Sometimes I might complain about cancellations, over-inflated prices, or celebrities whom I’ve never heard of at the Hollywood Show. But I will admit that there are times when these celebrity shows offer unique experiences unlike any other. The case in point here happened at the August 4, 2012, show – at which three members of Paul McCartney’s Wings congregated under one roof to meet some of their fans. Okay, okay, so it’s not like meeting Paul himself, but still… they were there…in a band… with Paul freakin’ McCartney. Each of the three were credited on albums that came out from Wings… featuring Paul McCartney. Paul was a Beatle, you know.
Of the three, only Denny Laine was with Wings from start to finish. In fact, he’s the only person on earth besides Paul or his wife Linda who could make such a claim. I have had occasion to run into Denny twice now, and neither time did I have a Wings CD or photo with me to have him sign. This time I came prepared, but it turned out that it wasn’t necessary. Denny finally had some nice Wings photos along with him.
The other two members of Wings never played in the band together at the same time. Therefore, I bought one photo from each and then had Denny sign both for $20 each. When Denny’s wife had trouble finding a ten dollar bill to give me in change, she offered give me one additional signed photo in lieu of the ten. This seemed very fair to me, and so I picked up the photo from the London Town photo session and ended up with three Denny Laine signed pictures.
As I said, the other two photos came from the two additional members present, the first being Denny Seiwell, who was the drummer for Wings from 1971-1973. He was credited with playing on Wild Life and Red Rose Speedway. Seiwell’s bandmate Henry McCullough stayed in Wings just as long as Seiwell, and the two of them had recently collaborated on a Beatle cover album called Shabby Road, which my friend Ashleigh purchased from him.
After McCullough and Seiwell left the band, there was a second incarnation featuring the two McCartneys, Denny Laine, and two other fellows, none of whom appeared at the show. The third incarnation, however, lasted from 1978-1981 and featured Laurence Juber on guitar. Although present in the band for three years, the band only put out one album during this time: Back to the Egg. Juber must have been frustrated when he was mis-credited as Laurence Tuber on the album sleeve. Juber would go on to a distinguished career playing music for TV shows such as Happy Days and Family Ties. Laurence also married Hope Schwartz, the daughter of TV producer Sherwood Schwartz, but we’ll save her story for later.
There’s no doubt about the fact that meeting these three musicians was quite a cool experience and stuff like this is only likely to happen at a place like the Hollywood Show. Now you listen to what the man said…
Celebrities of the Summer 2012 Hollywood Show will continue…
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