Topics created by Piotr Chrósciel

In the last decade of the 20th century I was popularizing Paul McCartney's music in Poland mainly through press articles and radio/TV interviews. My mission only partly turned out to be successful. Poland is the cultural ghetto where a certain minority has priority. For many years McCartney's music has been discriminated by the Polish radio, TV and press journalists. Nevertheless my action influenced a small group of sensitive, musically gifted people in Poland - fans, journalists and my friends. Somehow I can feel a winner. When I learnt that Linda McCartney was seriously ill I decided to do something unique, something which in Poland had never been done before. The most popular Polish pop/rock musicians and singers never organized a concert of Paul McCartney's songs. I understood it was the right time for me to do it. From 1997 to 2000 I was the Member of the Board of the Friends of Legionowo Society. Legionowo is my native town, located 25 kilometres from Warsaw. The Friends of Legionowo Society was established by my grandfather the late Piotr Chrusciel (1904-1990) in May 1979 in order to popularize past and present achievements of this local community. This organization has a wise motto: "Think globally, act locally" which sort of inspired me. To me it was a fantastic idea - to connect global thinking about Paul McCartney with local act for the benefit of my native town. In this way "McCartney's Day" was born. It was to be the first ever concert of Paul's songs performed solely by the Polish musicians. in contrast with the Polish premiere of Liverpool Oratorio (St. Catherine's Church, Cracow, June 1993) which was an international action rather with Carl Davis conducting the Symphony Orchestra of the Polish Radio in Cracow. "McCartney's Day" was held at the Town Centre of Culture in Legionowo on the 17th of January 1998. Both professionals and amateurs appeared on the same stage. They were united by one element - all of them lived in Legionowo. Of all the artists who accepted my invitation one certainly didn't require additional publicity. A famous bass guitarist Krzysztof Scieranski would remain a legend of Polish jazz music even if he hadn't participated in "McCartney's Day". But he agreed to be there with us. A few days before the concert Krzysztof invited me to his house in Legionowo where I witnessed a kind of rehearsal. We were listening to the album "Flaming Pie" when suddenly the Master joined Paul McCartney on the second acoustic guitar in "Little Willow". I had no choice - I started singing. I wish someone had recorded that original combination of two acoustic guitars and two lead vocalists. I wanted Krzysztof to play an instrumental theme "Hey Hey" composed by Paul McCartney and Stanley Clarke. Unfortunately I had it only on the vinyl record "Pipes of Peace" and the Polish musician didn't have...a record player. Finally during "McCartney's Day" Krzysztof Scieranski played his own composition "Botswana" and a handful of McCartney standards - "Yesterday", "For No-One", "Here There and Everywhere" and "When I'm Sixty-Four". In all four Beatles songs Scieranski was musically supported by a young talented bass player Adam Lusawa whom the Master was teaching to play this instrument. At the Town Centre of Culture the most popular rock band from Legionowo - Sexbomba performed "Please Please Me". Later they learnt from my article about the concert published in the monthly magazine "Tylko Rock" that they had chosen John Lennon's song. To hush up this mistake Sexbomba soon recorded a studio version of "Please Please Me" with the Polish words dedicated to John Lennon. On the 23rd of December 1998 I left CD with their Polish version of "Please Please me" - together with a short letter to Mark Lewisohn - at the MPL Office in Soho Square in London. The remaining participants of "McCartney's Day" performed "Rockestra Theme" (Midnight Blues), "Baby's Request" (two versions - one by the instrumental group "1+3" and one by the four singing girls -"Fortet"), "Drinking Song" from Liverpool Oratorio (the opera singer Marek Pawlowicz; it was a recorded video performance because the artist was unable to come to the Town Centre of Culture) and "Little Willow" (the then managing director of the Town Centre of Culture in Legionowo - Zenek Durka). I faxed a newsletter regarding "McCartney's Day" to Paul McCartney's personal assistant Geoff Baker. I also gave it to President of Legionowo Andrzej Kicman. Neither of them replied. The Warsaw Local TV made a short film about "McCartney's Day" which was presented to Warsaw viewers on the 27th of January 1998 ("Five minutes about music" by Malgorzata K. Piekarska, Joanna Wartalowicz and Waldemar Karwowski). A short film about this concert was also presented by Legionowo Local TV in February 1998. I gave an interview to the weekly "To i Owo" published in Legionowo ("Peter's Idol", January 22nd 199. Besides I personally wrote two articles about "McCartney's Day". They were published in "Zycie Warszawy" daily newspaper ("An Evening Dedicated To Paul McCartney's Music", January 19th 199 and in the monthly magazine "Tylko Rock" ("McCartney and Botswana", April 199.

In the eighties nobody from my family was concerned with the Solidarity underground movement and nobody was in the communist party either. No wonder the years 1982-1984 in Poland were politically completely uninteresting to me. Everyday life in Warsaw was grey and boring. People suffered from lack of basic foodstuff. A depressing symbol of those years were the shop shelves full of identical bottles of cheap vinegar. For a young, sensitive man who lived in Warsaw there was a place where I could go, when I felt low, when I felt blue. And it was my mind. My mind set on art. An unforgettable experience for me was the concert of a young jazz vocalist Stanislaw Sojka who - in my presence - sang a set of religious songs at the Stodola Students' Club in Warsaw on the 23rd of August 1982 (martial law!) to commemorate the 600th anniversary of the Jasna Góra Monastery (the most famous shrine to the Virgin Mary in Poland) In 1984 the two artistic events lit up post martial law period in the greatest city of Poland. On the 10th of January I went to the concert of a legendary English band Madness at the Victoria Intercontinental Hotel in Warsaw. On the 4th of October the first East European Exhibition of Linda McCartney's photographs was opened at the Gallery of the Association of Polish Artists Photographers in 8 Plac Zamkowy (8 Castle Square) in the Old Town in Warsaw. It was the third step in discreet promoting Paul and Linda McCartney in Poland after releasing their records "With A Little Luck" and "Wings Greatest" before John Lennon's death. Between the 4th of October and the 28th of October about ten thousand people admired 52 photographs. 10 of them were coloured. The rest was black and white. Most of Linda McCartney's works presented at the Warsaw Gallery were earlier published in her album "Photographs" (Pavilion Books 1982) including the portraits of famous rock stars - e.g. John Lennon, Janis Joplin, Ginger Baker, Yoko Ono, Mick Jagger. Paul McCartney and Ray Davis. Hence a simple title of Her Warsaw exhibition: "Photographs. Linda McCartney". Some people were expecting Paul and Linda to come to Warsaw on the 4th of October 1984 to officially open the exhibition. Many fans were gathered at the Warsaw Airport only to find out that neither Linda nor Paul landed there on that day although a headline of the newspaper "Kurier Polski" read "The Hotel Is Reserved For One of The Beatles!". In this way the Polish communists did not get support from the McCartneys. And neither did Solidarity. No wonder Henryk Urbanowski criticized Linda's Exhibition in the regime paper "Walka Mlodych" ("The Fight of the Young") stating that Mrs McCartney's photographs had no artistic value. But generally the reaction of the Polish people and of journalists was enthusiastic. So Urbanowski's efforts to humiliate Linda McCartney were in vain. We - the inhabitants of Warsaw - knew very well where the truth lies. Linda' s Exhibition in Warsaw in October 1984 was a great artistic experience for all of us who were lucky enough to see it. For nearly one month Warsaw did not belong to General Jaruzelski. Thanks to to Lady Linda McCartney it belonged to the West. And I was there for I visited Her Warsaw Exhibition twice (the second time was with my friend Michael).

It was a time when I was getting ready for the release of my book "Paul McCartney. Biography". One day I was invited to the concert of a young Polish jazz vocalist Kasia Karasek in the Royal Lazienki Park in Warsaw. Kasia gave a great performance but a person who attracted my attention even more than her was Ewa Jusewicz. In the Lazienki Park she accompanied Kasia on the piano . Later I learnt that Ewa collaborated with the Ateneum Theatre in Warsaw. One aspect of her musical ability was interesting to me in particular. Not only could she perfectly play classical themes but also she performed the best standards of pop and rock music - by heart and effortlessly. I asked Ewa if she liked Paul McCartney's music and when she said so I invited her to take part in promotion of my book. On the 28th of June 1991 the world premiere of Paul McCartney's Liverpool Oratorio took place at Liverpool Cathedral. In 1992 I was a happy owner of the EMI Classics stereo VHS cassette with Paul's first major classical composition. It was my idea to create a piano medley which would consist of the most beautiful melodies from Liverpool Oratorio. Ewa's reaction was enthusiastic. I remember lending her the EMI Classics video cassette and mentioning the two arias which in my opinion ought to have been placed in her potpourri - "Drinking Song" and "Save The Child" (of course she accepted both of them). Having analysed a high quality performance of all eight oratorio movements Ewa Jusewicz made a final selection of themes and created the structure. The medley which she compiled lasts 13 minutes and perfectly reflects melodic beauty of Paul McCartney's Liverpool Oratorio. I still have it on tape. Ewa Jusewicz played the Liverpool Oratorio Medley three times, in three different places - on the 27th of May 1992 at the Confetti Club in 1/5 Wybrzeze Helskie Street in Warsaw (on the right bank of the Vistula river) during the official promotional event for my book, on the 19th of June 1992 at the Stodola Students' Club in Warsaw (celebration of Paul McCartney's 50th birthday) and during the promotional event for my book at the Town Centre of Culture in Legionowo near Warsaw. A short part of the Liverpool Oratorio Medley was also presented on the Polish Radio in spring 1993. Today such experiments are widely known - e.g. Liverpool Oratorio Suite from the album "Sir Paul McCartney's Liverpool" (by Quatuor La Flute Enchantee Quartet) - but in 1992 my idea was pretty innovative. Both I and Ewa felt like pioneers. The full oratorio was performed in Budapest on the 5th of July and on the 7th of July 1992. The official Polish premiere of Liverpool Oratorio took place in Cracow on the 29th of June 1993. So owing to Ewa and me music from Paul McCartney's Liverpool Oratorio was performed for the first time in Eastern Europe.

harleyblues:

nice post~ The Pound is Sinking is my fav by far..

i love this one as well very very very underated song

And now he's back in Warsaw!!

Hi Piotr! Welcome to the message board! Lovely introduction, very interesting! Thanks so much for sharing!