CLUB SANDWICH 43

            But help is at hand. Linda, the star's wife (cue "All I gotta do is act naturally"), steps down from a pick-up truck and strides confidently towards the club entrance. Gauging the situation at a glance, she sweeps Oscar into the club. ("He's with me.") Inside, the crowd is swaying and so are the band. Paul is on guitar, as is Duane Sciacqua -try saying that after a small sherry - who swoops in to share a mike with him on the chorus. Jerry Marotta (drums) and Lennie Pickett (baritone sax) are there from the album sessions, joined by Neil Jason (bass), Alex Foster (baritone) and Stan Harrison (alto). It's hard to suppress a pang of regret that this isn't really a live show. But it turns out that the onstage sweat and camaraderie were far from assumed. Say pn, Trevor.
            "The band were jamming all the time... the musicianship was very good. Paul does this whenever he gets the chance: rock'n roll, Elvis songs, his own stuff. Bob Giraldi wasn't too pleased, as he was trying to direct a video and people couldn't hear what he was saying. Phil Ramone was very pleased, as he'd put the band together."
            Back to the plot. Oscar forces his way to the front; a papier-mache creature (pinata) hanging from the ceiling is smashed in the traditional Mexican way, disgorging sweets onto those below; things are really jumping. The boy gets his sax out and plays along, catching Paul's eye. He motions Oscar up on stage, Lennie extends a welcoming arm and suddenly the three-man horn section is four strong!
            Trevor paints in some background: "Paul and Linda stayed in Arizona for three nights; then afterwards they flew back to California, where they'd been on holiday. The band were onstage at 12 noon, shooting began at 3pm and finished at four in the morning. Oscar was filmed in the street the previous day."
            The results are well suited to the song and the glimpse of Paul in 'almost-live' performance is a highly attractive feature. Well worth the aggravation from those noisy musicians, Bob!