From: "headly westerfield" <headly.westerfield@canrem.com>
Subject: musings on the paul is de
Reply-To: "headly westerfield" <headly.westerfield@canrem.com>
Organization: Canada Remote Systems
Distribution: rec
Date: 23 Nov 92 18:06:06 EST

>.>>So at this late date have any of the perpetrators involved in this
>.>>hoax ever admitted to doing so?  If they haven't, therein lies the
>.>>real mystery.  Why would this be a take-it-to-the-grave secret?
>.>
>.>That's a much better question. And it surprises me that some
>.>enterprising student of urban myth hasn't taken on the job.
>.>
>.>There actually *are* a few clues that point to the PID scheme's
>.>origination in the American midwest. The Oct. 22, 1969 San
>.>Francisco Chronicle and the Nov. 22, 1969 New York Times
>.>both name a U. of Mich. then-undergrad named Fred LaBour
>.>was said to have written a paper connecting the now-famous
>.>random clues; the Times also pointed to three DJs from
>.>WKNR-FM in Detroit, whom they named as the real source
>.>for the legend. And "Rolling Stone" Magazine that same
>.>month claimed that LaBour was not the first to propound
>.>the theory, which arose in *September 1969* in a student
>.>newspaper at Illinois University. Are there any other
>.>claimants, I wonder?

Ahem!

I address this to SAKI, but really it is for ALL.

I have lurked in this newsgroup for over a year.  I have only posted
twice.  The reason is my knowledge of The Beatles cannot compare to
many who write here, but my appreciation of their music knows no
bounds.

On one of the two occasions I posted the name of Russ Gibb and dared
anyone to come up with the Beatles significance of that name.
However, I never heard a peep out of anyone and quietly dropped the
thread.

Then I find this thread and feel I just have to add my $0.02 and
answer the question I posed so many months ago.

Russ Gibb was a Detroit schoolteacher by day, rock impressario by
night.  He ran a place just off Grand River called The Grande
Ballroom.  The Grande was a majestic ballroom which dated back to
the Big Band era.  During the '60s Uncle Russ Gibb, as we all called
him, ran it as the best club in the midwest to hear live music.
They all played here; from Big Brother & The Holding Company to
Hendrix to The Who to Canned Heat to Cream to Moby Grape to The
Grateful Dead to....You get the idea.  I had the good fortune to
work for Russ at the Grande Ballroom.  In that time I sipped from
Janis Joplin's Southern Comfort bottle; I watched Ginger Baker
inject heroin in his arm.  But, I digress.  I'll get to the point,
honest.

What does that have to do with the price of Beatle Bootlegs?

Just this: Russ Gibb also had a progressive radio show on WKNR-FM.
On one very memorable occasion I attended the studios with him.
Somewhere, and I'm not really sure from where or who, an article was
produced from an underground publication which outlined the Paul Is
Dead Rumour.  We read it, had a real good laugh, and Russ started to
read parts of it on the air.  Then we started to play some of the
"clues."  Soon we were making up more "clues," bizarre "clues."
The entire radio shift, as I remember, was taken up with, what to
us, was nothing more than a big joke.

It certainly shocked the hell out of us the very next day to find
out that this story had become NEWS.  And, not just NEWS, but
-REALLY BIG NEWS-.  We were having nothing more than a good time-- a
drug induced laugh-- and it was pumped up far beyond what any of us
thought it ever would be.  We were shocked that anyone took it
seriously.  The story just took on a life of its own, as has been
demonstrated so many times in this newsgroup.

It's true that the original rumour did not originate with us.
However, some of the "clues," which we made up on the spot, have
passed into the folklore AS REAL "CLUES."  Many of these are hazy
with the mists of time.  However, I do think that "TURN ME ON DEAD
MAN" and "I BURIED PAUL" were two of the "clues" we furnished after
having fooled around with the records on a studio turntable.

It has always amazed me that what we did in that little room that
day still lives.  And, in the intervening years I have only admitted
this to people who know me well; people who will know I am not
making the whole thing up.

>.>So where's this Mr. LaBour (or is it Doctor LaBour) today?
>.>What about the unnamed disc-jockeys? Or the editors of
>.>the Northern Star at Illinois U.? Spirited away, one and
>.>all, like Paul McCartney, to be replaced by lookalikes?
>.>Victims of the modern age? Drug casualties? Religious
>.>fundamentalists? Silenced into speechlessness by the
>.>Beatles' henchmen? :-) An enterprising researcher should
>.>be able to track down at least *one* of these sources.
>.>Then maybe the mystery would be revealed...and someone
>.>would have a dandy dissertation topic for their trouble. :-)
>.>
>.>Any takers?

I hope this answers some of your questions.

>>>=====Headly=Westerfield===>
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