Flagstaff High School

The Flagstaffian Beatle

Lauren B.

Bright Side Book Store, a local bookstore located in Downtown Flagstaff, recently received a signed copy of Paul McCartney's new book, Wings: The Story of a Band. This book is set to be released November 4th, detailing his musical career after The Beatles. 175 signed copies of this book were sent around the country to various bookstores, one of which being our own Bright Side Book Store, which began an auction for presale to sell the signed book to the highest bidder. The store ended the auction with a profit of $6,000, after purchasing the signed copy for $1,500 and the book going to the highest bidder for $7,500. Half of the profits made from this sale will go to KNAU, the news radio for Northern Arizona, which was recently defunded due to the President's budget cuts. One of the owners of Bright Side, Annette Avery, described the process of selecting KNAU as wanting to “donate the majority of the proceeds to local organizations in support of free speech and access to books.” An extra $1,000 will go to The Friends of the Flagstaff Public Library, with the remainder of the profit going towards store repairs and upgrades. This is not the first occasion that Bright Side has donated to local nonprofits, as they have a strong reputation of donating and sponsoring Camp Colton, the Literacy Center, Flagstaff Food Bank, Flagstaff Public Library, and Viola awards.

Paul McCartney's new book, Wings: The Story of a Band, is an “oral history” about his time in the band Wings. The band, complete with his wife Linda McCartney on keys and Denny Laine on guitar, was formed July 21st 1971, began recording 2 days later, and released the hit song Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey on August 1st, which reached Number One on US Billboard Charts. In 1974, they were also nominated at the Oscars for Best Original Song with Live and Let Die, and won a Grammy with their performance of Band on the Run later that same year. Together, the band wrote a total of 9 albums, going on a total of 5 world tours across Europe, Northern America, Australia, and the UK. In this book, Paul McCartney relives the experiences of being on tour and writing numerous hit singles and albums, providing an inside view on the effect the Beatles break-up had on those within the music industry. 

Link to webpage