Paul and Heather Mills news

December 30, 2004

Macca Report Exclusive!!!

Paul and Heather are said to be organizing a large scale rock concert to raise money for the Tsunamis/earthquake victims in southern Asia.

The live concert with multiple acts, will take place early next year and will most likely be shown first on Pay Per View.

December 31, 2004 -- Female First UK

Sir Paul McCartney can't use cash machines!

Sir Paul McCartney has confessed he doesn't use cash machines because he doesn't know how to. The legendary ex-Beatle admits he never uses the dispensers like ordinary people because he is such a technophobe.

Instead, he relies on the staff at his offices to get him any cash he needs while he is out and about.

He said, "I don't use the machines. I'm terrible. I'm so low-tech, it's horrible. I've got an office and I ring them up and say, 'Give me some money.'"
The rocker, who is married to Heather Mills, admits he sometimes even has to borrow money from his personal assistant because he can't use the machines.

December 31, 2004 -- Macca Report Exclusive

Paul and Heather held a huge party for all their Liverpool relatives at their Wirral home on Merseyside tonight.

NEW YORK - JANUARY 4: ) Paul McCartney and wife Heather Mills out for dinner in Manhattan January 4, 2005 in New York City.

January 10, 2005 -- NY Post

Wrong Beatle

Don't confuse Paul McCartney with John Lennon. McCartney and his wife, Heather Mills, were strolling on East 57th Street the other day in front of the Prada store, when a teenage boy came running up to McCartney exclaiming: "John Lennon! John Lennon!" Our spy laughed, "Heather took it badly. She snapped back, 'No, you fool, he's dead,' before they walked away." A rep for McCartney didn't return call.
http://web1.nypost.com/gossip/37899.htm

January 11, 2005 -- Daily Post

Rumpus over 'lost' Beatles ballad

A row is looming over a possible lost Beatles song.

A senior executive from EMI in London flew to America to listen to the track, called Mississippi River Born, after it was found in a batch of tapes recorded by John Lennon.

The blues ballad was one of a number of keepsakes sold by collector Christopher Lopez. He is convinced that the song contains Paul McCartney singing at a time after the band broke up.

Lopez bought the items from American film-maker Tony Cox, Yoko Ono's former husband.

He then put them up for auction and believes they were bought by Yoko or EMI through an intermediary for more than £200,000 ($386,000).

He said, "This was one of the items the record company executive flew out from London to hear and he authenticated everything but this song. They thought it was Eric Clapton or Stevie Winwood.

"I have spent hours and hours listening to it and I have come to the conclusion that the lead vocal is Paul McCartney. That would make it a never-before-heard Beatles song. It sounds like John and George Harrison are singing the chorus."

Lopez is claiming legal rights to the song because he only sold a different part of the recording. He thinks that Yoko Ono has the tape because her lawyer contacted him to buy it.
http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0800beatles/0050news/tm_objectid%3D15059335%26method...

January 12, 2005 -- Contact Music

Paul contributes to new anti-animal cruelty book

Sir Paul McCartney has contributed to a new anti-animal cruelty book by Ingrid Newkirk, president of campaign group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

The tome "Making Kind Choices" falls in line with the Beatles legend's own views regarding the humane treatment of animals and his staunch vegetarianism.

The star was so determined to lend his support to the book, he wrote the introductory foreword section for Newkirk.

McCartney writes of the turning point in his attitude towards food, "I was sitting with Linda eating a dinner of roast lamb and watching the sheep that lived in the field outside our window.

"Seeing the lambs running up and down the field with such joy made us question the wisdom of eating such beautiful creatures."
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0312329938/ref=ase_paulmccartnphoto/103-3...

Paul McCartney will perform in the Ameriquest Mortgage Super Bowl XXXIX Halftime Show on FOX at Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida on Sunday, February 6. The game will be broadcast in more than 200 countries worldwide. Game time is 6 pm ET.

January 16, 2005 -- TimesOnline

Paul and me and the hate campaign

The McCartneys, in a rare interview, tell Helen Chislett they've had enough of media sniping.

What is it with the name Heather Mills McCartney? A mere mention of the fact that I have met and interviewed her twice (the first time when she was plain Heather Mills) invokes an alarming reaction: "That terrible woman - only married him for the money, didn't she?" is the verdict among women. Male friends mutter about her influence on Paul.

I have interviewed some controversial figures in my time - including David Mellor, Christine Hamilton and Claus von Bulow - but none elicited as strong a reaction as Heather. So let me stick my head above the parapet and say I simply do not recognize the woman as she is so often described.

I first met the Mills sisters six years ago when I interviewed them for the Relative Values section of the Sunday Times Magazine. My memories of Heather were of a straight-talking, determined woman whose moral fibre ran through her.

Heather and Paul McCartney's usual response to media articles is to keep silent. But there are particular reasons why they would now like to put the record straight. First, there is their one-year-old daughter, Beatrice. Heather worries she will die prematurely like her own mother (who also had a leg severed in a car accident and who later died of complications) and that Beatrice's impressions of her will be tarnished by the press cuttings.

She and Paul are vigilant about protecting their daughter's privacy, "I don't want her growing up like a celebrity baby; it's hard enough being a McCartney child," says Heather. "All I will say is that she is the light of my life and I am really happy."

The other reason is the negative impact such press has on her charity work for Adopt-a-Minefield, of which the McCartneys are joint patrons and goodwill ambassadors. Heather is now considering stepping down from high-profile duties as a result. "You might hate me, you might want to tear me apart, but don't hurt the people I am trying to help. Find another way," she says.

Heather speaks from experience: a few years ago a paper threatened to go to press with accusations so libellous it eventually did not run the piece. But even the suggestion of publication was enough to scupper a deal with a manufacturer of prosthetic limbs who was to donate 3,000 of them to Adopt-a-Minefield. The company withdrew its support and gave its reason as Heather's bad press: "Because the factory pulled out, 3,000 kids did not get limbs for nine months. Can you imagine how terrible I felt about that?" she says.

Our interview came about as a result of an article in the Sunday Times Magazine that she found hurtful . After I read it, I contacted her sister Fiona to make clear how I felt about Heather, having met her before.

Ten days later, Paul was on the phone and Heather decided she wanted to be interviewed in person. She wanted people to know that while she tries to rise above the taunts, they hurt her to the core.

Finding a discreet venue was difficult, so we agreed she would come to my home - a half-hour drive from the McCartney farmhouse near Rye. She arrived in a modest country taxi, striding up the muddy path in red killer spiked Stella McCartney heels. As you would expect from a former model and self-confessed fitness freak, she looks good in the flesh - slim figure, glowing skin and wide smile. You would be hard pressed to notice her disability: the clue is that she looks even slimmer from the left because of her atrophied leg.

For the next two hours she talked about the extraordinary life she was catapulted into when she married Paul - and the devastating effect it is having on her charity work.

"I went from being someone who never had a negative article written about them to being absolutely persecuted," she recalls. "It was initially such a shock. Now I feel as though I am stuck in prison and then eventually they go after someone else and I am allowed out on probation. There have been loads of times I have regretted meeting Paul because I was so happy in my old life. I was nowhere near as sensitive as I am now."

Paul has spent 40 years under the spotlight but it infuriates him when Heather is attacked, "Even though she has been through all the personal tragedies that she has come through in her life, this sort of thing seems to her more unfair than all of them put together. I might view an article as a clear bit of nonsense, but the worst thing is that people might then question whether to support our charity or not - that is the most insidious consequence.

"The thing is that Heather is for real and if someone is dissing her work to that degree, then she really takes it to heart," adds Paul. He is aware that marriage to him has been something of a poisoned chalice. "I don't allow myself to feel guilty," he says, "but it certainly occurs to me, not just for Linda and Heather but for my kids. But I can't allow that feeling - I have to brush it aside: this is who I am and who she is and there are certainly people a hell of a lot worse off than we are."

"You must remember Linda got it too. They used to say things like, 'Poor old Paul - all he wants is a nice meaty sausage and she won't give him one'. It was as if I was a carnivore on heat dying for a piece of meat."

In fact, he finds the idea that he has picked an unsuitable wife patronising: "I might be attracted to a good-looking girl, but no way am I going to get this involved unless there is really something there. I am not a fool. I know Heather as a mum and a wife and a friend and she is fantastic in all those departments. She is a really good person."

In return, Heather thinks the portrayal of her as a gold- digger degrades them both, "That is like saying my husband is only a pot of gold; that he is not sexy, can't sing, has no humor, is not loving or romantic," she says. "Who's getting insulted here? "We are talking about someone who has had one of the most successful marriages ever in showbiz history and has a fantastic family. You can't have that without being pretty special.

"When we met, I used to tell myself that if I got even 1% of the love he had for Linda, I would be blessed. And we totally have that love."

But enough is enough, and so this year Heather is planning to step out of the limelight: "I think I should stay completely behind the scenes of the charity; it is where I do most of my work anyway.

"I don't want to expose myself to being whipped and lashed any more. To feel such venom coming at you is so shocking it takes your breath away. My dream would be just to get on with my life and not be harassed or stressed. There are so many things I want to get on with, but my energy is sucked out of me the whole time dealing with situations that take me away from my child and the charity."

This would be bad news for Adopt-a-Minefield as Keith Kelly, its director, points out, "I have worked for other charities where patrons take the name of the charity as a means to self-publicity and you very rarely hear from them. That is the total opposite with Heather: she is more committed than anyone I have ever worked with.

"Adopt-a-Minefield is one of the few charities that pledges that 100% of the funds from the public go direct to clearing mines and helping survivors. We are only able to do that by using Heather and Paul's celebrity to raise money for administrative costs."

After meeting her again, it seems to me that Heather Mills McCartney suffers from strong woman syndrome. People focus on her flinty determination and forget her human side.

As Heather says, "I can handle anything thrown at me, but people really don't comprehend how much damage it does to the bigger picture. If I do something bad, then knock me down, I deserve everything I get. But don't attack me unfairly when all I want to do is the work I feel I have been put on this planet to do."

Adopt-a-Minefield: 020 7925 1500, www.landmines.org.uk

Paul McCartney's Promise to Revisit Cuban City Recalled by Locals
By Marlene Montoya

Santiago de Cuba, Jan 17(AIN) Five years following the visit by former-Beatle Paul McCartney to the city of Santiago de Cuba, there remains an expectation that he may return someday - as he promised during his first visit to this city.

On January 14, 2000, accompanied by his two children, he surprised everyone when he walked into the Pepe Sanchez Trova House located on the city's busy Heredia Street, where he enjoyed traditional Afro-Cuban music interpreted by the Conjunto Moneda Nacional.

While sitting on the front row enjoying the contagious melodies, McCartney attempted to join in and play some of the artful rifts.

At the downtown cultural institution, the former-Beatle also purchased various CD's, among them those of Grammy-winner Eliades Ochoa of Buena Vista Social Club fame.

McCartney enjoyed lunch at the El Morro Restaurant, where he preferred to eat, despite its distance from the city. When he left the restaurant he wrote on the visitors' book, "Very good, I'll be back."

The restaurants employees remember Paul's visit five years ago, at which time they served him scrambled eggs and vegetables, pineapple cocktail, locally-drafted "Mayabe" beer and chocolate ice cream.

Since then, the furniture, plates, and eating utensils used by the McCartney's are part of the restaurant's attraction, now famous for its popularity among visitors.

With its colonial-style furniture, the restaurant has a unique aura - located only meters away from the San Pedro de la Roca Castle, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. It also is situated at the entrance of Santiago's bay, where commercial airplanes fly over the eatery's guests.

McCartney and his children went on to visit the nearby fortress and were impressed by its architectural jewels that date back to the 18th century.
http://www.periodico26.cu/english_new/cuba/paul170105.htm

January 21, 2005 -- PRNewswire

NFL Bridges Generations in Super Bowl XXXIX Pregame Show

The NFL will pair young icons and timeless legends from a variety of music genres and link fans of all ages in the "Bridging Generations" Super Bowl XXXIX pregame show on FOX Sunday, February 6 at ALLTEL Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida, the NFL announced today. In addition, the NFL will honor current and former members of the military with a special salute and performance of the National Anthem. Details will be announced shortly.

The pregame show and Ameriquest Mortgage Super Bowl XXXIX Halftime Show starring PAUL McCARTNEY reflect the overall Super Bowl XXXIX theme of "Building Bridges," which represents both the Jacksonville landscape with its many bridges and the many ways the NFL unites communities and people of all ages around their passion for football and the Super Bowl.

Country star GRETCHEN WILSON, who earned the 2004 Billboard Music Awards for both female country artist and new country artist of the year and is nominated for four Grammys, will team with the legendary CHARLIE DANIELS BAND, which has thrilled audiences for more than 40 years.

BLACK EYED PEAS, who are nominated for four Grammys, including record of the year, will perform with EARTH, WIND AND FIRE, one of the world's most enduring and adored R&B groups.

Grammy-award winning ALICIA KEYS will perform "America the Beautiful," in a special tribute to the legendary RAY CHARLES, who grew up near Jacksonville and passed away in June 2004. She will be accompanied on Charles' signature song by 150 members from the St. Augustine-based Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind, which Charles attended in his youth and where he developed his passion for music.

FOX also will bring viewers inside the NFL Tailgate Party where 2004 Grammy nominee and double platinum recording artist KELLY CLARKSON and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame great JOHN FOGERTY will be performing.

Watched by a record 144.4 million viewers in the U.S. last year, the Super Bowl is annually the nation's highest-rated TV program and the most-watched single-day sporting event.

Don Mischer Productions will produce the pregame show in addition to the Ameriquest Mortgage Super Bowl XXXIX Halftime Show. Kenny Ortega, who worked with Don Mischer Productions during the 1996 Summer and 2002 Winter Olympics, will serve as pregame show producer and field director.

January 22, 2005 -- First Coast News

Here's your chance to see Paul rehearse for the Halftime show at the Super Bowl!!!

Have you ever dreamed of being in the Super Bowl? Well here's your chance!

Don Mischer Productions is looking for approximately 750 men and women over the age of 18 to be a part of the Super Bowl XXXIX Stage Crews. The Stage Crews will be trained to set up the modular stages and show elements for the Pregame and Halftime shows, featuring artists such as Alicia Keys, Black Eyed Peas, and Sir Paul McCartney, among others. No experience is necessary, but volunteers must be in good physical condition, not afraid of a little hard work (lots of heavy pushing and lifting), and able to attend (in their entirety) the Stage Crew rehearsals held at Alltel Stadium.

Particulars regarding what is required, a schedule of rehearsals and performances, and volunteer form can be found at www.superbowlproductions.com.

January 23, 2005 -- UK News

Paul promises clean show

Organizers of the US's biggest sporting event have promised a return to family-friendly fare and no repeat of last year's "wardrobe malfunction".

Host broadcaster CBS received an unprecedented 500,000 complaints after Justin Timberlake exposed Janet Jackson's right breast during half-time entertainment.

Sponsors vanished, CBS was fined $715,000, and the National Football League lost its reputation as a show the whole family could watch.

Now, the NFL has revealed how far it has gone out of its way to ensure good, clean fun.

Half-time entertainment at this year's 39th Super Bowl, on February 6 in Jacksonville, Florida, will be headlined by Paul McCartney, who has promised not to take off his clothes until after the show.

Other well-behaved performers include Alicia Keys, John Fogerty and country music singer Josh Gracin.

Fox hosts this year's game and the producer of last year's half-time show, MTV, has not been invited back.

The NFL had wanted to impose a 10-second delay on the broadcast but agreed to a live broadcast after Fox pointed out that Sir Paul and Keys were unlikely to do anything but sing.

Still, NFL executives went to Britain for extensive talks with Sir Paul and his staff about the precise detail of his show.

Every second of the show has been rehearsed and vetted by the jittery league. Fox has also banned any risque advertisements from its Super Bowl coverage.

As for the game itself, if anyone's still interested, final teams have not been decided. Playoffs continue this weekend.

Guitarist Magazine (UK) Issue 258 (December '04)

Has a cover story on Paul McCartney and an interview with Rusty Anderson:

In his first musician's magazine interview for a decade, Sir Paul McCartney talks guitars, songwriting with John Lennon and the secrets of his unique acoustic guitar style.

Plus: we have a tutorial dissecting that acoustic technique on the CD too.

Paul is also on the cover of the Dec/January '05 Guitar World's "Acoustic Guitar" magazine with an indepth article.

There is also an interview in "Guitar" magazine for January.

McCARTNEY TO GO ON SHOW

Pop legend SIR PAUL McCARTNEY's Manhattan apartment is now visible from New York's Museum of Modern Art - after the centre was given a multi-million dollar make-over.

The world famous museum has added a new floor-to-ceiling glass facade which, unintentionally, gives visitors a perfect view of the 54th Street home the former BEATLE shares with wife HEATHER MILLS.

One of McCartney's neighbours fumes, "I don't know if Paul McCartney has complained yet but a number of us have. But the next time he arrives to stay here, he'll discover he's living in a fish bowl now.

"I suspect once word of this leaks out, people will be paying their admission fees not to view museum exhibits but to see what's on show in his apartment.

"He'll find he's lost every single shred of privacy he enjoyed - which is probably why he bought a home here in the first place."

A spokesperson insists McCartney is not yet aware of the problem, but adds it will be investigated on the singer's behalf.

January 26, 2005 -- New YorkPost

Sightings

Paul McCartney, wife Heather and daughter Bea sunning at the pool at Parrot Cay in the Turks & Caicos islands with Keith Richards and his two dogs.
http://www.nypost.com/gossip/pagesix_u.htm

January 26, 2005

Super Bowl Rumor

Paul may perform a new song at the Super Bowl about 'bridges' which is the theme of the Super Bowl.

January 26, 2005 -- LIPA Press Release

The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA) has announced plans to hold U.S. auditions in Austin on April 9, 2005. The highly regarded performing arts college rarely holds auditions in the United States, so this event will provide an opportunity for students from throughout the U.S. to audition for the prestigious school without the expense of traveling to Liverpool.

The auditions will be held on Saturday, April 9th, at 501 Post/501 Audio located at 501 North IH 35 in Austin, from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. LIPA was co-founded by Paul McCartney and Mark Featherstone-Witty. Featherstone-Witty will be in Austin for the auditions.

"LIPA provides a tremendous learning experience for many young people who want to enter the music business and other performing arts," said McCartney. "We are so pleased to offer auditions in the U.S., and are especially pleased to have them in Austin, a city where music is such an important part of the culture."

LIPA opened in 1996 with nearly 190 students. Now, there are 650 students from 35 countries worldwide. (Roughly 40 come from the United States.) Students study a range of diploma and degree programs in audio engineering, technical theater, theater design, popular music, arts management, acting and dance. Music is the largest program, where students can study styles ranging from rock to rhythm & blues, production and performance.

Popular Austin performer Django Walker is a graduate of LIPA. The British band "The Zutons," scheduled to play at the South By Southwest Music Festival in Austin in March, are also graduates of LIPA.

For information about audition requirements, visit http://www.lipa.ac.uk or email LIPA's International Administrator, Cath Cullen, at c.cullen@lipa.ac.uk

Background on LIPA Beatles producer George Martin first introduced Paul McCartney and Mark Featherstone-Witty. At the time, McCartney was looking for a way to help his hometown of Liverpool and had discovered that the 1825 building where he had attended school (then the Liverpool Institute for Boys) was in a state of decay.

In the meantime, Featherstone-Witty had been excited about the 1980 film, Fame, because it inspired him to think about what training would have best prepared him for his acting career and others in the performing arts. The film gave him the idea that performing artists, while focusing on one performing skill, needed to learn the other two as well. Eventually, he honed his ideas into a blueprint for a new type of training and by 1985, he had nearly 50 artists, directors, choreographers and entrepreneurs backing him. He formed a charity called the Schools for Performing Arts Trust (SPA Trust). It was around this time that he was introduced to McCartney. As luck would have it, at about the same time, the City of Liverpool was looking into initiatives which could build on the city's reputation as a music city. Over time, plans crystallized into what later became LIPA.

January 29, 2005

Sightings

Here's more about Paul and Heather's vacation (the first week in January) at Parrot Cay in the Turks & Caicos islands.

While sunning themselves at the pool, Paul picked up baby Bea to serenade her and was joined in song by Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones who was also vacationing on the island.