Concert For George Celebrity Screening – Burbank 2003
It was an amazing night. The screening was on the Warner Bros Lot in Burbank. I just couldn’t believe it. Here’s who was in attendance…. Paul McCartney and (a verrry pregnant) Heather Mills McCartney Ringo Starr and Barbara Bach Olivia and Dhani Harrison Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Jeff Lynne Ravi Shankar and Family Kid Rock with Sheryl Crow (sitting together) James Taylor (sitting behind Kid and Sheryl) Rosanna Arquette and Meg Ryan Michael Kamen Ray Cooper Garry Shandling Harry Shearer Andy Sumners Albert Lee Billy Preston Yoko Ono Jackson Browne Nathan East Abe Laboriel Jr. Neil Aspinall Eric Idle I found this account of it online posted by a Macca fan. Well worth a read.. http://www.macca-central.com/news/1414/Private-Screening-of-‘Concert-for-George’—EXCLUSIVE-INSIDE-REPORT/?nomenu=y
As a lifelong “all things Beatle” fan, I cannot properly desribe my feelings right now. Seeing Paul and Ringo hug in front of Ravi Shankar? Priceless!!! Watching this film, in which they perform GEORGE songs, knowing that he is gone, and that you are watching it with the musicians on screen? Indescribable!!
So, the film is wonderful. You WILL cry when you see the DVD. Very very well done. However, I had a hard time focusing on the film with THOSE names above this paragraph in the same small theater as me watching the film.
After the screening, my girlfriend and I hotfooted it to the lobby. Please understand that we had to walk by PAUL, RINGO and DHANI and JEFF to walk to the lobby. My girlfriend, ballsy as ever, approached Paul in the lobby and got his handshake, while Paul said “I have to find the toilet”. In the tradition of Monty Python, who also appear in the film, yours truly also had to sincerely use said toilet, so I grabbed a “complimentary” glass of Chardonnay and headed for the loo. Now, picture yourself after a two hour film, with 2 bottles of water and a glass of wine in your system. So, I’m at the urinal, taking care of “business:, and HE is behind me, back to back, talking to Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne. Mile Campbell is to the urinal at my left, laughing at my predicament. I FINNALY finish, intent on at least getting a handshake out of my hero, when I realize….I SHOULD WASH ME HANDS!!!! So, as HE is leaving, I’m hurriedly washing my hands, and go to the lobby…….there HE is, talking to Jeff Lynne. I sat to Paul, “I could not rightly tell my Mum that I met Paul McCartney without shaking his hand”, and Paul, looking at my wet, undried hands, exclaiams: “Right! Great! “. He hits my shoulder, and he’s off………….out the door. I turn around, look at Jeff Lynne, turn around again at Paul and say, in utter desperation, “My hands are clean!!!”
And that, ladies and gentlemen, will be the Paul McCartney story that I tell my grandchildren many many years from now. Pitiful or hilarious…you be the judge.