25 years on and still Fab payouts

Andrew Leach, Mail on Sunday

THE Beatles are still raking in millions of pounds, 25 years after they split up. According to the latest accounts from their company, Apple Corps, annual profits were ?1.4m on turnover that jumped to ?11.8m from ?8.6m the year before. The company exploits all activities relating to the Fab Four, from music through to visual assets such as posters and videos.

Though profits were slightly down on the ?1.6m the previous year, the two surviving Beatles and the widows of John Lennon and George Harrison received higher payments for promotional services. Sir Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison received ?1.7m each in the year to the end of January 2004, up from ?1.3m a year earlier.

Playing for Keeps

You haven't lived until you've seen Sir Paul McCartney twirl his wife around the dance floor to the music of Peter Duchin and his band. Other partygoers, the lucky ones at ringside tables, feign disinterest while trying to decide which is more remarkable: the sight of the former mop-top McCartney fox-trotting to Peter Duchin, or the fact that Lady McCartney, who wears a prosthetic leg, dances so beautifully that it seems almost rude not to stare.

But Duchin is at the piano. We are in the enchanted principality of gold ballroom chairs and the gracious aura surrounding those who perch on them at the benefit dinners where Duchin often performs. If Nijinsky were to come gliding by in the arms of Valentino, there would be no gawking, except perhaps with the aid of discreetly angled mirrors on expensive compacts. Why shouldn't those two dreamboats be here? We're in heaven.

Stars in the Sky

An extraordinary evening to benefit the Association of Hole in the Wall Camps will be held April 21, 2005 at Lincoln Center in New York City.

The performance at Avery Fisher Hall will feature Paul Newman, Julia Roberts, Paul McCartney, Tony Bennett, Mary J. Blige, Robin Williams and the Hole in the Wall Campers. Co-chairs for the evening are Ben Carpenter, Jean-Pierre Garnier, Alan Hassenfeld, Jay Levine, Lionel Pincus, Liz Robbins, Howard Stringer, and Mort Zuckerman. RBS Greenwich Capital is the Presenting Sponsor. A dinner and auction will follow in the Tent at Lincoln Center for tickets and tables purchased at the highest levels. Ticket prices range from $250 to $5,000.

Download an invitation to the event and program ad information below:
*Invitation - Interior (816K)
*Invitation - Back (1MB)
*Ad Reply Card (383K)
*Ticket Reply Card (501K)

Lennon's widows determined to put the record straight

By Tom Leonard

John Lennon's widows are preparing to go head to head over the former Beatle's life and legacy in two conflicting "biographies". An American-made musical about Lennon's life, which has been approved by his second wife Yoko Ono, will be opening on Broadway just a few months before the publication of a Lennon book by his first wife, Cynthia.


John Lennon and Yoko Ono

The musical, whose script was "authorised" by Ono before she gave permission for producers to use songs from Lennon's solo career, is likely to reopen old wounds in her relationship with others who were close to him.

Ono and Sir Paul McCartney have long argued over song rights. The musical's producers have chosen to ignore almost all of Lennon's output while in the Beatles, particularly the songs he wrote with McCartney, and concentrate on his later life with Ono. She has donated two previously unreleased love songs to the production, one of which she claims Lennon wrote about her while he was still married to Cynthia. Ono married Lennon in 1969, after an affair which Cynthia first learnt about from a newspaper article.

Sources close to Cynthia, who had a son, Julian, with Lennon during their seven-year marriage, say that she will be "honest" about Ono in her book, which is simply titled John and will be published by Hodder & Stoughton in September. Although she wrote another book about Lennon some years ago, she says that this one will include "so much that I have never said, so many incidents that I have never spoken of and so many feelings I have never expressed - great love on one hand; pain and torment on the other".

Now 65, Cynthia met Lennon in 1958 at Liverpool College of Art, where they were both studying lettering. They married four years later. The marriage has often been portrayed as an unequal one, in which Cynthia was far more devoted to her husband than he was to her.

"The time has come when I feel ready to tell the truth about John and me, our years together and the years since his death," she said. "Only I know what happened between us - why we stayed together, why we parted and the price I paid for having been John's wife."

She says that she decided to write a book now because, having tried to live an "ordinary life" since Lennon's death in 1980, "I have come to realise that I will always be known as John's first wife". Meanwhile, the musical producers have made it quite clear whose version of Lennon's life they favour.

The production's official website makes only a passing reference to Cynthia but describes Ono as Lennon's "true love".

Turning on its head the conventional wisdom that Lennon wrote his best songs for the Beatles, the musical will include only a couple of very early songs by the band. Don Scardino, the musical's director and a self-proclaimed "huge Beatles fan", said he believed that Lennon would have wanted to focus on his solo career.

"He wasn't very interested in the Beatles' music," Scardino said. "It was an aesthetic choice to leave out the Beatles music. We do have early Beatles songs in the show but not from the Lennon-McCartney catalogue." The musical "will tell the story of John Lennon's life, using Lennon's own words and 27 of his songs", he said, adding that Ono, 72, had "approved" the script and sat in on all the casting sessions. "I asked her a lot of questions, for historical accuracy or for her feelings about certain things, and she made some wonderful suggestions, all of which I used," Scardino said. "But she has allowed me to tell the story in my own way, from my point of view, which is very generous."

In 2001, Ono helped to organise Come Together, a two-hour tribute to Lennon in which nothing of the pre-Ono Lennon was depicted and the Beatles were not mentioned once. In the new musica l, an ensemble of nine per formers will play dozens of characters, with various actors playing Lennon at different stages of his life. The show's producer, Allan McKeown, also produced the controversial musical Jerry Springer, The Opera.

Lennon previews in San Francisco next month and moves to New York in July. If it is a success, it is likely to transfer to London. However, a Beatles-inspired musical, All You Need Is Love, failed to ignite in the West End four years ago.

Meeting the Beatles

A longtime editor of TIME who covered the Fab Four reflects back upon the group's first frenzied visit to the States 40 years ago
By CHRISTOPHER PORTERFIELD


The Beatles with Ed Sullivan in February 1964

Friday, Feb. 06, 2004
It was, my editors had assured me, a dream assignment. And I, as a 26-year-old trainee in TIME's Washington bureau, was lucky to get it. Maybe so. But then why was I shivering alone on a corner of Manhattan's Fifth Avenue on this cold February night? The subjects I was supposed to be covering were ensconced 12 floors above me in the Plaza Hotel, encircled by a cadre of security gargoyles dedicated to making sure that neither I nor anybody else got anywhere near them. I'd been tracking them all day, but even the few quotes and details I'd gleaned had also been picked up by hundreds of competing journalists. So where was the dream part?


Sept. 22, 1967


May 31, 1976


Dec. 22, 1980


Dec. 10, 2001


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Well, I was looking in the wrong place. The subjects, after all, were the Beatles, the sensational English rockers who currently had the No. 1 album ("Meet the Beatles") and the No. 1 single ("I Want to Hold Your Hand") on the U.S. charts. They'd arrived for their first U.S. tour on that day, Feb. 7, 1964 — the most momentous British invasion, if you believed the hype, since the War of 1812. And the point was not to make intimate contact with the Fab Four themselves — at that point, it would've been easier to line up a chat with the Pope, or even J.D. Salinger — but to enjoy the excitement, the crowds, the hysterical adolescent girls, the sheer exuberant fun that surrounded them. The Beatles certainly enjoyed it all. Ducking into limousines, waving to screeching fans across police barricades, fielding silly questions at pres! s conferences, they mugged and clowned and gagged it up to the delight of us reporters, who quickly wore out the adjectives "cheeky" and "irreverent." (Reporter: "How many of you are bald so you have to wear those wigs?" Beatles, in unison: "Oh, we're all bald." Reporter: "What do you think about the campaign in Detroit to stamp out the Beatles?" Paul McCartney: "We've got a campaign to stamp out Detroit." Reporter: "Who writes the music?" John Lennon: "What music?")

The crucible moment of the tour was their performance on the Ed Sullivan TV show on Sunday night, Feb. 9. Some 73 million Americans tuned in that night, the largest viewership in the history of television to that point. More than 50,000 fans and curiosity-seekers had applied for seats in the studio audience, of whom only 728 could be accommodated. I was one of the reporters watching from the back of the theater. (Maybe this actually was a dream assignment.) What struck us journalists that night was the noise that engulfed the Beatles as they trotted out onstage — intense, high-pitched, piercing. We agreed that it was louder, more frenzied, than Frank Sinatra's fans had ever been, or even Elvis Presley's. And it never let up: you could hardly hear the five songs the Beatles sang. Three nights later, when the Beatles played two concerts in Carnegie Hall, New York Times critic John S. Wilson reviewed the pandemonium of the audience as if it were the performance and the Beatles a barely audi ble accompaniment.

Did any of us — journalists, fans, the public, the Beatles — sense that all this hullabaloo represen ted the upswelling of the heady, tumultuous '60s, an early wave in what would become a tsunami of rock 'n' roll and social and political upheaval? I don't believe so. The decade had begun, it's true, with civil rights demonstrations and protests against the Bomb. And the Beatles' arrival came just months after the shattering event of President Kennedy's assassination. But Woodstock, the Vietnam Quagmire, the hippie phenomenon, the killings of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy‘all this and more was still ahead, and largely unforeseen.

Just as the '60s weren't quite the '60s yet, so the Beatles weren't quite the Beatles. They were delightful celebrities. It would take a couple more years and the release of albums like "Rubber Soul," "Revolver" and especially "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" for us to see that they were also brilliant musical innovators.

So onward rolled the merry caravan, through more press conferences and high jinks, by train to Washington, D.C., where the lads played a concert at the Coliseum and partied at the British Embassy, back to New York City, then by plane to Miami, where a second appearance was scheduled on the Ed Sullivan Show, this time live from the Deauville Hotel in Miami Beach.


Now and again I managed to snatch a moment of face-to-face conversation with one of the foursome. On the Miami flight I crept into the first class cabin to interview Lennon, and returned bearing the stunning intelligence that his then wife Cynthia, who was traveling with the group, cut his hair with fingernail scissors. In a documentary film of the tour made by Albert and David Maysles, I can be seen joshing with Ringo Starr at a cocktail reception over whether Beatlemania was "all just a con." This bit of footage, authenticating that I had once basked in the presence of a Beatle, would in later years endow me with a measure of heroism in the eyes of my three children.

Now, however, I had to get back to New York for the unheroic task of closing TIME's story. The system in those days was that correspondents like me would send in voluminous "files" from which a staff writer would distill the polished piece that ran in the magazine. In this case the writer was John McPhee, who would go on to become a distinguished contributor to The New Yorker and author of 25 books, including "Coming into the Country" and "Annals of the Former World." John's story, to my chagrin, used only a few snippets of my material. But it was a breezy, bemused account that had something my reporting lacked: perspective. I hope I learned something from it. In any case, two and a half years later, I got my own back. When the release of "Sgt. Pepper" prompted TIME to put the Beatles on the cover — becoming one of the first major U.S. publications to do so — the writer of the story was me.

Australian Beatles tribute band to perform in Vietnam

Australia's number one Beatles tribute band, The Beatels, will tour Vietnam from March 22 to April 9 as part of the two countries’ cultural exchange program.

During its stay in the country, the four-member group will give two performances at Lan Anh Music Center in Ho Chi Minh City on March 24 and 25. Tickets for the show will cost 30 USD which includes a buffet dinner and drinks.

The band will later perform at the Festival of 29 World Best Bays in Nha Trang city on April 1. The Beatels will also entertain fans in Danang on April 6 and in Hanoi on April 7 to 9. All shows will help raise funds for orphans and disabled children.

The Beatels was formed in 1996 when all four members - Bruce Coble, Steven Shipley, Marcus Phelan and Neil Rankin - left Australia's top tribute band, The Beatnix, to form their own group.

(Reported by Nguyen Van – Translated by The Vinh.

He's got a ticket . . . to celebrate in style

By Philip Key, Daily Post

ALLAN WILLIAMS, the man who became the Beatles' first manager, is 75 today and determined to mark it in style. But there will be no Beatles music at his party event. Instead, he has planned a night of big band music to which everyone is invited.

He has booked what is arguably Britain's best band - the Syd Lawrence Orchestra - to play for dancers at Liverpool's Olympia Theatre on Saturday night.
"I was going to book them for a private party but could not afford the fee," he explains.. "So someone suggested I should sell tickets."
And that's what he has done for the special show which will include Liverpool singers Phil Jones and Frank Sinatra stylist David Knopov on the bill.
"I have told the band I don't want any Beatles numbers," explains Williams who had a notorious fall-out with the group.

He had met them in the Jacaranda coffee bar which he ran and offered to find them gigs. He later organised their famous dates in Hamburg, travelling with them to the German city where they first established their playing credentials. Later, in a row over payments, Williams and the Beatles parted company. Williams claims he sacked them. As their unofficial manager, Williams was approached by Brian Epstein about managing the band and famously warned him, "Don't touch them with a barge pole".

Bootle-born Williams has continued to work as an entrepreneur, organising Beatles and non-Beatles events and becoming a regular at Beatles conventions. Last year he made a talking tour of Russia where, moved by the plight of the massacred children in the school siege, he interrupted a television interview to donate his fee of 3,000 euros to a support fund for the families.

Despite a quadruple heart by-pass operation, Williams looks nothing like his 75 years and has continued to promote occasional events like Saturday's dance. The secret behind his energy? " Vodka," he declares. He added: "I have told the band to play for dancers and there will be tables and a dance floor available. I have always been a fan of the big bands and used to dance to them at the Grafton Ballroom next door to the Olympia."

Some of the money raised at the event will go towards the Liverpool Echo Sunshine Fund charity.

* The Syd Lawrence Orchestra and Guests are at the Olympia, Liverpool, Saturday, 7.00pm. Tickets ?15, box office 0151 263 6633

Phil Spector Getting Married?

Famed record producer Phil Spector isn't going to let a murder charge prevent him from getting hitched again this weekend. My sources say that friends are on their way out to his Alhambra, Calif., estate ­ where he allegedly fatally shot an actress in 2003 ­ to witness the secret nuptials.

In his long and checkered life, 64-year-old Spector has already said "Be My Baby" to Annette Merar, Ronnie Bennett aka Ronnie Spector and possibly Janis Savala.

The prospective bride's name is still unknown, but when she accompanied Spector to a Feb. 17 hearing concerning his murder charge, observers noticed the 30-something blonde was sporting a big diamond ring mounted on a platinum band on her left hand.

Spector is charged with murdering actress Lana Clarkson back on Feb. 3, 2003. His trial is set to begin on Sept. 16, 2005. The subject of many anecdotes concerning guns, he could be going away for a long time. Let's hope Phil gets a pre-nup and she gets a bulletproof vest.

Celebrity spotters noted that the date of the alleged murder was the same day "Living with Michael Jackson" aired in England and launched his current scandal. Coincidence?

Spector has four living sons including a pair of twins and one daughter. A fifth son, who was also a twin, died in 1981 at age 10.

Like him or not, he's undoubtedly the most influential record producer of the rock era. In the early '60s, his "Wall of Sound" set the tone for generations to come. Two of his productions, Tina Turner's "River Deep, Mountain High" and the Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost that Loving Feeling," remain the very best in rock history.

This weekend Belgian television organised the biennial Kom Op Tegen Kanker show (Beating Against Cancer)

In 1989 Paul McCartney signed his My Brave Face CD single for the organisation and this year some artists covered George Harrison songs. Joost Zweegers (of Novastar who does a Beatles or solo cover in almost all of his concerts) sang Here comes the Sun, while Clouseau did their version of Got My Mind Set On You (not really composed by George).
The total benefit for this year was $527.100.

Beatles Story Consumer Newsletter - Issue 3

Dear Beatles Fan,

At last January is over and we can look forward to our Easter holidays! If you are looking for something to do with the kids, why not come and visit us at The Beatles Story and take part in our annual Easter Treasure Hunt.

John???s Organ on Display
The organ used by John Lennon at the momentous Shea Stadium concert in August 1965, will be going on display at the Beatles Story for a limited period from Easter 2005. The first Shea Stadium concert was the biggest live concert of the time, with 55,600 screaming fans in attendance.

New Product: Licensed Beatles Watches
These beautiful Beatles themed watches are now available to buy on-line for the bargain price of ??49.99. Licensed by Apple, these watches are entirely constructed from man-made materials at their specific request to save the planet???s natural resources. As you know, Paul McCartney is a strong animal rights activist and therefore these watches have been sensitively manufactured to keep in line with his beliefs.

Click here to browse on-line.

Save Ringo???s House
Liverpool City Council has announced plans to demolish Ringo???s childhood home of 9 Madryn Street. Beatles Story has set up a petition, which can be signed at the exhibition or click here for the on-line petition.

We hope you enjoyed our February newsletter. Please feel free to forward to friends, family and other Beatles fans.

Kind regards,

The Beatles Story Team

Website: www.beatlesstory.com

The 10 greatest rock'n'roll myths

From strange deaths to blood transfusions and dubious fish-related practices, it's time to debunk the tallest tales

Graeme Thomson
The Observer

1: 'Mama' Cass choking on a sandwich
When 'Mama' Cass Elliot died in her London flat in 1974 at the age of 32, a hasty postmortem suggested she had choked on her own vomit while chomping a sandwich in bed. At 5' 5" and 240 pounds, it was easy to believe that - like a female version of Monty Python's Mr Creosote - Elliot had simply gambled on one mouthful too many. Not so. The coroner's report after her death concluded that Cass died of massive heart failure, brought on by obesity and the strains of crash dieting. Though a sandwich may well have been found at her bedside, the autopsy revealed no evidence of food in her trachea. Tragically, it appears she died peckish.

2: Marilyn Manson starring in 'The Wonder Years'
This fuels every parent's fear that the most innocuous geek-child can go stone bad. Did the young Brian Warner (aka Mr Manson) play Paul Pfeiffer, goofy pal of Kevin Arnold, in the schmaltzy rites-of passage TV show? 'It's kind of irrelevant whether these rumours are true or not,' quoth Manson. Well actually, Marilyn, it's not irrelevant to Josh Saviano, who really did play Paul Pfeiffer.

3: The Beatles' spliff in Buckingham Palace
Sometime after our four young heroes bounced into the Palace in October 1965 to receive their MBEs, John Lennon claimed they'd shared a toke in the loos. Not the most reliable witness - he once claimed he wrote 'Eleanor Rigby' - Lennon later 'fessed up, admitting 'we'd have been far too scared to do it'. McCartney, meanwhile, remembers simply having a 'sly ciggie' with the chaps to calm nerves.

4: Keef's blood transfusion
Keen to clean up for a European tour, Richards reportedly replaced his poisoned old claret with an infusion of healthy blood in a Swiss clinic in September 1973. In reality, it was probably only haemodialysis, which filters impurities from the bloodstream. 'Someone asked me how I cleaned up, so I said I had my blood completely changed,' Richards said. 'I was fucking sick of answering that question, so I gave them a story.'

5: Stevie Nicks having cocaine blown up her bum
It's tempting to believe Fleetwood Mac's queen bee followed her addiction to such deliciously depraved depths - but sadly, untrue. 'That's absurd,' said Nicks in 2001. 'Maybe it came about because people knew I had such a big hole in my nose. Let's put a belt through my nose, because that's how big the hole is.' So she just talks through her arse, then. Maybe.

6: Robert Johnson's pact with the devil
Famously, Johnson sold his soul to the devil in order to play guitar like a demon. You want prima facie evidence? How about 'Me and the Devil Blues', and the fact that young Robert was a poor guitarist whose improvement was remarkable. Actually, he used that little known voodoo technique 'practice', and was tutored by a bluesman called Ike Zimmerman. Not Satan.

7: Jacko and the elephant man
Reports surfaced in 1987 that Wacko had offered $50,000 for the remains of the Victorian patient Joseph Merrick, aka the Elephant Man. The offer may have been genuine, but Jackson doesn't own the bones. Merrick's organs were destroyed in an air raid on the Royal London Hospital during the Second World War. Casts of his head, an arm and a foot survived, but were not up for sale.

8: Sid checks in at Heathrow
Punk romantics believe that Sid's mum scattered his ashes over Nancy's grave in Philadelphia. It's more likely that Ma Vicious arrived back a t Heathrow with his remains. Malcolm McLaren claims she knocked them over in the arrivals lounge; hence the fanciful myth that Sid's essence still circulates, wafting through the air vents and moving among the travellers.

9: Richey Edwards lives
Ten years on, Richey's disappearance remains imbued with a Lucan-like mythology by those who love a good mystery. Given the extent of his problems - self-harm, alcoholism, anorexia - and the fact that numerous sightings have amounted to nothing, it's safe to assume he's probably no longer alive, sadly. But don't expect the rumours to evaporate.

10: Led Zep and the mud shark
'A pretty young groupie with red hair was tied to the bed,' claimed Stephen Davis in Hammer of the Gods. 'Led Zeppelin proceeded to stuff pieces of shark into her vagina and rectum.' Not quite. Zep did catch sharks from the window of their hotel, but the pesce in question was actually a red snapper, while the perpetrator was road manager Richard Cole.

Making the law - Graeme Thomson justifies his selection of rock mythologies

Sex, death, drugs, sharks, TV, elephants and the devil himself. Nothing sums up the ridiculous circus of rock'n'roll better than the mythology that both nourishes and devours it, vividly illustrating the impossible feats of self destruction and degradation we would have our 'rock gods' vicariously act out on our behalf.

The fact that Bill Wyman is an authority on the thorny questions of mechanical royalties and overseas tax shelters is all well and good but really, we just want to believe that Keef is a vampire. We might grudgingly acknowledge that Ringo Starr made a decent fist of narrating Thomas the Tank Engine, but it doesn't compete with John Lennon (metaphorically) blowing reefer smoke in the Queen's face. As John Ford once said: 'When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.'

In the end, I omitted the Adam and Eve of all rock'n'roll myths: that Paul McCartney died in a car crash in 1966 and has subsequently been played by an impersonator, who was originally employed by The Beatles.

Why did I leave it out? For one, it would take a degree in Beatleology to adequately comprehend the various bewildering permutations; and anyway, it might just be true. Those listening to the bulk of McCartney's output from 1967 onwards (and yes, let's include the pretty tedious Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in that time-frame, as long as we can exclude 'Maybe I'm Amazed') could be forgiven for entertaining a little confusion on the matter.

Similarly, the tale of Marianne Faithfull and the Mars Bar is so well worn as to be practically dull. I think you'll find Led Zeppelin, or their road manager at least, had a slightly more lewdly imaginative take on that particular format. Or did he?

Heather on the cover of this HELLO magazine (UK)

Mrs Macca's Beat-led

Hard work ... Heather

SIR Paul McCartney’s wife Heather says mums should be PAID for looking after kids.

Heather, left, whose daughter Beatrice is 17 months, said: “It’s the hardest game in the world. All mothers should be paid a wage.” The ex-Beatle’s missus, 37, is a producer on Classic FM radio. She added: “Now, going to work

Heather: Being a mum is hardest job of all

by NICOLE LAMPERT, Daily Mail 08:03am 11th March 2005

Baby talk: Heather and Paul
There are rumours that she is expecting her second child.

But given Heather Mills McCartney's latest comments about motherhood, she may not exactly be looking forward to it. The wife of Sir Paul McCartney - who, thanks to his ?800million fortune, could employ an army of nannies - has complained that being a mother is almost too difficult to bear.

"Motherhood is the hardest job in the world - all mothers should be paid a wage," said the 37-year-old former model, who presented Sir Paul, 62, with a daughter, Bea, 16 months ago. "Now, going to work feels like a holiday, even though I adore my baby. "Whenever I speak to my friends they say the longer you're at home the more confidence you lose. It's absolutely true - talk about multi-tasking! "I've just started to get a babysitter to give me a bit more time but usually my baby is climbing on my lap deleting my e-mails or cc'ing private ones to inappropriate people."

Career ambitions

Her comments come in an interview with the magazine Hello! in which she reveals she has no desire to be a full-time mother, preferring to concentrate on her broadcasting ambitions.

"I'd love my own TV show," she says. "Presenting is what I did for years before meeting Paul and I gave it up as he wanted me to be with him when he travelled. "I loved presenting Larry King's talk show in the States and look forward to doing more in the future."

Although she says she is struggling to get time away from her daughter, she admits to having time to exercise five times a week, with a bevy of personal trainers.

"I do five days in a row, one hour a day, with weekends off to allow my muscle tissue to recover," she says. "As we travel all the time, how and with whom I work out varies. Now, my biggest treat is to work with a personal trainer where possible and that's Richard in London, Chad in LA and Claus in New York."

She also reveals that the latest member of Sir Paul's family is being raised as a vegetarian, as were the ex-Beatle's children with his wife Linda, who died in 1998.

"Paul and Linda brought their children up on a vegetarian diet and none of them are in any way inadequate," she says. "Our child is veggie and is blossoming. There are so many alternatives to meat that taste fab and are full of soy protein, as well as tofu, avocado, pulses, seeds and beans."

Although she has denied that she is pregnant, sources close to her and Sir Paul say she will admit she is expecting another baby in the next few weeks, after she has had her three-month scan. If she is pregnant, it will be a sixth child for Sir Paul. He has three from his marriage to Linda - designer Stella, 33, photographer Mary, 35, and musician James, 27 - and an adopted daughter, Heather, 31.

He recently became a grandfather for the third time when Stella had her first child. Mary has two sons.

McCartney donates painting to New York firefighters

Fireman’s son Paul McCartney and his wife have donated a painting from their private collection to the members of the New York Fire Department – and the subject is something likely very close to their hearts.
The 1974 painting by Ron Kleinman features a Mack truck once operated by the members of the FDNY’s Engine Company 33 on Great Jones Street.
The painting was presented by the ex-Beatle and his wife, Heather Mills McCartney, earlier this month to the members of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, union spokesman Tom Butler said.
“This is given with a deep respect and gratitude, from our family to yours, for all that you have done,” McCartney, the son of a former Liverpool firefighter, said.
“A heartfelt thanks, and I hope that all of the firefighters will be able to enjoy its beauty once it finds its resting place.”
The painting will be displayed at fire station throughout the city, UFA President Steve Cassidy said.
McCartney was one of the featured performers in a benefit concert following the 9/11, terror attacks, which killed 343 New York firefighters.

Paul McCartney donates painting to New York firefighters

Paul McCartney and his wife have donated a painting from their private collection to the members of the Fire Department of New York - and the subject is something likely very close to their hearts.
The 1974 painting by Ron Kleinman features a Mack truck once operated by the members of the FDNY's Engine Co. 33 on Great Jones Street in Manhattan.

The painting, 57 1/2 inches by 62 1/2 inches, was presented by the ex-Beatle and his wife, Heather, earlier this month to the members of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, union spokesman Tom Butler said Wednesday.

"This is given with a deep respect and gratitude, from our family to yours, for all that you (the firefighters) have done," McCartney, the son of a former Liverpool, England, firefighter, said in a statement. "A heartfelt thanks, and I hope that all of the firefighters will be able to enjoy its beauty once it finds its resting place."

The painting will be displayed at firehouses throughout the city, UFA President Steve Cassidy said.

McCartney was one of the featured performers in a benefit concert following the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, which killed 343 New York firefighters.

PHOTO CALL: Musical Icon Lennon Warming Up for Run to Broadway

By Morgan Allen

A new musical based on the life of influential Beatle John Lennon, entitled Lennon, is currently in rehearsals for a tryout tour that will take the piece to San Francisco and Boston before landing at Broadway's Broadhurst Theatre.

The musical is written and directed by Don Scardino, with the blessing of Lennon's widow Yoko Ono.

Below, cast members Will Chase, Julia Murney, Chuck Cooper, Mandy Gonzalez, Yoko Ono, Marcy Harriell, Chad Kimball, Julie Danao, Terrence Mann, Scardino and Michael Potts are seen in a just released publicity shot for the show.

Lennon begins previews at the Broadhurst on July 7, with an opening night scheduled for July 21.


Photo by Joan Marcus

McCARTNEY STAMPS OUT KENSIT'S GROUPIE INSTINCT

Blonde actress PATSY KENSIT has romanced a string of rockers, but seeing SIR PAUL McCARTNEY perform live brought her 'groupie' days to an end.

The British beauty has been married to OASIS frontman LIAM GALLAGHER and SIMPLE MINDS singer JIM KERR, and was relieved to discover she had no desire to bed the ex-BEATLE despite his celebrity status.

The 37-year-old says, "I saw Paul McCartney and thought how fantastic that you get to see a gig like that and don't have to go home with the lead singer."

PAUL MCCARTNEY "73 HOURS ON RUSSIA"

A new bootleg DVD (duration about 49 min.)

The cover shows a photograph of Paul during its visit at Russia in 2003. The inlay mentions the next gegevens: In this documentary talk of Paul over politics, famous are, its proportion and roots with regards to. John and The Beatles. The impact of the Beatles on the Soviet Union and how their music gave a hand the communism in Russia to fall to bring. Also a conversation with president Putin is to be seen.

This dvd is of a tremendous quality in the style of the" Back in the US" dvd. The content comes has been allocated by a Tv-documentary that already many nominaties. I saw the same dvd-r already in someone else edition and was that as for quality a quite piece less. This edition knows no menu with a chapters division, what considering the duration of 49 wet nurse is. no real problem.

As before mentioned visited Paul during be "Back in the World" tour on 24 May 2003 Moscow. He gave with its tie an unique concert on the Red Square. The dvd want to depict see of the concert and all sorts of events around the action, vari?rend of stiff Beatles history till meetings with Russian quantities and reactions of experts on many territory. By the seeing of this recording with me, the shudders walk over the back. The history of Russia and the Red Square with former military powers show are under strictly taking care looks of a number old-presidents for the fall of the communism.

The Beatles were bans culture there in the years sixty and an individual had an illegal fotootje of they or a stiff sounds bearer from the west smuggled. Surreptitiously one listened sometimes to a western radio station (Radio Luxembourg). If later in the years seventy then single flat were brought out, then are this Russian editions with furrow our strange compilaties and sore strand censured on texts etc. (Thus many number not brought out e.g. Tie on the Run).

The documentary begins with a stiff of Getting Better live. Then always a stiff background in images and conversations and then again a number of Paul, sometimes whole, sometimes shortened. The tracklist of this concert is as we him in the Geldredome heard and seen. With relation till the 'Back in the US' dvd nicely Two or Us, I' ve just seen a face, Loan em in, Calico skies and Birthday to see.

Paul is seen a kind of saint Messiah in the views of the speakers with regards to the liberation of the communism in Russia as. It goes too far all views and interviews to name. I get there single out.

Minister of Defense Ivanov was hit hear already by the Beatles in the years sixty at the illegal alien by Praise me Thu. Later on he bought all flat/cd' s. A large fan.

The meeting with old president Gorbatsjov is moving. The simplicity and respectvolle approach of 2 quantities on quite different grounds. Seizing find I.

The meeting of Paul and Heather with Putin in its residence goes except of over the music, also over the actions against the country mine that with name Pauls woman leads.

In the recent book Each on believing over Paul and its last tours, the moment stands described, played becomes goes in will sit that Putin, while Calico Skies, the concert and with its safeties agents between the public. For Paul a separate moment and it or you appear hears its emotion in the song. A beautiful image.

The remaining songs on the dvd become (sometimes partly) shown: Can' t buy me praise, Live and borrows that, Tie on the run, Maybe I am amazed, Yesterday, Loan
it be and Back in the USSR.

'Back in the USSR' a highlight is for the Moscow-gangers. Logically; as if the song especially for them written is in 1968 (??) The public reacts otherwise by the entire concert as known with Paul are actions.

The images of the concert have been characterized in the Macca style. Exuberant men, moving men, all age groups person present, always again the kindershots and a portion feminine clean. I n short:

A very good dvd registration that competent good in each other is gezet with excellent images. The sound is good, but according to me well mono. An aanrader! Only.. the message stream has an offici?le release announced of a dvd of this concert and that of Petersburg in 2004. How the execution becomes is me on this moment not yet known.

Two fab nights when Beatlemania was top of the town

Where were you? The Beatles, Festival Hall, Brisbane, June 29 and June 30, 1964.

The Beatles arrived in Brisbane just after midnight on June 29, greeted by 8000 fans at the airport. The group was driven past the crowd in an open-topped truck where a small group of Beatles-haters pelted them with eggs before they were taken to Lennons Hotel.

The band played two sold-out shows on each of the nights before 20,000 screaming fans.

*It could be the answer to why John, Paul, George and Ringo wear all that forward-hanging hair – to help cushion the sound waves of adulation and save their eardrums from bursting," wrote reviewer Erica Parker in The Telegraph on June 30.

*If you were among the 10,000 fans who attended Festival Hall last night for Brisbane's two first live Beatles shows, you'll understand.

*You SAW the fabulous four for 30 minutes straight. Mostly you could hear the beat of drums from Ringo, the guitars sometimes, and ALL the time the non-stop screams. You couldn't hear The Beatles sing. Every time they opened their mouths, so did the crowd, and the quartet might as well have mimed their way through.

*The shrieks, the screams, the sobs bounced off the ceiling. The girls – and boys – threw their arms above their heads. They bounced up and down on the chairs; they sank to their knees in the aisles.

*It was bedlam and judging by the upturned, open-mouthed faces, it was pure bliss.

*There were no tomatoes, no eggs, no boos – just the waves of screaming, the rainbow colours of streamers tossed high overhead towards the stage AND the screams.

*If you had time to be sorry for anyone but yourself and your ringing eardrums, you must have spared a thought of admiration for the 12 husky policemen sitting like birds on a rail, back to the stage, facing the audience.

*At least, they faced the audience until The Beatles got into full swing. Then, one by one, their heads craned backwards. And there they stayed, pinned between two avalanches of sound, the on-stage performance; the off-stage screams.

Were you at the Festival Hall to see The Beatles? If so, we would love to hear your memories. E-mail them to us. Rock'n'Roll . . . Fifty Years: 1955-2005, Part 4, The 80s, on Wednesday, March 9, in The Courier-Mail.

Olivia Harrison in Sydney

Hi all,

Last night was a really fantastic evening for me and a group of fellow fans and friends, we got to spend three hours in the company of Olivia Harrison. Friday night the 4th of March 2005 was the world wide launch of the limited edition book 'The concert for George', Olivia had chosen Sydney as the location for this fantastic event. I met up with my friends and we made our way throught the tide of rushing Sydney workers down to the Shangri la hotel, at 'The Rocks' end of the city, the hotel was also playing host to Australia's own Princess Mary and Prince Fredrick of Denmark, a few Queens were spotted, but alas not a Princess in sight. we made our way downstairs to the reception area and were pretty much the first people there, there was a big sign on the door saying 'interview in progress' soon enough the appointed hour of 6.00pm came around and we were allowed into the ballroom, it was set up so all the book sales were on the right hand side as you came in the door, ahead of you were the rows of seating and in front of the chairs was a small elevated stage with a table and two chair and microphones, the old Tingler has been around the block and back so I knew where to go and grab a chair, my friend from Melbourne Joanna had the same idea and being a smart lady knew to place her handbag on two seats directly in front of where Olivia would be sitting, that hand bag positively screamed ‘These seats are taken, move this at your own peril!!’ as you faced the table to the right of that were all the Genesis books displayed including a copy of ‘I me mine’. Separating the interview/signing area from where we were mingling and sitting was only a small red velvet link fence. When we walked in the room Olivia was mingling around talking to friends, I was instantly struck by just how beautiful she really is, not much make up, and the most lovely hair, I once read where someone described Olivia as being very petite, and its really true, in person she is very slight and slender, she was wearing a gorgeous dark pants suit and a stunning diamond brooch, from the way it was shining you could tell those sparkles weren’t coming from mere glass. She had a bodyguard following her around discreetly and I must admit I was wondering if anyone would race up and try and talk to her, or ask for an autograph or something, but the reaction of pretty much everyone there set the tone of the evening, and that was just to relax and enjoy the evening without bothering Olivia too much, and it worked a treat, I really sensed that Olivia had this serenity around her, or an aura where people just felt comfortable with her being there, if you wanted to say hello to her there was really nothing stopping you, but most people just hung back and were more than happy and satisfied to be in the same room as her, Olivia moved to sit behind the table so she and Brian Roylance could begin to sign and personalise the books for those who had purchased them, as waiters moved around the room offering up totally non vegetarian food (which I found odd) people were happy to catch up with old friends and sip at the offered drinks, it wasn’t a large number of people there by any means, the room was in no way crowded and it was easy to move around, I must admit tho once Olivia sat down I too took my seat in front of her and just enjoyed the experience of watching her interact with people, I was a little surprised to notice that she wears glasses for writing and she is also left handed (something for the trivia buffs) we were seated no more than ten feet away from her the whole time. My friend Joanna decided to make her way up and get her book signed, as I was Jo’s date for the evening I got to accompany her for the signing, there were only ever about 4-8 people lined up at any one time and Olivia and Brian took their time with each person, never rushing them and allowing the buyer to chat for pretty much as long as they needed or wanted within reason. When it was our turn to be introduced I must admit I felt a pang of nervousness, or more likely it was excitement, I’ve always held Olivia in the highest regard and have always wanted to meet her just to say ‘thank you’. Joanna was introduced first to Olivia, and then the hostess said ‘Olivia, this is Greg Swan’ I shook Olivia’s hand and said ‘Hello, I’m Greg’ she then said ‘Greg Swan, you’re name is VERY familiar, Greg Swan’ Brian recognised me and said hello Greg, then he said to Olivia ‘The Anthology book’ Greg helped with us with that, Olivia responded with ‘oh yes, you’re name is in the credits’ she turned to Brian and said ‘see, I do have a photographic memory’ you could have pretty much knocked me over with a feather then, Brian explained some of the things I supplied for the Beatles Anthology book, I explained to Olivia that the book was only to be inscribed to Joanna, Jo explained to Olivia how she became a George fan at the time of Cloud 9 and only discovered the Beatles through George, Olivia thought this was pretty funny, and I commented that that made me feel pretty old, Olivia comment ‘But you ARE old’, having just celebrated my 40th birthday I had a nanosecond of insecurity, then it dawned on me that Olivia meant it in a much deeper sense, we told Olivia that I had just turned forty and she exclaimed ‘Oh, your only a baby’ she went on to tell us about Derek Taylor and how he used to say to them ‘Wait till you turn 60!’, I told Olivia that when I made a speech at my birthday I was struck by how lucky I was just to be there and to make it to 40, and that turning 30 was a real drama for me, we all agreed 30 was the traumatic age, we continued chatting about some personal stuff which i wont go into here just to keep it special between Joanna and i.

Pretty soon they took a break in Olivia signing the books, author Glenn A Baker made a speech and introduced Brian Roylance who stayed sitting beside Olivia, Brian gave us a short history of Genesis books and his friendship with George, then came what was for me the big surprise of the night, Melissa Doyle from the Sunrise Morning tv show was introduced and brought out to interview Olivia, this was fantastic, I had really only expected Olivia to maybe make a short speech, but this was a real treat, I don’t believe Olivia has ever done a public interview before, but you would never have guessed as she looked very relaxed and comfortable, it was also great as the questions and topics were actually pretty interesting and not the usual inane questions offered up, I don’t have a transcript of the interview yet, but from what I can remember off the top of my head some of the topics discussed included the following ..

How when George and Derek Taylor went to look at Friar Park before George brought it, Olivia mentioned that the place was derelict and that she thinks George and Derek had a ‘cup of tea’ sitting in the garden before George decided to buy Friar Park, those of us in the ‘know’ in the audience started to laugh at this and Olivia gave a knowing smile, but the poor interviewer had no idea why we were laughing. Olivia went on to describe the poor state of the gardens, and how George actually got himself a flame thrower!!, we were really laughing at this image of George walking around like a maniac blasting everything with this flame thrower, so Olivia emphasised it again by saying ‘no really he did’, she said the house was derelict and George put his heart into making the gardens beautiful, Olivia noted that she is now carrying on working on the gardens.

It was lovely for us Aussie fans to listen as Olivia recounted how much they loved Australia and came here often, Olivia mentioned the first time they came here in 1982 as a family, they drove down from Brisbane, they went to Byron bay, Coffs harbour ( I was really impressed at Olivia’s knowledge of Australian geography) she noted that both her and George had travelled a lot over the years, especially George, but when they came into Sydney and saw the Harbour Bridge, they both looked at each other and said ‘this is special, this is a special place’ she told a story about how when t hey were driving down from Brisbane they stayed in a little hotel, it had a hole in the wall with a trap door, Olivia did a very funny impression of the creaking door being opened, it was through this little trap door that breakfast would be delivered, you would wake up in the morning and the breakfast would be waiting for you behind the door, she remembered that when they were leaving Dhani didn’t want to go, he wanted to live there.

Olivia mentioned recently finding a letter from George to his mum when he was only 23 years old, George was responding to concerns from his mother that the Maharishi was only after their money, Olivia said it was amazing that at only 23 George was looking for something beyond the fame he had, and he wrote to his mum saying that ‘Surely its natural for a man to search for peace’

When talking about Georges song writing Olivia mentioned buying him a big book of exotic words, as he was frustrated by what he perceived to be a limited vocabulary, she noted he never used this book as all his lyrics came from his heart, sometimes when writing a song he would put in funny words that Olivia would veto, she mentioned he would get excited when he heard a Dylan lyric where Bob would get a really good word in.

Talk turned to ukuleles, this got another knowing chuckle from the audience, Olivia revealed how George once had plans to purchase 200 uke’s from the factory, and how he always carried two with him in case someone wanted to play, he done this because you couldn’t help but smile when listening to the uke, and she said that’s what George was all about, making people smile, she then chuckled and said, tho I do believe he once took FOUR ukes over to Tom Petty’s house one night, and that no one was immune from George and the uke, he even used to get Olivia’s mother playing.

George just loved music and that even if Olivia was singing .. and she stressed she doesn’t sing, that George would immediately play along with whatever instrument he had on hand, she noted how George loved a crowd of friends around him, but Olivia said as she was a ‘lonely’ Taurus she didn’t mind being alone.

George didn’t listen to much, if any contemporary music, Olivia listed a lot of what he liked, including the Bulgarian women’s choir.

When asked about Dhani she said he was a chip off the old block, absolutely like George in what he loves, enjoys, what makes him angry and upset.

Olivia was asked if she had a favourite song and she said she had many but couldn’t single one out, she stated that Run of the mill was important to her, and that George loved that song and how the lyrics were very spiritual, she recited the first verse and explained how it described reaching for a higher consciousness ‘How high will you leap?’

Discussing the concert Olivia explained that the Concert For George was never going to be filmed, and that it took Brian and Eric to convince her that it wouldn’t be fair on the fans who couldn’t be there, Olivia originally wanted this to be the public memorial, as a private family one had been held that summer, Olivia’s reticence in filming the concert came from Georges dislike of concert films and filming them, that the lights and cameras put the artist off and distracted them, but after finding cameras that wouldn’t be intrusive she decided to go ahead and film it.

Olivia talked about the difficulty in editing the film, as she had to listen repeatedly to Georges words, sometimes just one phrase over and over in the editing suite, she explained it was very emotional, but she came to hear these words as a message to her, ‘Beware of darkness’ ‘Beware of sadness’.

When she first met George she didnt know what George was talking about half the time, he was always quoting Python or ‘The Producers’ he used to say to Olivia ‘Ah my little Swedish bombshell’ which she explained she obviously didn’t look Swedish, but it was a line from the movie The Producers.

I’m certain there is much I have left out , all up Olivia spoke for about half an hour, which was fantastic and much more than any of us expected, spotted in the audience were Australian singer and composer John English, founder of OZ magazine Richard Neville and artist Martin Sharp.

Next the head of Warner Brothers Australia was introduced to present Olivia with a ‘Gold disc’ display to acknowledge the massive sales of the Concert dvd in Australia, he made a little speech in which he mentioned years ago while George was in Australia he decided to just drop in and say hello to the Warners staff, George being George he didn’t call or anything beforehand, he just dropped in, the girl at reception was about 18 years old and asked George who he was, this had Olivia laughing and you could see she loves hearing George stories as much as the next person, George told the girl his name, then she said ‘and what do you do?’. Olivia was really happy about receiving this award and instantly pulled out her mobile phone camera to take a photo which she was heard to say she was sending to Dhani.

The head of the Variety club in Australia which is a childrens charity, was next to speak, he gave a little history on Variety and then Olivia presented him with a fantastic framed photo of George which is one of twenty that was signed by everyone who performed at the Concert for George, this photo is to be auctioned at the following address http://www.lgm.com.au/auction/onlineauction/details.asp?itemID=13471

When Olivia was standing next to the autographed poster of George, she remarked that everyone had signed it including Paul, Jim Capaldi and Klaus, all except George, there was a very real moment, just for a second, where hearing Olivia say that, and seeing her face when she said that, the impact of Georges loss really hit home.

Olivia sat back down and gave a little background on the Material world charitable foundation, how sometimes it has a lot of money and sometimes not so much, I was impressed that Olivia mentioned helping individuals through the foundation.

That pretty much wrapped up the formal part of the evening, all the people who had been on stage and had made a speech decided to get a group photo with Olivia, they looked around for someone to take the photos and spotting me standing in front of the David asked me if I could take the photos for them, so they handed me the camera and I got them to squeeze in a little and asked Olivia to look ahead and smile, that done David told me myself and Jo could have a photo with Olivia for doing that for them.

Olivia continued on signing books as more people purchased them, again all the while relaxed and happy, once everyone ‘s books were signed it was getting close to 9.00pm, Olivia stepped down from the small podium and casually chatted to some friends, Olivia mentioned that she was a lot more comfortable doing these things in Australia than overseas, even I was amazed at how relaxed the whole evening was, with everyone being really respectful of Olivia’s space, all who wanted to meet her had the chance and most were happy to mingle and chat over a few drinks.

Olivia moved over to the framed photo of George to pose for a few photographs, seeing I was struggling with my camera for a second David asked if Olivia could hold for one more photo as I snapped away. Olivia spotted some artwork a friend of a fan had done of George, she called the fan over to chat about the drawings which made him pretty happy, he asked if I could take a photo of him with Olivia and Olivia was happy with this, so I got off a couple of snaps.

The night held one last surprise for us, as I handed the camera back to the fan I asked Olivia if myself and Joanna could have a photo with her, I explained I’d been taking photos for everyone else this evening but hadn’t got one myself, again Olivia was happy to do this saying it was because Joanna had such a beautiful smile, as I leant forward to give my camera to someone to take the photo, Olivia spotted the pin on my lapel and asked Jo what it was I was wearing, Jo explained it was my ‘George Harrison’ Cloud 9 pin from Dark horse records, we got our photo and thanked Olivia very much, by now it was 9.00pm and before long Olivia left to go to dinner.

It really was a fantastic night, much more than I imagined it would be, my lasting impression of Olivia will be, that she was, and is, very pretty, really kind, gentle, genuine, and strangely enough very strong.

Greg xoxo