Still Fab Four Friday, just a litttttle different...

Remember that time I met Paul McCartney?

Yea. Pretty much the greatest day of my life.

And when I thought life couldn't get much better,

IT DID.

Yup, that's me.

And Paul.

Almost at arms reach again.

Get ready, this is a bit of a long one,

but believe me, it's a REALLY good one:::

I'll start by letting you know that Heather and I have some weird, freakishly great 

luck/karma when we are together .. mainly having to do with The Beatles & music.

I'm knocking on wood as I type this, but more than one time, really amazing thing have happened.

And this night at Paul McCartney's tour wasn't anything short of it.

I'll give a little background to this;

I was scheduled to see Paul in Jacksonville, FL in June, but due to his illness,

the show got rescheduled to after I'd be gone to London.

And of course, I was absolutely devastated.

But thanks to my neurotic impulsiveness when it comes to the need to do things I love,

I made some quick decisions and bought a plane ticket

along with a single ticket to Paul's show in Kansas City.

Heather lives in Kansas, so I'd get a 2-for-1 seeing her, and going to the show semi-together.
Now that's already a perfect plan, if you ask me..but clearly that wasn't enough for us.

Last year, Heather saw Paul McCartney in Tulsa, OK.

Back then she didn't know they did this, and she got upgraded to the front row with her friend Dave.

It was the greatest night of her life, and she posted hundred of pictures and videos, 

and I hated her with jealous.

Well.

We were very determined to get these seats again this time.

When you put it into facts that it already happened to Heather once,
and the numbers being a 1 in 15,000 chance, it seems slim.

But for some reason, we still had a feeling that it could happen to us.

Heather wore the same exact outfit she wore last year for luck, which I still find hilarious,

but I wore my favorite necklace I wanted to convince myself was lucky too.
And I even wrapped a Liverpool pendant necklace around my wrist 'just in case.'

We were PREPARED.

It was Heather, her mom and dad, and myself going to the show together.

We met up with a group of Heather and her mom's friends,

a big gang of Paul-lovers. Also known as my type of people.

We shared some pre-show drinks, appetizers, and excitement before heading over to the show.

The crowd was WILD - there was a massive line to get into the arena.

Naturally, we merged in as close as we could and managed to get in within about 20 minutes.

Once we got to the entrance, Heather and I split from the rest of the group to walk around ourselves.

We headed straight to the merchandise table to buy shirts before the lines got longer or things sold out.

By the time we were finished there, it was already around 7:50.

The show was scheduled to begin at 8:00, so we were a bit nervous.

We ran up to the top level to get some pictures of the arena, and walk around hoping for some luck.

Well that didn't happen.

And I was beginning to think that they may not be giving out tickets or anything at this show.

I mean, our eyes were peeled for some guys with Paul badges, and no one was around!
I was beginning to seriously plan and be satisfied for my single seat.
I mean I was at Paul McCartney's show - that was enough already!

We headed back down to the first level to walk around and see the arena a little more.

I noticed the line outside was still insanely long full of folks waiting to get in,
and walked over to the side to check it out.

We were staring out the window, when Heather felt a tap on her shoulder.

I turned around, and there he was.

An angel sent from above,
in the form of a tiny man with that purple 'Out There' badge around his neck.

Turning around and seeing this guy smiling at us.

That moment, is one I will never forget.

I took the shortest breath, and remember thinking 'OH MY GOD.'

I basically blacked out after he approached us, but from what I remember,

he asked us how we were, told us he worked for Paul and had noticed our excitement.

He commented on our big smiles and said that was what he was looking for around the arena.

He asked where our seats were, and while I think Heather and I both stuttered the section we were in,

I'm honestly not sure if I was able to talk.

The guy pulled out a mini-stack of tickets and told us he was going to do something better for us.

AND HE HANDED US TWO TICKETS IN THE FRONT ROW.

I'm pretty sure Heather collapsed on the ground,

but I really don't know about this either, because I was too focused on holding onto the railing
in fear of fainting.

We thanked him, hugged him, and ran through the lobby into the arena.

We went up to Heather's original seats where her parents were,

and after they saw our stupid smiles, they just knew.

We held up the tickets and yelled 'WE GOT IT!'

To which their response was something along the lines of,

"No way. You've got to be kidding me."

They hugged us, high-fived us, we got it all.

It was 8:00 by now, so we hurried down to the section that would take us to the floor.

And here's where our luck gets even more freakish.

Heather's mom is a massive Beatles/Paul fan, ever since the Beatles came to America in the 1960s.

She was there in Tulsa last year with Heather and Dave got their upgrade,

but there wasn't a third ticket to give to her,

so she watched from their original seats in the balcony.

This time, as we were walking towards our seats, 

Heather kept repeating how bad she felt that she didn't ask for an extra ticket for her mom.

She was set on going back out to the lobby and at least trying to see
if we could run into the guy who gave us our tickets again.

I was a little nervous for the show to start, but figured we still had time.

We ran around the lobby, eyes peeled for this mysterious Macca-angel, but no luck.

Within about a minute, we ran straight into him.

Heather explained about her mom and asked if he had anything left she could take.

He told us that he had just gave away his last set of tickets, and was very sorry.

As he started to walk away though, 

he turned around and said 'You know what, let me see something real quick..'

He walked up to a group of people who had received the last upgraded tickets,

and asked if they didn't want to split up completely,

if he could have one of their upgraded seats to give to us,

and you know what's weird,

they gave it to us.

THEY GAVE US THEIR FRONT ROW SEAT.

In a sold out arena of 15,000+ people?

How. Does. This Happen. To Us.

Again, we went sprinting through the lobby back to the old seats,

and Heather's mom just went insane.

She hurried down to us, hugged us, and hugged us again.

I gave Heather's dad my single seat because it was a lot closer to the stage than their original ones,

but he didn't mind us leaving because he wasn't a huge Paul McCartney fan.

Heather, her mom, and I ran down the stairs to our seats.

We were given VIP wristbands and led to our seats,

which I just could not seem to grasp, as we were walking closer and closer to the stage.

Soon enough, we were staring straight onto the stage,

and everyone else was behind us.

There's really no way I can describe what I was feeling except for

'This is not real'

BUT WAIT.

It gets even more freakish.

While we were waiting around, Heather left the seats to find a concessions guy on the floor

to get a water bottle for the show.

While she was getting ready to pay, a strange and familiar voice came up behind her saying

'I'll get that for you.'

She turned around, and it was her dad.

WELL,

while he was sitting in the single seat I gave him, he struck up a conversation with a crew member

about how his three girls were up in the front row.

The employee felt bad for him, and pulled out a ticket from his pocket to give him.

He was upgraded to the 9th row!!

All four of us came to the show with our regular tickets,

AND ALL OF US WERE UPGRADED.

I'll say it over and over again,

it's just not real.

But it was - and within a few minutes, the show was starting,

and Paul with his amazing band, Brian, Rusty, Abe, and Wix

were right in front of our eyes.

At the end of the show, at the last encore,

Heather's dad left his seat and came up to join us,

which was an amazing thing - to have all of this happen, 

and end this mind-blowing performance all together up in the front row.

Welcome back to my favorite day of the week!

Pre-scheduling posts is a pretty great thing.

You see, I'm in Kansas as you're reading this,

and probably still on the highest high after seeing Paul McCartney on Wednesday.

Have I mentioned on here how much I like that guy?

So because of this amazing week filled with amazing Beatle music and an amazing Beatle himself,

today's all about one of his greatest, most well-known songs

that is also one of the greatest sing-a-longs in the world.

Naaaaa na na na an na na....

Yup. That's the one.

FUN FACTS:

- The songs was written for John's first-born son, Julian, as he went through the split of his parents.  The original lyrics were 'Hey Jules'.

- While John knew this, he still always had a thought that Paul might have written it for him.

- If you listen closely in the final verse, right at 'remember, to let her into your heart' somebody messes something up and you can hear one of the two saying 'fucking hell' in the middle of the song.

There were plenty of takes throughout the day to make the promo video for the song. I love this video because it shows a side-by-side of the video, and the outtakes

And then you can see what Heather and I are working with...

I left off on the last Wednesday of our UK trip, which is really where our whole Paul McCartney adventures begin.  We had heard about Paul signing his new album the day before on Tuesday, switched our flights right then, and began planning.  We were going to have a little more time to be around the city, and then possibly meet THE greatest musician in the world? This was too much. 

 We were so excited on Wednesday that we were still in the city, and that we were possibly going to be meeting Paul, we decided to take a trip over to Abbey Road again.  We resigned the walls, hung out around the studios, and went over to see Paul's house.

   

 Paul lives a few blocks away from Abbey Road Studios - he has had this house since the 60s, and used to make the walk from there to the studios on a daily basis.  When we went this time, Heather noticed that the front door was open, and we heard the voice of a woman, who we assumed was Paul's wife, Nancy.  Right then, the gate to his house started to OPEN.  Now this is a pretty big deal.  Not many people get to see any part of this house besides the top floor, a brick wall, and a bunch of trees, and the fact that Paul McCartney could be walking out of his house right in front of us.  So we were pretty excited, to say the least.  

The gate came all the way open, and a man appeared.  We didn't know who the guy was, but he stood outside the gate and waited until the door came to a complete close.  He saw us standing there, kind of in shock, and said to us 'He will  be here next week. You didn't hear it from me!'  I think we were so excited that all just happened, we didn't even say anything to the guy, when normally you would, you know, maybe ask who this man was, how he knew Paul, or even just thank him for telling you? We had nothing.  It was pretty awesome though, I will say that.

Gate. Open.

Just trying to jump the gate. I'm sure it's been done before...

On Thursday, we had planned to spend the day walking around, doing some final shopping, and eating at a place in Piccadilly we had been wanting to since we got into London.  After all this, we wanted to head back to the flat, get our things together, and plan to take the very last tube out around midnight to Oxford Street, where we would spend all Friday waiting at HMV, which is the record store where Paul would be signing. He was signing at 3PM on Friday, but we knew how big of an outcome this would have, and knew we would have to wait a little while.  

While we were eating in Piccadilly, we were jumping on Twitter and Facebook looking at posts by Paul's team and others.  We quickly realized people were already talking about the queue at HMV, which made us VERY nervous.  We thought with our plan, we would be one of the first few, if not the first ones in line.  Once we finished our meal, we decided we should probably head over to HMV to check things out. Let me add, this was around 130PM on Thursday - over 24 hours before Paul was going to be at the store.  We went over to Oxford Street, and saw a queue already started, and with that, we knew this was the start of a very long wait. 

 There were about 15 people already in line, so we took our spots and started chatting with the folks around us.  The guy who was first in line got there at midnight on Wednesday!  We definitely underestimated our plans by a little.  But we were close enough in line to know that if it was a guarantee we would meet him, we were most likely going to be in that group.

We met the guys in front of us, who were two older men, also from the US, who had been traveling around Europe.  They, like us, got lucky on their timing in London and were able to take this chance to meet Paul.  The folks behind us were two friends who knew each other merely from meeting at many different Paul outings, whether it was at concerts or other events. Rose, the woman, was from Amsterdam, and planned this trip to London for this signing.  She literally came straight from the airport to Oxford Street to get in line - no hotel booked or anything. Phil was a guy from Manchester, completely inked up with Beatles tattoos.  He had Paul's face on his arm, different places where Paul and his son Julian had signed him, and a drawing of the Beatles across his chest.  Both Rose and Phil had met Paul before, and had also been called up on stage during Paul's concerts - maybe the only thing Heather and I have yet to do!  We had a great group around us and knew that it was going to be a fun night.

HMV - Where Paul would be on Friday!

Phil and his crazy tattoos!

Rose and me!

The line of people waiting!

We had Subway and Starbucks near us, so we were pretty set.  I had my interview that evening with Marriott, so I had to leave the line and go to that while Heather stayed and waited.  The interview went amazing, so I'm very glad I didn't blow it off to wait!  While I was gone, Heather hung out with the folks around us, and the people at HMV bought them Dominos Pizza while they waited!  When I got back, Heather made a trip to Primark to get us some blankets, and when she got back, I made a quick run to the flat to make up a backpack of extra clothes, toothbrushes, facewash, chargers etc.

This was serious. We were actually sleeping on the side of one of the busiest streets in London.  We had coloring books that we bought for our flights home that came in handy for this long wait on the streets - and even better, they were Beatles coloring books!

We had a ton of people walking around Oxford stop and ask us what we were waiting for.  I've never had so many people approach me.  We got people wishing us good luck and others who laughed and wondered why we would even think to do this, but it was all in good fun.

I also met a couple who was actually from Liverpool - the woman told me stories about how she thought Paul McCartney was this 'scum teenager giving her looks' and the man with her, her husband, actually played in a band at the original Cavern Club!  It was pretty awesome and ironic that I got to speak with them while I was waiting for Paul McCartney.

And with all of these encounters, we also actually got a kid come up and ask us if we were all homeless too.  Yes, the 50+ people waiting on the streets in a line.  We're all homeless.

The night started out fun, and then when about 3AM hit, it got pretty brutal.  It was freezing. Absolutely freezing, and these throw blankets that Heather bought us only helped so much.  We were laying on cardboard so that the pavement wasn't so cold, but it helped the absolute minimum that it could.

Let's think about this situation real quick.

 Let me put this in a good perspective for you to get an idea of what was really going on.

Heather and I are laying on the side of Oxford street.  She's laying on a Dominos pizza box, and I'm on the ripped up Primark bag.  I am laying my head on a backpack, and she is using a purse and two pairs of socks as a pillow.  Oh, and we are right next to a public trash can.

I don't really know how to describe this situation, but unprepared would not even begin to cover it.

 

Other people in line .. who thought a lot more about this and decided winter coats and blanket would, in fact, be a good idea.

What we brought and thought would be a good idea.  That Dominos box in the corner was Heather's future bed.

Not saying we looked like homeless people .. but we looked like homeless people.

All good fun.  Until it went below 40 degrees.

We wrapped up as much as we could, and tried our best to sleep.  Heather got a few hours in, and I think I got one or two, but it was rough.

Once we got to about 6AM, things definitely were looking up.  We had survived the night!  There were rumors that it was only the first 100 people getting in, and we were going to be issued wristbands at 8AM.  Rose kept telling me that the HMV staff told her we were guaranteed entry, but seeing that we were 15th-20th in line, I was pretty sure that if anyone was getting in to meet him, we would be in that group.

When 8AM came around, the HMV staff was there, the Paul McCartney posters were being hung up outside the stores, and they were ready to get us moving.  They gave us wristbands, and moved us into the HMV store to take us out of the streets and stick us in the basement to wait for the remaining seven hours.

8AM, and not looking too much like we had just slept on concrete.

The next seven hours went by pretty fast - we colored and listened to the New album that HMV was playing out the speakers. Paul was playing a pop up show in Covent Garden at 1PM that we wanted to go to, but leaving meant we risked losing our place in line, and with how long we waited already, it just wasn't worth it.

As we all waited, a gentleman named Alan approached us and began talking to us about how he grew up in Liverpool and knew the Beatles and how many times he met them, etc. etc. etc.  It was interesting to talk to him at first, then he wouldn't stop talking about himself and it just became annoying.

He took a liking to Rose, however, and she ended up getting a VIP wristband with him, being able to jump in front of the line and meet Paul first!  She went up with him, and the HMV staff started prepping us to get ready to meet Paul.  We weren't allowed to bring anything up with us to meet him - strictly one album.  All our other belongings had to be given to the staff before we went to meet him, and we would get it back once we got off the stage.  We weren't even allowed to have the booklet insert in the CD! They were serious stuff here.

As 3PM rolled around, we knew it was getting close.  We heard screams upstairs, which told us that Paul had entered the building.  I walked up to the escalator to take a peek, and there he was - Paul McCartney!  He was riding up the elevator to the third floor to get ready.  I got a glimpse of him and things got very real for me there.  We were meeting THE Paul McCartney.  A Beatle.  One part of the greatest songwriting duo in the history of music.  A true living legend.  This was real!

 Before we knew it, we were standing up and making our way to the escalator that would take us up to the lobby, where Paul was signing.  They were sending us in groups of 5-10 people at a time, and we were in the third group to be sent  As we rode up the escalator, we tried to put into words what was actually happening.

We got up and turned the corner, and there he was!  Up on the stage, already signing and talking to people, Paul McCartney!  There was also a mass amount of people taking pictures and watching, who did not wait or have wristbands to be able to actually meet him.  As we moved up in line, we were able to take pictures up until we got ready to step on the stage.  Heather and I took a few, but it was difficult, and we really just wanted to remember being there.  Phil, the tattooed guy I talked about earlier, was right behind us in line, and got stopped by some news folks for a quick interview.  I'm sure they saw his arms, and thought he was the perfect guy to get on camera.

All in line - this was it! The moment we waited HOURS for!

My first view of Paul - I promise he's there. You just have to look reallllly close.

See! I told you.

Interviews. Getting famous.

Once we got up to the line, we handed our things over to the HMV staffed, who commented on how everyone waiting outside came very prepared, except for us.  We have definitely learned for the next time we do something like this.

To get up to Paul, there were two waiting stations.  You handed your things off, and went and stood in the first waiting spot, where you are right in front of the crowd of people, looking up to the stage.

The second waiting spot is right on the stairs that lead up to the stage.

Heather was first up, I took the waiting spots after she made her way up.

As I was standing in the second area, watching her talk to Paul, I tried to remind myself again that this was actually happening.  I imagined who I was looking at right now, and how much I loved him and everything that he did.  It was something I couldn't really grasp.

As Heather made her way down the stairs, the staff motioned that it was my turn, and Paul was looking at me as I walked up.  I shook his hand and we said hello.  I told him I was so nervous, to which he responded with a laugh and that 'a couple people seem to be today!' HA, yea Paul... a couple people.

Phil, the guy behind me in line, was singing and dancing as he was in the waiting area, and Paul noticed this and started singing and dancing too! Right in front of me - Paul McCartney singing.  It was amazing.  I laughed and he stopped and asked 'What's your name, darling?'  I melted at 'darling', and then regained myself and told him, and quickly told him it was with a C, because everyone spells it wrong!

As I was spelling it to him while he wrote, Phil kept singing, and every now and then Paul would look down to him and sing a few notes.  I looked at Paul and said 'Please, you can keep singing if you want to!!'  He sang a few more notes, then I finished spelling my name to him, I thanked him and shook his hand.

And with that, I was off the stage, that was it.  I had met Paul McCartney.  Thanks to the photographers, HMV, and probably Phil's dancing, I was in a few shots up on the stage meeting Paul!

Telling Paul to keep singing!

Signed!

We really didn't know what to do after that.  What can you do after you meet Paul McCartney that's worthwhile?

We left HMV, that was packed with fences and people and a red carpet, and went to find some WiFi so Heather could call her Mom and tell her everything.  We started walking, realized we were going the wrong way and turned around.

As we headed back, the street at HMV was FULL of people - I mean, buses and cars were all stopped.  Paul was leaving and the car was there waiting for him.  We decided to hang out there for a bit and see Paul one last time before he left.  I'll see if you can spot him in these pics

We found WiFi and Heather called her Mom to tell her about the day, and then we had to run a few errands before we headed back to the flat to pack our things.  Our flights were early Saturday morning, so rather than wake up extra early to trek from East London to Heathrow in West London, we got a hotel right next to the airport for Friday night.

We stopped around and bought some gifts we had been planning to get for Nicole and Ciaran as thank yous.  They not only hosted us in their living room for two weeks straight, they cooked us dinner, let us use their things, and were so welcoming of us into their home.  I know that people don't mind letting others stay in their place for a little, but they were more than generous to us staying with them.

We got them a few gifts we overheard them talking about wanting/needing in conversations, and left it as a surprise for them in the kitchen before we left.  We met them in the lobby on Friday night to say our goodbyes, and headed over to the airport.

I continue to have these opportunities to do things that not many people are able to do, but I am a firm believer in if you want to do it, you can make it happen.  So whether it be my sickening persistence, or amazing luck, I feel very blessed to be able to have what I've had in not only this past month, but in these past two years.  I can't wait for what's to come next.

Overall, it was quite possibly the greatest trip to London we could have planned.  Everything seemed to work out in our favor, we met quite a few different connections, and I ended up getting an offer from a company I spoke with.  There are a lot of things to think about and work out, but if there's anything I'm absolutely sure of, it's that I will be moving over to the UK, and it will be soon.  We worked hard, played hard, and had a flawless three weeks.

I'm currently back in Florida now, and Heather is in Kansas, both to make some money and set some plans.  What we do know though is that this is a pitstop before we start our lives over there, and I have never been more excited and ready for something in my life.