I sat down to create a new post recalling some of the adventures on our second trip to London in 1976 (and seeing Paul at EMI during the mixing of the Wings Over America live album), but before I write that up, let me backtrack here for a minute to one last item from 1975 and a sunny day in May……
I had many great adventures during my trips to London and beyond in 1975 and again in '76. Some of the best were the times we saw Paul, and we were lucky enough to have several of those encounters during our travels. However, I have to admit that as I write, I've had some trouble keeping the two years straight in my mind, trying to remember what happened when. In the prior post about my first journey in 1975 ("Flying"), I described seeing Paul twice at his house during our time in town, but there was actually one more meeting that I thought happened the following year. Looking at the pictures more carefully, I realized what I had forgotten (or rather, mis-dated in my mind) was the chance meeting we had at the original headquarters of McCartney Productions Ltd. on Greek Street in London…...
The offices had not been open very long at their location above a Mexican restaurant. MPL occupied the second floor front office(s) of the building, which had windows that were tall, not square and glass that swung out from the frame to open them. When we arrived, we were just standing on the sidewalk looking around and up, just sort of checking everything out. Within only a few minutes of our being there, and much to our open-mouthed surprise, Paul and Linda arrived in their Rolls Royce, which Paul was driving. As they got out of the car, we said hi and had a few minutes of small talk with them. As it turned out, they were doing some pre-release press for the album Venus And Mars, and Denny Laine and Jimmy McCulloch from Wings were upstairs as well. Oh yeah, we had stepped right into this one!
I had many great adventures during my trips to London and beyond in 1975 and again in '76. Some of the best were the times we saw Paul, and we were lucky enough to have several of those encounters during our travels. However, I have to admit that as I write, I've had some trouble keeping the two years straight in my mind, trying to remember what happened when. In the prior post about my first journey in 1975 ("Flying"), I described seeing Paul twice at his house during our time in town, but there was actually one more meeting that I thought happened the following year. Looking at the pictures more carefully, I realized what I had forgotten (or rather, mis-dated in my mind) was the chance meeting we had at the original headquarters of McCartney Productions Ltd. on Greek Street in London…...
The offices had not been open very long at their location above a Mexican restaurant. MPL occupied the second floor front office(s) of the building, which had windows that were tall, not square and glass that swung out from the frame to open them. When we arrived, we were just standing on the sidewalk looking around and up, just sort of checking everything out. Within only a few minutes of our being there, and much to our open-mouthed surprise, Paul and Linda arrived in their Rolls Royce, which Paul was driving. As they got out of the car, we said hi and had a few minutes of small talk with them. As it turned out, they were doing some pre-release press for the album Venus And Mars, and Denny Laine and Jimmy McCulloch from Wings were upstairs as well. Oh yeah, we had stepped right into this one!
Paul and Linda stayed for a few pictures, then went up to the offices. As they left, Paul joked to us to watch the car while they were gone. We weren't leaving until they returned downstairs anyway, so sure! Be more than happy to!! The Rolls was a convertible, so we were able to look inside quite easily and even take pictures of the interior. On thing we noticed almost right away was the very large wooden-handled knife (!) stuck in the inside pocket of the driver's door. That surprised us greatly, and we immediately wondered if he had ever needed to wave that around. It was a scary thought.
Evidently the press work they were doing upstairs did not interest Denny or Jimmy in the least, and once they found out there was some diversion out the window and downstairs, that was it. Denny appeared and began to talk to us from the second story, sometimes standing in the window frame with the window swung out, sometimes sitting on the ledge, sometimes just leaning out with Jimmy scrunched up next to him. As we took pictures of him, he had a camera and took pictures of us. We yelled back and forth to each other for about 40 minutes, until they were released from their non-existent duties, at which point they blew out of there as quickly as they could. P&L came down a few minutes later and hung out for bit. They allowed a few more snaps, then got in the car and left.
Evidently the press work they were doing upstairs did not interest Denny or Jimmy in the least, and once they found out there was some diversion out the window and downstairs, that was it. Denny appeared and began to talk to us from the second story, sometimes standing in the window frame with the window swung out, sometimes sitting on the ledge, sometimes just leaning out with Jimmy scrunched up next to him. As we took pictures of him, he had a camera and took pictures of us. We yelled back and forth to each other for about 40 minutes, until they were released from their non-existent duties, at which point they blew out of there as quickly as they could. P&L came down a few minutes later and hung out for bit. They allowed a few more snaps, then got in the car and left.
All together, this adventure was about an hour - short, sweet and to the point - as the saying goes. We happily continued on with our sightseeing activities for the rest of the afternoon, but it was clear that hands down, this was the best spent hour of the day!!
That's all for now….Thanks for reading, see ya next year! Happy Holidays!!
That's all for now….Thanks for reading, see ya next year! Happy Holidays!!
