Mike Olie

Paul McCartney

How could it be that THE Paul McCartney, one of the icons of rock, would visit their regular ol’ chain breakfast restaurant in a shopping center on the edge of Loveland?

He must be there for an interview. Look, there’s the reporter with his notepad. And look, there’s his picture on the table.

The whispers grew into soft conversation, the conversation grew to giggles, and finally, they burst over to his table and blurted out, “Are you Paul McCartney?”

Mike Olie of Livermore smiled and slipped into his character. He played with them for just a bit. Then he let them know that, no, he just loves to play Paul.

Which begs the question that one older man asked him once. “Do you ever use it for evil?”

No. Just to make some money and grab a little quasi-fame. And that fame is actually growing. He’ll play McCartney on Tuesday for the Denver radio station KOOL-FM, 105.1, for the McCartney concert at the Pepsi Center. Olie hopes to have a chance to meet him.

He’s done lots of private parties at $200 for two hours or up to $1,500 for a trade show. He’s appeared at numerous events in Colorado. And those waitresses shouldn’t feel too bad. He once fooled America Online. AOL ran a feature on McCartney and put Olie’s picture on the Web site by mistake.

So how did a guy in his 50s who was selling training materials for fire departments and has his own telemarketing business become Paul?

Well, as McCartney always says, it’s just another day in the life.

YESTERDAY

Olie used to look like a rail-thin runner, not McCartney. Then he stopped running but continued eating and gained 45 pounds. He went from 135 to 180.

A Beatles tribute band from Longmont, the Fab Four, encouraged him to compete in a look-alike contest in a Beatlefest in Chicago. He won and appeared on “Good Morning America.”

Then he found an agent and worked on becoming Paul. It’s harder than you might think. First of all, a theater professor from Colorado State University thinks Paul’s accent is really tough. It’s not your typical Liverpool accent. It’s lighter than that.

Maybe McCartney has spent a little too much time over in the states.

“I don’t have it down quite yet,” he said.

He’s kind of a perfectionist at being Paul. Others, including Jorie B. Gracen, author of “I Saw Him Standing There,” a book about McCartney, thinks the resemblance is uncanny.

“His impersonation of McCartney, which includes facial expressions, body gestures and stage movements are so characteristic, he has been mistaken for the real thing,” Gracen writes in a testimonial. “Mike makes quite an impression at events, leaving a trail of screaming fans who want to take a photo or ask for autographs.”

Olie popped in tapes of McCartney’s old interviews and listened to them when he was on the road, and he’s picking up new phrases all the time. McCartney, for instance, has said “swiftly and boldly” to describe speed, he says “quite brilliant” a lot, and he’s called a windshield a “windscreen.”

Depending on the client, Olie goes for the Sgt.-Pepper look, the McCartney-1989-90-World-Tour look or even a present-day look.

He plays bass guitar, too, in a band called the Magical Mystery Tourists. And, for authenticity, he even learned how to play left-handed, just like Paul.

There’s only one problem. Olie can’t sing.

“It’s like Ringo with a bad cold,” he said.

Olie doesn’t use his McCartney impression for evil, but he does allow himself a little fun. On April Fool’s Day last year, he went to a Denver restaurant and the place went nuts. And for once, he didn’t spoil it right away. He allowed himself a couple of hours.

He signed a White Album, took pictures, did all the stuff. Finally a guy came up to him and asked, “Who are you, really?” and Olie said, “April Fools.”

Olie wouldn’t feel right taking it beyond that. McCartney is a family man, after all, and Olie, though he is divorced after 28 years of marriage, likes to consider himself the same type of guy. He is proud of his two kids, Dan, 25, and Isaac, 20.

“It’s just really fun, and I love it, and it’s nothing beyond that,” Olie said.

Olie, in fact, likes fooling people, but he really likes the nostalgia people feel when he plays Paul. He even has the vintage Beatles look, and, though it takes some imagination to pull it off, he finds that people love it.

He loves going to a new party and seeing how many people he can fool, and he loves the guessing game. Just what will they fall for?

Maybe, just maybe, they’re amazed.

McCartney’s concert

The real Paul McCartney performs his “Driving USA” tour at 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Pepsi Center in Denver. The show is sold out, but tickets may still be available outside the show.

To reach Mike

To contact Mike Olie to play Paul McCartney for an event or a private party, call 847-767-PAUL (7285). His e-mail address is sirpaul@mccartney.net or go to his Web site at www.sirpaul. mccartney.net.