Last year, the fruit of many long labors was borne for my wife, and she was awarded a Princeton fellowship to further her scholarly work. By pure coincidence, or so she claims, Paul McCartney was playing in New Jersey the same September week that she had arranged to be there. She’d seen two shows from McCartney’s 2016–17 tour with her father over the past year, and both were almost identical in content. Nonetheless, a week or two before her departure to Princeton, she confessed in an offhanded way that she had gotten tickets to see Macca a third time at one of his two Prudential Center shows in Newark.
“Oh?” I said.
Yes, she’d purchased a twenty-third row ticket, then paid a nominal $5 fee to upgrade to an eighth-row, center-stage ticket which would really put her in the thick of things.
We don’t have one of those marriages where we must obtain permission to spend our discretionary funds, so I was like, hey, if you want to blow your money on the same Paul McCartney concert all over the US, knock yourself out. That’s a level of fandom to which I can only bear witness, despite being a huge Beatles fan and general Paul partisan. She might deny it, but in addition to being a scholar of early modern women’s reading, my wife comes close to having a doctorate in Beatleology too, so encyclopedic is her store of Fab Four knowledge. She’s my go-to for Beatles info—and I’m supposedly the musician in the family. I want to say she, in her early thirties, is The Last Beatlemaniac, though time will tell.
Anyway, the day of the concert arrives, and Sarah hops on a train to Newark after toiling mightily at the Firestone Library all day. I’m at work that night receiving a steady commentary on her journey upstate and then the concert itself. She sends pictures and short videos. She’s super close! She could almost reach out and poke Paul.
During the encore, a truly amazing thing happens: he seems to make eye contact with her and does a little waltz step, referencing the sign she’s been holding up. Sign? Yes, she’s made a different sign for each of the concerts she’s attended. This one says: BALLROOM DANCE WITH A VEGETARIAN LIBRARIAN?
Wow! Acknowledged by a Beatle. Pretty good. Worth the effort. I don’t hear from her for awhile then I get some garbled, semaphoric texts that I can’t make heads or tails of.
Then at 10 p.m. Eastern time, she texts me. “You’re never going to believe it.”
Here I thought that Sarah was going to see the same concert and over when really she was working on her sign game. Third time’s the charm!
But you say you want a revolution? Well, you know, that’s a bit of a tall order. But you could contribute to the fund that’s split between all eventual Democratic nominees in House districts currently held by Republicans.
Doug!
Love this story.
Always had you figured for a John guy though.
My favorite Beatles argument though is who was the worst Beatle, George or Ringo? I had two friends in college who made a conclusive it was George.
trollhattan
Just damn, how amazing was that?
TomatoQueen
Well done.
Damien
What happened? Your link just goes to a video of a snowstorm in Tokyo, which seems kinda anticlimactic to the story…
debbie
I’ve never seen such a serious face on a super fan!
mvr
Incredible poise displayed by Sara!
germy
Last summer I went to see the documentary about the Beatles touring years. It was a matinee and the theater was empty except for my wife and I, and four women who appeared to be in their late ’60s. Before the movie started, I turned around and told them this was my first time seeing the Beatles on a big screen since 1965, when I saw HELP! at my local cinema. The leader of the group, the “Lennon” of the ladies, said they’d seen LET IT BE when it first came out.
The soundtrack volume was loud enough that I didn’t mind the giggling and chatter of the women. They actually enhanced the experience for me. They talked excitedly whenever Paul appeared on camera, and giggled at John’s humor.
At the end of the film, they got up to go. I told them that after the closing credits, the entire Shea Stadium concert would be shown next. They’d had no idea. They stuck around, and sang along with every song. At the end, their leader thanked me.
It was a great experience. My wife enjoyed the film. She is too young to have experienced Beatlemania first hand, but she agreed those ladies were wonderful.
Jewish Steel
@Doug!: Listen to “Think for Yourself.” It’s definitely George.
frosty
@germy: Cool story. I watched the doc on TV. Hard to believe they tried to play Shea Stadium with 100 watt Vox amps.
PS thanks SO much for the earworm!
dp
What a great story.
debbie
@frosty:
There was an album of that concert. You couldn’t hear a fucking thing.
dp
@Doug!: There’s no such thing as a bad Beatle!
germy
@frosty:
I liked their contract insisting on no segregated venues. That part of the film I found incredibly moving.
frosty
@germy: Agreed. I think music had more than a little to do with breaking racial barriers. Check out the documentary Muscle Shoals. Some incredibly tight white Southern boys backing up the best black soul singers in the 60s.
(((CassandraLeo)))
I can beat that story, depending on your perspective. I got to sing a chorus of “Yellow Submarine” during a Ringo concert when I was about ten. Granted, Ringo isn’t Macca, but still.
The story that I still don’t quite believe is that one of my middle and high school classmates won the Academy Award for Best Picture last year. Occasionally I half wonder if this is some sort of practical joke the whole world is playing on me for some reason. I mean, Moonlight is incomprehensibly fucking good and she was obviously talented even when we were in school, but it’s the fucking Oscars. It’s difficult to process that.
stinger
This video brought tears to my eyes, I’m so happy for Sarah. BTW, I’ve been a Paul McCartney fan for 51 years — top that, Sarah!
Lurked for so long, i forgot my name
JS- Ask your wife how she likes the renovation at the Library so far? ;-)
WaterGirl
@Damien: I had to try 3 times before I got it. Don’t give up.
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
What a nice story. I’m crabby today and this made me marginally better to be around.
gene108
Might be more relevant here. Went to a meet and greet for Andy Kim, who is looking to unseat Tom MacArthur (R Nj-3). Tom MacArthur is the mastermind behind the “MacArthur Amendment” that reconciled differences in the House healthcare bill, which allowed it pass that chamber of Congress.
He has extensive foreign policy experience. He served as an advisor to Gen. Patraeus in Afghanistan. Advised President Obama on anti-ISIS policy. Helped pull together the U.S. response, when ISIS drove the Yazidis from their homes, onto a mountain with the real possibility of killing them all.
Good guy.
He is not accepting corporate donations.
He needs money to set-up offices and build out staff.
Jewish Steel
@WaterGirl: Why is it doing that? I have no idea.
@Lurked for so long, i forgot my name: She says, “It’s beautiful!”
@(((CassandraLeo))): I’ve met Angelo Moore from Fishbone. That’s my famousest brush.
WaterGirl
@gene108: The last proper noun before “he has extensive…” was MacArthur, so I was confused for a minute when I started paragraph 2. But then I figured it out. Pronouns make me cranky sometimes.
WaterGirl
@Jewish Steel: I have no idea, either, but I was glad to have tried the third time since when I finally got to see it.
stinger
@stinger: Redid the math — too late to edit — 54 years.
Boudica
Ended 5 months ago. Replay unavailable. ?
petesh
Yay Sarah! Yay Paul! And there ain’t no best or worst Beatle, they were a collective and definitely more than the sum of their parts. I liked George ever since I heard this lovely dialog from their first session:
G. Martin: “Let me know if there’s anything you don’t like.”.
G. Harrison: “Well, for a start, I don’t like your tie.”
Or, a little later, at JFK:
Reporter: “What do you call that haircut?
Georege: “Arthur.”
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
@germy: That’s an amazing story. Thanks for telling it.
JS, lots of poise, your wife has. And mad sign skillz. Terrific story you shared; thanks.
petesh
PS, I couldn’t get the video on Safari, then I got it with no sound, then I switched to Firefox and it appeared. Computers are so irrational.
Jewish Steel
@petesh: No George and maybe no Monty Python and the Holy Grail and definitely no Time Bandits. Back to Great Beatle status!
Mart
@petesh: Firefox worked for me.
Great story JS.
PIGL
@Jewish Steel: and no “Withnail and I”
stinger
@Boudica: That’s what it displayed when I clicked the link. But I just waited, and after a bit the video started to play. Worth the wait — I hope it works for you!
WaterGirl
@Boudica: i got that, too, at first. Try again. Third try worked for me.
WaterGirl
@petesh: I was clicking everything, trying to get the sound to work, then I found a “click here to un-mute” and finally had sound.
Bob Bancroft
@Jewish Steel: If not for the 2 “low ego” Beatles, i.e. Ringo and George, the Beatles would have lasted as long as Cream/ other supergroups. Their ability/willingness to work in the shadows of Lennon/McCartney was just as integral to the genius of the Beatles as a band.
Jewish Steel
@Bob Bancroft: I especially appreciate Ringo because he was never pompous enough to say he was a really a jazz drummer at heart and just slumming as a rock drummer a la Charlie Watts or Ginger Baker.
dww44
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady): ditto!
No Drought No More
Encyclopedic Beatlemaniac? Ask her what their self-styled first agent Alan Williams (she’ll know) swore he wouldn’t touch them with. If she answers spontaneously and correctly, she’s the real deal… And if she does know, then ask her the name of John Lennon’s first cat. If she’s knows that, she either knows too damn much or is a liar, because for all I know John may have been allergic to cats.
John Revolta
@WaterGirl: @petesh: We need to revisit that old cliche about “Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results”. I do it ALL THE DAMN TIME on the computer and it works quite often. Different times call for different tropes.
Daniel Almont
Too bad she’s so shy.
Zinsky
@Doug!: Doug! – I gotta disagree on George being the least necessary Beatle. He wrote some of their best material but rarely got the credit or recognition the others did. Something and Here Comes the Sun are two of the prettiest songs in the Beatles catalog. Listen to Harrison’s writing on All Things Must Pass, his first solo effort, too. Outstanding songwriting and arranging. Ringo, on the other hand, was a mediocre drummer and wrote little of note.
BruceFromOhio
When even vegetarian librarians show up.
J R in WV
@WaterGirl:
“click here to un-mute…”
There’s a trick, and it was no doubt VERY inconspicuous.@WaterGirl:
JSteel, great story, thanks for sharing it.
Ohio Mom
Somewhat off topic — I am halfway through making my poster for tomorrow’s demonstration when Trump visits a machine shop in my little suburb.
After a lot of thought, I went with “Mr. President, Do YOUR Job: Sanction Russia!” There’s solid red map of Russia in the middle.
I wanted something directly aimed at Trump, and I wanted something that spoke to his treason. We all know he *is* Putin’s puppet but there isn’t widely accepted hard evidence yet.
But there is no arguing that he is legally supposed to be executing the sanctions and he isn’t. He’s visiting a group of archetypal hard-working folks and he hardly does his job at all. As Kay says, he’s a bad hire.
Not that any of this really matters because we’ll all be shuffled off on a side street. We are supposed to stay on the sidewalk and there aren’t many sidewalks in the part of Blue Ash, Ohio zoned for light industry.
I know it is only a drop in the ocean but it is my little drop. I just hope tomorrow is warmer than today.
Jewish Steel
@Ohio Mom: I think that sounds like an excellent poster.
Juju
I only got snow in northern Tokyo, even after at least a dozen tries. Oh well.
Waratah
I was not able to be in the right place to go to a Beatles concert but the last time Paul was in Australia he performed at the football stadium in Parramatta. Parramatta is sea level and where my parents live was probably a couple of miles west. I was laying in bed early (jet lag) when I heard a band setting up like I was in the front seats. I called to my father if he knew what was going on and he said Paul was performing there that night. I do not know how the acoustics worked for us to hear it so well but the songs and music was loud and clear. When Paul talked that was a little harder to understand.
Thank you for sharing your wife’s experience and I had no trouble with the video.
Mr. Kite
@Zinsky: Ringo a mediocre drummer? Fighting words my friend. He is not flashy but he was the right guy who took them from four lads to a tight rocknroll band.
Here’s a point of trivia in his favor, they never had to redo a take in the studio because of him.
jk
@Doug!:
i have to agree with several others, there’s no such thing as a worst Beatle.
Jewish Steel
@Mr. Kite: Ringo’s a fucking metronome. Just hearing how spot on he is from take to take. Even in concert. Great drummer.
opiejeanne
@(((CassandraLeo))): Those are both awesome stories.
Aleta
@Ohio Mom: I think that’s really good. Keeps focus, with one specific measuring point within that. No space for diverting the argument, either.
opiejeanne
We live in a place called Woodinville, WA on top of Hollywood Hill which is more like a large bumpy mesa. 2 miles down the canyon to the West is Chateau Set Michelle. they have concerts on the weekends in the summer and we can sometimes hear just the drums and maybe a little guitar or bass, but usually not much really. Our property is a big corner lot with the house sitting away from the corner and facing the quieter street. Our septic system is located in a large hump near the corner and we sit up there in the late afternoon and watch our cat work the margins of the property for mice and meadow voles.
So we’re out there and we can hear the band starting to warm up. It’s almost 7 and a man starts to sing just a bit of a verse. “That sounds like Ringo.” My husband looks at me and listens a bit and says, “I don’t know, that’s not a Beatles’ song.”
It was Ringo.
The concert started and there was no doubt who was singing once they got started. We sat and listened until the mosquitoes chased us inside. Nice little private concert. I’ve never been to one of their events but I really should keep track and go to one of them because they have some decent talent that comes through every summer.
Aleta
Had dinner at the home of an astronaut who drove on the moon (he brought out moon rocks) and other space piloting/orbit feats. Would choose hugging Paul—is that shallow? (Picked him out in grade school.) Your wife is amazing. So impressed.
Aleta
@opiejeanne: Hope you are better and on the mend.
They say it helps the lungs recover if you can raise your chest/head higher with pillows when lying down. And that the flu actually dehydrates the body, so drinking a cup of liquid every hour helps.
opiejeanne
@Jewish Steel: No famous musicians that I remember right now. We lived in SoCal most of our lives so everyone in the family has had a brush with someone famous like The Fonz when he was The Fonz at the Renaissance Faire at Warner Ranch; our son was enchanted watching him with his wife and stepson a little distance from us. I should have let him go and say hello but we felt shy about disturbing them. the little boys were about the same age so it probably would have been ok because he was a polite little kid.
Saw Richard Thomas in a toy story after his wife had the triplets, at Tiggywinkles in Riverside. He was standing next to the cash register, looking at something when I brought my purchase up to the owner. He looked up and smiled and said “Hi.” I said “Hi”. My son was about 7 and was so busy looking at something he totally missed him. I asked if he’d seen him and he was so disappointed I sent him around inside the store but he must have gone out the back way. There was a gaggle of giggling adult, 30s-40s, women who suddenly showed up from the Mission Inn next door; they must have followed him over and they certainly didn’t know how to behave.
Saw Jamie Farr who played Corporal Klinger on MASH walking around in Solvang back when it was a fun place, back in the 80s.
There are better stories but I can’t remember any of them right now. Someone asked me last week and I am drawing a blank, just like I did then. I remembered a bunch of them right after the conversation ended.
My youngest ran into, and I mean literally ran into Jack Nicholson in Newport. She was 22, cute as a button, and so small he could have scooped her into his pocket and walked out with her but he was badly hung over.
opiejeanne
@Jewish Steel: Your wife’s story is great, JS. Thanks for sharing. I’ve never been to a Beatles concert. My parents did not see the point. They wouldn’t take me to any concert but we watched them on tv while my parents fretted about the frenzied screaming. I didn’t understand it either, watching it on our tiny TV set but I liked them. I was in various concerts growing up, choirs and bands and orchestras.
The first concert I attended was in 1970. My youngest was about six weeks old and I was 20. My parents watched him while we went to hear Neil Diamond. Linda Ronstadt opened for him as a solo act, nary a Stone Poney in sight. She sang well but she was such a nervous wreck that we expected her to run off the stage halfway through.
I’d much rather have gone to a Beatles concert when I was 15, but what did happen that year was my boyfriend’s mother and her sister took us to see a New Year’s Eve midnight showing of either Help! or A Hard Day’s Night, can not remember, and sat right behind us so we didn’t misbehave. We were both a bit insulted because we were good kids.
Doug!
@Jewish Steel:
Also, never did a song called “While My Drum Gently Weeps” where the drum solo was played by Ginger Baker.
Ocean dude
I saw him in 2016 in Louisville. A woman had a sign that read something like- “I saw you in ’65, now I’m here with my daughter.” He finished the song and then remarked that he tries not to read signs bc its so difficult to read a sign and still keep time within a song, so hes constantly telling himself “dont read the signs, dont read the signs”. But the signs are so good he cant help himself. The short of it, he brought the mom and daughter up on stage, asked their names, where the mom saw them in ’65, and then had them sit just just off stage the rest of the show.
Marina
When my kids were kitten-sized preemies in the intensive care nursery, my husband and I used to spend days and nights holding them and singing to them. Eight Days a Week is the best lullaby ever written.
opiejeanne
@Aleta: Thanks. I’ve stayed indoors today and I think the meds are helping. I feel a bit better but it feels so tenuous that I’m afraid to celebrate it.
The doc thinks it might be walking pneumonia. He mentioned drinking a lot of liquids, and we are. They think it was just a cold and I agree but it’s the nastiest one I’ve had. The meds make me thirsty. When I’ve felt like I’m drowning I have slept sitting up on the couch. It helps a lot but my legs complain at about 7 hours, about how long it is to fly from Seattle to Iceland. I keep thinking about going to Iceland.
opiejeanne
@Ocean dude: I have a friend who lives near Sir Paul and he and his neighbors all think he’s a really nice guy, and they help protect his privacy. He was driving us around the area, pointing out oasts and very old churches and wattle fences he’d helped repair, and copses he’d worked on and he explained exactly what a copse is. He did not point out which house/property/gate. If we even passed it.