Paul McCartney, Tom Hanks Auction Walk-On Role To Highest Bidder For Charity

www.huffingtonpost.com
Paul McCartney, Tom Hanks Auction Walk-On Role To Highest Bidder For Charity
By Ron Dicker
The Huffington Post 
Posted: 09/04/2013

A once-in-a-lifetime chance to act onstage with gods of rock and film will cost you big -- but it's for a good cause.

The bidding to perform with Paul McCartney and Tom Hanks in L.A.'s Simply Shakespeare charity event had reached $8,000 by Tuesday, according to Charitybuzz.com. The "estimated value" of the bid was put at $30,000.

The proceeds will go to Shakespeare of Los Angeles, whose "Will Power To Youth" provides job-training and arts education for at-risk kids.

The package includes a "walk-on role" with McCartney, Hanks, William Shatner and other stars in a Sept. 25 reading of “The Two Gentlemen of Verona” at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica, Calif., plus rehearsal and dinner with the cast, after-party with the cast, and two tickets to the performance to show off for friends and loved ones.

The bidding ends 3 p.m. (EDT) on Sept. 11.

A recent bid for a walk-on speaking part in David O. Russell's new film with Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper, "American Hustle" fetched $76,000, Charitybuzz spokeswoman Glenda Luft Felden told The Huffington Post.

Charity Buzz, founded in 2005, has raised more than $80 million for nonprofits, according to a release.

McCartney once sang "Can't Buy Me Love," but the legendary Beatle can be bought for a good cause. Charity bids to meet him backstage at a concert reached "upwards of $100,000" on Charitybuzz, the spokeswoman said.

"He's very generous and philanthropic," she said.

Perhaps an extended period of time with both Hanks and Sir Paul, two pop culture icons, will multiply the appeal of the auction package.


Paul McCartney (pictured performing in San Francisco Aug. 9) could be a costar along with Tom Hanks for one lucky philanthropist. (Photo by C Flanigan/WireImage)

'New' Teaser Video!

www.paulmccartney.com

SEP022013

'New' Teaser Video!

PaulMcCartney.com today publishes the first video teaser for Paul's 'New' album, released in October 14th (UK) / October 15th (US). Check it out below!

'New' is released on 14th October (UK) / 15th October (US).

Click HERE! to pre-order the album and get the title track straight away!

Man on the Run Paul McCartney in the 1970s

www.efeeme.com
Un libro se adentra en la década oscura de Paul McCartney
Texto de EFEEME 
Publicado el 3 sep, 2013

Los años setenta fueron una época oscura, y olvidada, de Paul McCartney. Tom Doyle  se adentra en ella en el libro “Man on the Run: Paul McCartney in the 1970s”, que se pone a la venta este viernes (6 de septiembre). La separación de los Beatles le produjo a McCartney problemas de ansiedad y de autoconfianza que lo llevaron a recluirse en las drogas y en su granja de Escocia.
“Día tras día, su estado había ido empeorando constantemente”, se lee en un extracto del libro publicado por “The Sunday Times”. “A menudo, pasó sus noches de insomnio temblando de ansiedad, mientras que sus días se caracterizaron por un consumo excesivo de alcohol y auto-sedación con marihuana. Por primera vez en su vida, se sentía completamente inútil”. Entrevistado por Doyle, McCartney asegura que “Fue Linda [su mujer] la que me salvó”. Finalmente, Paul McCartney salió de su década oscura en 1980, de forma abrupta, con su detención en Japón por posesión de marihuana y el asesinato de John Lennon.





www.lovereading.co.uk
Man on the Run Paul McCartney in the 1970s
Tom Doyle

Price £13.49
Format
Hardback 
304 pages



Synopsis
Man on the Run Paul McCartney in the 1970s by Tom Doyle
The most famous living rock musician on the planet, Paul McCartney is now regarded as a slightly cosy figure, an (inter)national treasure. Back in the 1970s, however, McCartney cut a very different figure. He was, literally, a man on the run. Desperately trying to escape the shadow of the Beatles, he became an outlaw hippy millionaire, hiding out on his Scottish farmhouse in Kintyre before travelling the world with makeshift bands and barefoot children. It was a time of numerous drug busts and brilliant, banned and occasionally baffling records. For McCartney, it was an edgy, liberating and sometimes frightening period of his life that has largely been forgotten. Man on the Run paints an illuminating picture: from McCartney's nervous breakdown following the Beatles' split through his apparent victimisation by the authorities to the rude awakening of his imprisonment for marijuana possession in Japan in 1980 and the shocking wake-up call of John Lennon's murder. Ultimately, it poses the question: if you were one quarter of the Beatles, could you really outrun your past?

About the Author
Tom Doyle
Tom Doyle is an acclaimed music journalist, author and long-standing contributing editor to Q, whose work has also appeared in Mojo, the Guardian, Marie Claire, Elle, The Times and Sound on Sound. Over the years he has been responsible for key magazine-cover profiles of Paul McCartney, Keith Richards, Kate Bush, Elton John, R.E.M. and U2, amongst many others. He is the author of 'The Glamour Chase: The Maverick Life of Billy MacKenzie' (Bloomsbury 1998, Polygon 2011) which has attained the status of a classic rock biography since its original publication.

A New Beatles Book – Beatles With an A: Birth of a Band

beatlesblogger.com
A New Beatles Book – Beatles With an A: Birth of a Band
by beatlesblogger
August 31, 2013

A brand new hard-back book about the Beatles arrived at Beatles Blog this week - and it came all the way from Finland.

 

Beatles with an A: Birth of a Band is the newest creation of bestselling Finnish author and illustrator Mauri Kunnas. It's an "unauthorised biography" in the form of a graphic novel telling the story of the band’s humble beginnings - like it’s never been seen or heard before.

The book follows the Beatles and a full cast of mates and family members as they make their way from the Casbah to the Cavern Club, from empty halls in the Highlands to the packed clubs of Hamburg, through every name and line-up change until their first Number One song (Please Please Me from 1963).

Mauri has been a fan for 50 years, and his thorough research and love for the band shines throughout the story with its amazing details, hilarious tales, and some raunchy bits, too.

You can sample seven or so pages here if you'd like, or another five slightly different pages here.

Thanks to Otava Publishing for sending this very interesting and different Beatlesbiography through. You can order it here - and I must say it comes impressively packaged in it's own customised cardboard mailer.

:

And the book itself is gift wrapped in bespoke tissue paper:

Good, old-fashioned production values and a dash of style. Very nice.

'You Gave Me The Answer' - Valeria in Australia asks…

www.paulmccartney.com

AUG312013

'You Gave Me The Answer' - Valeria in Australia asks…

August's question for 'You Gave Me The Answer' comes from Valeria who lives in Australia. She asks…

"What special piece of advice from your parents has stuck with you over the years?"

We spoke with Paul during his summer holidays to find out. He replied,

"Thank you for your question Valeria. Our Dad always used to say to us, 'D.I.N.', which stood for 'Do It Now'. I've always tried to not take too long over things instead of putting them off."

We think Paul has definitely been taking his Dad's advice this year with 26 dates already under the belt on his all-new "Out There" tour as well as recording his 'New' album.

What advice from your parents has stuck with you, or indeed what advice have you given your children? Let us know in the comments below…
 

Paul McCartney’s interview with WXPN’s Helen Leicht

thekey.xpn.org
Listen back to Paul McCartney’s interview with WXPN’s Helen Leicht
By John Vettese
August 29, 2013

With the announcement of his brand new song called “New” and a forthcoming album of the same name, Sir Paul McCartney called WXPN today for an interview with mid-day show host Helen Leicht; you can listen to an archive of the entire interview below.

Their conversation began by talking aboutNew, which will see a U.S. release on Concord Records on Tuesday, October 15th.

McCartney recorded the new album with a team of heavy-hitting producers: Paul Epworth (known for his work with pop sensation Adele), Ethan Johns (he’s recorded Ryan Adams, Ray LaMontagne and Kings of Leon), Mark Ronson (popular for his work with Amy Winehouse as well as his solo albums) and Giles Martin (who staged The Beatles‘ Love show). As McCartney explained in the interview:

“The idea was to go do one track for each one  and decide who would be the best for the album. I ended up falling for them all. We had such a good time in different ways. Ethan would be a little more acoustically leaning, Mark would be a little more R&B. They each had a different approach, so I ended up working with them all.”

Conversation turned to songwriting in general, and what keeps him at it. McCartney called it “an eternal fascination.”

“It really is just down to the fact that I love it. … If you said to me now that, okay, this afternoon, you’re just going to sit down and write a song. That wouldn’t depress me or frighten me, that would really excite me. I’d go ‘Oh, yeah, great great great.’And then taking it into a recording studio…and eventually you take it out on the road, and you play it for real people. That is the ultimate excitement. If you look at that whole line of stuff, it’s pretty cool.”

On revisiting his Beatles-era music when performing live, McCartney likened it to being somebody else reviewing a young man’s work. “I’m listening to myself as a 24 year old. As I’m singing the songs, I’m reviewing the lyrics and thinking ‘This kid wasn’t bad!’” Some moments, like “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite,” are downright challenging (“It’s contrapuntal, man!”). When Leicht pointed out that today is the anniversary of The Beatles’ final show in San Francisco’s Candlestick Park, McCartney began to reminisce, but with a footing in the present.

“It is great to look at the old newsreels. You go, oh my God, is that really me? Obviously it was another time, and yes, we were younger. It was very exciting in its own way. The 60s were very exciting times, and I meet a lot of younger people who say ‘Wow, I wish I’d been there.’ I say ‘Well, no, don’t wish that, just be here now and enjoy this one, because there’s plenty of cool stuff going on now.’”

Listen to Leicht’s interview with Paul McCartney in its entirety in the player below. To hear his new single “New,” go here.

Paul Has Joined Instagram!

www.paulmccartney.com

AUG302013

Paul Has Joined Instagram!

Paul has joined the photo and video sharing site Instagram and can be found under the profile name PaulMcCartney.

Fans who follow Paul on Instagram will get to see exclusive photos (and maybe even a video or two!) taken during the studio sessions for his 'New' album.

Follow Paul on Instagram HERE!


...and investigative fans may also find another 'New' Instagram account which we'll be using to sneak out a few extra things. Can you find it?