CLUB SANDWICH 59

WRITE AWAY

Your chance to get questions answered

Q
'Fess up now, it was Paul playing violin on 'Rudolf The Red-Nosed Reggae' wasn't it?
Don Sauter, Lanham, USA

            The account of the session made public when the record was issued (in November 1979, as the B-side of 'Wonderful Christmastime') may well have looked like a work of fiction, but it was the truth. 'Rudolf The Red-Nosed Reggae' was recorded by Paul one 1975 afternoon at Abbey Road after chatting to a man delivering musical equipment. Paul quickly put together the backing track and the delivery man - whose name was Bob Loveday - played the fiddle . . .and has not been seen since!

Q
Although Blair Cunningham is a good replacement, I miss Chris Whitten dearly. Why did he decide to move on?
Rachael Davis, Redditch,
England

            When the World Tour ended, in July 1990, it was quite clear that Paul would be taking a year off to work on the Oratorio, and unlikely that he'd return to the road until 1992. Quite simply, Chris Whitten wanted to continue touring, received an offer to join Dire Straits and he's now back on the road with them.

Q
I've seen Paul in a video clip of Bob Marley's 'One Love'. Was he involved in the recording of the song or just the video?
John Kolcze, Ormiston,
Australia

            Just the video. It was produced in early 1984 to accompany this posthumous single, Marley having died in May 1981, and Paul could be seen lip-synching the words "one love" and embracing Don Letts, the director. The promo was also included in the Marley video compilation Legend, which is still available.

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WHY GO VEGGIE?
YOU RESPOND

Two issues ago we published Why Go Veggie? - the special vegetarian Club Sandwich that Paul and Linda had been contemplating for some years. It prompted a big response from readers - here's a selection of the letters we received

Dear Linda
            Why Go Veggie? has changed my life. I am 22-years-old and have struggled with my conscience about eating animals for four or five years. I even turned veggie twice before but returned to eat meat. What difference would I make?
            But when I read your comments, and those by Paul and Carla Lane, I went straight out and bought pasta, vegetables, fruit, veggie burgers and, for once, actually felt good about the contents of my shopping bag.
            Lynne Tetley, County Durham, England.

Dear Club Sandwich
            Congratulations on producing an excellent issue. We have been veggies for a number of years and wholeheartedly support such efforts to promote a greater awareness. Most people are firmly entrenched in "traditional" eating habits thrust upon them in their formative years -consequently, a great deal of ignorance prevails.
            We were guests at a wedding reception last year at which a traditional beef dinner was served. On informing the waiter that we would have "everything but the beef we were treated like weirdos. The head waiter found it particularly hilarious at the conclusion of the meal to enquire "How was the Yorkshire?", referring to the Yorkshire pudding. Such attitudes must be overcome and we are confident that there is a growing awareness of the benefits of going veggie. Efforts like the Sandwich issue can only add weight to the cause.
            Tim and Ale Jones, Clwyd, Wales.

Dear Paul and Linda
            My parents are both vegetarians and I grew up not eating animals. I'm now 23 and remember all too well that in my kindergarten and school years it was very hard being "different". People just could not understand why I didn't eat animals, so out of curiosity one day I tried some pieces of meat. I found it really horrible -it tasted and smelled of an in-pain animal.
            Let's hope that many readers change their menus now, or at least stop and think a bit more about what they're putting on their plates every day.
            Irina, Zurich, Switzerland.

Dear Club Sandwich
            Why Go Veggie? was not my cup of tea, having a steak now and then, and I found it a big disaster to see Paul and Linda supporting alternative-leather clothing made from PVC.
            I am a chemical engineer and here in Denmark we will have a total ban on PVC within a couple of years. PVC is polyvinyl chloride, and chloride, of course, is dangerous to the environment if burned. So the plastic on the inside of a Carlsberg beer bottle cap is now made from Polyethylene instead, at much greater cost. We will also put a tax on all kinds of fuels that produce carbon dioxide, so the use of oil, gas, wood etc will be taxed while energy from the wind won't. This will cost us a lot of jobs but we will be ahead of other countries within the EEC.
            Try as much as one can to keep the world clean, suddenly you stumble into some holes and spoil other parts.
            Arno Guzek, Hvidovre, Denmark.

            Sincere thanks to Arno for sending this information, which we are more than happy to pass on - even though only one item of the clothing illustrated was made from PVC. However, it shows that in making efforts to clean up the planet one can easily slip up now and again.

Dear Linda
            Thank you for helping me make a decision that I can live with - going veggie. I have been an animal rights activist for many years, but have never taken the step before now.
            I am only 20 and still live with my parents who, despite my efforts, are still carnivorous. It's sometimes difficult to prepare dinner for myself while my mom is cooking, but I've managed so far. I can't tell you how good I feel every time I finish a meal and know that no animal suffered for it.
            Juliet Paradowski, Wisconsin, USA.

Dear Club Sandwich
            It always surprises me that vegetarians are met with such a hostile reaction. Why does it provoke such anger when they never harm anyone by their eating habits (which is more than can be said for meat-eaters)?
            Yvonne Verlander, Surrey, England.

Dear Paul
            After reading Why Go Veggie? I am writing to let you know that I have now become a vegetarian. I was very upset to read about how the animals are treated before they are brutally murdered while still conscious, and to read how the meat is handled afterwards.Thanks for opening my eyes to this evil.
            Terri Stringer, London, England.

Dear Club Sandwich
            I found the issue particularly interesting but became dismayed when reading "20 Things You Couldn't Stomach About Killing Animals". Point ten raises the old anti-Semitic canard that kosher slaughtering is somehow more cruel than other methods. In fact, the laws of kashruth are intended to make the slaughter as humane as possible: the animal is not beaten before slaughter to stun it; it must be slaughtered in one swift motion, rendering it unconscious instantly. Most of the practices so correctly deplored in the other Sandwich articles are forbidden by the laws of kashruth too.
            Carl B Maltzman, New York, USA.

            Thank you for your letter, Carl. We at Club Sandwich are certainly not anti-Semitic - but, quick or slow, it's still slaughter.

Dear Paul and Linda
            I'd like to commend Club Sandwich for its fantastic coverage on the Veggie "pro-life of animals" choice. Humans are really a strange and violent race. There is no moral justification in our behaviour towards each other or other living things, and with all of the human violence going on, you wouldn't think it necessary to do what we do to animals. But I think the ultimate crime is not that we eat meat, it's how we have turned the torturing and killing of billions of animals into a "justified" and "financially prosperous" act. Rationalisation to the point of sickening indifference.
            I had heard about fur breeding, but not about the inhumane and nauseating way they are murdered. I had heard about cosmetics testing, but I hadn't heard about all the real assembly-line executions that were going on. Why did it take until Club Sandwich for all this information to get to me? Because no one wants to face it. But we should no longer be polite while millions of animals are being slaughtered every day.
            Cindy Lee, New York City, USA.

            ...and thank you all for your letters.