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   CLUB SANDWICH 66

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admit that," he says, admitting that. "I've been a fan for a long time. I remember going to the Wings Over America tour at the Los Angeles Forum in 1976. As a spectator, that is, not as a promoter. It was great - I walked out of there proud to be English and proud to have seen him conquer America all over again. He nailed the audience completely that night - and he still does it today. The paintwork on the back wall blisters most nights as far as I'm concerned."
            In between the WT and NWT came the six memorable Unplugged shows, the so-called Secret Concerts played by Paul And Band in the summer of 1991. These, too, were promoted by Barrie, who delighted in joining in their back-to-roots nature. "That was terrific fun," he recalls, laughing, "because it was a small-size entourage; we had almost no support staff so everyone was hands-on, like in the old days. It was back to basics for me as it was for everyone else."
            The Paul McCartney road show of 1989-90-91 was simply too much fun for anyone to voluntarily bail out. So, when Marshall Arts were invited to become part of the team and participate in this 1993 extravaganza, they were thrilled to renew the relationships and do it all over again. Initial meetings with Paul took place around a year ago, in the late summer of 1992, and the team rapidly set to work, with Barrie on his way to amassing that Phalanx Of Files. "It would have been very disappointing not to be involved again," he says. "We try not to get complacent because there are always other people out there pitching for the job."
            If you look very carefully you might see Barrie Marshall when you catch a. show on the New World Tour. If he's content that the backstage side of things is running smoothly then he'll be out checking the audience, making sure that it's being looked after, examining the public catering facilities, that the toilets are flowing and the traffic likewise, and that everything is running to schedule. "I'm at the blunt end of the event, not the sharp end," he says, with genuine sincerity. "Like everybody else, I'm there to make sure that it all works; I'm only a purveyor of what an artist requires - they're the ones with the real talent. And making sure that the public is happy makes the artist's job much easier."
            Oh, and there's also another way to spot Barrie. Look for a chap with a grin on his face. "Yes, one has a quiet smile when it all goes well," he, um, smiles. "The thing that makes me the most happy is to know that Paul's gone down a storm. To see an audience ecstatic and to see Paul afterwards as he leaves the venue and get a nod or a wink from him to show that he's had a good time, that's all that it takes to make me very happy."


TELL ‘EM, LINDA!

Linda's food revolution took another decisive step this Spring with the test screenings of an animated TV commercial in which she appears. (In person.) Club Sandwich 66

            It lasts only 40 seconds but it's appealing, catchy and, above all, effective. And in the last few frames there's a new first: Linda appears in a television ad.
            The McCartneys have always held worthy ideals about linking their name with the commercial world. In an era when sponsorship and branding has taken on enormous strides (in the wrong direction, many would say), Paul and Linda have steadfastly refused to take the money and run, resisting offers that would tempt the less resilient. Only recently, owing to the astronomical costs involved in running a top-flight world concert hop, has Paul leaned in this direction, and even then the companies with which he's been associated have been germane to the world of touring and entertainment.
            But this, of course, is a product really close to home.
            It's two short years since Linda bravely launched her brand of vegetarian frozen meals onto the British grocery market, and, as regular CS readers will know, they've proven mightily popular. One could reel off a long list of impressive sales statistics except that it's been done before; the bottom line, though, is that they've been a runaway success.
            Which leads us neatly to the TV ad campaign, because - as we all know - there are still a fair few million carnivores ("flesh-eaters" as Linda unappetisingly calls them) out there. And since, for Linda's food, the aim all along has been to reach out and grab this particular market, to prove that veggie food is not rabbit food, to enlighten the meat-eater about the sprout, the TV commercial has been designed specifically for this sector.
            A number of ideas were pitched, the best one proposing an animated commercial. By the happiest of coincidences, the ad agency then recruited a name very familiar to Linda - Oscar Grille A charming Argentine, based in London since 1971, Oscar animated Seaside Woman for MPL, winner of the Palme d'Or at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival and support short to Rupert And The Frog Song on what was, for a while, the UK's best selling video. Club Sandwich readers first became acquainted -with our friend Mr Grillo (the name not entirely inappropriate for an ad about burgers) back in issue 20. He happens to rank among the elite in the world of commercial animators.
            So CS went to Oscar's London studio to ask him what it was like to reunite with Linda after a decade-long interlude. "It was an enjoyable experience, and I say that from the bottom of my heart," he says, in endearing earnest. "I needed to make a film like this because the business gets very nasty in times of recession. Lack of money makes clients nervous and we find ourselves more and more in the business of re-doing and re-re-doing something, over and over again. This film went straightforward from beginning to end. I really mean it - everybody was very gallant, creative and stimulating. It was a joy to produce and the best work experience I've had in at least five years. Linda is Linda, and I've known her for a long time. She takes these things seriously, and quite rightly too: whether it's a commercial or a feature-film it has to be approached properly, especially as we're selling on her name and personality."
            Since, as we've noted, the commercial is aimed towards meat-eaters, the central character is a blindfolded farmer who samples a burger and a lasagne, delighting in their meatiness ("Arr, right beefy burgers!...This lasagne's right I-talian!") only to become indignant when told that they are meat-less. "No meat? Oh no, not for me!" he splutters, to which Linda teasingly retorts, "You won't be wanting this tasty country pie then...". The point surely cannot be missed.
            "We agreed from the word go: let's make a piece of populist art, with jingles, whistles and little funny noises," comments Oscar. "We didn't care about winning awards - we've got enough of those already - we wanted to make it popular. I'm totally in favour of this attitude. The whole point is to make something down to earth, and one is more successful if one aims in the right direction."
            Gainfully employing some 25 people for about three months, with 5000 elements hand-drawn and much additional time spent computer-compositing the images, it's no mean feat to put together a 40-second TV commercial. As Oscar notes, he's handling a bigger budget, per second, than Spielberg - typically somewhere around £2500, or £100,000 overall. It's a heck of a responsibility but, happily, one which - yet again where the McCartney/Grillo partnership is concerned - has produced a winner.
            Testing of the advertisement in certain British TV regions began in April, with immediate positive effects showing - where it counts most: not inside a sealed-down envelope at an awards ceremony but out there, in the supermarkets and the grocery stores.
            Long live the day when the effects reach out further still...to the slaughterhouses and to the meat-markets.