Denny Laine: He Played with Paul…and That’s Huge!
Tuesday, July 17th, 2007
Ex-Beatles, while often sharing songwriting credit with a partner, usually didn’t need to share lead vocal duties with anyone. John had his Yoko…and Paul had Denny Laine. Denny sang lead vocals on no less than six songs on various Paul McCartney and Wings albums, including one of my favorites, The Note You Never Wrote on Wings at the Speed of Sound. In all, Denny Laine played guitar on seven Wings records and two of Paul’s other solo albums, Tug of War and Pipes of Peace. Outside of Paul himself and his wife Linda, Denny Laine was certainly the most recognizable of the Wings band members. Read the rest of this entry »
I first fell in love with actress Crystal Bernard when I saw her in the cult-classic TV movie High School U.S.A. She was virtually unknown at that time, but subsequently became famous for her role as Helen Chapel in the sit-com Wings. I had always liked Wings too, but it somehow became the entire theme of my wedding weekend in 2003 when Jimmy visited to both lend support and videotape the ceremony and reception. It was a spontaneous thing – quoting Wings – and as much as we’ve tried to re-live it since, it never had the same comedic impact as it did on that wacky weekend that I got married to Carolyn. 
She lucked into eternal film fame when her sister, who was slated to play the part, became too old-looking by the time her scenes in Gone with the Wind were ready to be filmed. So Cammie King ended up with the role of a lifetime, that of Bonnie Blue Butler, beloved but doomed daughter of Rhett and Scarlett in the Academy Award winning film from 1939. Incidentally, she also played the young Faline in the Disney classic Bambi.