Mal Evans! Only person at Fauls Wedding!

[lah' mah]

Ran across a web site today doing some checking on the roadie Mal Evans. I found an interesting bit of information that I didn't know. The quote: "Mal was the only person of the Beatles family to attend Paul and Linda's wedding in 1969. "

I thought how interesting that was! Here is the guy that took Billy on a field trip to Africa in 1966, ( Does anyone know why Africa?) and he's the only person to be at the wedding! Not the other lads, not the family, not Brian or anyone else!




Source- www.beatlesagain.com/bmal.html

[JoJo]

Quite true, the others were "busy", the reason given in books I've read, and Bill has gone on to say in an interview with his daughter that he was looking to have a small private wedding, like a "show up at the courthouse" kind of thing. The press found out of course.

Africa? He was Bill's guide/minder, continued for some time after.

[-Wings-]

Don't forget that Mal Evans also moved in with Bill during the latter half of '66 through '67.

Mal was put in charge of Bill during his early days, showing him the ropes. That much we can discern. But I'm wondering if it wasn't Mal who found Bill, be it at a lookalike contest or through connections he already had.

[lah' mah]

JoJo, why do you think Billy hung around Mal? Mal was basically a roadie,who did sit on on some sessions of the Beatles. Just pals or what? Why would they use him to prepare the new "Paul" to the world?

Also..has any thread explored the manner in which he died? He was shot by the Police in 1975,supposedly over the breakup with his wife, but I wonder..... if it goes deeper then that.

[JoJo]

I made a post about this a long time ago at TKIN:

Don't know if this has been brought up before: In January 4 of 1976 Mal Evans' girlfriend Frances Hughes called police from the home they shared and said that he had "gone berserk" from taking pills and that he had holed up in an upstairs bedroom with her four year old daughter. Police burst into the room, Mal aimed the gun at the cops who responded by emptying four bullets into him, kiling him. Supposedly he had a drinking problem as well according to Hughes. Interestingly, he had only a "theraputic level" of valium in his blood, and the equivalent of one drink in his system, nothing more. Essentially, in spite of not being under any serious chemical haze, he was in such despair and depression that he forced the police to act as a "firing squad".

Now get this: (from the book "The Lives of John Lennon" by Albert Goldman) "During his years with the Beatles he had kept a diary, which, judged from the excerpts that appeared in a Beatles fan mag, would have made interesting reading. Mal was making preparations to publish this valuable record when, on the night of January 4, 1976 he went crazy."

As for why it was him, I think it had to be someone, and someone who could be trusted to step in, in case the questions asked on the street for example got a little too heavy. In the street outside Abbey Road Studios, when each of the Beatles was asked a few questions, Mal is hovering around Bill, seeming to watch his every move.

I just think the simple answer is: he could be trusted, and he was with them almost since the beginning, part of the inner circle, not just a roadie.

[-Wings-]

I also like to think he helped Bill train to be Paul, in mannerisms, voice, and knowledge of Paul's past.

Remember that part with the signature in the Africa video? I can't shake the feeling that was him practicing to sign like Paul, under the guidance of Mal.