Paul Girls

Cute, funny article called "Paul Girls"--They're almost as obsessed as we are! :
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday%5Ce...ine=Paul+Girls

Some loves never die. Like the one for Paul McCartney. Just ask Linda Dana.

In the past six months, Dana has seen McCartney on his current tour five times, twice in Chicago, twice in New York and again last week, when she flew to Cleveland for the show on Friday. Of course, Dana and her entourage of fellow Paul Girls will be in attendance Wednesday night when he plays Savvis Center. They'll be in the third row -- having paid the top price of $250 a ticket for the honor.

But then money doesn't matter when it comes to matters of the heart, says Dana.

"This is friggin' Paul McCartney," she says, mentioning that she recently paid $475 to sit in the 14th row at one of his Chicago concerts. "Actually, I think my tickets in St. Louis are better."

Dana, 46, president of the St. Louis Beatles Fan Club, goes way back with Sir Paul. And we go way back with Dana, having first met her nine years ago, on April 29, 1993, the last time McCartney came to town. Dana told us then how her love affair began when she was 8 and first saw Paul, along with the three other Beatles, perform on "The Ed Sullivan Show." She not only remembered the date -- Feb. 9, 1964 -- but she also remembered her eyes being glued to McCartney, the cute Beatle.

He sang "And I'll send all my loving to you" and she took him seriously.

When we caught up with Dana last week, it was clear she was still serious. In the past nine years, her passion has taken her to New York's Carnegie Hall to see McCartney at the U.S. premiere of his symphony, "Standing Stone," and to Tucson, Ariz., for a glimpse of the house in which his wife of nearly 30 years, Linda McCartney, died in 1998. Dana's husband accompanied her on that trip. "He's gotten used to putting up with the other man in my life," she says.

But putting up with the other woman in McCartney's life, his new -- much younger -- wife, Heather Mills, hasn't been easy for Dana, she admits. "What can I say? She's a blond woman with a cause. More than anything, I'm concerned about his children and the way they feel about her (Mills)."

Then Dana stops herself. "I'm almost mad at myself for being mad at him. I do want him to be happy. Just talking about him gives me goose bumps," she says.

In the course of catching up, Dana filled us in on the whereabouts of other Paul Girls we met in '93, including Susan Canady, who over the years has held on to a plastic sandwich bag full of grass from the Beatles' St. Louis appearance at Busch Stadium. She stormed the field after the concert in 1966 so that she could have a piece of the ground the Beatles walked on.

Canady has since moved to Liverpool. Need we say more?

Mary Lancaster, 51, another Paul Girl we met in '93, won't be at Wednesday's show because ticket prices are too high. "I have three teenagers and one income," says Lancaster. And though she stopped baking McCartney a cake every year on his birthday, June 18 (who cared if he didn't show up to eat it?), that doesn't mean her love of Paul has waned. "I am, and will forever be, a fan," she says.

Dana also told us of some other area Paul Girls whose love, like hers, knows no limits. Wendy Ryan, an administrative technician at Boise Office Solutions, faxed a letter to McCartney's office in New York a few weeks ago to inform him she would be in attendance Wednesday night.

"That night (Oct. 9) will be my 34th birthday," she wrote. "It will also be John Lennon's 62nd birthday. I have shared my birthday with one of the Beatles for my entire life . . . now I get to share (it) with my favorite one."

She then went on to tell him how she's pretty much lived her entire life to a McCartney soundtrack. How "Hey Jude" was No. 1 on the Billboard charts the day she was born. How the first dance at her wedding was "Maybe I'm Amazed." How her 2-year-old daughter is named after the Lorelei in his song "Beautiful Night."

What she didn't mention was that she also played "Maybe I'm Amazed" every single day when she first started dating her husband until they had their first kiss.

Ryan has done her fair share of McCartney tracking over the years. She once waited four hours on the streets of London to see him at the grand opening of a music store. She also attended the London premiere of "Standing Stone," where she stared at him through binoculars the entire time.

McCartney's son shot a dirty look at her, she says. "But Paul didn't seem to mind. I'm sure he's used to it."

Since this latest concert was announced, Ryan has had an official countdown going on her desk at work. Now she's fretting over what to wear. And she and Dana have been doing their darndest to make an eye-catching poster announcing Ryan's birthday to wave at McCartney. They've heard a rumor that he's now pulling people up on stage and singing "Today Is Your Birthday" to them.

If McCartney were to invite her onstage, Ryan is not sure she'd remain conscious long enough to make it up there.

"Oh, I'd die," she says. "Linda would have to catch me, but she would probably be on the floor, too, and I would just fall on top of her. I try not think about it. I get too excited. I won't get any work done the rest of the day if I think about it."

Apparently, the risk of fainting and dementia can be high for Paul Girls when they're around him.

Carolyn Hasenfratz, 34, of Florissant, sat in the seventh row at Busch Stadium when McCartney was here in 1993, and she says that was close enough.

"I don't know if the performer can see the audience with those lights shining at him, but if he looked in my direction it looked like he was looking at me," she says. "It was heartstopping, even though I don't know if he could see me. But it was close enough."

Hasenfratz has been smitten with McCartney since the early '70s. Unlike many Paul Girls, who fell for him during his Beatles years, Hasenfratz's first exposure was through Wings.

"I went to an amusement park and heard 'Band On the Run' on one of the rides. Then I heard it in the car again on the way home, and my mom and I both said 'Hey, we like this song.'"

It wasn't until several years later that she linked him with the Beatles.

Sharon A. Solomon, 37, of Affton, is also a "second-generation" Paul Girl. Soon after she became a fan in 1976, she sent McCartney a map inviting him and his whole family to stay at her house. Despite his not coming, she remains devoted to McCartney, and the Beatles in general. She even serves as promotions director for a local Beatles cover band, Ticket to the Beatles.

And her boyfriend's name . . . Paul.

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Beatlegirl's World -- Home of fan fics "The Beatles: Live at 12 Cold Creek Street" and "Days in the Life"

Let's hope there's a follow-up article if he invites her on stage...

-lennon4

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Imagine. (it's here)

~All You Need Is Love~

*Need Beatles Art? E-mail Me!*

Face it, Rell - we are lunatics! - in the best way, of course!
Cute stories, anyway!

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<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Tahoma, Arial, Sans-Serif">Quote:</font><HR>Originally Posted By Lynner:
Face it, Rell - we are lunatics!
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Speak for yourself, chicky baby!

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I go back so far, I'm in front of me...

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Tahoma, Arial, Sans-Serif">Quote:</font><HR>Originally Posted By beatlegirl9977:
Apparently, the risk of fainting and dementia can be high for Paul Girls when they're around him.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

See, this is the kind of phrase I'm talking about. Like we're this bunch of dizzy-headed middle aged women still acting like we're 12, swooning and screaming. Ugh.

I love Paul a lot, but I don't think "dementia" has ever been part of it.

And yeah, I know, the writer is trying to be cute and funny, but it still comes across as patronizing to me. Maybe my "cutesiness" genes are malfunctioning today....

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I go back so far, I'm in front of me...

Speaking of lunatics, when I went to the Paul concert two nights ago, I saw a guy throw 3 Beatles albums and 2 Paul McCartney albums on stage at the end of the show and he signed them all, but everyone just went mad. The guy who through them out got only 3 back. That were composed of The White Album, Help!, and Yesterday and Today. Paul McCartney one's McCartney 2 and Ram. He got back signed The White Album, McCartney 2, and Ram. Everyone else scrambled for them. I saw him after the show with them. Him and his wife were singing Let It Be. I sure hope his Yesterday and Today wasn't a Butcher because he didn't get it back

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Gilligan: Mr. Howell, do you want your cufflings back?
Mr. Howell: Do you think that I am the kind of man who would take back a bribe, sir?
Gilligan's Isalnd

Some one did that at the concert I was at, too...right at the end of the show. I hope that person got it back, but you never know. That's a shame that those people didn't have the decency not to steal.

-lennon4

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Imagine. (it's here)

~All You Need Is Love~

*Need Beatles Art? E-mail Me!*

I agree with you, Rell...too many times, articles like this one make the fans sound like weirdos or otherwise slightly deranged. I find it rather insulting. I think I know what the paper was going for, but I don't know that they pulled it off with this story.

It'd BE cute, if only they didn't make it sound somewhat sick...sigh...

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Rooftop Sessions - The Finest In Beatles-Related Fiction. October 2002 Issue Now Up!

"In writing, the difference between the right word and almost the right word is like the difference between lightning and lightning bugs." - Mark Twain

Reading that article made me think about how young kids these days react to pop stars today and I remember seeing how young girls reacted to seeing the Beatles. It's like the more things change, the more they stay the same.

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Song of the moment-My Love

shyGirl's Hideout

"I get shy when they start to stare."

When I was at the Shea Stadium concert in 66, I think I was just about the only one (in my section at least) who wasn't screaming like a maniac, throwing stuff, or wetting my pants. I am just not the hysterical type.
I think it's insulting to be thought of as a hysterical idiot , as well. I know there are actually a lot of goofy nuts out there, buut I for one would not want to be portrayed as one of them. Lucky for me, too, because I am pretty sure that if I had acted all goofy and inane, John probably would have never come back to see me again after that first night. He liked being treated like a regular person and had little patience for twits.
Susan and Rell, I think he would have liked you both.

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Paul is still alive.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Tahoma, Arial, Sans-Serif">Quote:</font><HR>Originally Posted By angelgodiva:
had little patience for twits.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Ha! Then I probably would have liked him too!


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I go back so far, I'm in front of me...

Thanks, Angel...I'd like to hope so, anyway! I mean, I KNOW I'd have liked HIM...

Of course, I was always afraid that if I ever actually DID meet John, my IQ would drop about 200 points and I'd be rendered a drooling, incoherent idiot! I think that maybe the woman I am NOW could handle it, but the girl I was as a teenager, while she might not have gotten hysterical, would not have been the most scintillating of conversationalists, either...sigh...

Still, I often say I'd have liked to meet him just for the mental exercise of trying to keep up with him!

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Rooftop Sessions - The Finest In Beatles-Related Fiction. October 2002 Issue Now Up!

"In writing, the difference between the right word and almost the right word is like the difference between lightning and lightning bugs." - Mark Twain

Mental exercise--that's a good way to put it. When he got going sometimes, he COULD be rather exhausting;in a good way, though.

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Paul is still alive.

I love Paul, but I am definitely not a swooner and I am not demented, either.

My standard response to anything too personal is "no comment."

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Then we will remember things we said today. Yeah.
-- Beatles, 1964

With a love like that, you know you should be glad, yeah, yeah, yeah!
-- Beatles, 1963

Read www.rooftopsessions.com for high caliber Beatles fan fiction.

BB1964

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Tahoma, Arial, Sans-Serif">Quote:</font><HR>Originally Posted By angelgodiva:
Susan and Rell, I think he would have liked you both.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I would hope he'd like me in addition to you guys, but, we all can dream.

-lennon4

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Imagine. (it's here)

~All You Need Is Love~

*Need Beatles Art? E-mail Me!*

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Tahoma, Arial, Sans-Serif">Quote:</font><HR>Originally Posted By lennon4:
I would hope he'd like me in addition to you guys, but, we all can dream.

-lennon4

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Me too, L4!



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John thoughts on "Yesterday":
"That's Paul's song, Paul's baby. Well Done. Beautiful--and I never wished I'd written it."
1980
Is it any wonder why I love John so much?

Macca "girl" fans you'd be surprised how fast your heart beats and how light you feel when you meet Paul as I did. Although I did not faint, everything I had wanted to say I simply forgot. I kept thinking "This guy walked over to me! He is standing with me! I can feel his pant leg brush mine. Am I just going to be like the rest and just get him to give me an autograph! Wow look at the red in his hair ( this was June 2001 when he had a little red)" and then the few minutes we shared I did not get to tell him anything I really wanted to. I did say Love ya Paul and he gave me a huge smile.


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McCartney Fan from NY area

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Tahoma, Arial, Sans-Serif">Quote:</font><HR>Originally Posted By girlmacca:
Macca "girl" fans you'd be surprised how fast your heart beats and how light you feel when you meet Paul as I did.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I've met him too and though I admit to being very excited about it and walking around with a goofy grin on my face for about the next week, I promise I didn't swoon, pass out or otherwise get hysterical! Maybe I figured if I did, I might miss something! HA!

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I go back so far, I'm in front of me...

It IS weird the first time you find yourself next to a Beatle (or, an ex-Beatle, as it were). Walking the block or so I did with John after leaving the place where we met, I felt really weird; it seemed like sounds and smells were magnified, I could hear the sleeve of his leather jacket squeak whenever he lifted his cigarette to his mouth, and every time we passed a car or a window, I was sneaking peeks in the glass of me walking beside him!
The conversation was surprisingly normal, though, and after spending some time with him, I began to relax and just see him as a man who I really liked and who just happened to have an amazing mind and a lot of talent.

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Paul is still alive.

Since drool-a-thons are a dime a dozen, I found this related thread and thought the drooling could be confined to one place. The reason this has been brought up is the article and link, which others might find interesting.