Signing a book for Paul McCartney. Adults have relationship issues all over the world
By Tom P Blake
As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, a woman named Victoria came to my Dana Point, Ca. deli and purchased a copy of my Finding Love After 50. How to Begin. Where to Go. What to Do book. She asked me to inscribe it to Sir Paul McCartney.
Victoria said she felt the book would help him-as it had helped her when she went through a tough divorce-to cope better during his current divorce from actress Heather Mills.
I was pretty darned surprised. I picked up my pen. I can usually knock out a sentence or two without much thought when personalizing a book for someone. But what the heck do you write to Paul McCartney? You don't say something dumb like, "I enjoy your music," he's heard that millions of times.
So, I wrote a sentence to the effect that he'll get through his divorce. I decided not to mention the folly of older men dating and marrying women 26-years younger. I added if there was anything else I could help him with to call me.
And then I thought, yea, sure, Paul McCartney's going to call me. I didn't include my phone number. If he wants to reach me, my contact information is listed in the book.
I finished my greeting: "Paul, if you'd ever like to sit down for a pint of Watney's Red Barrel (ale) together, I'm available."
After Victoria left the deli, with Paul McCartney's autographed book under her arm, it occurred to me that all over the world adults have relationship issues later in life. Even an original Beetle.
When I got home, I told my partner Greta about what had happened. She said, "If you ever sit down for a pint with Paul McCartney, I'll be right there with you."
I wrote about the incident in my newspaper column. Responses poured in. Many women echoed Greta's comment: if Sir Paul comes to Southern California, they also wanted to be included.
As I reported last week, not everyone was impressed. Two of our readers took me to task. Sharon said Victoria probably was throwing herself at him and Shirley said McCartney was a tightwad and not to bleed for him.
Victoria told me she paid $63 to have the book shipped overnight to England, only to have the package rejected and not opened. She paid another $63 to have it returned. Then she shipped it to Paul's New York agent. She hasn't had a response yet.
For me, this was all in good fun, I didn't think much about it, until Wednesday night. I was visiting my mom in Santa Rosa (Sonoma County) and happened to turn on Larry King. His show was devoted to the one-year anniversary of the Cirque Du Soleil show in Las Vegas called "The Beatles - LOVE." The show features the Beetles music and was approved by Yoko Ono (John Lennon's widow), Olivia Harrison (George Harrison's widow), Ringo Starr and, yup, Sir Paul.
The four of them were guests on King's show live from Las Vegas. If you missed it, and you ever get a chance to see a rerun of it, watch it. The photos and the music brought back to me the incredible impact the Beetles had on our generation-whether you liked them or not.
It was heartwarming to see the camaraderie among the four of them, particularly between Ringo and Paul. The Beatles considered themselves a family and still do.
Paul admitted to King that the divorce was difficult, and he coped best by not discussing it. King changed the subject after that. I wondered if Paul had seen my book that Victoria sent to him.
And I got to thinking. With Paul so close in Las Vegas to Dana Point, a mere hour by air, perhaps he'll pop over and have that pint of Watney's Red Barrel after all. But, as of this writing, I haven't heard from him.