McCartney Times

After we relocated to the United States, I have a lasting memory of us all being at one of Mark and Carol Lapidos’ Fests for Beatles Fans, when Ruth and I were joined by Gerry Marsden, Pauline Sutcliffe, Alistair Taylor and Neil Innes. We were on a panel together, and something that Neil said set Louise off in a fit of the giggles that became uncontrollable, until we were all in pieces, and poor Mark Lapidos was trying to get us back in shape. It was like herding cats. We all laughed until we cried.

We did a few of those Fests, and no doubt lots of the fans will remember Louise and her stories of how she was the first person to start to bring attention to The Beatles in America, even before they had done the Ed Sullivan Show, and we all know where that took them. She used to have Brian Epstein mail her copies of their singles which she would tout to radio stations, pleading with them to play her “boys.” And for a woman to have the brass to do that in those days was quite something.

When we lived in Nashville (where we moved after the Northridge earthquake) Louise spent a few days with us at our apartment in Deerfield, and she and I went off to a Home Shopping network show in either North or South Carolina , hosted by Ken Barker. What we didn’t know was that it involved a one hour time change, and we blithely checked in to our hotel and were freshening up when Ken called us in a panic from the TV station. Oops! We dashed off and made Louise’s on-air time by the skin of her teeth.

She and Martin worked together on some music for her project to bring awareness to the world’s water crisis with “Splish, Splash and Splosh.” She was way ahead of her time in recognizing the world’s water pollution problems. It was she she who taught me never to leave the tap running whilst brushing my teeth. I think of her every morning.

She wrote a book called “My Kid Brother’s Band” and was a Grammy nominee with her CD of interviews with Beatles Fans which was well received.

More recently, we worked together with her and Liverpool Legends, finally appearing with them in a combined show which included our Behind The Beatles segment. We are in talks with Marty Scott ro launch more similar appearances.

Louise was one progressive lady, born ahead of her time, and she was so proud of her brother.