Paul and Heather Mills news

Paul McCartney sings at Great Ormand Street
Last Updated: 2:05am GMT 18/12/2007

Sir Paul McCartney has made a surprise Christmas visit to children at the Great Ormond Street Hospital.

The former Beatle joined in a karaoke session with the youngsters, singing the S Club 7 hit song Don't Stop Movin', as well as talking with some of the hospital's 1,500 patients.

<-- Sir Paul McCartney greets some of the young patients at the Great Ormond Street Hospital

One parent at the party said: "Sir Paul had everyone singing along.

"The children were thrilled but it was even more of a treat for the parents."

Among those Sir Paul met was nine-year-old Milly Pyne, who was born with a rare genetic condition in which the bones in her skull and face fused at birth.

The young girl from Ulverston, Cumbria, underwent surgery this year.

Earlier this month she was honoured at the Woman's Own Children of Courage Awards.

Sir Paul greeted her with a hug and jokingly pretended to take a bite out of her medal.

Other celebrities at the annual party included the husband and wife television presenters, Tess Daly and Vernon Kay.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/12/18/nmacca118.xml

C таинственной брюнеткой на коленях

<-- Sister act ... he jokes with Milly and Alice Pyne

Now it's Sir Paul McCar-knee

SIR PAUL MCCARTNEY waves as he bounces a mystery brunette on his knee yesterday.

The former Beatle had clearly given her a Ticket to Ride — or perhaps it was a case of Baby, You Can Drive My Car.

Sir Paul, 65, giggled as the beauty perched illegally on his lap as the couple were driven away from a charity do.

The music legend — who is dating Pulp Fiction beauty ROSANNA ARQUETTE — was accompanied by his pal to the Great Ormond Street Hospital’s Christmas party where he played the mandolin for sick kids.

Elizabeth Connolly, 32, whose daughter Katie, two, spoke to Macca, said: “It was a really special day. He was very charming.”

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/bizarre/article594969.ece

Star turn ... Macca meets Alex Mustafa at party

A&E TO PREMIERE ONE-HOUR SPECIAL - “PAUL MCCARTNEY LIVE AT THE OLYMPIA” ON SUNDAY, DECEMBER 23 @ 10 PM ET

Television Debut Of Songs From The Three-Time
Grammy Nominated Album Memory Almost Full - Filmed Live in Paris

NEW YORK, December 13, 2007 – Upon the worldwide release of his now Three-time Grammy nominated new album Memory Almost Full, Paul McCartney performed four special standing room only shows this year taking place at intimate venues in New York, Los Angeles, London and Paris. A&E will feature the Paris concert in a one-hour special premiering on Sunday, December 23 at 10 PM ET.

McCartney’s show in Paris this past October took place at The Olympia the oldest and most famous music hall in Paris. Having played host to an array of great names since it was founded in 1888; The Olympia has hosted everyone from Luciano Pavarotti, Judy Garland, the Rolling Stones, Celine Dion and Morrissey and also Edith Piaf, who performed there many times during her career and supported the venue when it faced bankruptcy in 1961. In fact, it was the recent film ‘La Vie en Rose’ about Piaf’s life which inspired Paul to play the Olympia this time. Paul himself is no stranger to the Olympia, having performed there with The Beatles in 1964.

“Paul McCartney Live At The Olympia” is the fourth special for A&E. In the historic hour, fans will hear McCartney and his band run through Beatles & Wings classics and more importantly will hear several songs from Memory Almost Full for the first time on national television including “Dance Tonight,” “Only Mama Knows,” and “That Was Me.”

McCartney commented recently on the Grammy success for his latest work: “I'm very pleased with these Grammy nominations for my latest album Memory Almost Full. I had a lot of fun making it with David Kahne and my band and I am very pleased with how successful it has been, particularly because of the way we got it out to people in a new and interesting way. I'm chuffed that people are enjoying the album and am really pleased that it's been recognized by all the voters.”

Widely hailed by critics as one of the best albums in Paul McCartney’s solo career, Memory Almost Full debuted at #3 on the Billboard Top 200 Album Chart making it the highest charting album over the last ten years for McCartney. The album has also been recently re-released as a deluxe CD/DVD set featuring three bonus tracks, plus five live performances and two music videos.

On November 13th MPL/Rhino Entertainment released the definitive visual collection of Paul McCartney’s amazing career: THE McCARTNEY YEARS, a 3 Volume DVD collection, which features solo music videos, career-spanning live performances, personal commentary by Paul McCartney and exclusive footage that tracks his incredible musical journey as never before.

“Paul McCartney Live At The Olympia,” is produced by MPL Communications Ltd and Canal Plus in association with A&E Network. Originally recorded in Paris on October 22, 2007, Paul McCartney served as Executive Producer, Don Kent as Director and Stephanie Saunier as Producer. Robert Sharenow is Executive Producer for A&E.

http://www.paulmccartney.com/news.php#1108/2007-12

Sir Paul McCartney gives an attractive brunette an illegal ticket to ride
18th December 2007

Eligible bachelor Sir Paul McCartney raised eyebrows as he left a charity event with a mystery brunette balanced precariously on his knee.

Sir Paul, 65, giggled as the woman perched illegally on his lap as the couple were driven away from a party at Great Ormond Street Hospital yesterday afternoon.

The former Beatle and his pal squeezed into the front seat of his people carrier, after the star made a surprise appearance at the London hospital's annual Christmas party.

The pair certainly looked cosy despite the cramped condition, but pals of the music legend — who has been linked to actress Rosanna Arquette in recent weeks — insisted the mystery girl was not his latest love interest.

A source told The Daily Mirror: "Yes, she's very attractive but she's just a friend.

"She works for his company and organises charity events. They get on well.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html...&in_page_id=1773

Адвокаты подают в суд на ЧЖ за неоплату счетов на сумму 2 миллиона фунтов.

<-- Legal advice: Heather Mills with Mishcon lawyer Anthony Julius

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html...773&in_a_source=

Macca's memories
(and even in 2007, they're not all bad ones)

When I'm 65: Paul McCartney who became a pensioner this year

Thursday December 20 2007

As the man who penned When I'm 64, it probably goes without saying that Paul McCartney felt a twinge of trepidation as June 18, 2006, finally approached.

The way McCartney tells it, the plan was to pay little attention to it, perhaps avoid going out of his way to hear his most vaudeville contribution to Sgt Pepper. But that very morning he was greeted at his house by a delegation of younger McCartneys. "My kids did a version for me," he exclaims from the kitchen of his Sussex recording studio. "I even had the baby doing it." By way of illustration, McCartney lets forth a high-pitched imitation of Beatrice Milly McCartney singing When I'm 64 with atonal gusto.

A prurient inquiry springs to mind at this point. You wonder if Heather was there, singing along with the Maccas, all the better to imagine the atmosphere on that mildly mythical morning. But you weigh up the risks of upsetting a Beatle and you let it pass.

By the time he reached a pensionable 65 this year, he had turned into another one of his songs -- he was here, there and everywhere. No doubt, some of the attention was unwelcome. When redtop headlines weren't trumpeting the latest instalment of his divorce, they were shining a light on his ensuing liaisons -- a weekend apparently spent with the Hamptons socialite Nancy Shevell, and his current relationship with Rosanna Arquette. But even setting that aside, it was a period of activity unseen since the days when he had three other Beatles with him to share the burden.

In June, he formally severed his 45-year relationship with EMI by releasing his 14th solo album, Memory Almost Full, not with a conventional record label but with Starbucks' music division Hear Music. Along the way, there were British and American gigs of hysteria-inducing intimacy and even a measure of acceptance for his classical work -- his memorial piece to Linda McCartney, Ecce Cor Meum, earned him a Classical Brit.

During a 50-minute conversation, there is one word he uses more than any other. If, as GQ recently declared, Paul McCartney is the Man of the Year, then "exciting" was his word of the year. And if something wasn't exciting, Macca didn't want to know about it.

It seems that excitement -- or rather the lack of it -- struck the death knell for what was already becoming a strained relationship with his old label.

"Everybody at EMI had become a part of the furniture. I'd be a couch. Coldplay are an armchair. And Robbie Williams, I dread to think what he was," he begins. "But the most important thing was, I'd felt [the people at EMI] had become really very boring, y'know? And I dreaded going to see them."

Boring in what way? "Well, because I could guess what they were going to say -- 'Love your record, Paul' -- and I'd say: 'Well, what should we do with it?' Then they'd go: 'Well, we think you ought to go to Cologne', which is what they always say.

"This idea became symbolic of the treadmill, you know? You go somewhere, speak to a million journalists for one day, and you get all the same questions. It's mind-numbing. So I started saying: 'God, we've got to do something else'."

Had his American producer David Kahne not been on hand to hear these grievances then McCartney may never have got as far as working out what that "something else" was. Unluckily for EMI though, Kahne had friends at Hear Music. By the time McCartney got around to telling EMI the bad news, the deal was as good as done. Someone at the coffee chain told him that 400 Starbucks in China would be stocking the CD. He liked the idea almost as much as the fact that no one had mentioned Cologne.

The clincher, though, was the meeting he had with Starbucks executives, in which Memory Almost Full was played back in its entirety. "You Tell Me came on and one of the team started crying. It was weird. I thought, 'Oh, this is real feedback'."

Not much crying at EMI then, lately? "Well, there is, but for other reasons," McCartney says. It might be argued that, for an industry monolith such as EMI -- now owned by a private equity firm, Terra Firma -- losing Paul McCartney in one year is unlucky. That the label went on to lose Radiohead -- because, in the words of the guitarist Ed O'Brien, "Terra Firma doesn't understand the music industry" -- starts to look like recklessness. Thom Yorke may bristle at the idea of jumping ship to Starbucks, but one thing he and McCartney have in common is their enthusiasm for new, faster ways of putting out music.

Actuallly, the new ways are reminiscent of the old ways. McCartney was one of millions who downloaded Radiohead's In Rainbows, paying "something reasonable", on the week it appeared. "This was how we used to operate," he enthuses. "I remember John [Lennon], for instance, writing Instant Karma and demanding it was released the following week."

It wasn't the case with EMI. "I'd started saying to them: 'Look, we could write a thing and have it released the next week.' And they would say: 'You can't do that these days.' So I would say: 'Well, how much time do you need?' And they'd say six months. I said: 'Why do you need that long?' And do you know what they said? 'To figure out how to market it.' I said: 'Wait a minute, are you sure you need six months for that? Couldn't some bright people do that in two days?' Jesus Christ. I said: 'Look boys, I'm digging a new furrow'."

And a fertile one at that. This year he bought the domain name www.meyesight.com (a pun on MySpace but pronounced so that it rhymes with "eyesight") as a platform for his poems, paintings and demos. Far from making him retreat behind locked doors, the fallout from his divorce from Heather has thrown him not just into work but into a whirl of social engagements. At the Q Awards in September he got talking to Damon Albarn and congratulated him on the success of his Africa Express "super-jam" at Glastonbury.

"He asked me to take part in it, actually. I couldn't do it because of my personal difficulties. I was looking after my daughter and I couldn't really schlep her down and do that. But I think they're gonna do another one, so I might get involved next year."

The way his 2008 is shaping up, McCartney might find it no less of a struggle to fit in the next one. In February he picks up a Brit award for Outstanding Contribution to Music. Between then and his Anfield stadium show in the summer, he goes into the studio to assist on an album of songs by his famously shy son, James.

Also nearing completion are a guitar concerto and a new album under his nom de plume The Fireman. You suspect that much of his current swagger stems from the reception accorded to Memory Almost Full. It's a record on which the Linda years seemed to loom large -- not just on Wings-style rockers such as Only Mama Knows and Nod Your Head, but across a succession of confessional, contemplative songs. Writing about his happiest years as though part of some increasingly intangible dream, You Tell Me, That Was Me and The End of the End numbered among his most affecting tunes for years.

That McCartney takes as much inspiration from Wings these days as he does from the Beatles, is probably no accident. The Beatles don't need anyone to stick up for them. But the same can't be said of the band formed by Paul and Linda in the hangover of the decade that the Beatles helped to define. When talk turns to the subject of Wings, McCartney relays a favourite story about Bruce Springsteen. "We were at the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame and we got talking. He said: 'You know what? I like Silly Love Songs. I really didn't get it at first, but now I've got a wife and kids I get what you meant'."

It isn't difficult to work out the subtext of this story. Having spent the Sixties as you would expect a Beatle to spend the Sixties -- seeing Jane Asher, getting high with his arty mates at the Indica Gallery -- he changed with the new decade.

And many of his contemporaries resented him for it, little realising that the changes he underwent would befall them too. Family. Kids. Mellow times.

Does he ever get bored of being portrayed as easygoing, thumbs-aloft Macca? I suggest that his glass-half-full persona must have been manufactured as a method for coping with his extraordinary fame. He bristles slightly at the word "manufactured". In fact, he says, it was probably a mechanism that activated itself during an adolescence overshadowed by the death of his mother. "If you knew anyone I went to school with, it was the same, you know. I was pretty optimistic."

Besides, even happy songs have a way of turning sad as the years go by. Penny Lane pauses the videotape of memory on a moment to which its author knows he can never return. Even When I'm 64 carries a poignancy that he couldn't have foreseen when he wrote it. "You know, I think you're getting to the philosophical core of things when you say that. Things that are happy also contain the seed of sadness."

By way of illustration, he pretends to be a brass band playing I Do Like to be Beside the Seaside. Images of Victorian ghosts in stripy bathing costumes suddenly abound.

At the risk of sounding like an enterprising Starbucks executive with a chopped onion secreted in his handkerchief, I tell Paul that the home movies on The McCartney Years -- a new DVD anthology spanning his work with and beyond Wings -- movingly underscores the point. Particularly affecting is the footage of the McCartneys revelling in anonymity at their Scottish farm retreat. It must have been incredible to raise children who had yet to rumble who their dad was.

"Exactly," he says. "There was one moment where they were riding their little ponies in Scotland, and Stella said to me: 'Dad! You're Paul McCartney, aren't you?' 'Yes darling, but I'm Daddy really'."

Were any reminder needed that he's still Daddy, he has to leave his studio in a few minutes to pick up four-year-old Beatrice from school. On the way back they might do some Christmas shopping -- a ritual with which he is quite hands-on. "I like to do that myself, you know?" In terms of getting the kids excited, I tell him I can recommend the Argos catalogue. It's got nearly 2,000 pages.

"I don't get the Argos," he says, with the mock air of a man who may yet do -- now that the idea has occurred to him. "But I do have others. There are catalogues that are even better than Argos. Believe you me."

- Peter Paphides

http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/news-gossip/maccas-memories-1250732.html

Sir Paul McCartney: 2008 will be magic
Dec 21 2007 by Catherine Jones, Liverpool Echo

SIR Paul McCartney believes Liverpool will enjoy a “magical” 2008.

The former Beatle made his New Year prediction during filming of the Jools Holland Annual Hootenanny TV show.

It is being screened on December 31.

Macca, backed by Holland’s Rhythm And Blues Orchestra, will perform two songs – a Beatles’ classic and a special duet with Kylie Minogue.

And asked for a prediction for the New Year he said: “I think Liverpool is going to be a magical Capital of Culture throughout 2008 and really show itself in a new light.

“Come on Liverpool.”

Sir Paul, 65, is due to appear at two Capital of Culture events.

He will be at Liverpool Cathedral on May 1 when the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra performs the northern premiere of his award-winning classical work Ecce Cor Meum.

And a month later he is back to headline one of the highlights of the year – the Liverpool Sound concert at Anfield on June 1.

Jools Holland’s Hootenanny show will be screened on BBC2 at 11.05pm on New Year’s Eve.

The line-up of artists joining Macca in the turn-of-the-year celebration includes Kylie, Madness, Kaiser Chiefs, Kate Nash, Eddie Floyd, Lulu, Ruby Turner, Rory Bremner, Ormskirk’s Jon Culshaw, Lenny Henry, Meera Syal and Sanjeev Bhaskar.

Jools Holland said: “I think we’ve captured something very special. The atmosphere was just fantastic.”

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2007/12/21/sir-paul-mccartney-...

Bass links rock and roll royalty
A daughter connects with her father's musical heir
By Barbara Bradley (Contact)
Monday, December 24, 2007

<-- Nancy Shockley (left), daughter of Elvis' bass player Bill Black, met Paul McCartney, who owns her father's old bass, in November.

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2007/dec/24/bass-links-rock-and-roll-royalty/

McCartney brings Xmas cheer Happy Christmas 2007

SIR PAUL MCCARTNEY has signed on to co-produce tracks on British singer LULU's new album, which she'll record at the fabled Abbey Road studios.

28/12/2007

Не совсем news... Танцующие Пол и Хизер в лучшие времена :))

"saturday night fever"

Маккартни перенес операцию на сердце

Paul McCartney has secret heart operation

Music legend Sir Paul McCartney underwent secret heart surgery last autumn, it was revealed last night.

The 65-year-old former Beatle reportedly had a coronary angioplasty - a procedure that opens up arteries and allows a greater flow of blood.

A source told British newspaper The Sun: “Paul had been complaining about not feeling well and saw a Harley Street specialist at The London Clinic.

“Tests were carried out and the decision was taken to operate. Paul had the angioplasty in a private hospital. It was all very routine but any work on your heart is a big deal.”

The singer, who is currently embroiled in a bitter divorce battle with estranged wife Heather Mills made a good recovery as he joined Aussie pop princess Kyle Minogue on-stage on New Year’s day to perform his hit single Dance Tonight during Jools Holland’s BBC2 New Year special.

A pal said: “Luckily Paul is in very good shape. He does regular exercise and is fit.

“He eats well and does not carry any excess weight. He has always been in exceptional health, which is remarkable when you think of the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle he once had.”

Surgeons perform coronary angioplasty by passing a fine tube in through the groin and up to the aorta.

A small balloon at the tip of the tube is inflated at the narrowest part of an artery to squash fatty deposits clogging it and allow blood to flow freely again.

A stent - a short wire-mesh tube - is usually left in to prop open that segment of artery.

Last night a spokesperson for Paul confirmed that the secret surgery had been performed in the autumn, saying: “It was a routine medical operation.”

http://www.showbizspy.com/2008/01/02/paul-mccartney-has-secret-heart-operation/#story-2

http://www.inthenews.co.uk/entertainment/music/mccartney-has-heart-operation-$1183989.htm
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article639719.ece

Video Link (includes Paul performing on Jools Holland's Hootenanny New Year's Eve show): Later with Jools Holland, Series 30, Hootenanny, broadcast 31 December 2007.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/later/series30/hootenanny/

2Primal Scream:

>Маккартни перенес операцию на сердце

Бедняга, не прошел даром ему этот развод :(