Okay, here's how the Paul McCartney press conference went.

It started an hour-and-a-half late. He was still doing sound check or something. It was in the Raptor's practice gym in the Air Canada Centre. They used about half the room, and had it divided with a curtain. I snagged a spot in the front row, next to Anne-Marie Green, one of the City-TV on-air hotties. Just my dumb luck, I guess. :-)

After a while, his press agent, Geoff Baker, came on to apologize for the delay and he ate up some time by fielding questions. One reporter, I assume trying to be cheeky, asked "can we get comps?". And Baker says, in his smooth Brit accent, "what, you mean you don't have passes for the show?" And it turns out there were about 15-20 of us who didn't have passes, so Baker says "we'll fix that." So I got to see the show from the press gondola. Way up above the nose-bleeds, but at least I got to see it. More on that later.

I had taken my trusty little Sony tape recorder with me, and at the media check-in beforehand, I asked the EMI Canada rep who was running the thing (Anastasia) if it was okay to put it up on the table while Paul spoke. She said 'no'.

Damn, guess I'll have to take better notes. My note-taking sucks. But while we were waiting (and waiting and waiting) I saw someone else put their tape recorder up there, so I said 'what the hell' and put mine up there too. Nobody said anything about it.

So, eventually, in comes Paul McCartney. He looked great. Very fit and youthful, with a bit more jowl-droop these days, but he is 60 after all. And if that's 60, then bring on 60. It only lasted for about 15-20 minutes, but I got the last question in!

I asked him this: "The best rock concerts are about an emotional connection between the artist and the audience. Since the last time you toured, you've experienced some very personal losses in your life. So far on this tour, are you finding that there is a greater emotional connection with the audience?"

Or something close to that... as i tried to be as coherent as I could. I think I was able to ask it without sounding like an idiot.

And he gave a pretty long answer too, saying he was indeed finding that that was the case, and that he's finding it's a good way do deal with the sadness he's experienced and for everybody's sadnessñafter Sept. 11ñand that it's a kind of group therapy for everyone, and it's good to share that through the music, etc. I haven't listened to the tape yet, but that was essentially the gist of it. I noticed that quite a few of the other stories, in the Toronto Sun, etc, are using that as their focus. Heh.

This one guy from CTV brought a 60s vintage board game ñ "The Beatles Flip-Your-Wig" board game ñ from the hey-day of Beatlemania merchandising, and asked Paul to sign it, and he said he would after. So when it was over, that guy stepped up with his game, and then everybody else swarmed up to get stuff signed. So much for the cool and detached Toronto entertainment media.

Now I've never asked any celebrity for an autograph while on the job ñ it seems unprofessional to me ñ but I just happened to have brought the booklet from my White Album CD. So I joined the fray, and put it on the table, but Paul seemed not to want to sign it. He said something like 'give me something else', but I'm not sure if that was directed at me, or if he was just saying to everyone in general, 'okay I'll sign one more thing', or something like that. So he signed a lot of tour programs (which we had been given), he was very generous, but he didn't sign my CD booklet, and he started leaving, but he only got a few feet toward the door before he was waylaid by another group holding out programs. So I went back to my seat and grabbed my program and tried to get that signed, but he signed his last one before he got to me, and then he was gone. So that was too bad, but I have lots to take away from the moment as it is. For one thing, I have a tape with my voice and Paul McCartney's voice on it! How cool is that?

But it was pretty surreal. My mind is still absorbing it. I asked Paul McCartney a question and he answered it, looking at me, perhaps 12 feet away, and there I am nodding affirmatively at things he's saying, etc. In one sense, the most normal thing in the world ñ to ask someone a question and have them answer it, verbal interaction ñ but in another sense, one of the most surreal moments of my life, because it's Paul McCartney! All those songs that shaped my life. The Beatles were such heroes for me ever since I was 14 or 15 (still are, for that matter!), and I never dreamed I would ever meet one of them.

Man, I love my job.