Sunday, April 25, 2010

The Magical Mystery Tour


I mentioned a few weeks ago that I went on the LondonWalks’ Magical Mystery Tour which is a tour through London to various Beatles-related sites. The guy leading the tour has been doing this for some time and he’s a combination circus barker/super fan. I was a bit envious of him that he has been able to turn his obsession into profit. The final stop on the tour was Abbey Road Studios. I stopped paying attention to what he was saying at that point because close to Abbey Road Studios is the infamous crosswalk that was on the cover of The Beatles Abbey Road. It’s become a very popular tourist destination and on that Sunday it was particularly busy with people trying to pose for pics on the crosswalk. I could have watched this all day! There was a group of teenage boys with an older lady that took a lot of time trying to get the pic right, changing shirts, taking off shoes, all in the name of flattering imitation. You can watch a live webcam from the crosswalk here.

Abbey Road Studios has been in the news recently. There was talk of it being sold to help pay EMI’s debts. It has quite a history, and I hope no matter what happens, someone will take care to preserve that. I met up with my friend L by the Baker Street tube station after the tour and she was telling me about her friend who works there in the music library. He has in my opinion what might be the coolest job in the world despite getting his picture taken regularly by tourists visiting the studio.


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