Mac and friends

 

Here you have Paul and Linda along with Larry Tepper and some of his buddies meeting Paul and Linda in 1976.  I am sure there is some great story behind this photo.   Maybe Larry can fill us in on it sometime.   

Hands up!

Everybody wants to just touch Paul McCartney....wow!

I love ya, love ya love ya

Continuing on with the Wings 1976 coverage in anticipation for tomorrow night, I have a review of the concerts at Madison Square Garden written by Valeria Lambiase for MacLen fanzine that was taken out of the June 1976 issue.  I think Valeria is a Paul girl. 

I love ya, love ya, love ya

By Valeria Anita Lambiase

                May 24 & 25 (1976) marked a historical event in musical entertainment as Paul McCartney gave us one of the best concerts in the past decade.  Ten years have come and gone since he thrilled the American audience with his talent and charm.  On the evening of May 24 & 25 he returned to New York’s Madison Square Garden where thousands of tickets were sold within a matter of hours.  I was fortunate enough to get tickets for both days.  I can remember when the tickets went on sale.  Itwas shear bedlam.  There were people climbing over the rails to get closer to the ticket windown and many people were screaming.  An unruly crowd completely out of control.  The police called in an emergency squad but it didn’t help.  The crowd continued to scream, push, fight, anything to get closer to the ticket window.  I never fully realized the impact of Paul McCartney’s popularity until I saw the insane reactions of this crowd.  Glass doors were shattered, a few people were injured and I was crushed in the center of this human stampede.  However, the pleasure and enjoyment I derived from the concert had made all my efforts worthwhile. 

At 7:30 Monday night I arrived at the Garden; excited, anxious and overjoyed.  Outside there were scalpers selling tickets for $50 to $100 a piece.  I just thanked God I already had my tickets.  When we got inside my friend was kind enough to buy me a program.  The color pictures in that large booklet were beautiful to say the least.  Soon after we were directed to our seats, which were in the Orchestra section of the Garden (great seats).  A little while after we were seated, a young girl approached me and asked me where I had gotten the button I was wearing.  She liked it and wanted to buy one for herself.  I told her I had bought the button 12 years ago when Beatlemania was at its height.  The button simply and sweetly reads, “I love Paul.”  By the end of the evening four other people wanted to know where I had gotten the button.

I was sitting on pins and needles waiting for the concert to begin when I suddenly noticed a large crowd gathering around one small area in the balcony.  Someone up there was definitely attracting a lot of attention.  Later on I found out that Jacqueline Onassis was in the audience.  But, of course, the 20,000 people in the Garden came to see Paul, not her, so the excitement she generated quickly died down.  However, I am still surprised that a woman of her standing would take time out from her highly important social and political engagements just to attend a Wings concert.  It seems that McCartney’s appeal reaches even the most sophisticated people.  Then the house lights dimmed and the concert began.  My God!  I never heard so much screaming.  I thought that by the end of the evening I would be deaf from all the cheers and screams.  Paul stood in the center of the great stage, looked around and said, “Good evening New York, how ya doing?”  Bright colored lights showered down on Paul as he and his group sang their first song, “Venus & Mars Rock Show,” followed by “Jet,” “Let me Roll it,”  “Spirits of Ancient Egypt,”  “Medicine Jar,”  “Maybe I’m Amazed” “Call me back again” an old favorite, “Lady Madonna” then in a seductive Liverpool accent he said, “Oh yes, are you enjoying yourself?”  The audience response to his question was too overwhelming to put into words.  With the audience still cheering he sailing into one of his great classical songs, “The Long and Winding road” which brought me to tears.  He kept moving around the stage as he sang different songs.  Sometimes center stage playing bass guitar, sometimes side stage to play the piano, then back to the center to play the acoustic guitar, while Jim McCulloch tossed his tambourine in the air.  They seemed to be having a good time.  The next song, “Liver & Let Die” was one of the most dynamic songs of the evening.  The entire stage seemed to explode with music and smoke as thousands of fans stood on their chairs in astonishment.  Smoke filled the air in a loud blast a second time as the song came to an end, I guess you could call it a real “dynamite” song.

People couldn’t stop cheering and they were constantly standing in the aisles and on top of the chairs, and all through the concert the people in the back who couldn’t see kept yelling “sit down, sit down.”  I must have heard “sit down” a hundred times that night.

Next came “Picasso’s Last Words (drink to me)”, “Richard Cory,” “Bluebird,” “Blackbird.”  In between songs a young lady walked up to Pau on stage and handed him a bouquet of red roses, in turn Paul handed the roses to Linda and she placed them on top of Paul’s piano.  Paul then treated us to an old Beatle Masterpiece, “I’ve just seen a Face.” Then the “piece de resistance” Paul with one solitary ray of light shining on him in the mist of the darkened stage sat solo and sang “Yesterday.”  That was what I consider a historical moment and I’ll never forget it.  I consider myself fortunate for having seen it.  On to “You gave me the answer” and “Magneto and Titanium Man.”  Then as an introduction to his next song Paul asked the audience, “Do any of you have lovers out there?”  The question prompted another outburst of cheers while Linda took center stage to sing “My Love.”  He continued the concert by explaining what a “music box” was only I couldn’t hear everything he said because of the undying cheers from the fans, the cheers just kept getting louder and louder as Wings took off with the next song, “Listen to What the Man said,” “Let Em In,” “Time to Hide”.  He then ran his finger through his hair, looked out to all ends of the Garden and said “You’re making me very proud to be here,” a statement which brought the house down.  Again he looked around to all ends of the Garden and asked, “Do you love my Rock n roll?”  A thunderous applause from the audience constructed a unanimous yes answer to his question.  While the audience continued to applaud, Wings swirled into their next song, “Silly Love songs.”  Onto “Beware my love” and “Letting Go.”

This bliss lasted 2 hour 15 minutes (8:30 to 10:45) and I was shocked at how quickly time went by.  They say time always goes quickly when you enjoy yourself and I must admit time never flew so fast before.  I was really stunned when he announced the last song, “Band on the Run.”  All I kept thinking was “Paul, don’t leave!”  The girl behind me was in tears.  You just had to see this concert to believe it.  He gave two encores, very lavishly done with a green laser projecting all through the Garden.  I’ve never seen that before.  Very impressive, however, I didn’t think he needed to have a laser light in his concert for a good reason – his talent outshines the laser.  He sang “Hi Hi Hi.”  The audience screamed for more and Paul came back and for a second encore, “Soily” was his very last song.

All through the concert I kept looking at Paul through my opera glasses.  Being in the orchestra section I was very close to the stage and looking through opera glasses at such a close distance made it seem like I was right next to him.  I could see him so well, all I can say is that he is, indeed, beautiful   His facial bone structure and facial features are so perfectly arranged; he was a pleasure to look at.  Once I a while I looked over at Linda who was wearing a long dark colored dress which didn’t do a thing for her figure, however, I thought she looked nicer in person than in her pictures.  Paul wore black satin slacks with a black shirt and a pendant around his neck.   Matching black jacket with sparking designs on the shoulders and pink trim around the edges.  His hair was long and beautiful and as I said before, he was a pleasure to look at. 

It was a concert to remember.   We screamed till our throats were raw; applauded till our hands were sore; stamped our feet till they were numb and continued to beg Paul for more, more, more.  Flash bulbs were popping constantly and the radiating joy of excitement never let up for a moment.  It was shear bliss.  This bliss repeated itself a second time on May 25^th.  But all good things must come to an end and so did Paul’s concerts.  I remember thinking to myself “Paul don’t leave,” but he did leave.  After the two encores he left the stage for the last time and did not return, but he left us all feeling so overjoyed that his presence lingered on even though he wasn’t there.

Just before he left he stood in the center of the stage, and with sincerity in his voice, looked out to the audience and said, “I Love ya, love ya, love ya.”

When the concert was over there were people outside the Garden selling all kinds of T-shirts, buttons, 8 x 10 glossies.  I bought a few glossies, a button, a poster, a magazine and a t-shirt.  In the way home I could still envision Paul in my mind.  I could still see him there, in the center o the stage, as he looked out to his audience, waved his hand and said “I love ya, love ya, love ya.”  What a beautiful way to end a concert.

Ahhhh....Laine

These photos were published in No1 of 1974 issue of the Wings fan club newsletter/magazine (the one before Club Sandwich).  They appear after a long interview with Denny about his solo album called "Ahhh....Laine."  This all occurred on 2 May 1973.  I am not sure who conducted the interview or who took the photos, but this is what is says about the photos:

It's getting late.  We've been chatting for nearly two hours.  Outside on the street we wait for Denny to come up, so that we can take a few photos.  Paul, Linda, and Mike drive past and Paul gives us a toot on the horn.  We smile and wave, and think how nice he is, not at all "big time" despite all the adoration and glory he had in the Beatles.

           Denny comes up and we take the photos, then all walk around  Soho Square.  It's  been a lovely interview.  We must do it again sometime.  WE thank him and wave goodbye as he drives off in his Bentley. 

This IS Denny Laine, isn't it?   I have never seen photos of him with a beard and it makes me second guess it that it is him.  But it sure looks like him through the eyes. 

Guarding Wings

Photo of Paul and Linda heading into one of the "Over America" gigs with the security for the night. 

What ever happened to Anne Collingham?

If you ever go through old Beatle Book Monthly Magazines or Beatles fan club newsletters, you will see the name "Anne Collingham" often in them.   From the photos and articles written at the time, you would have assumed that Anne was a Beatle fan who worked with Freda Kelly at the Beatles fan club headquarters.   So where is Miss Collingham today?

Well....come to find out there never was a real person named Anne Collingham.   It was made up by Tony Barrow in 1963 to help keep things simple at the fan club.   A variety of girls who worked at the fan club were used as "Anne Collingham" for photos at the time.      

Tony Barrow wrote about this in the May 1983 issue of the Beatle Book Monthly.

Paul, John, George and Ringo pose with Anne Collingham and Bettina Rose during a visit to the London headquarters of their fan club.

I decided in June 1963 that the Club should have a Nation Secretary based in London at our Monmouth Street address.  Until then, fans in the South had kept in touch through Bettina Rose in Surrey whilst Freda had looked after the top half of Britain from her NEMS office base in Liverpool.

The name of the new National Secretary was given as Anne Collingham.  In fact, no such person ever existed.  the "Collingham" part came form part of my secretary's home address in Earls Court, and Anne was my wife's middle name.

It wasn't done in order to deceive the fans.  It was intended to be helpful.  clearly as the membership grew a full time office staff of clerks and helpers would be needed.  there was little to be gained from confusing members by letter them receive replies from an assortment of people, especially as staff were coming and going all the time.  So the simplest answer seemed to be to have "Anne Collingham" as the regular signature on all individual reply letters, on newsletters and on all the Club's printed stationery.

there was another massive advantage.  The press office and the Fan Club shared a single telephone number, COVent Garden 2332.  as the publicity side of things became busier we were not only handling the Beatles but all the other NEMS acts ranging from Billy J. Kramer to Cilla Black.  The telephone lines were being used more and more heavily.  Therefore it was convenient to know at once if a caller wanted the press office or the Fan Club.  If the caller asked or Anne Collingham, it was passed straight through to the right room to be handled quickly.

Personal callers at 13 Monmouth Street always found themselves talking to "come of Anne Collingham's assistants."  Ms. Collingham herself seemed to eb permanently unavailable to meet her visiting members!

The Fan club grew so fast that we took an extra floor of office space above the press office's suite of rooms.  Here at least half a dozen full time workers coped with the mountains of mail.  These peopel included Michael Crowther-Smith, tony Catchpole, Yvonne Sainsbury, Monica Stringer and Macy Cockram.  By the end of 1963, Bettina Rose, the Surrey-based South of England Secretary, had been put on the full-time NEMS payroll and was working at at Monmouth Street as the colleague of "Anne Collingham."  The two signed themselves as "Joint National Secretaries of the Official Beatles Fan Club."   Bettina's physical appearance at Monmouth Street meant that at least one of the Club's chiefs was on hand to meet visitors in person.

I have said that Brian Epstein  refused to sell souvenir stuff via the club.  He did make a single exception to that wise rule but he only did so to help a relative who ran a firm called Weldons of Peckham in Rye Lane, London SE15.  Weldons produced a two-tone Beatles badge embroidered in gold and red.  This they stitched onto a black polo neck sweater made of 100% Botany wool.  It was a quality product and it was the only item ever to be sold directly through the facilities of the Official Fan Club.  The mail order price at Christmas 1963 was 1.15.00 which included postage and packing.  Fan Club worker, Mary Cockram, a pretty little brunette with an outgoing personality, was used to model the Beatles Sweater, but the caption beneath the photograph read, "Anne Collingham wears the Official Sweater in the picture above."

Lean with it

A very odd photo of Paul getting out of a car! 

Nancy in Brazil

These two girls spotted Nancy all by herself at one of Paul's concert last week in Brazil.   They went up to her and asked for a photo, and since no one else recognized her, she said yes.   They said she was singing along to "My Valentine."   Will I be on the lookout for Nancy when I am up front at the Paul concert on the 26th?  Yes.  Yes I will.  

Meet the Beatles backstage

I believe a fan (or maybe a reporter) took this photo backstage at a Beatles concert in 1963.   It is a nice photo!  I love it when all four of them are looking at the camera with at least semi-smiles on their faces.  

Broadway Baby

Here is a previously not shown frame from the summer (or late fall) of 1975 when John and Yoko were signing autographs at the Broadway play, "Same time Next year."   Yoko was pregnant with Sean at this time.