Friday, August 08, 2008

For Chaz

I'm surprised I didn't see this at Dustbury:


Mother Road brings Paul McCartney to Oklahoma City

A Bricktown restaurant employee found out something this week about
Paul McCartney that most of the ex-Beatle's millions of fans could only guess — he's a big tipper.Toby Whiteside, a staff member at Nonna's Euro-American Ristorante and Bar. "The bills will be paid on time this month.”

McCartney is driving across the country on Route 66, doing it up right behind the wheel of a "classic” 1989 Ford Bronco with his girlfriend, Nancy Shevell, 47, at his side.

On Tuesday the couple made Oklahoma City one of several stops on their "Mother Road” adventure, reportedly staying overnight at the Skirvin Hilton hotel and dining at Nonna's.

(snip)

Whiteside, 26, a senior bartender/server at Nonna's, was elected to wait on McCartney and Shevell, who chose to eat in the main dining room instead of the private room offered to them.

"He's very personable,” Whiteside said. "Being Paul McCartney, I really didn't know what to expect. You don't know how these celebrities are going to act, and he was just the friendliest guy, very attentive. ... He said everything was delicious, and he struck up a lot of conversation. I was just kind of trying to serve the food and get out of there and just do my job. ...

"And then they talked to a few guests. There were a few guests that did notice who they were. They approached him and he (was) the nicest guy, had a conversation with a couple of guests and was just a complete gentleman to everybody.

"He signed one of our menus and enjoyed everything. Left with a smile, shook my hand ...”




(snip)

McCartney and Shevell began their journey from his holiday home in the Hamptons, N.Y., on July 31, picking up Route 66 in Illinois on a vacation trip that will take the couple all the way to Santa Monica, Calif., according to newspaper reports from cities they have passed through.


Sounds kinda cool - a trip along the old Route 66. Personally, I'd be in something other than a 1989 Bronco. But, maybe that's just me.


2 comments:

CGHill said...

Actually, I wrote something up, decided I didn't have an interesting angle on the trip, and replaced it with Something Else Entirely. I do that from time to time.

I am, of course, happy that Sir Paul finds my hometown an acceptable place for provisions.

Jerry in Texas said...

I actually feel bad for Sir Paul. I tried to get my kicks on 66 a couple of times. I've done the stretch from OKC to Tulsa and Tulsa to Kansas. When they built I-44, the old Mother Road just up and died. It's really a sad trip. The town of Commerce (Mickey Mantle's hometown)? Hardly any commerce there.

Although the round barn just outside of Arcadia, OK is very cool.