Paul and John meet Ron Kass in New York

On May 11, 1968, John Lennon and Paul McCartney, joined by ‘Magic’ Alex, Neil Aspinall, Mal Evans and Derek Taylor, travelled from London to New York to promote their newly formed company, Apple Corps.

On the morning of May 12, they went for a walk in Central Park. In the afternoon, they met with Ron Kass, the newly appointed head of Apple in the US, on a Chinese junk cruising the Hudson River. Were also present Apple director Peter Brown, managing directors Neil Aspinall and Mal Evans, Apple’s press officer Derek Taylor, and Apple Films’ head Denis O’Dell.

Later that evening, following dinner, they visited the Salvation Club and, subsequently, The Scene Club.

The following day, they conducted several interviews with the US business media. On May 14, they hosted a press conference and appeared in television interviews, then returned to London on May 15.

On their recent Apple business trip to New York JOHN and PAUL visited The Salvation and saw a light show at one of New York’s leading discotheques. They also walked unidentified through New York’s famous Central Park… While in New York JOHN and PAUL held a five-hour Sunday afternoon Apple meeting with half a dozen of their company executives, including NEIL and MAL. Offbeat venue for the conference was a 115-year-old Chinese junk which sailed down the Hudson River and around the Statue of Liberty while the meeting took place!

From The Beatles Monthly Book, N°60, July 1968

101 Hours with John Lennon & Paul McCartney

[…] Sunday morning crept in wearing a gloomy gray habit—all cloud and drizzle. It was not a morning for people to be out and, besides, it was very early, only ten, but John and Paul had been to bed early and their bodies were still on London time, so it felt like four in the afternoon to them and they decided, after a breakfast of cornflakes and eggs, to go for a walk. The earliness of the hour and the inhospitability of the weather were, of course, a blessing, since they enabled them to go for a walk in Central Park practically unrecognized. Did I say a blessing? Anyone who thinks being practically unrecognized is a blessing for Paul doesn’t know the Paul McCartney who stepped out that Sunday. […]

At the statue of Hans Christian Andersen, Paul asked Julia [one of the fans following them] to take a picture. She never did work out, she said later, how he knew she had a camera with her. Walking that day undisturbed in Central Park turned out to be an unbelievable superhigh for Lennon and McCartney. There were more highs ahead. For instance, a business meeting (after all, this is what they were in New York for) was scheduled to take place that afternoon—on a Chinese junk. When Derek Taylor told me, I thought he was on yet another of his baroque mind trips. […]

But this junk, as it happens, is for real. Captain Bill Barron, bright blue eyes, seadog smile, dockmaster at the 23rd Street Marina in Manhattan will let you charter it for four hundred dollars a day.

So here they all were now on the Chinese junk. White crew, Chinese uniforms, and American sandwiches. John. Paul. Apple film-chief Dennis O’Dell, Apple music-chief Ronald Kass (described by Derek Taylor as “a handsome Californian with good teeth”), Nat Weiss’ aide Jock McLean (“Just a cheerful subscriber,” said Taylor) and a lot of others. […]

Lennon and McCartney told Weiss they’d like to eat wherever he himself would have eaten had they not been there. Immediately he mentioned Malkan’s on East 79th Street, a Brian Epstein favorite […]

After dinner, the Cadillac with the Sgt. Pepper tapes in it sped downtown to Sheridan Square to a place called Salvation. New York discotheques are in and out faster than a rugmaker’s needle, but at that time, Salvation was in the bloom of its popularity. […]

“For me,” [the co-owner of Salvation] said, “it was a beautiful experience because it reaffirmed that their heads were exactly where I had always thought they were.” Lennon was not as outgoing as McCartney, he recalled. McCartney spoke for nearly an hour with Richie Havens and when he left, he said good-bye to five staff members by name.

The last stop of the evening was to be Steve Paul’s The Scene, on West 46th Street. Steve Paul is the coolest thing west of Eighth Avenue, and he was trying, he really was, to be cool about the Beatles, but he wasn’t succeeding. […]

From “101 Hours with John Lennon & Paul McCartney” by Lillian Roxon

It was late – after 1 AM – and I was in the disco, Salvation, which was located at Number 1 Sheridan Square, in the West Village of New York City.

I was in my usual location, the back room, where there was a panoramic view of everything in the club, with tables and booths; it was generally more comfortable than being down in the dance area, which was always packed wall to wall with people. And, as usual, I’d had a few tokes and was feeling pretty good, just watching the crowd. Then someone came walking through the back room, saying, “John Lennon and Paul McCartney are coming to the Club!” When I asked, they said they heard they were coming with Brian Epstein’s NY partner, Nat Weiss, along with a couple of musicians from a lesser-known Epstein group, the Cyrcle (their only hit, Red Rubber Ball).

I then left, hurrying to my apartment – only a few blocks away – to get a little stash in an old, aluminum film container; I hurried right back.

About ten minutes later I was again in the back room, and there was a stir coming from the main room. Walking into the back room were Nat Weiss, John and Paul, a couple of the guys from the Circle, and two of the Beatles’ roadies – one named Neil Aspinall – who were more than just roadies, they were confidants, friends, what have you. (As I’m sure you know, Neil was the Beatles long time assistant and ran Apple Corp for many years.)

Since I had met Brian and Nat a while before this date, and was known by Nat to be okay, I was introduced to The Lads and the others, and we all sat down to have drinks and rap for a while.

I handed the film container to John, who was already pretty stoned. He said to Neil Aspinall, “Neil, do you feel like holding?” and giggled in the way that only John Lennon could giggle. Then John turned to me and repeated my name: “Hash Howard!” And, curled up in the corner of the booth, he giggled again. He was pretty wasted.

Along with the pot I brought, I also brought a little notebook I used to write lyrics. Paul McCartney and I started working our way through the words I’d written.

We got to a set of lyrics I’d written to one of the Beatles’ only instrumentals, called Flying. Paul and I went over them and he said that he liked what I’d written. The last word of those lyrics was “be” and Paul remarked that those were Brian Epstein’s initials. He then drew a dotted line circle around the word “Be,” in my notebook. We seemed to get along very well. Then Paul brought out this tiny little vial. During our conversation, Paul kept repeating the same thing, “Remember we’re just like you!” I’ll never forget that; the Beatles lives were no longer their own, as they were followed by groupies, teenyboppers, and photographers everywhere they went but Paul kept saying “We’re just like you.”

A couple of hours later, it was now around 3 or 4 AM, and we all left. Paul and John asked me to come visit them at Nat Weiss’ apartment, gave me the address on Third Avenue, and we parted company.

The next day, I showed up at Nat Weiss’ apartment building. Somehow, word had leaked out that the Lads were staying there, and there was a crowd of about twenty teenyboppers waiting for a glimpse of John or Paul. I walked up to the doorman, and said “I’m Hash Howard, and Paul McCartney has invited me up.”

The doorman called up to Nat’s apartment, and I could tell that he was getting the okay to send me up.

Suddenly, there was a loud argument coming from the front door area. There was Linda Eastman (soon to be McCartney), a very pretty blonde woman, with cameras around her neck arguing that she had an appointment with Paul McCartney.

To make a long story short, I got to see the Lads long enough for them to shake my hand, and for Paul to tell me to record my drumming and have Nat Weiss send it to them in England. We shook hands all around, and Paul apologized for the confusion, and said we’d get together sometime in the future.

And with them went my hopes of ever spending any more time with two of the most popular, most loved people of their era, John Lennon and Paul McCartney.”

Hash Howard – Musician in the 60s – From The Beatles Secret NYC Hideaway | The Cruise For Beatles Fans (wordpress.com)

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