the most ordinary

"Searching for the time that has gone so fast; the time that I thought would last...My ever present past."
                                                    -"Ever Present Past"

                                             

THE GREAT PAUL McCARTNEY AT 70

(Part Two of Two)

By Steve Ludwig

Paul's our pal. He's our friend. A buddy. Whether you grew up with Paul as a first-generation Beatles fan, or met him way after the Beatles (or WINGS!!) split up, he's had our backs. He's opened doors into musical rooms that we never would have known existed without him. Paulie's written pop songs, rock songs, ballads, ballets, classical pieces, poems, and stories. He's created drawings and  paintings, some dating back to his days as a student at the Liverpool Institute for Boys. He actively supports over thirty charities...or at least thirty that are public knowledge.

While he easily could have afforded to send all of his children to exclusive private schools, he insisted they all attend public schools, because if public schooling was good enough for him, it was good enough for his kids.

Since I was in the fifth grade, and I first saw the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show a few years ago ["a few years" = "48"], John, Paul, George, and Ringo's lives have been a part of mine. Heck, Paul even made eye contact with me once! [See my April 7, 2012 blog...]

The recent special edition of TIME magazine, celebrating Paul's 70th birthday, described him as "...the most ordinary of extraordinary men: a historical figure with a common streak, a genius who's still not entirely sure where it all comes from, or came from."

Ok, so maybe Paul became "Sir Paul" in 1997 when Her Majesty (I understand she's a pretty nice girl, but she doesn't have a lot to say) knighted him, but to his fans he'll always be "Macca" or "Paulie" or just "Paaaaauuuuuulllllll!!!!!"

 In addition to the genres of music that Paul has produced that I mentioned in last week's blog, his most recent is an album of standards, KISSES ON THE BOTTOM.  (The Beatles were always ahead of the pack. Ringo beat them all to the "standards album" trend. In 1970, he recorded SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY as a musical gift to his "mum.")

Would you like to join me once again in exploring some of Paulie's commercially released, yet probably lesser-known songs?

Hardcore and even casual Beatles fans know that the school of thought that John was the "rough-edged" songwriter and Paul was the "softie" is too simple in defining J & P's writing techniques. Listen to John's "Good Night" (sung by Ringo on the WHITE ALBUM), then switch to Paul's "Helter Skelter" (also a WHITE ALBUM track), and you'll see what I mean.

The same can be said for each of the Fabs' solo careers. There are always a few neat surprises in store for us on every new release.

Here are a few of the Big Mac's best (and perhaps least-known):

What the hell gives you the right

To tell me what to do with my life?

Especially when you made a mess 

Of every chance you had of success

Look at you...I'm angry just looking at you!

                                                                       -"Angry"

Well, I'm fed up with your lying cheating ways

But I get up every morning and every day

Oh woman, where did you get that gun?

Oh woman, what have you done?

                                                              - "Oh Woman, Oh Why?" 

TUG OF WAR and PIPES OF PEACE were back-to-back album releases by Paul, extending the "peace and love" messages begun with the Beatles.

Hidden on a B-side CD single, not found on any McAlbums, is a song called "Big Boys Bickering."

Here are a few lines:

So while they argue through the night

Shakin' their sticks of dynamite

Babies are dying through the day

They wanna blow us all away

Big boys bickering

Fucking it up for everyone...

And both Paul and Ringo have sung John's "Give Peace A Chance" on their recent concert tours.

Paul has never shied away from queries about his past drug use. Last year, he said he doesn't even smoke pot anymore. But that wasn't always the case.

 I recall an interview Paul gave in 1967 when speaking to a reporter about answering an interviewer's question honestly, he admitted to experimenting with LSD. The reporter asked Paul if he [Paul] felt it was irresponsible to admit that, what with the Beatles having so many young followers. Paul's reply: "If he keeps it quiet, I will. I'm not trying to spread the word. It's a private thing, but I didn't want to lie about it. It's his responsibility for spreading it, not mine."

Not much has changed with certain factions of the media, some forty-five years later, huh?

When asked in the early 80's to contribute a song to an anti-heroin charity album, Paul obliged with lyrics that cut to the chase:

Would you rather be alive or dead?

It's as simple as that.

                                                  -"Simple As That"

Ya think we can pretty much agree that one of our Paulie's strong points is his ability to write not-always-so-silly love songs?

He can turn a phrase better than anyone:

On the wrong side of midnight

Your defenses slipped away

                                                   -"Write Away"

When you're fed up shedding too many tears

And your memories seem like just so many souvenirs

I will come to ease your pain

                                               -"Souvenir"

She makes me do things I don't want to do

I don't know why I should be telling you

I know that you want her, too

                                                            -"You Want Her Too"

Something special between us

When we made love, the game was over...

                                                       -"However Absurd"

And I read the note 

That you never wrote to me

                                                                     -"The Note You Never Wrote"

"Buy Buy" says the sign in the shop window

"Why? Why?" says the junk in the yard

                              -"Junk"

Paul's lyrics run the gamut of themes, among them peace, romance, family, the different levels of love...and mortality.

When he was only 24 years old, Paul wrote with John, "Life is very short, and there's no time for fussing and fighting, my friend ("We Can Work It Out")." Early on in his solo career, Paul tended to deal with mortality in a duality - in first and third person:

  Treat her gently, treat her kind

She doesn't even know her own mind

Here we sit, two lonely old people

Eking our lives away

Here we sit, out of breath

And nobody asked us to play

Since George and John's untimely deaths, though, Paul has dealt with his own mortality head-on:

On the day that I die

I'd like jokes to be told

And stories of old

To be rolled out like carpets

That children have played on and laid on

While listening to stories of old...

Now wouldn't that have been the perfect way to end this blog?

However...In the spirit of ABBEY ROAD, when our four heroes chose this message, amid lush orchestrations, to bring an end to their career...their final message to the world on their final album...

And in the end the love you take

Is equal to the love you make

...or so we thought that was it. But our irreverent Lads from Liverpool chose to leave a recording engineer's tape mistake tacked on after a twenty-second pause...something about dear ol' Paulie needing to get drunk on wine before telling the Queen of England that he loved her.

SO, in honor of Liverpudlian irreverence, I shall leave our Paul birthday celebration with a couple lines from Mac's "Smile Away":

I was walking down the street the other day

Who did I meet?

I met a friend of mine and he did say

"Man, I could smell your feet a mile away!"

HERE'S TO SEVENTY MORE, SIR PAUL!!!

[Hey, if you'd like to check out the YouTube video ("Macca the Magnificent") that I put together in honor of Paul's birthday, here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmSc6jJWLZs .]

I love pop culture, and if you do, too, you may enjoy my radio show, STEVE LUDWIG'S CLASSIC POP CULTURE. Why not check it out at www.PlanetLudwig.com ? Thanks!

                                      

IF YOU ENJOYED READING THIS BLOG (or even if you didn't!!), WOULD YOU BE SO KIND AS TO CONSIDER BUYING A BOOK I WROTE? IT'S CALLED SEE YOU IN CCU: A LIGHTHEARTED TALE OF MY OPEN-HEART SURGERY.

FOR ORDERING INFO, GO TO  www.ccubook.com .

As always, thanks for everything...Steve

"Everything is under the sun, but nothing is for keeps..."

                                               "However Absurd," by Paul McCartney

THE GREAT PAUL McCARTNEY AT 70 

(Part One)

By Steve Ludwig

Even if the Beatles had done nothing musically for the rest of their lives after their split in 1970, their legacy in music would have remained untouchable.

But in somewhat of an ironic twist, their ever-increasing talents and desire to move forward led to their breakup. Each of our beloved Fab Four - John, Paul, George, and Ringo - had much more to offer us. 

For the Beatles (even though each new album opened new windows in our minds), the confinement of a group was surely stifling the four of them. So they moved on, with each one providing us with so much more memorable music.

Our Paulie turned seventy on June 18, and I'm reminded of a line from a song by two other favorite 60's icons, Simon and Garfunkel: "How terribly strange to be seventy..." ("Old Friends"). 

How terribly incredible that Macca has released at least FORTY-SIX (I may have miscounted one or two) albums since the demise of the Beatles!!

To the casual fan, Paul is probably thought of as a writer of melodic, sometimes sappy  love songs. Yup, Paul has recorded more than a few of those in his post-Beatles career. But he has also written and sung some of the finest, most eclectic lyrics any music lover has ever heard:

When a rattle of rats had awoken

The sinews, the nerves, and the veins

My piano was boldly outspoken

In attempts to repeat its refrain...

              ("Monkberry Moon Delight")

                   

Off to the flicks with a piddle in her mix

To the fair with her hair in curlers

Her cousin couldn't get down to the pleasure dome

Her cousin had to spend the night in an aircraft hangar, memories...

                                                                                                                ("Spin It On")

Here's one of my favorite quotes by Paul: "I used to think anyone doing anything weird was weird. Now I know that it is people that call others weird that are weird..."

The Big Mac has given us five of the most experimental albums that anyone, any age, has produced. His TWIN FREAKS remixes twelve of his lesser-known solo tracks in an ambient, electronic dream. Some of these tracks are played before Paul's concerts, as the crowd is "...waiting for the show to begin."

And while McC, early on in his solo career, shunned Beatles' music, he has now wholeheartedly embraced this part of his legacy. In the extremely (some might say, weird...but if so, in the best creative sense of the word) experimental LIVERPOOL SOUND COLLAGE, four out of the five tracks include studio banter, played in loops, of the Beatles at Abbey Road Studios.

Paul's electronica alter-ego, "The Fireman," has given us "strawberries oceans ships forest";  "Rushes" (Yup. "The Fireman 'Rushes,' as in "...the fireman rushes in from the pouring rain, very strange...Penny Lane [c'mon, sing it with me!!]), and his most recent Fireman album, "Electric Arguments." It's from this album that I chose the music for my recent YouTube video that I put together in honor of Paul's 70th birthday. The song I used is called "Universal Here, Everlasting Now," and I titled my video "MACCA THE MAGNIFICENT" (for obvious reasons).

It's 5 1/2 minutes long. If you'd like to check it out, here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmSc6jJWLZs 

If you're able to watch and listen, you'll get a good idea of the imaginative music Paul is producing these days.

Paul's rule of thumb is, "If it has a face, I won't eat it." A legendary animal activist, Paul chose a vegetarian lifestyle more out of his love of animals than for health reasons, although he says there's no denying this lifestyle's health benefits.

As would be expected, he has more than a couple musical references to animal rights in his music.

Way back in 1971, on his WILD LIFE album, our favorite MacMan sang:

                   

There's animals everywhere

And man is the top, an animal too

And, man, you just gotta care

What's gonna happen to wild life?

The animals in the zoo...

                                                   ("Wild Life")

During one of his world tours, before he came out on stage, Paul presented a video of sometimes disturbing images of animal cruelty. After seeing this presentation, my brother Bill was so moved, that he adopted a vegetarian lifestyle. My other brother, Tom, is also a vegetarian. (As for me, um,  I'm still working to get there. But I digress...)

In "Looking For Changes," Mr. Bassman writes some of his strongest anti-cruelty lyrics:

I saw a cat with a machine in his brain

The man who fed him said he didn't feel any pain

I'd like to see that man take out that machine

And stick it in his own brain

I saw a rabbit with its eyes full of tears

The lab that owned her had been doing it for years

Why don't we make them pay for every last eye

That couldn't cry its own tears

I saw a monkey that was learning to choke

A guy beside him gave him cigarettes to smoke

And every time that monkey started to cough

The bastard laughed his head off

We'll all be looking for changes

In the way we treat our fellow creatures...

                                                                   ("Looking For Changes")

As Paul says, "If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian."

He wears faux-leather, because we all know where the real thing comes from. 

Here's some clever storytelling by Paul in his song "Long Leather Coat." At the outset, we're led to believe a woman has a crush on a guy. She even writes him a note, inviting him over for a late-night rendezvous. Ah, but if I may borrow a line from a George Harrison song, "...the answer's at the end..."

                     

                                                           "I'm all alone," said she.

"No one to phone, no one to touch me." 

"I'm on my way," said the man in the long leather coat.

"I'm glad you came," said she.

"You got my note, you understood it."

He smiled as he hung up his long leather coat

On the back of the door.

She said, "You go on ahead."

She took out the key and locked him in the bedroom.

"Now I am alone," said she.

She took a can of really red paint

And she sprayed up and down on the long leather coat.

"So long, baby, I took you in just to show that

Your long leather coat is really nothing 

But a handful of skin...

Let the party begin!

                                                      ("Long Leather Coat")

There's so much more to Paul's post-Beatles musical life that I'm wondering if next blog's Part Two will be enough! 

We'll see then, when Paul answers the musical question: "What the hell gives you the right to tell me what to do with my life?"

IF YOU ENJOYED READING MY BLOG WOULD YOU BE SO KIND AS TO CONSIDER READING MY FIRST BOOK ABOUT MY QUINTUPLE OPEN-HEART BYPASS SURGERY?

WOULDYA?? COULDYA? THE BOOK IS CALLED SEE YOU IN CCU: A LIGHTHEARTED TALE OF MY OPEN-HEART SURGERY. YOU'LL FIND ORDERING INFO AT www.ccubook.com .

Music-lovers unite! Check out my brother Bill's music blog at www.360sounds.wordpress.com.

His latest blog talks about the pre-disco BeeGees (that's when they were the REAL BeeGees!).

As always, thanks for everything! Steve

SHOOTING A PROMO FOR MY BOOK,

SEE YOU IN CCU: A LIGHTHEARTED TALE OF MY OPEN-HEART SURGERY

By Steve Ludwig

How lucky can one guy be? I fulfilled a lifelong dream of writing a book and having it published. Then to promote my book, Mare Russell, my friend and the mom of a former student of mine, contacted me and through her friend, Evan Ginzburg (a movie producer), I appeared on Evan's internet radio show, Legends Radio, to promote my book and to promote my first-ever public reading at Gizzi's, in Greenwich Village, NY (Evan is the talent booker for Gizzi's.). THEN, thanks to another friend, Lynn Paret, I was able to book a second reading date at The Coffee Machine, 175 Main St., Ridgefield Park, NJ for Friday night, June 29, 2012 from 7:30 to 8:30 PM. Lynn, an accomplished artist, will have her paintings displayed at the Coffee Machine. Please check out her Facebook page, Lynn Paret Portraits, and be prepared to be amazed at the genius of Lynn.

What more could I ask for? Nothing, right? Well, I was asked by Mare's son, Rye Joseph, if he could shoot a promo for my book! Rye is a former student of mine. He was one of those students that a teacher just naturally took to; a great kid, down-to-earth, a hard worker...Well, Rye is now himself a successful movie producer and director. His latest work, the award-winning documentary, Theresa Sareo: Alive Again (directed by Rye and produced by Evan Ginzburg), will appear in a theater near you, followed by a dvd release. (Check out the trailer at 

http://www.imdb.com/video/wab/vi1407820057/). [You may have to click twice on the link.]

So Rye, simply because he's a great guy, asked if he could repay me for my support of him as his teacher by shooting a promo to help promote my book. After pinching myself over my good fortune, I was in Central Park, NYC, last Saturday along with my darling of a wife, Sue, and Rye and his girlfriend, Yu Mei Wei, to shoot my promo.

Susie brought along her camera, and her behind-the-scenes shots appear in this blog.

We all met at the 57th St. entrance to Central Park at 11 AM. Days earlier, Rye and Yu Mei had scouted out locations in Central Park that they felt might work best. Rye even sent me footage with Yu Mei walking through what would become my steps, so I could get a feel for what to expect on this "shoot."

Rye's mastery in his field was apparent before he even turned on the camera. He knew the angles that would work best, he took the time of day and the sun's position into consideration for the lighting-- Rye was the man!!! He had done all the work beforehand. Good to know a former student still did his homework!

This "promo stuff" was all new to me. A few days before this, Rye and I had exchanged emails. He left the dialogue up to me, and he was interested to know what I had come up with. He brilliantly tweaked a couple of my lines; I was ready to walk and talk for my director.

Rye made Sue and me laugh a couple times. He had to step over a fence or two to get a couple angles he desired. "Let's shoot this fast," he suggested. "I gotta get outta here before somebody sees me."

Being it was the Memorial Day weekend, and the weather was sunny and hot, Central Park was full of people. We had to wait more than a few times for people to pass. While they passed, I'd inadvertently move a step or two off my spot. "Back up a couple of steps," Rye would tell me. He could tell right away.

As you can see in these next couple of pictures, there was a neat role-reversal happening on this day. Years ago, I had been Rye's instructor; now he instructed me, on all things promo:

Also a few days before this shooting, Rye had asked me to email him pictures from my book, including my brother Tom Ludwig's hilarious illustrations, and pictures of the front and back book covers (my nephew Billy Ludwig, a professional photographer, had taken the back cover photo).

"But bring a copy of the book anyway," he suggested.

Here's why. Rye and Yu Mei had found a particular tree, and Rye placed the book on one of its branches, for what turned out to be a really cool part of the final product.

Rye and Yu Mei work well together. Rye told Sue and me that Yu Mei had found a really beautiful spot that might make a nice backdrop for one of our scenes. So over we walked to this fabulous spot with waterfalls, rock formations, and of course, shrubbery. Here I am posing with Yu Mei and her backdrop:

In front of us at this spot were a bunch of park benches. On one sat a woman with one eye reading her book, and the other eye watching Rye work his magic.

She finally asked, "What?" (as in, "What are you guys doing?") and nodded her head toward the whole proceedings. Rye, in turn, nodded at me, and I explained I had written a book and we were shooting a promo for it.

"Oh, I like books," she pleasantly said. "What's it called? Where can I buy one?"

I reached into my bag and gave her a copy of my book. 

"Here, hope you enjoy it," and I let her have the book as a little gift.

And I know that's why I'll never get rich writing books, and why I'll be sure to keep my day job, but she seemed like such a nice person, and she did say she'd tell her friends (My luck, she told them, Hey there' s some dope givin' out free books by the waterfalls!").

As we neared the end of our afternoon's work (the whole thing took about three hours), the temperature was easily into the 90's. Rye said we needed to find a shaded area to cool off, and so I could do some voice-overs. Why voice-overs? Good question, because that what I wondered, too.

Rye wanted to make sure, just in case my on-camera speaking wasn't loud enough, etc., that he'd have some back-up audio. 

So we found an area where chess tables were set up, and people were busily moving pawns and rooks.Meanwhile, my king of a director had me repeat several lines about four times each. He told me to say them once, pause for a second, then say them again. He didn't say, "Cut," or anything like that; Rye wanted me to just keep saying the lines. 

Here I am doing my voice-overs (looking as if I knew what I was doing...):

When the voice-overs were finished, so was our day.

For the entire promo, Rye left everything up to me. "Whatever you want to do is fine with me, Lud," he'd tell me. And respectfully, he'd offer his professional opinion if need be.

We left Central Park, and ate at a nearby restaurant, where Rye showed me the day's "rushes" (I think that's what they're called.).

Then we said our goodbyes; Rye and Yu Mei were off to do another shoot, and Sue and I were left with some really wonderful thoughts. 

There was never really any doubt in my mind, but my love of teaching was once again confirmed with this day's experience. How else would I have met such  great people like Rye, and through Rye, Yu Mei? And of course, Rye's mom, Mare, who always told me how much she appreciated my work as her son's teacher. And to know that Rye had grown into a successful professional, following his passion, was heartwarming.

Yesterday, Rye posted the finished promo on my YouTube page. So would you like to see the finished product? Simply do a search on YouTube for "SEE YOU IN CCU Promo" or click on this link (You may have to double-click):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlKnapX8VrY

By the way, if you or anyone you know would like to use Rye Joseph's services, just contact me at my website:www.PlanetLudwig.com and I'll forward your request to Rye.

Thanks!

I really love pop culture. Do you? You may enjoy my radio show, STEVE LUDWIG'S CLASSIC POP CULTURE at www.PlanetLudwig.com. Thanks!

                                    

IF YOU ENJOYED READING THIS WEEK'S BLOG, WOULD YOU BE SO KIND AS TO CONSIDER BUYING MY BOOK THAT WE SHOT THE PROMO FOR: SEE YOU IN CCU: A LIGHTHEARTED TALE OF MY OPEN-HEART SURGERY. All the info can be found at www.ccubook.com.

As always, thanks to all of you for reading!

Steve Ludwig