Post by The End on Jan 16, 2014 18:07:56 GMT
Being A Short Diversion On The Dubious Origins Of
The Beatles Forum London Weekend
"Once upon a time there were four little boys and two little girls who all got together in London because they were the getting together in London type. They all thought what's it all about then? So they all opened their ears and listened to this really quite good group called the Beatles and they thought ok we'll dedicate this weekend to this top band " - Sheepdog - January 2014
Friday
I’d been looking forward to this Beatle Forum London weekend for months and months (and months) and quite a lot of planning went into it to make it as Beatley as possible, including having to purchase another copy of the Beatles London Guide Book – the original of which I have misplaced somewhere at home!
Then finally, in the middle of a miserable, very wet, very windy and very January day, Friday the tenth arrived - and it was surprisingly quite warm and very sunny!
Having arranged to meet Sheepdog at midday in the Beatles Shop in Baker Street, I actually got into town a lot quicker than I expected, so I had just about enough time to check into the Travelodge in Kings Cross first. At the check-in desk they took one look at me and said that the bar is open 24 hours bar – do I really look like a 24 hour bar regular? Don’t answer that! Anyway, I quickly threw my bag in the room then headed out, eager to kick off the weekend!
Literally just as I arrived outside the London Beatles Store, I received a text message from Sheepdog saying “I’m lost, I can’t find it” – what then ensued was a sort of cat and mouse game involving dubious landmarks as we tried to determine how to meet up, considering that at least one of us was completely lost! But from the description of the area, I figured that we were just both at different points on the same road, so...
The End: Can you see a tall white church tower up on your right?
Sheepdog: Yeah
The End: Cool, if we both head towards it I should bump into you shortly then.
Sheepdog: Superb idea, you are an absolute genius [or something like that!]
However, when ten minutes later we still hadn’t bumped into each other I began to suspect something had gone wrong. As such we decided that a complete reset was now necessary and so we both now headed for a landmark we were both familiar with - Madame Tussauds! It worked!
It later transpired that we were in fact on quite separate roads, coincidentally both of which featured a tall white church tower, and so we were walking in the complete opposite direction of one another. Doh!
Anyway, as it was now 12:30, by mutual consent we decided to go to The Globe pub (well, it was my suggestion obviously!) and wait for MrMustard and BluemeaniePaul, who were due to arrive at Euston at 12:30-ish.
Whilst waiting (i.e. drinking) in the Globe for the guys to arrive (£5.00 a pint!), some very interesting discussions were had, including a conversation about the enormous amount of detail in Mark Lewisohn’s Tune In biography about the (dubious) origins of the Beatles, in which I was making the point that I thought the inclusion of the sexual activities of the four 14/15 year-old boys was one fact too many. I then said “I’m just up to the part when John is about to read porn for the very first time” – at which point Sheepdog said with enormous incredulity, “Really? Porn?”. Erm... not quite... as what I’d actually said was “I’m just up to the part when John is about to meet Paul for the very first time”!! An absolutely hilarious moment – we was in tears but you had to be there I guess!
MrMustard and BluemeaniePaul arrived about 2:30 and a good deal more drinks were imbibed! But from here on in though, I really must apologise - as anyone who knows me will tell you, my memory starts erasing after 4 or 5 pints, so the level of detail from this point onwards will not be as great! But that might actually be a good thing!
It was just starting to get dark when we left The Globe heading for the London Beatles Store in Baker Street (see, the specific timings have already gone out of the window!!). Inside, we admired some of the items that were way out of our price range, including a really nice signed copy of the Please Please Me single, which was the price of a 3 bedroom semi-detached bungalow in Upminster! Still, it was great to see it!
It’s amazing just how much Beatles merchandise you can buy now – in my day (well… not too long ago!) you were very lucky to find even one Beatles t-shirt let alone a pencil case with a matching ruler and protractor!
From the London Beatles Store, we went next door, to the Sherlock Holmes museum/shop – as it was too late for the museum, we just had a quick mooch around the shop, walking across the genuinely creaky floor-boards, before posing with the fake 1800’s copper outside! Bit of triv for ya – there is no 221b Baker Street!
Upon consulting the Beatles London Guide Book we headed up the road to where the original Beatles Apple Boutique was located – on the junction of Baker Street and Paddington Street. You will have seen old photos of it – a large white corner building that, after the Beatles got their hands on it, had a huge psychedelic mural painted up both sides – this was of course very quickly white-washed over when the council complained! It is now an upmarket Estate Agents but inside they have a large screen TV showing footage of the time when Beatles became shopkeepers! I’d never been there before, so that was pretty cool!
We then had a very nice meal in Zizzi’s restaurant (£6.00 a bottle!) opposite the old Apple Boutique, where for some strange reason BluemeaniePaul ended up with MrMustard’s spicy chicken on his order – strange days indeed! But oh my god, my particular pizza was soooooo spicy – I was very grateful of that £6.00 beer I can tell you (all 3 of them!) And it was here of course that MrMustard came up with the immortal line: “that’ll be reflected in the tip”!
We were due to meet up with The Beatle Forum’s rarest of rare members “Mikeanddave” in Camden that evening (specifically the “Mike” half) and sure enough the “where the f-k are you?” text arrived whilst Mrmustard was still trying to wrestle his toppings back from BluemeaniePaul. So with the meal finally finished and beers consumed, we paid up and left the restaurant heading for the Lyttleton Arms in Camden, where Mikeanddave (specifically Mike) was waiting impatiently!
By this time I had a stinking headache, which I always get when going into the cold night air, back into a pub, back into the cold night air, back into a pub... well you get the picture! And the packet of Paracetemols and Ibuprofen I’d just purchased in Tescos were sadly not working their magic... anyway... I digress, but please feel sorry for me!
From the Lyttleton Arms we did a little pub crawl - I’m not sure I even remember all the pubs but it definitely included the Blues Giant Turd (please substitute "Giant Turd" for "K-i-t-c-h-e-n" - long story!!), the World’s End and finally the Black Heart. I can’t remember much at all about the Blues Giant Turd (K-i-t-c-h-e-n), but I do remember they played Get Back, which was a very nice surprise for us all!
The next pub I remember clearly is The World’s End, where they were playing a very fine selection of nineties punk pop music and seemingly Puddle of Mud’s greatest hits! What started off as being great music quickly became quite monotonous, so we headed out the side door to The Black Heart, which is a bit of a heavy rock bar – not the most ideal choice of venue if you’re nursing an alcohol-induced headache!
By this time I was very blurry and definitely feeling the effects of drinking from 12:30 and therefore could not partake in any further alcoholic treats. So I sipped on my bottle of water whilst Mikeanddave (specifically Mike) apparently chatted up a girl! All of which I can barely remember, so if Sheepdog, MrMustard, BluemeaniePaul or Mikeanddave (specifically Mike) can shed any light on this, or anything else I might have missed, please feel free to message me and I will pop it into the story and bow down to your infinitely superior memory!
It was now about 1.30am and Mikeanddave (specifically Mike) was apparently doing alright for himself with this girl in the Black Heart, as he decided to stay after the rest of us had made up our minds that it was time to head home. So we went our separate ways, as did my Beatles London Guide Book, which is probably still in the Black Heart pub – Mikeanddave (specifically Mike) stayed in the pub whilst MrMustard, BluemeaniePaul, Sheepdog and I all jumped in a cab.
We got back to the hotel, bid goodnight to Sheepdog as she continued her journey across town to where she was staying at her brother’s house, and we were now ready to hit that 24 hour bar!
As we approached the bar, the bartender cheerily informed us that this particular 24 hour bar closes at 3am! No problem for me really as I think I was still on the water but I don’t think any of the other clientele were too chuffed about it, which was probably reflected in the tip!
Then my phone rang – it was Mikeanddave (specifically Mike)! In my room, there was a spare single bed (unlike MrMustard and BluemeaniePaul’s room who had to share a double bed, albeit with twin mattresses!), and earlier on I’d said that Mikeanddave (specifically Mike) could use it when he’d finished trying to pull that girl in the pub! Well, he was now on his way back as the girl had apparently entered the toilet and not been seen again! So he’d decided to walk from Camden to Kings Cross and now needed my assistance to direct him to our hotel – well, this proved to be about as successful as my attempts at locating Sheepdog had been earlier in the evening and even required Mikeanddave (specifically Mike) having to return to Kings Cross Station and start again! Anyway, he did manage to find us in the end!
At about 3am (probably because the bar was now closed) we all decided a kebab and chips was needed and, rather conveniently, there just happened to be an establishment directly opposite our hotel! We each ordered our kebabs and headed back to our respective rooms where my kebab and chips went almost directly into the bin!
I set my alarm to wake us up at 10:00am for brekkie and after talking complete and utter nonsense with Mikeanddave (specifically Mike) for over an hour, we finally went to sleep....
Saturday
Woke up, fell out of bed, dragged a comb across my head.... with not a single hangover in sight, Mikeanddave (specifically Mike) and I joined MrMustard and BluemeaniePaul downstairs and enjoyed a cooked brekkie; MrMustard taking the healthy option by having a yoghurt after his fry up! Over breakfast I told the guys (and later everyone else!) about the bizarre dream I’d had that night, involving a seaside hotel, a landslide, blocked toilet and Samuel L Jackson, and BluemeaniePaul told us of a similarly bizarre dream he’d once had, which involved looking at light fittings with Tony Bennett! Then the till broke while MrMustard was paying for his brekkie, bizarrely not the first time that would happen to us on this day!
Today promised to be a very busy day, as this was the big Beatle Forum London day out I’d been planning for ages (admittedly via some awesome inspiration from my great friend in work, just in case she ever happens to read this – thanks again Sara!).
First off, we made our way to Kings Cross station, with Mikeanddave (specifically Mike) kindly pointing out where he’d urinated the night before. With a number of engineering works resulting in a multitude of closed Underground lines, we fully expected the trip across to the other side of the Thames to be a complete nightmare, but on the contrary it was absolutely fine, so I don’t know why I even mentioned that!
British Music Experience – O2
We arrived at the O2 at about 12:30, had a quick coffee in Starbucks and, while we waited for Sheepdog to arrive but half expecting the “I’m lost, I can’t find it” text, BluemeaniePaul and Mikeanddave (specifically Mike) went off to find the loos, which were seemingly 5 miles away!
Once we were all in attendance (Sheepdog did not get lost by the way!), we walked round to the British Music Experience, which is an interactive story of British Music (if you discount The Police, Genesis and The Jam etc etc) ranging from the Fifties to the present day – with loads of original memorabilia, including John Lennon’s original copy of Lonnie Donnegan’s Rock Island Line, which was pretty incredible to see! Plus interactive screens covering each decade, a music room where you could play real instruments including drums, guitars, keyboards and even vocals – not that I’d ever be tempted to sing along to anything! And we ended up having a bit of a jam session (ish!) as we attempted Get Back - me on drums and MrMustard on acoustic guitar (Gibson or Epiphone? I can’t remember)! It was really great, everyone loved us - we were quickly signed by a major record label and were hailed as the new White Stripes… but not really!
As we were about to leave, I spotted the interactive dance booth - Dance Through The Decades, which we were all taking the piss out of earlier as some other people were dancing in it. But without much persuasion or coercion from me, we entered that said dance booth and were filmed doing the Loco-Motion (or in BluemeaniePaul’s case, the conga!). It was all filmed and there was a video of it on the MyBME website on Sunday night but it had gone last night – I’ve actually emailed them to get it back (twice!) but no luck so far, which is probably a good thing!
EDIT - I've now got the clip... here's a still from it!
The Thames Clipper Boat Trip
We were in the British Music Experience a good couple of hours before we made our way to the pier via an unnecessary and random bus terminal (sorry about that!). But along the way, I did manage to point out to everyone the largest and spikiest spike in the entire world, which beat the previous spike by a good three inches – everyone had such an overwhelming interest in this spike but there were other places we needed to be so I had to drag them all away!
At the ferry terminal, the till broke down just as BluemeaniePaul went to pay for his ticket so we missed the first boat and had to wait for the next one, all the while I was praying that the "licensed bar" I’d promised everyone would be open – it was, and it was here that Sheepdog enjoyed her first double vodka of the weekend!
Once on board, we eventually decided to stand outside at the back of the boat, which afforded great views of the O2 and loads of historical sights of London, many of which the guys and Sheepdog were seeing for the first time in the flesh. And despite Mikeanddave (specifically Mike) asking me not to “spoil the trip by talking all the way through it”, which left me totally speechless for the first time ever, I tried my best to be a decent half-inebriated tour guide!
What a great stretch of the Thames it is from Greenwich to Embankment – with Tower Bridge, Tower of London, HMS Belfast, the Shard (not the spike), St Pauls and loads of other historical sights!
Sherlock Holmes Pub
We alighted at Embankment and went to the Sherlock Holmes theme pub in Northumberland Avenue – this is when we realised it was actually The Beatle Forum Sherlock Holmes Weekend we were all on! It was a really good atmosphere in there, with a sudden crowd of noisy people entering the pub, drinking the Monopoly Board!
Emma, another (unofficial) forum member joined us there, swelling our number to an almighty six!! From there we walked up to Trafalgar Square – stopping at various pubs along the way, including a microbrewery that made their own brand of every type of drink you can think of, including vodka and diet coke (it tasted like Panda Cola!).
From there it was onto Leicester Square for something to eat, where people were trying to entice us into their restaurants by offering us kerbside deals. We had another great meal here, which MrMustard reliably informs me was at the Cafe Rouge - but with a 40% discount off of the total meal price, it was the only bargain of the entire weekend!
Troy 22
By now it was gone 10pm – so we headed to Oxford Street to look for Troy 22 – a club that I’d read about online that was also recommended to me by a friend (thanks again Sara). It was described as a rare gem hidden down Hanway Street, just off of Oxford Street – a secret club that comes to life after 10pm. From the online description I sort of knew where it was, and sure enough we found it straight away.
From the outside it really didn’t look much like a club – sited above a rare record shop, as we climbed the stairs we initially thought we had the wrong place as it seemed like the entrance to someone’s flat, so we all went back outside to double check!
Having verified we really was in the right place, we made our way back up the stairs and were met with some good old Fifties music! But when we got in there, the place was pretty much completely empty and over the next half hour the music went progressively downhill as they played some really ancient, obscure and really quite awful American doo-wop!
Considering this was supposed to be the pinnacle of the day, I was properly starting to panic! Then at about 11.00, the volume suddenly doubled and some quality Sixties tunes came blaring out of the speakers, at which time the place suddenly filled up with about 100 people of all ages – all of whom knew how to party!
About three songs in came the first of many Beatles songs throughout the night – the place absolutely rocked – everyone danced (and sang!) all night! You sort of felt like you were at someone’s house party, except with a bar!
It was quite an eclectic set of Fifties, Sixties and Seventies songs, probably from a CD as none of the tracks were mixed or cross-faded, meaning there was a gap between each track. And there were a few unexpected surprises, such as The Strokes “Some Day” (the last song I can actually remember)!
As the night wore on, we said a sad farewell to Emma and Mikeanddave (specifically Mike) but Sheepdog, MrMustard, BluemeaniePaul and I continued the party!
We each took it in turn to dance on the chairs, with Sheepdog leading the way as each successive Beatles song came on, before she suddenly danced off with someone who was wearing a quite appalling wig!
It was now getting late but BluemeaniePaul had not yet danced on a chair with Sheepdog, so at this point she climbed up on the nearest chair with the intention of dragging him up to join her, but no sooner was she on the chair when it promptly fell into a thousand pieces, sending her tumbling to the floor in a pile of splinters. Oh how I laughed!
We finally fell out of the door at about 2:30 – and as I put my coat on, I came to the sudden realisation that people must have been pouring beer into its arm holes and pockets all night as it was literally dripping with lager!
However, I cannot recommend this place highly enough! I really did not want this night to end and despite pleading with everyone to have another drink in the hotel bar (which was closed anyway) it really was time to head home. We finally managed to hail a cab and arrived back at about 3am-ish, where we again said a sad farewell to Sheepdog.
It was an absolutely brilliant weekend, with amazing people I am proud to call my friends, whom I immediately missed so much when I got home… and Mikeanddave (specifically Mike).
I cannot wait to do it all again, but I would need to start saving for it now, as London is f-ing expensive… but worth every penny.
So huge thanks to Sheepdog, Emma, Mikeanddave (specifically Mike), BluemeaniePaul and MrMustard for making the Beatle Forum Sherlock Weekend so fantastic and memorable.
Love,
The End