Paul McCartney refuses to live inside a Beatles bubble, says Paul Farhi in The Washington Post. McCartney’s former band mate and best friend, John Lennon, was killed by a crazed fan on the streets of New York City, but McCartney moves about his adopted homes in the Hamptons and in New York without fear, bodyguards, or disguises. Sometimes, McCartney, 67, shops for groceries by himself; sometimes he goes bowling. Now and then he takes in a movie with his girlfriend, Nancy Shevell, and talks so much that strangers hush him up. Not long ago, he boarded a New York City bus and found a seat among the startled passengers. Finally, one woman blurted out, “Hey! Is you Paul McCartney?” To which he responded, “‘Yeah, I am!’ So I said, ‘Look, honey. Don’t shout across the bus. Come and sit here!’” The two had a nice chat, as the other passengers gaped, and then McCartney got off at his stop and melted into the crowd. Encounters like that, McCartney says, remind him of the life he had before he became a household name. “I don’t shrink away. No point. I’m from Liverpool, you’ve just got to get with it. It grounds you, you know. It’s a balance thing. I’m just one of the people on the bus.”
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