Hi folks!
I haven't had the time to write much lately, but have more time to hang around here now! I'll make a "comeback" with a some thoughts about a Paul McCartney interview in the July edition of the "Record Collector" magazine. Paul is asked what qualities he thinks he's inherited from his parents. He talks about how his father learned him about tolerance. He talks about a recent episode when he met a down and out guitarist in Soho...
Well, it could be anybody.. there are many things that doesn't fit with Kirwan, so I guess it wasn't him. But still an interesting story.
Paul:
"Also, outreach is a cool thing. I love walking around in London, so often I get dropped off half a mile from wherever I'm going. If I'm coming into the office like this, I'll get dropped off down St Martin's Lane or somewhere and then walk through Soho. The other day I was walking down St Martin's Lane on one of the side streets, and there was a little guy just sort of sitting there, and he looked very bedraggled and homeless, and I just sort of looked at him and was gonna pass by - as you do. I mean, I would not normally go up to him unless he sort of confronted me. He just called out my name, and I thought, 'what do I do?'
Anyway, I went back and he said, 'I know you. I used to be in a group.' I won't name the group, 'cos it might embarrass him, but it wasn't a famous group. He was somebody I knew 10 years ago, and he'd obviously fallen on very hard times. So I said, 'Oh, man, what are you doing? What's happened?' 'cos I knew him as quite a sort of together guy. And he explained that he'd had all sorts of family troubles, and so here he was.
So, you know, when you asked me what I've inherited from my dad, I think it was this idea of... instead of just going, 'Look, pull yourself together,' and walking off, I felt that I had to kind of stand there for five minutes, give him a bit of cash, but also to talk to him about where his life was gonna go now. Particularly because I knew him, it was somebody from my own past.
I said, 'Come on, man, you were a real good guitarist, as I remember it. What you doing? Look, take this moment now, turn it around. Come on baby. Let's use this - you've run into me, man, and maybe this has happened for some reason. Let's just take this moment.' So it was kind of uplifting, and I hope it was for him. I went by the other day and he wasn't there. So... fingers crossed, you know. So my dad was very good that way about respect and tolerance for other people."
Kirwan DID play in a famous group (but that could just be Paul trying to "anonymize" the case. The "10 years ago" doesn't fit either. But Mac and Beatles certainly rubbed shoulders in the 60s, and Danny WAS a good guitarist!!!
I'd like to imagine Paul running into Danny in Soho...........
Similar start, but totally different lives today....
Daniel