Diamond Dog wrote:I'm not sure I ever told you about the time I met McCartney.... walking down Oxford St in broad daylight, with Linda, back in March 1981.... he was walking along - completely unmobbed- and I saw the pair of them a couple of hundred yards away. My brothers didn't believe me - until we got right up to them... I had no idea what to say... I just blurted out "Hello Paul" he came right back with "Wallo..." and they carried on walking. I loved that.
The interesting thing is - that's three months after Lennon was gunned down in NYC. I think that took huge courage. So, if he could do it then... I'm pretty sure he could now. He's certainly not as big a name now as then (in terms of chart success etc).
I also have massive admiration for the fact he sent his kids through comprehensive school.... and told them at a very early age they weren't going to inherit from his estate....
So I like Paul. I just think it's clear he can be an utter cock sometimes (but, as was pointed out, can't we all).
In the interest of derailing this thread further, I'll share my little anecdote about the time I "met" Neil Young. Hold on, let me get out my Commander McBragg voice: "There... La Cienaga Boulevard. Did I ever tell you about the time..."
Bert Jansch was touring with Neil, I guess it was 2009 or something. Part of the deal was Bert headlining his own show in LA, with Neil's wife as support act. She was okay, nothing earth-shattering, but she had Ben Keith AND Spooner Oldham in her band, so that was great. It was a 300-seat theatre, and the place was pretty much sold out. I imagine there was a contingent of Neil fans who wanted to experience his awesomeness secondhand through his wife, or maybe even have an actual Neil sighting at some point.
So there we were, Bobzilla and I, on the sidewalk in front of the venue before the concert. Hardly anyone there yet, we'd gotten there early to beat the traffic and find somewhere to park. Two people are standing about 20 feet away from us. A car pulls up, and the guy gets out to chat with them. Yup, it's Neil. He did that subtle glance around, that situational awareness every public figure does, to see if it's safe (he was alone in the car). Naturally, he sees us, and when my eyes met his, I did the only thing I could think of: I smiled, nodded, and took one step back. I could have just stood there, but it seemed like a good symbolic gesture - "Yeah, I know it's you, but I'm not going to bother you, and I like where I am, so I'm not going to walk away either." He smiled and nodded back. What would I have to say to Neil Young that he hasn't heard a million times over the last fifty years? I could see the look in his eyes, he did seem to appreciate it. Stories about his character are plentiful - I'm sure his now-ex-wife has a few - but at least he appreciated a simple gesture from someone who just wanted to let him hang out and enjoy himself.
And yeah, his wife was performing that night, of course he'd expect to be noticed if he showed up - it wasn't like he was at Gelson's doing his grocery shopping. But that's one thing about LA - most people here really don't approach celebrities when we encounter them in public. It's the tourists who do that. I assume the same goes for New York or London - they're just part of the fabric here, we're as busy as they are trying to get our errands done.
Oh, and Bert was phenomenal. So I did experience awesomeness that night, I'm happy to say!
Quaco wrote:Which mega-famous '60s stars (living or dead) would you actually like to hang out with long-term? Lennon, McCartney, Elton, Mick, Keith, Morrison, Townshend, Moon? Maybe Mick, maybe Entwistle. The rest seem pretty difficult! The less famous ones are always easier.
Well, since we're going down this road anyway... my aforementioned writer friend has an Entwistle story that had nothing to do with his work. He was hanging at The Rainbow on Sunset, and Entwistle takes the seat next to him at the bar. He seemed more interesting in chatting up the lady next to him, so my friend left him alone. After a few minutes, John turned around, offered his hand, and said, "Hi, I'm John Entwistle." Guess he felt reasonably safe at that point. They chatted for a few minutes - "So what do you do?" "I write for television." "Really, what show?" He was more interested in hearing about someone else for a change. Then my friend finally mentioned seeing The Who in concert years earlier. "Really? When was this?" "Boston 1973."
Anyone who knows their Who history knows about that infamous night. Entwistle just did a facepalm, then with a sheepish grin he said, "Sorry about that. We really stunk up the joint that night, didn't we?" Funny how you can play hundreds of great shows, but it's the one crappy one you remember, 20 years later. Probably because no one will let you forget, it's in all the books and everything! They both had a laugh over it. So yeah, Entwistle sounds like he would have been a good hang, but I think it's down to the situation - if you approach them, they're on the defensive, but if you leave them alone, they're more willing to be personable. For all they know, you don't have the slightest idea who they are, and how embarrassing would that be if they put on airs for someone who laughed in their face?
