Linda ImmediatoOk, I got in to see Paul at the free Amoeba in-store show. The crowd was a buzz wondering if he would play any Beatles songs or mostly stuff off the new album. Which we hear is good, but good eough to sleep on a sidewalk for three-days (which is what many people in the crowd did)? I wasn't sure. When he opened with a Beatles number—Drive My Car— the crowd flipped. He didn't disappoint, he gave them what they wanted, and so the crowd Na-na-na'ed to Hey Jude, pounded their fists in the air to Back in the USSR, bopped their heads to Get Back, and Blackbird and stood solemnly still holding lighters above their heads to Let It Be. At one point someone in the crowd yelled a request for Helter Skelter. “No, now, that's John's,” said Sir Paul. “But, let's do one for John. One for John and Linda.” He played one of his own, Here Today. The lyrics seemed to be more for John, And if I say I really knew you well/What would your answer be/If you were here today/Well knowing you/You'd probably laugh and say that we were worlds apart/If you were here today/But as for me/I still remember how it was before/And I am holding back the tears no more. And with that Paul got a little choked up and when he was done he let us all know that it was ok to cry. More in next week's LA Weekly. But I'd like to share with you some images from the front lines, the people who camped out since Monday (and before) to get a chance to hear “the cute one” play. Beatlemania was alive and well on Sunset Blvd.
Elsa Buckingham (#2) and Lisa Longuis (#1 in line) wore daisys in their hair because Paul has a new song on his new album that says, “She picks up daisys from a field/She loves to weave them in her hair/I know she knows it isn't real/She still hears music in the air/It's coming from inside her heart.” They waited in line since Monday.
Sharon, Troy, And Alexander White, (#6, 7, 8), Sharon had been in line since Monday, she was later joined by her daughter Troy who was airlifted out of the Tahoe fires last night to be with her. Sharon's been a fan since 1973, and raised her kids on Beatles songs.
Audrey Paulson and Toni Johnson, were numbers 9 and 10, waiting since Monday. They are holding up a couple of the 400 signs Johnson made and passed out to other line livers, giving them all the cue to hold them up for the encore. Gratitude is another song of McCartney's new album Memory Almost Full. (which at some point was a message my digital camera gave me).
These kids are eating their dinner, Jack In The Box, in line. They also camped out since Monday and took turns going on food, and pooping runs. At one point Monday night a set of sprinklers went off near their sidewalk street camp and wet their sleeping bags leaving them to huddle in the cold. Omar Olivares (left) is in a Latino Beatles cover band called Los Cucaraches— they're playing on July 4th on the Queen Mary. They wear wigs and all. Olivares is “George Harrison.” (myspace.com/loscucaraches)
This couple, Corinne Hofer and Mark Mendillo have been McCartney fans for “like, ever.” In line since Monday.
Russian-born Ludmila was the last in the line. She showed up just a couple hours ago and had no idea what everyone was waiting for. One of those people who see a line and gets on it. When I told her it was to see Paul McCartney. Her face was blank. The Beatles? I added. Oh she said vaguely.
This is Jennifer Love Hewitt surrounded by professional autograph-getters. I shit you not. Poor thing was forced to wait on line like common VIPS and press, until she was rescued by a member of security. The said professional autograph getters, who wouldn't let me take their picture, told me John Larroquette was in line, so was a worn out Lucas Haas, Patricia Arquette didn't wait on line, she was ushered immediately inside.
This might be the first Beatle fan in America, Terry Nield, who now teaches art for Poly Tech High School in Sun Valley. She was a teenager in 1963 when her Aunt and Uncle in London sent her over this booklet featuring the Beatles and their first record. They were unheard of in the States yet, but were all the rage in the UK. She later joined the Beatlesaniacs, a group of fans known for restraint in their fanatiscm. Nield won two tickets to this show this morning on K-Earth's Lyric Psychosis Contest. I asked if she might freak out seeing Paul now she said, “We're too old now. But I did feel 14 again when I won the contest this morning!”
Theresa Flores is also a teacher, for 2nd grade at Montebello Unified. She was shaking, tissue in hand. She's been in love with Paul since she was 5 and saw him on the Ed Sullivan show and has been collecting Beatles memorabilia for the last 30 years.
Fans dancing in the aisles.
During the encore the 400 signs (or at least many of them) were unfurled for Paul, all showing him Gratitude.
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