Scenes I never thot I'd See...
Nothing 'Magical' or 'Mysterious' about this tour...

I don't know why I feel so ambivalent about Paul McCartney these days. Are old musicians supposed to fade off into the sunset, or are they to be congratulated because they "keep on keepin' on"? I love the old Beatles records, and I like a lot of Paul McCartney's "Wings" stuff as well. Heck, he's still putting out his share of good tunes. But then Paul goes and orders a Limousine from Japan that's supposed to be "Green" in terms of its energy consumption. The car was FLOWN over to England, creating a much larger "carbon footprint" than if it had been shipped, you know, on a ship, as McCartney originally wanted. Yep, Sir Paul got Royally Ticked Off about that. So then, he has the interior completely ripped out 'cos it was made from Leather, which was replaced by fabric. Paul's a veggie-tarian, you see. So he had concerns. Although, I wonder if it was man-made fabric, 'cos if it was cotton, well, Paul, Plants Had To Die for Your Seat Covers. Must be nice to be rich and famous so you can publicly fret about stuff like that and create news for yourself at the same time.

Before I continue, time for an old joke...when I mentioned Leather, above, all of a sudden, this old sub-humorous re-run invaded my brain. So here 'tis...
Little boy: "Mister, what are those shoes made out of?"
Shoemaker: "Hide".
Little Boy: "What?"
Shoemaker: "HIDE, HIDE, A COW'S OUTSIDE!!!"
Little Boy: "Who the heck's afraid of a COW?"

But anyway, Paul has announced that he's embarking on a big two-year tour of the world, and he's gettin' out there in front of the public once again. And, he's all prepped; after all, he's been doing the same songs over and over and over for so many years, that the lyrics are burned into his long-term memory. He couldn't forget them if he tried! He appeared in Quebec, Canada, recently; something about Quebec's 400th anniversary or whatever. Before that, though, Paul, ever scheming to be in the Public Eye, ol' "Macca" jetted down to New York City and made a surprise onstage appearance at Billy Joel's "Last Play At Shea" concert. That's right, Paul McCartney and Billy Joel onstage. That's kinda like putting Mick Jagger and Mickey Mouse side-by-side. I'm not really a Billy Joel fan (even if his song, "Uptown Girl" is one of my guilty pleasures). And I never EVER thought I'd see someone of Paul McCartney's caliber KISSING UP to Billy Joel...


SMACK-O!!! I guess there's no such thing as an 'intimate backstage moment' anymore...

I can't really put my finger on it, but I've seen so many pictures and have read so much of Paul all over the the place, appearing here, appearing there, huckstering himself around the world, that even though I know he's a time-honoured musician and is one of my idols, something about his act just, to me, isn't that 'genuine' anymore. In short, even though I'll always hold McCartney in high regard for writing many of the songs that influenced my life, I just don't really like him a lot these days. I would've never thought that I'd have Beatle-burnout four decades AFTER the group broke up. In my mind, Paul tries to be so cool, 'hep', 'with it', that he falls flat on his face in terms of dignity and respect. That's it!!! I love Paul's music, but I don't respect HIM so much these days. Mind you, the guy kissing Billy Joel is now 66 years old. 66!!! I would have never done that at 16, 26, 36 or 46. And I won't do anything like that at 56 or 66, or hopefully beyond that. To me, Paul just looks plain old FOOLISH. And I have one more question concerning the above picture: When did Billy Joel go BALD? He slips off the charts for a few years and suddenly he's got NO HAIR. Ack!

Speaking of Scenes I never thot I'd see, other performers appeared at Billy Joel's "Last Play at Shea" concert...named as such because ol' Shea Stadium, where the Beatles performed, all those years ago, is gonna be ripped down in the near future. And certainly, there's enough variety in Billy Joel's music, since he's written hard rockers and shameless sugary pop songs, that most any other musician could (almost) find a Billy Joel song that he/she could comfortably perform. (I remember the Billy Joel/Ray Charles duet from the '80s, a charming little tune titled "Baby Grand"). And evidently the two musicians pictured below appeared at Billy's concert. And, this is a scene I REALLY never thot I'd see...I mean, these two guys in the same foto...who'da thot?


Ladies and Gents, here's Tony Bennett and Steven Tyler. Bennett's the one who doesn't look like Mick Jagger.

Another comment about a Billy Joel song: Years ago, radio stations were playing his "She's Got A Way" to death...and there's a line, toward the end of the song, "Oh...she takes care of herself..." which made me think that song would be PERFECT as the soundtrack for a Geritol (TM) commercial...
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This is a historic post, for in the course of this short writing, I've alienated fans of Paul McCartney, Billy Joel, Steven Tyler, Tony Bennett, Mick Jagger and Mickey Mouse. Quite an accomplishment; altogether, I've probably alienated 85% of the world's population. And with the bad joke I threw in, well, Everybody Hates Me, Nobody Likes Me...