It’s not often the paparazzi catch a glimpse of a member of the greatest all-star band in the history of rock and roll, but such was the case Wednesday night when Traveling Wilburys co-founder Jeff Lynne was caught off guard arriving at the Madeo restaurant in Los Angeles!
The ELO frontman and legendary producer had his patented ’70s white man big frizzy hairdo and sunglasses as well as his most recent favorite fashion accessory: a goofy little hat. (And I swear I think his jacket is copper-lined! You know you’re cool when there’s some mysterious reason you have to wear a copper-lined jacket! You can click the top photo to enlarge it.)
Some people aren’t aware that Wilburys are becoming an endangered species and that the world has lost 40% of its Wilbury population leaving us with only three. Those that have reached the “End of the Line” are lonely-throated Roy Orbison and non-Ringo Beatle George Harrison. That leaves us with only Jeff Lynne, Bob Dylan and young whipper-snapper Tom Petty. (If you recall, there was a rare sighting of Bob Dylan in the wild a couple months ago when the most important musician of the last 100 years was spotted out riding a bicycle in Slovakia.)
In the most casual of Traveling Wilburys circles, Jeff Lynne is known affectionately as “that other guy,” which is a huge disservice to the man who delivered some of the greatest sounding records of the 1970s! Electric Light Orchestra was a fun-filled cream horn of disco-inspired yumminess that was always a little more than just sugary pop. their music was confection with just enough nutrition to justify eating it for lunch! Here’s a video for their hit “Evil Woman” from their 1975 album Face the Music with the afrotastic Jeff Lynne singing and picking lead:
ELO was fantastic and fun, but not nearly as fantastic and fun as the most fantastical and fun group ever – The Traveling Wilburys! Here’s their video for the hit single “End Of The Line” in which Jeff gets a good deal of mic time:
Are you one of the unfortunate beings that have no idea what all this Wilburys stuff is about? Here’s your chance to change that! Go buy all this stuff:
And one last full-body shot of the Lynnester to finish things off:
Photos: PER/Fame Pictures
