This past August, I celebrated 23 years of still being alive. (I’d say “stayin’ alive,” but that’s a Bee Gees-related pun, and it doesn’t Help! all the Beatles references I’ve got planned for this entry. Do you see what I did there? Good. I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party. …If you want to stop reading now and just go right to the pretty pictures I don’t blame you. No Reply?! Don’t Pass Me By! Okay I’m done.)
ANYWAYS, (If that’s the name of some obscure Beatles song I’ll go ahead and throw myself off something; don’t worry) as I have some of the most generous and wonderful parents a bumbling Polish girl could ask for, and this year they were kind enough to send me to London and Liverpool.
I’ve been to London before, but not with my wonderful Boston-based friends Annie and Sarah, whose planned trip there I totally crashed. My friend Margaux also moved there a few months prior and let me stay with her. Lindsay, a fellow former Paste magazine intern, literally spent the past year studying the Beatles in Liverpool. As Lindsay and I are more or less on the same level of hopeless and helpless pop cultural geek-dom, I knew I’d have to pay her a visit as well.
So, without further ado, I would Love You To please enjoy this little Something…
Though I stayed with my good friend Margaux for some of my time in London, I also opted to couch surf (couchsurfing.org) with the wonderfully hospitable Harvey. Harvey's a musician who works in a restaurant and adventurously cooks some of the best Indian food I've ever had. The first night I stayed with Harvey, we actually stayed with his friend, Deb. (Making it a DOUBLE couch surf, which is, of course, double cool-points.) I took this photo in a disco ball of Harvey and I. "But -- You Won't See Me," he pointed out. He was right.
Abbey Road is my Favorite Album of All Time. And, as I don't normally categorize my life into such extremes, it's saying a lot. This is why I couldn't Wait to go and see it. Like any Beatles-related site in the world, it's swarming with people like this awesome dude Eight Days A Week.
I Dig It.
Do I even need to caption this one?
A bit of Her Majesty Annie and the wall outside of Abbey Road Studios.
I cross Abbey Road With a Little Help From My Friend(s).
I included this one just Because it's a very cool, very original, classic Banksy in Notting Hill.
In My Life, I haven't seen a smile as pretty and infectious as Sarah's.
Annie and I have been friends since high school and we hadn't seen each other in months. Happy Birthday to me, indeed.
Enter the MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR of Liverpool!
Penny Lane.
Lindsay, a million thank yous, because while you Can't Buy Me Love, you DID buy me a Ticket to Ride this wonderful bus.
Where the man behind "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" grew up.
If you think you've been to Strawberry Fields, Wait -- THIS is the original, and strawberries actually used to once grow here.
You won't find a better Beatles tour if you searched eternally Across the Universe.
A Sea of Holes... Covered in bricks bearing the names of all the artists who've ever performed at Liverpool's legendary Cavern.
One of the earliest Beatles venues, owned by original manager Allan Williams, and where original drummer Pete Best auditioned. However, It's All Too Much to say that the Beatles played here -- when they did, they were still known as "The Silver Beetles."
Kids, What You're Doing is great. Not only did they cover the Beatles AND Hendrix, this kid's playing a Sponge Bob Square Pants drum kit barefoot. Cheers.
A nice view of the Liverpool Docks, and, with that, The End.
(booooooooooooooooooooommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....)