Meet The Beatles! (Or at least one of them)

January 31, 2012 - Sometime in early January, SiriusXM satellite radio announced that Ringo Starr would be hosting a Town Hall meeting to be broadcast live on Sirius radio from the Troubadour club in West Los Angeles, California, to promote Ringo’s new album release, “2012.”  Sirius listeners who wished to be part of the audience were told to submit one question per listener to Sirius through their website and that after reviewing the submissions, twenty lucky listeners would be chosen to be on hand live at the Troubadour with Ringo to ask their questions directly to him.

Fourteen months ago, I was fortunate enough to win tickets in the 4^th row to see Paul McCartney and his band perform live at the Apollo Theater with an audience of Sirius listeners, Sirius staffers and dozens of McCartney’s celebrity fans, so I knew that while the odds of winning probably were not great, I could not possibly win without entering.  I spent a few days mulling over potential questions and, realizing that he was promoting a new album, decided to ask Ringo specifically about how he became a songwriter.  I then logged-on and found that the question submission space allowed for 1,000 characters, so the questions could be long; thus, I wrote a series of four or five questions related to songwriting and clicked the “submit” button.

After submitting, I decided to read the rules to see the specific details of the contest.  I was crushed to read a rule stating that only entries with one question would be considered.  I thought I was out of the contest as soon as I submitted my series of songwriting questions; game, set match.

Still, I figured I would log on and listen when the town hall took place. 

On Tuesday, January 24, while eating lunch at work, my cell phone rang and when I failed to recognize the number on the caller ID, figured I would let the call go to voicemail until I remembered that I had just promised a former student who had just applied for an internship that I would serve as a reference for them.  So I answered the phone.  The caller told me that she was from SiriusXM and was calling to congratulate me as my question was chosen for the town hall with Ringo Starr, though Sirius could not supply airfare or hotel accommodations.  She asked if I still wanted to go.  Seriously?  I’d start walking right then and there from my home in New Jersey if that was what it took to get to LA by Monday to meet a Beatle!

The problem was that the event was scheduled for Monday, January 30, from 1pm to 3pm (Pacific time) in Los Angeles.  I had an event to attend at my children’s school in the early afternoon on Sunday, January 29, and a minor surgical procedure scheduled for seven in the morning on Tuesday, January 31; if I was going to go to California, I had about a thirty-six hour window for the round trip.  I promptly looked-up flights on American Airlines and found that I could get out locally from Newark Airport Sunday evening, but would have to return home on the red-eye (the overnight flight) to New York’s Kennedy Airport in Queens in order to make it to my surgery on time.

It would be a crazy whirlwind trip, but after working as much as seventy-five hours a week at my five jobs during the fall, a wild two day cross-country jaunt would not come close to exhausting me.  Besides, I had a few aces in the hole – may Dad worked for American airlines and I would be flying for free and my brother, Jeff, and his wife live in Los Angeles with their newborn son and, after checking Google Maps, I was pleased to discover that Jeff’s home was located about ten minutes from Los Angeles International Airport and about fifteen minutes from the Troubadour.  The entire trip would cost me nothing and by staying with my brother, I'd be the first family member other than grandparents to see the new baby.  Excellent!

Unfortunately, however, my wife, Susan, would not be joining me as my guest.  There simply was no possible way to make arrangements for our own kids to get to and from school those two days.  My oldest daughter, Katie, wanted to go with me – and I would have LOVED for her to come along – but the contest rules limited winners and their guest to adults aged eighteen or over exclusively.  I was sure my brother would be happy to join me.

On Sunday afternoon, my father was gracious enough to drive me to Newark Airport and agreed to pick me up at Kennedy upon my return to drive me straight to surgery so Susan could get the kids off to school.  While I have always been a comfortable flyer, as fate would have it, I had visited the 9/11 Memorial in Lower Manhattan on Monday, January 23.  Thus, terrorism was on the back of my mind as I traveled to the airport and it left me with a sense of unease.  I looked for a sign that my trip would be completed safely and that sign came when I arrived at the TSA screening line:  The Beatles “Penny Lane” was playing on the loudspeaker at the screening line.  It would be a safe Beatles trip with Ringo!

After and uneventful flight, I arrived in LA, was picked-up by my brother and went to sleep.  Or tried.  I was too excited to sleep and spent the night tossing and turning.

On Monday, we went to the Troubadour and arrived at 11am to find a short line had formed.  I checked-in and a video crew was walking the line and interviewing attendees.  They asked if we would agree to speak on camera and I said I’d be happy to do so; just as happy as I was when I was on line at the McCartney show at the Apollo.  The Sirius staffers were stunned; I had won two of their major contests involving the two living Beatles.  We had a good chat on camera before entering the Troubadour.

The Troubadour is an extremely small club with an amazing history.  Many of the biggest artists of the 1970s traced their beginnings to gigging at the club including James Taylor, Carole King, the Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, Jackson Browne and Elton John, among many others.  There was hardly any memorabilia visible of the club’s past, however.  The room featured a stage, a small open area that was filled with forty folding chairs for the town hall’s attendees, and a bar.  That was basically it.  From the middle of the floor, one could look left and right and see outside if both the front and back doors were open.  There was a balcony, which housed the VIP rooms, but they were not very large, either.  Regardless, it was the perfect venue for this event as every seat in the room was within 15 feet of the foot of the stage.

When the contest winners were e-mailed with contest details, we were told that the entire group would take one group photo with Ringo.  Not to sound like an ingrate, I thought it disappointing that I would have to appear in a photo with 38 complete strangers and Ringo.  While waiting for the event to start, we discussed this with other contest winners and all were in agreement; we figured that there were just twenty of us and if we lined-up for individual photos of the winners and their guests with Ringo, twenty individual photos could probably be taken in less than three minutes.  Heck, it would be just like lining up for character photos at Disney World!

Shortly after discussing this with a few of my fellow contest winners, we were told we would be going upstairs to take individual photos with Ringo.  Wow!!!  I would get to meet Ringo, shake his hand, exchange a comment or two and get a photo as a permanent reminder of this most memorable event.

Meeting Ringo was a blast.  He was a cordial, accommodating host who exchanged some banter with his guests and smiled pleasantly for noted rock photographer, Rob Shanahan, who captured these pictures for forty most grateful fans. 


My brother, Jeff (left), Ringo Starr and I

 

We all shuffled back to our seats and I noticed drummer Gregg Bissonnette standing near the bar.  Bissonnette is a friend of Ringo’s who has been a member of Starr’s All-Starr Band.  He and I also share a common friend.  In the 1980s, Bissonnette was the drummer for David Lee Roth.  For the past sixteen years, I have worked with a man who served as a member of Roth’s security team in the 1980s and knows Bissonette well.  So I approached Bissonette and introduced myself.  He was friendly and told me to pass a “Hello” to our friend the next time that I see him.  Will do, Gregg!

Finally it was showtime and British actor/comedian Russell Brand took the stage to set-up the show, announce the ground rules, tell some bawdy jokes and, finally, start the live broadcast on SiriusXM.  Brand promptly introduced Ringo Starr and an intimate eighty minutes of conversation between the renowned Beatles drummer and fans began. 

The questions were excellent and one audience member noted that on this date, forty-three years prior, the Beatles performed their last live concert, the rooftop concert that became the Let It Be album.  Ringo answered them all and appeared to really enjoy the discussion, though at times, Russell Brand’s inappropriately sexually-charged quips seemed to frustrate Starr.  Midway through the Q and A session, Brand left the stage and was replaced by music producer extraordinaire Don Was, who conducted a more serious and musically-oriented session, even offering his own follow-up questions.

My opportunity to ask my question occurred during Don Was’ segment and Don did a great job of introducing me, pronouncing both my name and hometown properly – no small feat in itself.  I failed to mention that when we were seated in an order that matched our opportunity to ask our question, we were given a card with our question pre-printed on them because some people were, understandably, nervous and couldn’t remember their question.  The SiriusXM card simply gave us another souvenir (to go with the photo and an event pass hanging from a Sirius lanyard around our necks).  I did not need my card as I had wanted to thank Ringo for being an “entertainer for all ages” for years, and that’s exactly what I did.  I began by thanking him and explaining what “entertainer for all ages” meant; that the first song my children ever heard was his voice singing Lennon’s “Good Night” while being rocked to sleep; that as toddlers, my kids were fans of his narration of tales of Thomas the Tank Engine; and that the kids learned to sing along with him on “Yellow Submarine.”

He thanked me and then I asked how he got into songwriting and if the Beatles encouraged him.  He mentioned that the first song he had written, “Don’t Pass Me By” took time to join the Beatles catalog because the others were simply writing brilliant music and that to get one of his songs on an album meant taking something else off.  He also said that he had developed a knack for writing songs that he later discovered were simply re-writes of older hits, so they were never recorded; a remark that drew laughs.  Then he told the story of how he wrote Octopus’s Garden:  He had been on a boat cruise in the Mediterranean when he was eating octopus for the first time.  The boat’s captain told Ringo about how Octopus’s made gardens of stones on the ocean floor and that this conversation provided the inspiration for the song; simple as that.

After another half-dozen or so questions, Ringo introduced his band which featured the aforementioned Gregg Bissonette on drums, Richard Page (leader of 80s band Mr. Mister) on bass, Bruce Sugar (veteran sessionman and Ringo collaborator) and Mark Hart (hired gun for Supertramp and Crowded House) on keyboards and Steve Dudas (another veteran LA sessionman and Ringo collaborator) on guitar.  The group opened with the immensely popular "It Don't Come Easy".  Then Ringo took to his own drum kit and lit into "I Wanna Be Your Man."  Ringo returned to the foot of the stage and introduced his brother-in-law, Joe Walsh, who joined the group for the new version of “Wings” as featured on the new album.  The band went back to the Beatles to close the show with "With a Little Help From My Friends" and “Act Naturally”.  After shaking hands with Ringo at the end of his performance and thanking him once again (he thanked me for coming!), I turned and headed to the exit.

It was a great show to end an outstanding event with one of rock’s best drummers from the music industry’s greatest group.  And to top it off, upon exiting the Troubadour, we were each given a copy of Ringo’s newest release, 2012, on both CD and vinyl. 

As my departing flight was not scheduled to leave for another five hours, Jeff and I took a stroll up Doheny Drive to The Rainbow Bar & Grill, which ran parallel to Santa Monica Boulevard’s Troubador on Sunset Boulevard.  The Rainbow is a legendary hangout for rock musicians and their groupies from the 1970s through today.  John Lennon was a regular during his eighteen month “lost weekend” with Mae Pang and since the 1980s, the bar became noted as one of the leading homes for the LA metal scene.  We had a beer and their famous mozzarella sticks before heading to C & O Trattoria on Venice Beach for an outstanding dinner al fresco.

Then it was off to LAX for a routine flight and four hours of sleep on the red-eye.  Despite a long delay on the ground, I still managed to walk into the surgical center Tuesday morning just ten minutes late, to the shock of the nurses and doctors who were amazed that I had gotten off a plane from the west coast to be cut up.  Fortunately, the surgery went smoothly and the craziest 36 hours of my life concluded safely, successfully and most memorably.  Thanks, again, Ringo!

December 13, 2010 - Paul McCartney Threw Me The Greatest Birthday Party Ever!

12/13/2010 - As a Sirius-XM radio subscriber for about 5 years, I was happy to hear that Sirius-XM would be adding an exclusive, limited-run Paul McCartney station called "Band On the Run Radio" from Thanksgiving through Christmas. Once it began to air, Sirius announced that Paul McCartney would be performing at an exclusive concert for Sirius Radio contest winners on Monday, December 13, to be broadcast live on Sirius, and that the only way to win was to call in when the song Band on the Run played on Band On The Run Radio. I immediately thought, "It is destiny. The show is on my birthday and after experiencing both job loss in April and the announced closing of my children's school in October, something had to break my way and get the next year of my life started on the right foot and it was to be this concert. Destiny!"

On Tuesday, November 30, while driving to William Paterson University where I teach a weekly television production course, Band On The Run was being aired and I furiously dialed my cell phone and hoped. And got through! The phone was ringing! The call was answered and a person said, "You're not a winner, sorry, try again." I hit redial a number of times and tried and kept getting a busy signal until I simply gave up.

Paul McCartney strums the mandolin during "Dance Tonight"

On the way home from William Paterson four hours later, the song was played again. And I called again. And I got through again. And I was told I was not a winner and to try again. And I tried until giving up after a dozen more busy signals.

I continued to listen to the radio on that drive home when a promo came on and stated that a random caller who heard the complete song played would win. That's when it hit me: Bits of the song are played in promos and the chorus plays out at the end of the song Nineteen-Hundred and Eighty-Five, so the first caller who got through after the song was played in its entirety would be the winner! The key wasn't getting a ring during the song; it was getting a ring at the end!

The next day, I was home all morning, waiting to teach my Rutgers University class at 12:15pm, so I logged onto the Sirius website and listened all morning on-line. A live version of Band On The Run was played and I started dialing. I got through not once, but twice, while the song was playing. And I wasn't a winner either time. So kept redialing and as the song neared the end, the phone started ringing. Then the song faded out and my call was answered. I WON! I was going to see Paul McCartney at the Apollo Theater, seating capacity 1,475.

But where was I to sit? I was told that I would be receiving an e-mail with details within 24 hours and was ecstatic to have a Blackberry so I wouldn't have to wait to get that prized e-mail. It came the next day, but the e-mail simply confirmed that I had won, that I would get my tickets at the theater on December 13, and that doors would open at 6pm. Complimentary hors d'oeuvres, wine, beer and soda would be served. Winners would also receive a free commemorative tee shirt and a lanyard. Great! Could life get any better?

The e-mail invite!

I began counting down the days and wondering what surprises Paul McCartney had in store; but I did not want to know, I wanted to be surprised.

Brian Ray is Paul McCartney's rhythm guitar/bass player. I have been Facebook friends with him for some time. Brian posted that the band was rehearsing. I posted on his page that rehearsing meant new material, but what could it be? I didn't want to know, I'd rather be surprised. Brian replied that it was great that I won the tickets and I'd have to wait to hear what was new. OK, so I knew that there'd be something new that Paul had either not played in a long, long time or, perhaps, had never played.

The excitement was building!

Then on Wednesday, December 8, I read an Associated Press article stating that Paul McCartney attended a fundraiser for the Chabad House at the Hyatt Regency in New Brunswick. I drive past the Hyatt is twice a week to teach at Rutgers University and the hotel is located just 4 miles from my Piscataway home. I even knew an attendee who snapped a photo and posted it on her Facebook page. McCartney Fever had hit me with full force!

McCartney Week continued that evening when Sir Paul appeared as a guest on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Three days later, Paul was the music guest on Saturday Night Live. Just to tune up for the SNL appearance, I spent Saturday evening watching McCartney's 1993 SNL appearance, where our hero served as the musical guest and performed an unprecedented three songs: Get Out Of My Way, Biker Like An Icon and Hey Jude. On this year's appearance, McCartney wound-up besting his own record by performing four songs (which helped to save an utterly humorless show): Jet, Band On The Run, A Day In The Life/Give Peace A Chance and Get Back. Now I was ready for the Apollo show Monday night. But there was one more surprise in store for me.

The day before the concert, Sunday, December 12, the New York Jets were hosting my favorite team, the Miami Dolphins. Because I was serving as an A-2 audio engineer, I would spend that afternoon on the sidelines, hoping my 6-6 Dolphins could beat the 9-3 Jets in their own stadium. Not likely, but then, it was my birthday. It was destiny!

The Jets had booked Clarence Clemons from Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band to perform the national anthem at the Dolphins game. Twenty-five years ago I would've flipped to meet "The Big Man," but now, after years of working around athletes and celebrities, working with Clemons was part of the job. During sound check and rehearsals, Clemons arrived on the back of a golf cart and walked with crutches to the stage to play. It saddened me to see him like this and I just hoped he'd get through the anthem without falling off the stool on which he would sit while performing.

By the time Clemons was ready to perform the anthem at the start of the game; I stood behind the Dolphins bench and noticed a familiar face standing on the sideline adjacent to the bench. Standing there with a friend was none other than Brian Ray! Again, destiny! So before I approached, I had to think What could I ask him that was both a good question and not seem fawnish? Simple, "Hi, Brian Ray? I'm Joe, your friend from Facebook. I am a big fan of Paul who is going to the show tomorrow night. I saw you guys at CitiField a year and a half ago and I was seated about 100 feet from the stage, on the field. When you played Live And Let Die, I felt the heat from the flames from my seat. How hot was it on stage?"  Brian smiled and said that the pyro was only 10 to 20 feet from the band and it was just unreal -­ super hot and really awesome.

Brian Ray and I at the Jets/Dolphins game, December 12, 2010.

We chatted for a bit and I snapped a picture of Brian in front of the Fins bench, complete with players behind him, on his iPhone for him and then he posed for a picture with me that a security guard snapped. Then Brian noted that he has the same camera as I. In all, he was just a really great guy and he congratulated me on winning the tickets. I asked him if he'd be selling his latest CD at the souvenir stands and he said he hadn't planned to do so, but that it was a great idea and that if I'd buy one, he'd leave a couple of signed CD's at the merchandise stand. How can I turn down an offer like that? We stood together while Clemons played the anthem and sang along with his instrumental performance -­ the first time I've sung with a professional musician, ha ha! We parted company with a quick, "See you tomorrow night, enjoy the game!"

Of course, the Dolphins came through and beat the Jets, 10-6; again, it seemed as though I was destined to have a great weekend.


Monday, December 13, show day!

Woke up, fell out of bed, dragged a comb across my head. Well, not exactly. I awoke as I normally do, with the alarm going off to Christmas music playing. Got the kids off to school and spent much of the morning responding to the well-over 100 Facebook posts wishing me a Happy Birthday (thanks everyone!). When I went to pick up the kids from school, I listened to Band On The Run Radio and heard that Beatles recording engineer Geoff Emerick was on-hand to serve as a mix engineer for the show. Excellent! I have his book and figured I would bring it to the show to have him sign it. And I would pack McCartney's book, Blackbird Singing, just in case... I grabbed a plastic bag and threw my camera in with the books even though cameras were not permitted at the show.

After helping the kids with homework, my parents arrived to watch the kids and my wife, Susan, and I were off to Harlem -­ just a 45 minute trip up the Turnpike, over the George Washington Bridge and down the Henry Hudson Parkway to 125th Street. We found a parking space on 123rd Street and walked two blocks to the Apollo Theater on a cool but comfortable evening with snow flurries falling, a first for my birthday. Birthday snow! Destiny!

We arrived at the theater and were first on line to enter the heated tent with the other contest winners who got there before we did. No problem. We'd wait in the cold for 45 minutes if that's all it took to get into that theater. No problem at all.

While on line, we met other contest winners. One couple flew in from California. Another drove 30 miles per hour through the snow in North Carolina for hours. Another drove up from Georgia. I had a traffic-free ride from nearby Piscataway. Piece of cake!

As our wait concluded, we were handed a Sirius-XM lanyard with a souvenir McCartney credential and were reminded to pick up our free tee shirts inside. At 6:15 p.m., we were finally allowed to enter the theater and moved into the heated tent to pick up our tickets and go through the metal detectors. I handed my bag over to security, who saw two books inside and never noticed the camera.  When a Sirius employee handed me the tickets, the first thing I noticed was the word "Orchestra;" the second, the letter "D." Fourth row from the stage! WOW! It couldn't have been better than this!

We entered the Apollo and picked up our free tee shirts. There was a merchandise stand, but I wanted to get in, get some food and a glass of wine and get to our seats so we could put our jackets down. I also wanted to look for Geoff Emerick. So we headed out of the lobby and into the theater, where I marveled at just how small the theater was. I promptly found the mix position at the back of the house -­ 8 feet from the bar -­ and asked for Mr. Emerick. I was disappointed to hear that he was mixing the SiriusXM broadcast feed in a truck behind the theater, so I wouldn't be getting my book signed.

As we turned, I noticed a ridiculously tall, thin man standing next to me and posing for a photo with someone and heard the name Danilo Gallinari. He plays for the Knicks, though I am no fan of the Knicks or the NBA, so onward we moved. After picking up a glass of wine and some delicious complimentary vegetarian vittles (Paul's request, I'm sure), Susan and I headed to our seats when we heard someone say that Jeff Gordon had just walked by. Being that I haven't watched a stock car race since well before Richard Petty retired, I thought it was pretty cool that the driver was there, but did not exactly seek him out. Then again, I did not need to seek him out because by the time we arrived at our seats, I turned around to put my jacket down and noticed Jeff Gordon and his wife, the beautiful Ingrid Vandebosch, a Belgian model and actress, were seated two rows behind us.

Gordon smiled, realizing he'd been spotted, and I said a polite hello. Vandebosch was simply dripping in diamonds with long diamond earrings and a huge rock centered by smaller diamonds for her engagement ring. I chatted with the Gordon's for a bit and did not bother them for autographs or photos. They were both very nice. Neither had seen McCartney live before, so they were pretty happy to be there and explained that they had received their tickets through the NASCAR channel on Sirius radio.

While we chatted, Susan left to powder her nose. That's when I saw Paul "Wix" Wickens, Paul McCartney's bandleader and keyboard player, by the Sirius broadcast position to the right of my seats. I walked over, introduced myself and thanked Wix for coming to the Apollo and opening up the show to fans. He was really nice and moved on to get ready for the gig. By the time I got back to my seat, Susan returned and exclaimed that she saw Howard Stern by the bathrooms with his wife, model Beth Ostrosky. That's when I left to procure more food and wine and to pick up Brian Ray's CD at the souvenir stand.

When I returned, Susan was laughing hysterically. I noticed that Jeff Gordon was gone, replaced by two other people and I asked where the Gordon's went. She told me that an usher brought two people down and that when the Gordon's got up to be replaced, she said, "You can't move him, he's Jeff Gordon!" Then she realized that the Gordon's were being moved to make room for Alec Baldwin and his friend.

Before you knew it, all kinds of celebrities were walking into the theater -­ and each one was settling into seats behind ours. We met two women seated next to us -­ both named Martha ­- who also won their tickets on Sirius and brought signs with the name "Martha" on them. Across the room, Martha Stewart walked in, saw the sign and snapped a photo of the two Marthas with their sign and Susan and I in the background! The two Marthas left to meet Ms. Stewart and Susan pointed-out an oldish man with messy black hair and asked who he was. Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones! Wow! I walked around the front row to take a picture of Wood and by the time I arrived at his seat, fellow Stone Keith Richards had settled in next to Wood. John McEnroe was in the row ahead of the Stones with his wife, pop singer Patty Smyth. Jerry Seinfeld was a few seats down from the Stones with fellow comedian George Wallace. Behind Wood sat Saturday Night Live Producer Lorne Michaels with SNL player Fred Armison. Behind Michaels, Kevin Bacon and his wife Kyra Sedgwick were seated. I snapped a photo that captured everyone and went back to my seat.

Keef!  Keith Richards with Ronnie Wood leaning behind him

Once back to my own seat, I spotted Little Steven, Steve Van Zandt. To me, he remains Miami Steve, from Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band; but to those younger than I, he's Silvio from The Sopranos. Anyhow, I approached him and mentioned that I saw Clarence Clemons at the Jets game just the day before and asked if he was alright. Steve was happy to hear that Clarence was out and about because he had recently had his knees replaced and was losing weight. Good for you, Big Man!

When I returned to my seat, Susan had spotted Tony Bennett and just about flipped. I approached the legendary crooner, who is truly the last great voice of his generation of Italian standards singers still among us, and thanked him for his beautiful Christmas recordings that I have enjoyed so much. He graciously smiled, shook my hand and thanked me for the complement. Susan was in shock and I urged her to speak to him and pose for a photo. So did the two Marthas. It did not take too much arm-twisting to get her to go and I snapped a photo with her cell phone. She was just happy that Tony Bennett wished her a Merry Christmas.

Next I noticed Late Night talk show host Jimmy Fallon with comedian Chris Rock. Again, Jimmy had Paul McCartney on as a guest earlier in the week and the two sang the "original" version of the classic Yesterday, as it was with McCartney's place-holding lyrics, "scrambled eggs." After the first verse, the two sang a second verse about waffle fries. The bit was hysterical and I had to complement Fallon on the great bit. Fallon was very gracious and spent a couple of minutes explaining that the man seated next to him was one of his writers and the whole bit was his idea. He said that McCartney initially thought he was just appearing to be interviewed but agreed to perform and sing the parodied Yesterday with Fallon. Jimmy was a really nice guy and I posed for a photo with him, shot on my crummy cell phone camera, and I was very thankful.

Hanging with Jimmy Fallon!

As I proceeded to return to my seat, I noticed guitar player Doyle Bramhall II coming down the aisle. In a room with A-listers, Bramhall's a complete nobody, but I know him as the son of the man who co-wrote about a dozen songs with Stevie Ray Vaughan and was a great blues guitarist in his own right. Further, Bramhall II had released a CD with Charlie Sexton and Vaughan's bandmates as Arc Angles and another solo CD. Bramhall had also spent the last five to seven years serving as the rhythm guitar player for Eric Clapton. About a month before seeing Paul McCartney at CitiField in July, 2008, I saw Bramhall serve as a sideman for Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood at their incredible show at Izod Center. The drummer for the Clapton/Winwood tour was none other than Abe Laboriel, Jr. -­ Paul McCartney's drummer. Of course, I had to say "Hello" to Bramhall and I think he was genuinely surprised to be recognized.

By now it was nearing showtime, so I took one last look around and noticed Paul Simon and his wife, Edie Brickell, Val Kilmer, Steve Buscemi, Ben Stiller, Duran Duran's Simon LeBon, Matchbox 20's Rob Thomas, Swedish pop star Per Gessle from Roxette, Max Weinberg, Mark Ramone (the last living member of primary line-up of The Ramones), Larry David, Matt Damon, Jimmie Johnson, Will Ferrell, Jann Wenner, David Byrne, Aiden Quinn, Deepak Chopra and the CEO of Sirius/XM, Mel Karamzin, were also on hand for this historic show. Later in the week, after giving it some thought, I realized that once McCartney hit the stage, the net worth of the orchestra section must've been at least $6-7 billion. Incredible.

In my career in sports and entertainment, I have met many celebrities, and I have never thought it to be a big deal, but this was sensory overload. It was like being in the audience at the Emmys or the Oscars, only better, because now the greatest singer and songwriter would be taking the stage just a few feet from where I stood. The best part of the evening and birthday was about to begin.

Paul McCartney plays the iconic Hofner bass

The Concert

The curtains rose as the band kicked off the show with Magical Mystery Tour, which was a very appropriate rocker because the evening was magical, the set list was a mystery and we'd be touring the catalog of one of the most important figures in Western Civilization over the last five decades. I have always considered McCartney to be one of rock's greatest bass players in addition to being one of the greatest songwriters of all-time and possessing one of rock's greatest voices. It was stunning to be there, four rows from the stage, closely watching McCartney's fingers play the bass while hearing the notes clearly and cleanly from the house PA. That is an experience you simply do not get at stadiums, where you sit far away, cannot see him play notes and the sound is slightly delayed from the miles of cable and the distance the sound must travel. Even from the front row at a stadium show, attendees are a minimum of 50 feet from the Paul, and looking up a good ten feet. He was playing right in front of me and the amp was a few feet away. He may have well been playing in my living room.

Paul started the show playing the iconic Hofner bass, which looked larger in his hands than it does on video. Seeing the every scratch in the Hofner this close with Paul's fingers riding up and down the neck was a real treat. I realized as I was singing along that I had a smile on my face a mile wide. I looked back to see all of these celebrities singing along and thought that it would be a long time before that smile was gone. Here I was singing Magical Mystery Tour with Paul McCartney, Paul Simon, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood!

I also happened to be seated in the center orchestra, on the aisle facing stage left -­ right in front of Brian Ray. Brian must have remembered meeting me at the Dolphins game because early on, he noticed me and smiled as we both sang along with Paul. What a rush.

As soon as Magical Mystery Tour ended, McCartney counted-off right into Jet, a full tilt rocker from the Band On The Run album. The song features a rolling bass line that Paul played flawlessly on the Hofner. Like the opener, Jet had the entire crowd standing up and singing along. During the chorus, the crowd was lit up by a bank of lights that enhanced the songs well.

After a bit of banter about how thrilled he was to play The Apollo for the first time in his career ­ "The Holy Grail," he called it ­ Paul walked over to the Apollo's "lucky log," smacked it and the band started-up another Beatles classic, Drive My Car, which also had the crowd singing along, "Beep-beep, beep-beep, yeah!"

Paul introduced his next song as a "newer song" and launched the band into, perhaps, the greatest two minutes in pop music history: All My Loving, a true classic from the early Beatlemania days. The audience was ecstatic and the atmosphere was purely electric as the hair on my arms was standing straight up. Paul's 68 year-old fingers ran nimbly up and down the fret board of the Hofner just as it had nearly five decades prior when The Beatles made All My Loving their first song played on their inaugural appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, just a mile or so down Broadway here in Manhattan. Paul's band hit every right note on the song.

Brian Ray solos during "All My Loving"

Just four songs in and the performance was already remarkable. The crowd cheered and Paul laughed it up afterward, letting out a hardy "Woo-hoo!" He must have been reflecting on the early Beatles days, when playing in small theaters like the Apollo, with the audience up close, was the norm.

As hard as it may be to believe, the band picked up the pace after All My Loving. Paul introduced the next song as one of the first "John and I wrote together in the front parlor of my old house on Forthlin Road" and broke into The One After 909. Originally written as early as 1957, the band simply tore it up and rocked the house. A true concert rarity, The One After 909 had only been played once by McCartney after The Beatles 1969 roof-top concert, when he and Elvis Costello performed it together in 1995.

McCartney then swapped his Hofner bass for his Les Paul guitar custom painted with small children all over it; a life-size copy of the 10-foot sculpture of a Les Paul he had signed for an auction to raise money for the Prince's Trust Nordoff- Robbins Music Therapy and Teenage Cancer Trust back in 2008. This is the guitar Paul has using for the last two years to play Let Me Roll It, another classic from his Band On The Run album and a staple of McCartney shows since he wrote the song nearly thirty years ago. I have now seen McCartney perform Let Me Roll It at each of the five McCartney concerts I have attended since 1989. Tonight's rendition featured a blistering keyboard solo by Wix. As was the case for the CitiField show, McCartney segued the song into an instrumental jam of Jimi Hendrix's Foxy Lady with Paul, himself, performing a raunchy solo.

After Let Me Roll It, Paul rid himself of his sports coat and proceeded to his Yamaha grand piano, placed on a riser stage left, next to Abe's massive drum kit. Paul addressed the crowd once again and began fingering his piano keys before launching into the classic, The Long And Winding Road. As is usually the case when Paul performs it live, we were treated to a stripped-down rendition, free of the wall-of-sound choirs and strings that drenched the studio version Phil Spector had produced for The Beatles Let It Be album back in 1970. At this point in the show, the crowd sat down to take in the ballad, performed beautifully.

For the third time in the show's first eight songs, Paul went back to the Band On The Run album for the up-tempo rocker, Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five. A rock radio staple in the 1970s, the song is carried by an instantly recognizable piano lead that shuffles along with maracas, drums and bass providing the rhythm. Paul actually flubbed the song early on when he went to the break too soon but smiled at Abe and proceeded to rejoin the band at the appropriate pace. No one around me seemed to notice, however, as the song may have been a bit obscure to the celebrities that filled seats around me. Having never seen McCartney perform the song live myself, I was thrilled to hear it. Somehow, the crowd remained seated during the song, though I was raring to jump out of my seat and probably should have. I mean, so what if I blocked Alec Baldwin and Howard Stern's view?

Paul laughed as Nineteen Hundred And Eighty-Five concluded, probably at his own mistake, then leaned into the microphone and declared that he just wanted to take a moment to soak in the Apollo. He proceeded to spend a good 15 seconds simply looking around the theater at the crowd. I took advantage of the opportunity to do the same and looked behind me at all the people cheering, then up at the two balconies where fans were standing and cheering and had hung signs over the railings for Paul.

Paul stayed on piano for one more song, another concert rarity: Maybe I'm Amazed. After the show, I saw a clip of Ronnie Wood entering the Apollo. Wood was asked to name his favorite McCartney song and replied that it was Maybe I'm Amazed. I am sure Wood was pleased to hear McCartney play it.

Paul began the piano intro and hit the wrong chord. He stopped the song and said, "No! I think we'll be giving out prizes later for spotting the deliberate mistakes. OK. that's not it. I know this. I wrote this! Let's start it again." The fans laughed with delight as McCartney restarted the song; which was handled expertly by the band, particularly lead guitarist Rusty Anderson, who covered the guitar solo note for note.

Paul then stepped down from the piano and walked off to get his Martin D-28 acoustic guitar. The band left the stage as McCartney introduced a song he wrote about the civil rights movement back in the late '60s, Blackbird. The crowd sat down and simply took in a beautiful rendition of this timeless classic. Once again, I made a point of closely watching Paul picking the strings on his guitar and hanging on each note. Simply amazing.

The band returned for an acoustic treatment of the obscure Beatles track (if any Beatles track can be called "obscure"), I'm Looking Through You, one of my favorites though lyrically it was an uncharacteristically biting song for McCartney sung in the most pleasant manner. Until this year's Up and Coming Tour, McCartney had never played it live. I am most grateful that he took it out of the vault.

Next up was another acoustic song, the old ballad And I Love Her, which featured Abe on bongos. The only time I had heard Paul perform And I Love Her live was on MTV's Unplugged concert about two decades prior. In that show, McCartney and his band slowed it down considerably. This time, McCartney performed it at its original tempo and this rendition came across beautifully; better than the Unplugged rendition, in my opinion.

Paul swapped the Martin for his left-handed mandolin, a sure sign that Dance Tonight was coming out of the on-deck circle. But first, Paul started strumming the mandolin and speaking with a Russian accent then improvised his own version of the Russian ballad Petrushka with the band providing an impromptu rhythm track. It was a fun moment for both the band and the crowd, which rose from their seats, clapped and sang along.

Then McCartney waved off the band and proclaimed that he was getting carried away; which is when he broke into Dance Tonight. It is hard to remember Paul strumming his mandolin during the song because the focal point of Dance Tonight was drummer Abe standing behind his drum kit, pounding on his foot pedal and dancing wildly and quite humorously with his arms flailing away.

The consummate gentle giant, Abe Laboriel, Jr. weighs in at well over 250 pounds, probably over 300; but he is a very animated drummer and dances even more outrageously than he plays. Even McCartney kept looking back to watch Abe work it with that gregarious smile plastered across his face.

McCartney then wrapped-up the slow portion of the show by retaining his Martin acoustic to sing another Beatles ballad, Eleanor Rigby. Whenever McCartney performs the song, Wix handles the strings with his keyboards and McCartney strums the acoustic while Abe and Rusty come to the front of the stage for backup vocals on the chorus. As soon as I noticed Abe coming out from behind the drums, I knew that Rigby would be up next and waited for Abe to approach the microphone before the song started. That's when I yelled to him and he looked down at Susan and me, smiled and gave us the "hang loose" sign with both hands. He's a man with a personality and heart larger than his figure and is probably the most entertaining drummer in the business. Then it was time to get to the seriousness of the song as the crowd sat back down and Paul and his mates performed a flawless version.

What happened next bears a long explanation. Paul talked about his great appreciation for the artists that graced the Apollo stage during the Beatles formative years and throughout the 1960s. He then introduced the next song as one of his favorites from that period, launching the band into a red-hot cover of "the late, great Marvin Gaye's" Hitch Hike, a somewhat obscure song from 1962 that was one of Gaye's first singles. During the first chorus, the screen behind the drum riser was illuminated, revealing the silhouettes of six go-go dancers behind it moving in unison with dance moves reflective of the early 1960s. Moments later, the screen rose to reveal the dancers wearing shimmering silver and white miniskirt outfits and go-go boots ­ totally '60s! Rusty then launched into a torrid solo when all of a sudden, the PA went out.

McCartney and mates covering Marvin Gaye's Hitch Hike

Without getting too technical, the PA is the speaker system that plays the music to the audience. The band hears the sound from two sources, the backline ­ which consists of the amplifiers and speakers lined-up behind them ­ and the mix monitors that are at their feet, just behind the microphones at the edge of the stage and facing the artist. Because the mix monitors are turned up and mixed specifically for the musicians, the band cannot always tell when the PA goes out, but in a small theater, the band could tell that the sound level diminished significantly and could see the crowd reacting to the much lower sound levels in the theater, off the stage. So after his band mates sported a few puzzling looks, Paul stopped the song. Immediately thereafter, a loud, ringing feedback filled the theater and everyone, from the audience to the band members covered their ears.

After the feedback stopped, McCartney tried to speak to the crowd, but the sound engineer had killed all PA speakers completely to stop the feedback, so McCartney could only be heard by people up close who heard him through the mix monitors. McCartney asked for applause for the go-go dancers, which the audience obliged with hearty cheers. McCartney then looked to his engineers at the mix position in the back of the house and asked if everything was alright. Rusty strummed a chord that rang out through the theater so Paul thought that everything was fine and prepped to launch the band back into the song. The only problem was, Paul's mic and bass were not restored to the mix, so I shouted out, "The PA is out." And in a moment I will never forget, Paul McCartney looked squarely at me, pointed to the speakers stage left and said, "The PA's out, is it? Well we'll have to carry on without the PA!" He joked that maybe Tony Bennett could come up and sing without a PA and proceeded to let out a loud, low, operatic "Flyyyyyyyyyy me to the moon," which was met with cheers of laughter. McCartney turned to his band and after a few shrugs, restarted Hitch Hike.

The drums and guitar were clearly audible, and things seemed fine until Paul started to sing; his mic was still out. After trying to get through the first verse and seeing the crowd pointing to their ears, he changed the lyrics at the end of the first verse to "I'm gonna stop this song, 'cause the PA is f*cked! I'm stopping it!" and stopped the song again. He handled the whole situation diplomatically, motioned for applause for the go-go dancers again and joked that maybe one of the comedians in the audience could come up and tell jokes for five minutes. Then while speaking his mic popped on. The crowd cheered and McCartney reintroduced the song by "the late, great Marvin Gaye" in a comical manner and restarted the song once again.

Finally, the sound system worked perfectly and the band eased their way through the song with, perhaps, a bit of trepidation. Afterward, McCartney remarked, "OK, now we've proved the show is live."

Next Paul led the band through one last song from the Band On The Run album, the title track. One of Paul's greatest post-Beatles hits, and a fan favorite this evening because most of the non-celebrities in the audience were there because they won their tickets when the song was played on SIRIUS/XM. I know I will never listen to the song the same way again!

Paul requested that the crowd sing along with the next song at the most appropriate part and broke into Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, from The Beatles white album. With Paul playing bass rather than piano, the keys were left to Wix, whose synthesizer sounded more like an organ/electric piano mix, giving the song a very reggae feel. It was great to hear this cheery old song performed live.

The band shifted into overdrive for Back In The U.S.S.R., a classic rocker also from The Beatles white album. The song began with the searing sound of jet planes, as it does on the album, and the crowd was instantly delighted. As the band began the song, the crowd danced and sang along.

Paul solos on his Les Paul

Paul slowed it down once again and stepped back to his piano for a trip back to the days of psychedelia, paying homage to his former band mate, co-writer and friend John Lennon with his rendition of A Day In The Life, segueing into the chorus of John's Give Peace A Chance immediately after the first song's break. The obvious sing-a-long Lennon song had the crowd thrusting their arms forward with a peace sign to the beat of the song and chanting along with the band.

The medley of Lennon songs was followed by one of the finest ballads ever written, Let It Be. Two decades ago, this song would've been accompanied by an audience holding up cigarette lighters, but with the banning of smoking in public places, the audience simply sang along and appreciated the sheer beauty of one of McCartney's finest songs.

McCartney closed the show on the piano with the most commercially successful song in the Beatles catalog, Hey Jude. Written years after the Beatles had ceased performing live, the song was never intended to be a concert sing-a-long song, but that is what it has become, with the crowd singing every line. After the choruses concluded and the song ran into the long, chanting fade-out coda, Paul left the piano to lead the audience in the "na, nah, nahs." First the men, then the women, then everyone together ­ before heading back to the piano to conclude the song. The band then came to the front of the stage and took their well-deserved bows before exiting, stage right.

The full band returned a few moments later with a great surprise for their fans. Paul led the band in an obviously appropriate rendition of Wonderful Christmastime. The familiar '70s keyboard synth sounds were played by Wix, with Abe thumping the low tom-tom drum with jingle bells. When it was time for "a choir of children" to "sing their song," spotlights lit the twenty or so children from the Academy of Harlem Choir that appeared on the riser behind Abe's drum kit to sing along. Rarely played live by McCartney, it was a joy to hear Wonderful Christmastime with Christmas less than two weeks away and snow falling in New York City. During the song, the jovial Abe donned a Santa hat featuring a springy corkscrew top and red lights.

Paul laughed at the conclusion of Wonderful Christmastime, perhaps surprised at how well it sounded, thanked the choir then imitated one of the most famous count-offs in the history of recorded music as the band lit into a torrid rendition of I Saw Her Standing There. At this point, it seems ridiculous to call yet another song a classic, but then, this is Paul McCartney's work and the label fits. The crowd ate up every second of it and wanted still more.

McCartney obliged, rounding out the first encore with Get Back but not before thanking the crowd and noting some of the luminaries in the audience, naming Keith Richards and a handful of others. For Get Back, Brian Ray performed the solos as the crowd once again bounced around and sang along in a state of musical ecstasy.

The second encore began when McCartney took the stage donning his old Epiphone Texan steel-string acoustic guitar, complete with the Detroit Red Wings sticker and a newly affixed Pittsburgh Penguins sticker to play Yesterday. One of the most popular, most played and most covered songs in recording history, Yesterday is a staple at McCartney shows. Paul played and sung it beautifully with string accompaniment provided electronically by Wix.

Like most of the crowd, I stood in silent amazement and hung on every note, wishing the song were about 20 minutes longer. After completing Yesterday, McCartney parodied himself, singing "Scrambled Eggs" just as he had on Jimmy Fallon's show earlier in the week before laughing and pointing at Fallon.



Paul strums his Martin acoustic


The band then returned to the stage and Paul announced that it was time to go home. The whole crowd seemed to shout "No!" but I may have been either the first or the loudest because McCartney looked straight at me and said, "Oh, yes. Yes it is! It's time to go."

He acknowledged his celebrity audience once again, teasingly thanked the sound crew with a light-hearted chuckle and thanked the crowd and the Apollo. Paul then swapped his Epiphone acoustic for his 1960 left-handed cherryburst Les Paul. He counted-off Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) intro and led the band into the rocker that he's been closing shows with for years.

As Pepper reached its final notes, the band segued into The End, which featured Abe mimicking Ringo Starr's only recorded drum solo adding a cymbal tap and a smile. Paul, Rusty and Brian swapped guitar solos in the same way John, Paul and George might have over forty years ago. With the final words of the song echoing through the theater "And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make," the band took its final bow, two hours and twenty-two minutes after sounding their first note.

Tens of thousands of pieces of confetti were launched from the ceiling as Paul and band headed stage right to exit, but Macca stopped to sign a few autographs at the foot of the stage.

I headed to the front row and tried to get over to get a guitar pick, but couldn't make it all the way to Paul's location. So as he finished signing, I shouted to him and asked for a pick. Paul turned to me, tossed the Sharpie pen he used to sign autographs, shrugged his shoulders, smiled and turned to leave. I did not get my pick but I could not be disappointed as I had experienced one of the greatest evenings of my life. I took away many memories far more valuable than a piece of plastic used to pluck guitar stings.

I returned to Susan at our seats, gathered our coats and headed out, posing for a quick picture with Doyle Bramhall and chatting up the affable Max Weinberg. Moments later, we were on the street, all alone, ears ringing, walking to our car as the snow fell on the Harlem streets. Our evening as "A-listers" had come to an abrupt ending and we were back to being regular people; albeit regular people with a helluva memorable evening. Those memories will bring a smile to my face for the rest of my life. As Susan said in the car on the way home, "I had the best birthday ever and it wasn't even mine!"