From London With Love

22nd July 2009

Text

Good day, sunshine!

(I play that song every morning. Paul puts me in a good mood. Kind of puts a spring in my step for the rest of the day)

It’s noon on Wednesday and my weekend has officially started. Not too shabby, right? Right. This week has already been pretty busy, so I’ll attempt to make up for some lost time. I’ve been so busy I just haven’t had the time to blog!

Monday was class as usual. We discussed the end of the 1960’s and the beginning of the 1970’s. Class presentations included Pink Floyd and Rod Stewart. Monday was pretty mellow. It was rainy and gross so nobody really got out and did anything.

Tuesday was our field trip day. This weeks trip was a rock and roll walking tour of the city. Before our tour we left campus, stopping at St Pancras station where we saw Platform 9 3/4. I took a picture, but didn’t get my picture made with the buggy like everyone else did (like I said, just not a huge Harry Potter fan). They are in the process of remodeling St Pancras so we got to walk through for a minute and see the changes in progress (have I mentioned that I love train stations? I think they’re very romantic). Our next stop was the British Library, which is kind of like our Library of Congress. The free exhibit featured original works from Shakespear, Jane Austen, original religious texts, and original works by classical composers (decomposers?) like Handle and Mozart, as well as the Magna Carta. Typically they have more popular music displays, but for whatever reason the only one they had this time was a Beatles display, which was really neat. It featured original hand written lyrics to Help, Michelle, And I Love Her, Yesterday, Ticket to Ride and Hard Days Night (which John penned on the back of a birthday card to Julian).

We met up with our guide later in the afternoon. He’s a sports journalist who lives right outside of London. He’s been giving this tour for years, mostly as a part of special concert packages people get the option of buying for shows at the 02 Center. Our tour lasted about 3 hours and we saw some truly interesting stuff. I think what’s most interesting about the entire tour is that none of these places are marked or are given any sort of recognition, so if you didn’t know exactly what you were looking for, these places would be easy to miss. Here’s what we saw:

• No. 3 Savile Row - aka the Apple Corps building, home to the Beatles offices and recording studios. Also the site of the last gig the Beatles ever played (on the roof). This was the first stop on our tour, so as you can imagine, it was all pretty much downhill for me after this stop.
• The backstreet where David Bowie shot the cover for his album, Ziggy Stardust. We saw the doorway where the cover picture was taken and the phonebooth from the photo on the back of the album.
• Carnaby Street - home of John Stephen’s botique. Very popular district in Soho in the 1960’s because instead of giving big advances to the bands, the labels would simply set up accounts for them at the clothing stores in this area.
• The Scene Club - A popular hangout for the mods of the 1960’s. The Who made their official mod debut here, as did US band, the Animals.
• Marquee Club - One of the most important venues in the history of Brit popular music. It was home to lots of r&b bands like the Rolling Stones and the Yardbirds. Everyone from Hendrix and Bowie to Zeppelin have played here.
• Trident Sound Studio - I had never heard of this studio, but a ton of hits have been recorded there. The Beatles (including solo projects), The Rolling Stones, Queen, David Bowie, James Taylor, Elton John, Carly Simon, etc all recorded major songs here.
• The former sites of the coffee bars 2ii’s and Heaven&Hell - I thought this was a little random, but apparently the British youth went through a coffee bar phase during the 1960’s. Since they weren’t old enough to get into pubs, the  kids started hanging out at coffee bars (the guide said over 500 popped up in London almost overnight) where they could enjoy some expresso and listen to the juke box. The thing about the juke box is that is usually contained popular hits, sans vocals, so the teens were able to do a sort of karoke and this is where a lot of singers got their start.
• Ronnie Scotts - Very famous venue in London, now more of a jazz club (My friend, Allison went last night and saw a set by Clint Eastwood’s son). This is the last place Jimi Hendrix ever played. This is also where the Who debuted Tommy.
• St. Martin’s Art College - Art college has a very strong tie to the British musicians of the 1960’s and beyond. Many famous musicians actually went to art school (like Keith Richards) and it is often reflected in their music. This specific school was the home of the 1st ever Sex Pistols gig.

As you can tell, we covered a lot of territory. We ended our afternoon at this really great music store called Fopp’s. It was 3 levels of music, books about music and DVD’s. It was so fun to just browse their huge selection of things. I somehow managed to get out without buying anything, but I have a feeling I’ll be going back.

Last night, my friend, Meaghan and I went to Camden in search of some live music. Not willing to spend any money, we basically ended up walking around the area for most of the night. We saw a huge line of people outside of the Roundhouse (large venue in Camden) and it so happened that Oasis was playing a free (but sold out) show there that night. Could have been cool to say I saw Oasis for free, but whatever. We still had fun.

I think Lexie and I have scrapped plans for Paris and will probably be going to Scotland instead. Our Britrail passes can get us there for free (as opposed to a £150 ticket to France) and the hostels are really cheap. Plans are still up in the air, but I’m looking forward to this weekend.

Our hot water has been shut off since Monday. They are doing renovations to the dorms here, so hot water has been in little supply. They cut it back on at night most times, so when I can, I take advantage. Other than that, bird baths are usually what gets us through the day without becoming too smelly. Oh, and have I mentioned that we have maids? They come in and make our bed & vaccum every day while we’re out. A girl could get used to this…

Today officially ended the second week of class here. I cannot believe how fast time has gone by! It makes me sad to think I only have a little over 2 weeks left in London. I am so in love with this city. Not a day goes by that I don’t think about how truly blessed I am to have been given an opportunity to be here.

Hopefully, I’ll be getting to some wifi soon and can upload some pictures so you guys have something fun to look at instead of just my lengthy ramblings.

Until we meet again…

xoxo,
Car