Aug 202010
The fallout over the dissolution of the Paul McCartney-Hamish Stuart partnership has reached settlement. In a tersely worded statement by Mr. McCartney’s attorneys, the former Wings legend has agreed to pay Mr. Stuart an “undisclosed amount of cash and grant visitation rights” for the Hofner bass that the two used to trade on stage between songs during Mr. McCartney’s Flowers in the Dirt tour. The McCartney camp had no comment on Mr. Stuart’s 2007 accusations.
Hamish Stuart (second from left), in better times.
“I’m just thankful this long nightmare is over,” said Mr. Stuart, when reached at his home studio, “and I wish Paul nothing but the best.”
I’ll give Hamish credit, he and the guy in the middle are the least looky people in the band. Probably because he just gave up and started wearing black t-shirts in lieu of a style. He could pass for George Hurley’s ignored uncle who secretly allowed him to store his drums at his LA pad or something.
That guy in the middle would be Robbie MacIntosh of Pretenders fame. I’ve said too much.
Last night, there was live theater event featuring the RiffTrax crew (the guys formerly of MST3K. It’s the same concept: guys making fun of old movies. Last night they did a live “riff” on Reefer Madness. There’s a line in the film where one of the characters asks his wife, as she is requesting more liquor in her glass, “Where do you put that stuff? Do you have a hollow leg?” The response from “riffer” Kevin Murphy was, “This is a line uttered by Paul McCartney once a month as he writes his alimony checks…” Truly terrible.
These live theater events have become quite the rage. Coming up on September 16, they’re doing Ladies and Gentlemen: The Rolling Stones. Check to see if it’ll be in a theater near you. They’re done through Fathom Events.
I’m glad this dispute has finally been resolved.
TB
Nice to see these things work out.
Giving movies the MST3K treatment is a lot of fun. Ten or twelve years ago a beer snob friend of mine wanted some of us to watch Barry Lyndon while drinking a beer from whatever country the character was in at the time on screen. I came pretty close to being sent out, when I kept remarking on Ryan O’Neal’s anti-acting.
“Oh, I think I almost saw an internal dialogue going on there, wait, it was probably just gas. Did he move? It can’t be, it must have been an optical illusion.”
One line I remember was, “Ryan O’Neal – LESS than meets the eye!”
Don’t be fooled, Hamish’s Green Goblin/Norman Osborn hair is carefully-maintained and a key aspect towards a look that has allowed him to be fairly successful for several parts of a couple of the last few decades.
I’m sad to report that RTH has fallen back down to only the #3 result under Google searches for Hamish Stuart, from that brief, beautiful period where we reached #1 and eclipsed his wikipedia page. I still say a Hamish Stuart Dugout Chatter session would be the second biggest possible RTH interview get, behind only an interview with Walter Becker on beards in rock.
I noticed that drop too, alexmagic. I’m hoping this story gives us the boost that Rock Town Hall’s interest in Hamish Stuart deserves. The original story we broke caused a sensation, most recently being picked up by a Russian Beatles fanboy group.
I have spent a good hour or two in my life searching for a way to reach Mr. Stuart and question him directly on this and other matters. NO JOKE: If anyone has a lead on how I might reach him, please let me know. Other interview subjects I would like to track down include Walter Becker, Benmont Tench, Roy Wood, and Magic Alex.
As requested recently by E. Pluribus Gergely, I think we’re making progress on landing an interview with Mickey Most.
Mr. Mod, I hope you haven’t given up your quest to interview Chris Thomas. I’m serious.
He’s another one I’ve spent time trying to find contact with. I’d love to interview him. Thanks for reminding me, Oats!
I always liked the “lumpy trousers” era non-wings band. Hamish and Robbie, Wix, Linder and the drummer (there were two)They only played on one record (Off The Ground) but did the Flowers In The Dirt tour and live record as well as the MTV Unplugged.
I think that a quick phone call to Denny Lane or Lawrence Juber would have set Hamish’s reasonable expectations for payment from MPL beforehand.
Now he can “pick up the pieces” (good thing that worked, do not know another Average White Band song)