↧
A sign and a snap
↧
On the set
I wonder who that fellow in the background with the camera happens to be.
↧
↧
Ringo's mad day
↧
Astroid meets Paul
Tonight's story comes from a very gutsy girl from Brazil named Astrid Leon. I personally don't' think that I would have called after Paul two times or rang the intercom at Ringo's house. But I guess being a bit gutsy gets you one step closer to meeting a Beatle. This story is from the July 1983 issue of "with a little help from my friends."
![]()
.jpg)
 |
| photos taken by Astrid |
My Meeting with Paul
By Astrid Leao
I arrived in England on June 12th (1983) I went through an International Friendship Program of the UNESCO. I stayed with a nice English family in Chatham, a city an hour and a half away by bus from London.
I was hoping I could see one of the Fab Four while I was there, especially Ringo, ‘cause he’s my favorite. I didn’t know where they were at the time. Then my English Grandma told me she had read in a paper that Paul was in London recording his new album! I had sent him a birthday card in which I told him I was from Brazil and would love to meet him in person.
On my second visit to London, I went to Air Studios hoping and praying that I could see Paul. I had to take a bus at 7pm so I waited for him until 6. I left my autograph book with a nice fellow who worked in the building. He said he’d get Paul to sign it.
On July 4th, I went to Oxford Street again. At 11:20 a.m., Paul appeared, walking down the street like anyone else. He had his hands in his pockets and was chewing gum. I noticed he’s a bit thin with some grey hair, but is still very, very handsome. I tried to convince myself I wasn’t dreaming and thanked God for that moment.
Paul was extremely nice. He stopped to say hello to me and to other fans. He said some German words to two German girls. I presented myself by saying, “Hi Paul I’m the Aseroid from Brazil!” because that’s what he called me when he signed his autograph (He had written “To Asteroid!! Lots of love from Paul McCartney,” and even drew a little boy’s face, on June 30th when I’d left my book there). He shook my hand and I kissed both his cheeks as Brazilians always do. He talked to us for four minutes and then said he had to go. I shouted, “Wait Paul! I brought you some cashew nuts from Brazil!” He waited while I desperately tried to find the nuts in my bag. When I gave them to him he said, “Thank you very much. That’s very nice.” As he was entering the building, I shouted “Wait Paul!” again ‘cause I wanted to photograph him. He smiled at me and I took his picture. I don’t have to say how happy I was!
After that, I went shopping. At four in the afternoon, I returned to 214 Oxford Street hoping someone could take a picture of Paul and me together. There were more fans at the time. I asked them “please” to photograph us when Paul came down. The German girls said they would. I really hope they did! I took six more pictures of him. I said, “Sorry, Paul, but I’m back because I don’t have any photo of the two of us together.” He said he couldn’t stay long because Oxford Street gets a bit “tough” in the end of the afternoon. It was 5:00 already. Then I followed him to his car. Other people did too. When he rolled the window down I told him, “Paul, you’re still gorgeous and beautiful at 41!” He gave me a big and unforgettable smile. Then I said, “If you send us to hell, Paul, I will understand because we fans are always bothering you!” And he smiled and replied, “No, I won’t do that!” He left then and all of us who had that lovely chance of seeing him were so happy. I still can’t believe that it happened. I saw Paul twice!
On July 6th I went to Ascot trying to find out about Ringo. A man who worked for him told me he was in London. Of course he didn’t tell me exactly where. That was a frustrating moment. I had cashew nuts for him too and a birthday card. I also talked to a woman through the intercom. She had a very unfriendly voice and was very rude to me. I returned to Chatham mad and sad. But maybe in the near future I’ll be able to see that Starr in person. I’ve seen George four times and I’ve now seen Paul twice. Ringo is more difficult to find but someday I will meet him too.
I only know that meeting beautiful Paul was the greatest joy of my trip! Thank you Lord!
↧
Listen to me live on the wireless machine.
You all may or may not realize it, but this Sunday (March 9th) marks the 5 year anniversary of this blog! It totally blows me away that I have been doing this for 5 years! Think about that---it is the same amount of time from Please Please me to the White album. One of the things I am doing to celebrate this milestone is appear as the guest on Jude S. Kessler's online radio program, The John Lennon Hour.
I will be telling some of the stories that have appeared on this blog (ones that sway more towards John) and talking about photos and this blog! I have never, ever been on the radio before. So if you tune in, please keep in mind that I was nervous and little flustered, but I did my best. I recorded the program tonight, and I know I made some mistakes and tripped up a bit, but overall I think it will be good and it was a fun time.
The program is on Beatles a-rama radio station. If you don't listen to Beatles-a-rama, I high recommend it. I like to put it on when I am doing things like cleaning the house or folding laundry because it makes the time go by faster and you get to hear a variety of Beatles music. There are also some great programs on there, such as Jude's "John Lennon hour."
So tune in at 8:00 eastern/ 7:00 central on Sunday, March 9, 2014 to hear me on the John Lennon Hour!
I will be telling some of the stories that have appeared on this blog (ones that sway more towards John) and talking about photos and this blog! I have never, ever been on the radio before. So if you tune in, please keep in mind that I was nervous and little flustered, but I did my best. I recorded the program tonight, and I know I made some mistakes and tripped up a bit, but overall I think it will be good and it was a fun time.
The program is on Beatles a-rama radio station. If you don't listen to Beatles-a-rama, I high recommend it. I like to put it on when I am doing things like cleaning the house or folding laundry because it makes the time go by faster and you get to hear a variety of Beatles music. There are also some great programs on there, such as Jude's "John Lennon hour."
So tune in at 8:00 eastern/ 7:00 central on Sunday, March 9, 2014 to hear me on the John Lennon Hour!
 |
| If John Lennon was at the recording of the John Lennon Hour, I would have been much more nervous! |
↧
↧
Back when Cavendish was yellow
.jpg)
Does anyone know what years Paul's house on Cavendish was painted yellow? I know it was the mid to late 1970's.
↧
Off we go
↧
Security
↧
Photo op
↧
↧
Familar face
It seems that this fan has appeared in quite a few snapshots from 1969. I wonder who he is because I bet he has some great stories to share.
↧
Top 10 Blog posts of the past 5 years.
In celebrating the 5 anniversary of this blog, I thought it would be fun to look at my blogger stats and see what the top 10 blog posts of the past 5 years have been. I honestly am not sure how totally accurate the statistics on blogger truly are, but I figure that they are pretty close. So here we go!
10.
The Run Away
Posted February 18, 2014
443 hits
http://www.meetthebeatlesforreal.com/2014/02/the-run-away.html
This is a recent post (less than a month old) and it is about the 13 year old girl who ran away from America to see the Beatles in concert. It is a scary tale with a happy ending that most teenagers only dreamed about. It isn't surprising to me that this one has gained in hits since I posted it.
9. "No You're Not" said Little Nicola
Posted December 1, 2010
470 hits
http://www.meetthebeatlesforreal.com/2010/12/no-youre-not-said-little-nicola.html
This story came from the fanzine "Strawberry Fields Forever." Little Nicola steals the scene with George and John on the Magical Mystery Tour bus with her cuteness. I am glad that many of you wanted to know what happened to her.
8. Wishing you All a Happy New Year!
Posted December 30, 2011
566 hits
http://www.meetthebeatlesforreal.com/2011/12/wishing-you-all-happy-new-year.html
I have no clue why this is on this list. I typically wish all of you blog readers a happy new year, so I have no idea what was so special about the 2011 greeting. The Beatles photo I posted with it is nice, but nothing super rare. Who knows?
7. The Beatles in Spain 1965
Posted June 5, 2012
642 hits
http://www.meetthebeatlesforreal.com/2012/06/beatles-in-spain-1965.html
This was just a typical photos only post of the guys during the 1965 tour to Spain. It is nice, but not sure why it is the top 10.
6. John Goes to John's (repost)
Posted January 4, 2012
747 hits
http://www.meetthebeatlesforreal.com/2012/01/john-goes-to-johns-repost.html
This has been one of my favorite John stories. As a matter of fact, I liked it so much that when I got better photographs that went with the story, I did something I almost never do and that is repost a story (instead of just linking to it). I know that it has been directly linked to a music page of the guy who plays the piano in the photo. Wonderful photos and amazing story.
5. Paul McCartney where?
Posted January 13, 2011
815 hits
http://www.meetthebeatlesforreal.com/2011/01/paul-mccartney-where.html
This is a story about Paul McCartney's trip to L.A. in 1968 (also known as the Dirty Weekend) from Teen Set magazine. There was a time when this post was making the rounds on facebook and other social media. Great photos in this post and Paul's L.A. trip isn't something we get to hear much about, so it is interesting.
4. The Beatles are our Bosses!
Posted: January 30, 2014
831 hits
http://www.meetthebeatlesforreal.com/2014/01/the-beatles-are-our-bosses.html
I am very happy to see this is listed as number 4 because I put a lot of work into this one plus I thought it was extremely interesting to see the Apple girls and what they thought about the Beatles as their bosses. This post is currently making the rounds on social media, so I wouldn't be shocked to see it move up on this list a bit more.
3. The Beatles Slept Here
Posted: May 23, 2010
1682 hits
http://www.meetthebeatlesforreal.com/2010/05/beatles-slept-here.html
This is a great story I found in the St. Louis Beatles Fan club newsletter about when the Beatles stayed at Reed Pigman's Ranch in Missouri in September 1964. Great story with great photos from Curt Gunther's collection.
2. Paul with Mary Hopkins September 1968
Posted August 16, 2009
1714 hits
http://www.meetthebeatlesforreal.com/2009/08/paul-with-mary-hopkins-sept-1968.html
This is the oldest post on the list and honestly I think the only reason it is at #2 is because I mistakenly called Mary Hopkin "Mary Hopkins" (with an s at the end of her last name). I think this post pops up on google when other people mistakenly put an s on the end of her name. Mary looks beautiful in these photographs and Paul looks great too.
1. Paul Goresh
Posted: May 23, 2010
4707 hits
http://www.meetthebeatlesforreal.com/2010/05/paul-goresh.html
So this is the #1 post of this blog and it has been for many years. I think people come to this post because of a morbid curiosity about the man who took the photo of John with his killer. It makes me happy that you will not find that photo on this blog and this post isn't about that, but about Paul's fan-friendship with John.
10.
The Run Away
Posted February 18, 2014
443 hits
http://www.meetthebeatlesforreal.com/2014/02/the-run-away.html
This is a recent post (less than a month old) and it is about the 13 year old girl who ran away from America to see the Beatles in concert. It is a scary tale with a happy ending that most teenagers only dreamed about. It isn't surprising to me that this one has gained in hits since I posted it.
9. "No You're Not" said Little Nicola
Posted December 1, 2010
470 hits
http://www.meetthebeatlesforreal.com/2010/12/no-youre-not-said-little-nicola.html
This story came from the fanzine "Strawberry Fields Forever." Little Nicola steals the scene with George and John on the Magical Mystery Tour bus with her cuteness. I am glad that many of you wanted to know what happened to her.
8. Wishing you All a Happy New Year!
Posted December 30, 2011
566 hits
http://www.meetthebeatlesforreal.com/2011/12/wishing-you-all-happy-new-year.html
I have no clue why this is on this list. I typically wish all of you blog readers a happy new year, so I have no idea what was so special about the 2011 greeting. The Beatles photo I posted with it is nice, but nothing super rare. Who knows?
7. The Beatles in Spain 1965
Posted June 5, 2012
642 hits
http://www.meetthebeatlesforreal.com/2012/06/beatles-in-spain-1965.html
This was just a typical photos only post of the guys during the 1965 tour to Spain. It is nice, but not sure why it is the top 10.
6. John Goes to John's (repost)
Posted January 4, 2012
747 hits
http://www.meetthebeatlesforreal.com/2012/01/john-goes-to-johns-repost.html
This has been one of my favorite John stories. As a matter of fact, I liked it so much that when I got better photographs that went with the story, I did something I almost never do and that is repost a story (instead of just linking to it). I know that it has been directly linked to a music page of the guy who plays the piano in the photo. Wonderful photos and amazing story.
5. Paul McCartney where?
Posted January 13, 2011
815 hits
http://www.meetthebeatlesforreal.com/2011/01/paul-mccartney-where.html
This is a story about Paul McCartney's trip to L.A. in 1968 (also known as the Dirty Weekend) from Teen Set magazine. There was a time when this post was making the rounds on facebook and other social media. Great photos in this post and Paul's L.A. trip isn't something we get to hear much about, so it is interesting.
4. The Beatles are our Bosses!
Posted: January 30, 2014
831 hits
http://www.meetthebeatlesforreal.com/2014/01/the-beatles-are-our-bosses.html
I am very happy to see this is listed as number 4 because I put a lot of work into this one plus I thought it was extremely interesting to see the Apple girls and what they thought about the Beatles as their bosses. This post is currently making the rounds on social media, so I wouldn't be shocked to see it move up on this list a bit more.
3. The Beatles Slept Here
Posted: May 23, 2010
1682 hits
http://www.meetthebeatlesforreal.com/2010/05/beatles-slept-here.html
This is a great story I found in the St. Louis Beatles Fan club newsletter about when the Beatles stayed at Reed Pigman's Ranch in Missouri in September 1964. Great story with great photos from Curt Gunther's collection.
2. Paul with Mary Hopkins September 1968
Posted August 16, 2009
1714 hits
http://www.meetthebeatlesforreal.com/2009/08/paul-with-mary-hopkins-sept-1968.html
This is the oldest post on the list and honestly I think the only reason it is at #2 is because I mistakenly called Mary Hopkin "Mary Hopkins" (with an s at the end of her last name). I think this post pops up on google when other people mistakenly put an s on the end of her name. Mary looks beautiful in these photographs and Paul looks great too.
1. Paul Goresh
Posted: May 23, 2010
4707 hits
http://www.meetthebeatlesforreal.com/2010/05/paul-goresh.html
So this is the #1 post of this blog and it has been for many years. I think people come to this post because of a morbid curiosity about the man who took the photo of John with his killer. It makes me happy that you will not find that photo on this blog and this post isn't about that, but about Paul's fan-friendship with John.
↧
Conversing.
↧
Signing for the girls
↧
↧
Horse Lane
↧
Younger days
↧
A stop by the Dingle
I love how happy these fans appear to be when stopping by Ringo's family home in Liverpool and seeing his folks. What a much simpler time it was then. Fans could just ring the bell and hand flowers over to the mum of a Beatle.
↧
The John Lennon Hour links
I want to send a big, huge THANK YOU to my friend, Jude Southerland Kessler for asking me to be on "The John Lennon Hour" radio program tonight. I had never, ever been on the radio before and it really was a lot of fun. I was extremely nervous, but it wasn't too bad once it got going because I was talking about something I have a passion for and something I could literally go on about for hour: The Beatles!
Thank you also to my friends around the world as well as family members who went out of their way to listen to me on the John Lennon hour tonight. I know some of you aren't even Beatle fans, but listened in to support me, and that truly means so much.
One thing I wanted to do was share the links of the stories that I shared on the program tonight with everyone. I gave a very shortened version of what happened and I know you all would like to read the full stories.
First here is the photo that I said was my "most unusual." Honestly, this was the hardest question for me to answer. The most unusual photo?
http://www.meetthebeatlesforreal.com/2013/06/these-are-new-york-times.html
Here are the links to the story about the girl who ran away from home to London in hopes of seeing the Beatles in concert.
http://www.meetthebeatlesforreal.com/2014/02/the-run-away.html
http://www.meetthebeatlesforreal.com/2009/12/run-away-beatles-fan.html
This is the story of Mark, the young man who was an extra in the movie, Help1
http://www.meetthebeatlesforreal.com/2009/09/meeting-beatles-during-help.html
http://www.meetthebeatlesforreal.com/2010/03/one-of-things-i-have-loved-most-about.html
The story of the "All you need is love" blanket from the Montreal Bed In
http://www.meetthebeatlesforreal.com/2013/07/the-all-you-need-is-love-bedspread.html
The girl who saw John and Yoko on Mike Douglas Show
http://www.meetthebeatlesforreal.com/2012/03/john-in-philly-72.html
Fan at the Dakota
http://www.meetthebeatlesforreal.com/2009/10/meeting-john-1979.html
Thank you also to my friends around the world as well as family members who went out of their way to listen to me on the John Lennon hour tonight. I know some of you aren't even Beatle fans, but listened in to support me, and that truly means so much.
One thing I wanted to do was share the links of the stories that I shared on the program tonight with everyone. I gave a very shortened version of what happened and I know you all would like to read the full stories.
First here is the photo that I said was my "most unusual." Honestly, this was the hardest question for me to answer. The most unusual photo?
http://www.meetthebeatlesforreal.com/2013/06/these-are-new-york-times.html
Here are the links to the story about the girl who ran away from home to London in hopes of seeing the Beatles in concert.
http://www.meetthebeatlesforreal.com/2014/02/the-run-away.html
http://www.meetthebeatlesforreal.com/2009/12/run-away-beatles-fan.html
This is the story of Mark, the young man who was an extra in the movie, Help1
http://www.meetthebeatlesforreal.com/2009/09/meeting-beatles-during-help.html
http://www.meetthebeatlesforreal.com/2010/03/one-of-things-i-have-loved-most-about.html
The story of the "All you need is love" blanket from the Montreal Bed In
http://www.meetthebeatlesforreal.com/2013/07/the-all-you-need-is-love-bedspread.html
The girl who saw John and Yoko on Mike Douglas Show
http://www.meetthebeatlesforreal.com/2012/03/john-in-philly-72.html
Fan at the Dakota
http://www.meetthebeatlesforreal.com/2009/10/meeting-john-1979.html
↧
↧
April 1978
As much as we know about John Lennon's life, there are a few years in the late 1970's that have some question marks about them. We know that John was living a life as a Househusband and taking care of Sean in 1978, but there are very little photographs of John from this year. All we have are photos of John at Andy Warhol's birthday party of Yoko in February, family photos from Japan from July-September and John/Sean's birthday party in October. That leaves a lot of unknown times. One of these times is April of 1978, which is when two fans named Billy and Jimmy went and saw John and Yoko for a moment outside of the Dakota. They did not bring a camera along with them and since they ended up seeing the couple after dark, a photo most likely wouldn't have turned out even if they had.
I am posting this CNN unknown photo of John and Sean leaving the Dakota in 1980.
This story is from the October 1983 issue of "With a little help from my friends."
![]()
I am posting this CNN unknown photo of John and Sean leaving the Dakota in 1980.
This story is from the October 1983 issue of "With a little help from my friends."
Sunday April 9, 1978
By Bill Goldsmith
My friend Jimmy and I were unspectacularly just occurred to us that it would be a great time for us to go to the Dakota and see “how the other half lives.” Undeterred by the very real potential stumbling block that John and Yoko might very well be out of the country, out of the city, or just not coming out, we boarded the next Long Island Railroad train that came along and were swept to Penn Station as if on the wings of angels.
Upon our arrival in the Big Apple, we took an uptown bus and somehow we both knew we were going to see them. We didn’t want to ruin the karma by talking out loud about it, but we couldn’t resist anyway. We got to the Dakota and things were quiet – we didn’t see any other fanatics in the area; only the usual blasé, jade New Yorkers going to and fro, people walking eight dogs at once, and one man who was pulling a train of skateboards with a bunch of cats on them. I think we just waited a while, soaking up the atmosphere and deciding when to play “interrogate the doorman.” When we did (“Is John Lennon here?”), he didn’t let on much, but we found no reason to be discouraged. He didn’t say outright anything like, “they’re in Japan” which was always a possibility, but he did say “Sometimes they stay in for days. People come from all over the world and wait for days, and as soon as they leave, they come out.” We shuddered.
Soon, some other tuned-in Beatle people came by and their radio was blasting out “I want to Hold your hand.” They told us they had seen John recently and he was real skinny. After a while, they split.
At one point soon thereafter, Sean was wheeled out by his nanny in a stroller holding a red plastic baseball bat. Not to traumatize the child, we just hung out, coolly. This meant they must be here, and we were sorry we hadn’t brought cameras. By the time Sean came back, we resolved to hold out as long as it took. I was hoping John and Yoko would go out for dinner, or come in for dinner, or go out after dinner, or come in after dinner, or anything else I hadn’t thought of.
After a while, Jimmy couldn’t take it anymore, and had to run down the block into a darkening Central Park to…relieve himself. “Stall them if they come out.” He said.
Since it was dinnertime, and we were hungry, we bought some infamous New York city street hotdogs and sodas from a vendor and ate while leaning on a parked car. The doorman, whom we had struck up such a good rapport with, said he was going out for few minutes, and Jimmy asked him to buy some cigarettes. The doorman came back with them.
It grew darker and cooler, but our spirits remained high.
The pivotal moment came when this long black and grey limo pulled up into the driveway of the Dakota. We knew many celebrities lived in the building, as well as a few rich people (even though we were surprised to learn how many welfare families lived there too). But “Ah-hah!” I said. “The license plate number is ‘101’ and that’s the catalog number of the White album! What an omen!” We knew. Now it was around 7:00 and it was very calm and quiet and the only people there were jimmy and I and the doorman and the chauffeur.
It’s hard to believe it now, but Jimmy,, the same person who was wily enough to find his way into the Wings’ sound check at Nassau Coliseum and get Linda to pose for a picture at the keyboards, Jimmy was inexplicably looking out at 72nd Street at the big moment, while I was correctly staring at the southeast door past the office booth. “There’s Yoko,” I had to say to get him to turn around.
Yoko had come out by herself and was dressed up all in white. She had on a white dress and a white “Yoko hat” and her hair was down on her shoulders – she looked great. I said, “Hi Yoko” for lack of anything else to say, but she didn’t seem to hear. Now she was standing there staring at the door too.
Now you can imagine how we both felt at this point. Hours seemed to go by, even though it’s hard to gauge time in these situations. Was John doing this for our benefit? We were freaking out. (He was probably tucking Sean in). Finally John did come out. He was also all dressed up, in a grey suit, with maybe a light brown tie? His hair was too long but it was combed down – kind of like MMT times. And he wore the round rims. Since we only had the distance it took for him to walk from the door to the car, I only had time to say “hi John” and John said, “How’re ya doin’?” in our direction and go into the car (Yoko had circled around to the left side of the car). What I remember most was the way he walked – kind of loping with his shoulders bobbing up and down – just that way.
Despite almost total paralysis and the inability to talk, we both shuffled over to John’s side of the car to have look, but of course not to bother him. John was holding a book and playing it cool – he’d been through this many times before.
After those gold moments, the car started pulled away, so I said, “Might as well follow it til we lose ‘em in traffic.” Like true Beatlemaniacs, once we started losing it, we started to run after it. It was heading south down Central Park West, so I was kind of sorry I hadn’t asked them for a left to Penn Station.
Anyway, we were so excited, we ended up running practically all the way back to the train station non-stop.
Epilogue: We went back the next Sunday to see if lightning struck twice, and we saw Sean again, and jimmy snapped his picture, much to Sean’s nanny’s displeasure,. But we had no luck in seeing his folks again.
P.S.: I wouldn’t have thought 15 years ago that Long Island would end up being such a Beatles hot-spot, but I also saw Paul this past August at East Hampton. He was driving by his in-law’s house in an inconspicuous station wagon with Linda, and smiling. Hopefully he was enjoying his holiday because no one was bothering him too much.
↧
Whistling
↧
Back to Kenwood
.jpg)
I know these have been posted before, but I believe these scans are clearer and bigger than the ones previously posted. Besides, who doesn't like seeing photos of John at Kenwood from 1967?
↧