Paul McCartney vs. Me at the Grammys

(NOTE: I’m resurrecting posts from old MySpace account)

I’ve now had encounters with three out of four Beatles, thanks to Paul McCartney’s surprise visit to the press room at the Grammys on Sunday [February 8, 2009]. I fired off the first question, and unwittingly found myself at the receiving end of his Liverpudlian wit. But getting a hard time from a Beatle is not the worst thing that could happen to me. Here’s a summary of what happened:

DEAN: PAUL, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT BEING SNUBBED BY THE GRAMMYS ALL THESE YEARS? YOU HAVEN’T WON ANYTHING SINCE (WINGS’) “ROCKESTRA THEME” (IN 1980)

PAUL: I feel terrible about it. I’m really annoyed. That’s why I didn’t come! You know what? I don’t come to win it. I come to be in it. It’s a great thing. I’m honored to be asked. I was watching the Golden Globes and I saw Mickey (Rourke) win for best actor, but in the audience was Clint, was Brad. They come to be part of it. You don’t come to necessarily win it.

(Looking at his t-shirt, featuring a print of the Beatles with red clown noses superimposed…)

PAUL: This is a t-shirt for Comic Relief which you, sounding vaguely English, will know about, if you will pay attention and not read your laptop. You can read your laptop anytime. This is a Comic Relief t-shirt, which was designed by my daughter Stella and the original picture was taken by Linda, and it will go on sale March 13 for charity for Comic Relief, which as you probably know is a brilliant charity.

(Asked by another journalist about the Robert Plant-Alison Krauss album Raising Sand, which ended up bagging the top prize …)

PAUL: I like what they’ve done together. It’s really good, yeah. I’ve chatted to Robert. He seems very happy, and he’s very happy with the new direction he’s taken. They’ve done a great job. What more can I say?

DEAN: DOES THAT INSPIRE YOU TO MOVE INTO SIMILAR ROOTSY, OFFBEAT COLLABORATIONS?

PAUL: No. Read your laptop. Get back to your laptop.