle fans, just 2 months after George's death.   It was just a sad time in the country.  Paul's anthem, "Freedom" was just what we needed at that time.   So for Paul to come onto the television and perform that song for everyone was very exciting and emotional.   The performance was right before the game actually started.   The musicians that we now consider to be "Paul's band" were all there:  Rusty, Brian, Abe and Wix.   There were cheerleaders waving pompoms.   Then a gigantic Statue of Liberty banner was raised behind the band while people marched in front of the stage with flags from around the globe.   It was a tear-jerker of a performance and one that has always stayed in my mind.  

Mardi Gras

 

Look in the background of the top photo and you will spot the McCartneys on their balcony dressed as clowns.