Hace pocos días tuve la oportunidad de poder conversar con Jennifer Dodge, una canadiense de 35 años de edad, que estuvo en el concierto que Paul diera en Canadá este año, y que logró primero: establecer contacto visual con Paul, ser escogida por él para firmarle y estar juntos por un momento. Momento inolvidable en la vida de Jennifer... ella nos cuenta su historia y comparte con BEATLES MAGAZINE ese sueño hecho realidad, en esta entrevista...
LOVELY RITA: Jen, please tell us your story…
JENNIFER: I spend ten months a year teaching high school English in Vermont, but over the summer, I spend whatever scraps of money I have on travelling the East Coast of the U.S. to see whatever Paul McCartney shows I can. My classroom is covered in posters of the Beatles, and especially of my Paul McCartney tour posters, and I often speak of my love of Paul and the Beatles to my students. Several of my students have tattoos, and a few asked me last year when I was going to get one. Thinking of Audrey McCoombs who had the great idea of asking Paul, via sign, to sign her arm for a tattoo at his Halifax show last summer, I jokingly replied, "The only way I'll ever get a tattoo is if I meet Paul McCartney and he autographs my arm." I realized that this would never happen, so it was a safe statement to make...at the time.
A few months later, news of the summer leg of Paul's 2010 Up and Coming Tour started to trickle out, and I knew that I had enough money to attend three shows, at least, but I also had just enough to cover a soundcheck package, as well. That was when I hatched my plan to create a sign that would allow me to meet Paul. After hearing that the soundchecks are limited to around or under 100 people, I knew this was my best chance to go for it. I talked to one of my artistic students, Ryan, and he agreed to help create the sign that I designed (photo attached). I had planned what to put on this sign for quite a while, as I wanted to make sue it caught his attention.
Flash forward two months, and I'm driving to 
the venue in Toronto for the soundcheck on August 8th, for what was to be my 13th Paul McCartney concert. I nervously rolled up the sign which almost didn't make it through security. I explained what the sign was, then had to unroll it for the guard who reluctantly waved me in. Then, I sat through the pre-soundcheck reception, tapping my leg while butterflies flew into my stomach lining. Finally, the soundcheck began, and I noticed that no one else was holding up anything except cameras. I wasn't sure if my luck could get any better--with no competition, my sign would stand out even more. After the first song ended, up went my sign, which I put down when the second sign started. I repeated this after the second song, then was ready to put it down for the third song when I saw Paul shade his eyes and look in my direction. He appeared to be looking at me, but I couldn't be sure as I was standing just to the left of his sound people. He paused, nodded, then said "Okay". Was he talking to me? More likely, I thought, he was talking to his sound guys, telling them the sound was okay. So, I put up the sign three more times, just to be sure. Finally, he looked at me again and said, "Yes, yes, I see your sign. We'll do that later. Save your arm strength." This caused some laughter among my fellow soundcheckers who didn't know what my sign said. They were in awe after, though, when I showed up at the dinner with fresh ink from Paul on my arm.
An hour or so later, the soundcheck ended, and my stomach knotted up again. Would he remember? I was told to wait for about five minutes by his staff people, but I kept trying to get at the stage out of sheer panic that he would leave and I would miss my chance. They kept reassuring me he was still on stage, to not worry. Finally, they led me back to the side of the stage where I waited another few minutes for Paul to give a few bits of feedback to the band and bagpipers who would later play "Mull of Kintyre" at the show. I was told that I should relax, that things went much smoother when people who meet Paul don't fawn over him. I took a deep breath, then told his staff people about the promise to my students, and they smiled politely, not thinking I would go through with it. Then, time slowed down a bit as I saw Paul heading down the five or so stairs of the stage to stand a foot or two away from me. Around this point, things go a bit blurry. Really. He seemed to glow in the dim lights of the side stage area. It was crazy. I just kept thinking, "That's Paul McCartney standing there. He wrote 'Hey Jude'. And he's right there."
He reached for my marker and was getting ready to sign my shirt when I stopped him and told him about the promise I made to my students. I ended by saying, "So, I want you to sign my shirt, but they want me to get a tattoo. You can sign either, both, or whatever you like." Then I stopped talking and he smirked and said, "I'll sign one or the other." I paused for a moment, then held my left arm out to him and said, "I've got to do it for the kids." There were a few gasps from the collected staff members, and he smirked again and reached up to sign my upper arm. I was holding out my lower inner arm, and he said, "Oh, you want it there?" I replied that either area would be fine, whichever he preferred. He responded, "Artistically, I'm feeling it here," referring to my upper arm. He grabbed my arm with his right hand and wrote a very slow, clear autograph for me, then said, "If it's for the kids..." then he drew a smiley face below his signature. At that, he capped the marker and handed it back to me. Then, I held out both of my arms and leaned in for a hug, because there was no way I was going to pass up the opportunity, and he said, "Oh, okay..." and we embraced for a few seconds. Then, he walked away as I said something about looking forward to the show.
As his staff members walked me to the dinner the folks who had purchased soundcheck packages were invited to, they talked about how rare it was for Paul to sign tattoo autographs, and especially commented on how Paul never does drawings for folks. They said to make sure I did get the tattoo gtiven those two circumstances, and I assured them that I was going out the first thing the next morning to do just that. I spent the night with people asking to hear my story, or asking for photos of the autograph, and had some very kind folks help me keep the signature dry. It was very hot in the venue, and I couldn't keep myself from dancing during the show. :)
The next day, I went to Adrenaline Tattoos in Toronto where Brody, a wonderful tattoo artist, was ecstatic about being able to do this tattoo, as he is a major Paul McCartney fan, as well. He played Ram in its entirity while he tattooed me, and we talked about Paul and his musical gifts during the process.
My students have really enjoyed the tattoo and the story behind it, and I think it's helped me prove that I'm willing to follow up my promises to them. Also, it's been fun to show it off to friends, family, and sometimes complete strangers. :)
LOVELY RITA: You wrote "Please sign vegetarian's PETA shirt" on your sign, tell me what you felt when Paul shaded his eyes and said: "Okay" (in response to your sign)?.
JEN
NIFER: It was a very surreal moment to realize that Paul McCartney, someone I've admired for all of my 35 years, was actually talking to me. I honestly thought he was talking to his sound guy, so I held the sign up in between the next three songs before he finally said, "Yes, yes, I see your sign and we'll do that later. Save your arm strength!". That's when A huge grin spread over my face that didn't leave my face for about three weeks. :)
LOVELY RITA: You and Paul were together for a time, what most impressed you about him?
JENNIFER : So much was going through my mind at that point that now, two and a half months later, I'm still trying to piece together what happened during those two or three minutes. I do have to say that a few things struck me. One, After an hour and a half soundcheck, he was calm and very gracious, even though he had to get on the stage in an hour for another three hour concert. Two, he spoke quietly, and had a small grin on his face the whole time I talked to him. I know that I didn't say anything profound or wonderful, but he still listened patiently as I went through my spiel about my students and the tattoo. Lastly, he has such a huge presence that the energy and even the air seemed to change once he walked off the stage and over to me and some of the crew.
LOVELY RITA: How do you feel now, after achieving this great desire of years?
JENNIFER: It's been about two and half months since I got to meet one of my heroes, and I have to say that I don't think it's fully sunk in yet. Perhaps when I get the photos of the meeting from Paul's wonderful and generous photographer, MJ Kim, and I get to see myself talking to Paul, standing next to him, then I will realize that this actually happened. As it is, I still look down at my arm a few times a day, just to make sure it wasn't all a crazy dream.
LOVELY RITA: Now you are a person well known in Canada ... what have you told your family and friends?
JENNIFER: I'm notorious in Canada not for meeting Paul, but for the speeding ticket I got on my way to the show. :) I met some really wonderful people in Toronto at both shows, and then in Montreal at the show there. I also got to chat with some great people in Halifax last summer. I have to say that I'm growing very fond of Canada, and I've also helped support their economy with all of my travelling there for Paul. :)
My family and friends who know me well realize what a big deal meeting Paul and the tattoo are for me, so they were equally shocked and amused by the whole encounter. I woke my mom up the next morning after the show to tell her the news, then proceeded to wake up my sister, her eight-month old child, and a few friends back in Vermont. After they were fully awake, they were able to appreciate my moment. While I was chatting with the my sister after getting the tattoo a few hours later, I mentioned that since I had accomplished such a major goal in my life, I wasn't sure what to do next. She paused for a moment and said that I should get Ringo to autograph my other arm. :)
LOVELY RITA: Thank you very much Jen for this interview, something that you like tell to Beatles Magazine´readers ?
JENNIFER: What I like most about Beatles Magazine is reading the articles and knowing how many other people around the globe who love the Beatles as much as I do are reading those same articles. There's nothing like the Beatles community of fans, who are some of the nicest people I've ever met in all of my travels. If I could, I'd like to take a moment and sent a shout out to all of the Beatles Magazine readers, and thanks for your great work in this publication!
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