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I
Met a Beatle
By
Mavericks' bass player Robert Reynolds
Thursday
September 7(Buddy Holly's birthday), while on tour in support of Kevin
Montgomery's current release, we had the distinguished pleasure of
being invited to attend and perform at Sir Paul McCartney's 25th Annual
Buddy Holly Birthday Bash. As many Holly fans know, Kevin
is the son of Bob Montgomery, Buddy's first pre-Crickets musical
partner.
The
anticipation of meeting Mr McCartney was almost more than I could
bear. For the past 10 years, as a member of The Mavericks, I have
had numerous opportunities to meet and/or work with many of my
favourite musicians. But I often lamented, 'I've still never met
a Beatle.' So here I was, on the eve of fulfilling a lifelong
dream.
To set the
scene, our tour consisted of Paul Deakin, Pat Buchanan, Jeff Finlin,
Kevin and myself. We arrived at the party dressed in our best
tour attire - somewhat wrinkled, of course. We were shown
upstairs, where the cocktail party had already begun. You must
know my eyes are darting about the room, wondering if he is
there. But no sign of Paul. We all belly-up to the bar, get
our first drinks, and exchange pleasantries with a few of the
guests. Some 15 minutes into the evening I look up and catch my
first in-person glimpse of a Beatle. He had entered the room
without fanfare, casually dressed and seemingly completely
relaxed. I, however, was not. I was completely
speechless. There he was, no more than 10 feet from me.
After countless hours of my life spent listening to and watching the
Beatles, one of them was right in front of me.
Seconds
later, Tony Bramwell, longtime Beatle associate, makes the
introduction, "Paul, I'd like you to meet some friends of mne."
And in classic Beatle humour Paul responds, 'Oh no, I'm not talking to
that lot." Then we all moved in for that first handshake.
Immediately, Paul is talking abouat Buddy Holly's influence on the
Beatles, and particularly the effect on John and his need for eye
glasses. I can't believe it. Paul is telling us stories I
had read many times before. He then encourages us to enjoy the
evening and continues to make his rounds.
The evening
could have ended right there. IT happened. I met a
Beatle. And yet the night was young. There was still plenty
of food, drinks and music ahead. We spent the next hour chatting
with old friends and new, including some Mavericks'
acquaintances. Slowly, we moved closer to the stage, awaiting our
turn to perform. When out of nowhere Paul bounds up and does a
couple of Holly tunes. This is like a little private McCartney
concert and we're standing front and centre. Two songs
later, we're invited onstage to play. We start with Kevin and Pat
singing "Wishing", a song Kevin's father co-wrote, and followed it with
me singing "Not Fade Away". What a truly tremendous feeling,
we're playing music for Paul McCartney, who is right in front of us
bopping and grooving like a teenager. In the space of a song,
everything for me has come full circle. And for a moment, the
circle is complete...
When we
finished, Paul congratulated us with handshakes and hugs and a few good
quips. We all expressed our thanks for the invitation, with hopes
to do it again sometime and set off for the bar.
Driving out
of London that night, heading for the next stop on the tour, sleep in
the van was kind of dreamlike. I had to remind myself over and
over - I MET A BEATLE.
British Beatles
Fan Club magazine, Christmas 2000
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