Post by Joe Karlosi on Apr 6, 2009 18:27:22 GMT -5
This past Sunday I took a train ride into Manhattan with my wife, since she has some relatives from Arizona who are visiting and we were due to meet them in The Village. I don't think I've been to the city in about 3 years.
It was a gorgeous sunny day, and after eating and making some rounds to some old record shop areas (it's not the same; I used to get so many great bootlegs there between 1980 and 1990, but so many of these places are either all gone now or useless in terms of rarities) we decided to take the train uptown to W72nd St.
We got off right near the Dakota building, but truthfully everyone seemed to be chatting together and didn't show much interest in checking it out. Besides, my wife's cousin is only 30 and not much interested in The Beatles or John Lennon... so we just went into the Strawberry Fields entrance of the park instead. It was really hopping in there with a TON of people gathered around John's IMAGINE circle, and also with a band who was performing Beatles songs. When we got there they were doing THANK YOU GIRL followed by DAY TRIPPER.
This wasn't my first time here, but since it was so spontaneous and the weather was gorgeous, it was really nice to visit. Of course I couldn't help casting my mind back 29 years ago to that awful night (I can't believe John's been gone almost 30 years), and studying the Dakota which loomed right across the way. I kept thinking of how many times John and Yoko probably strolled these very walkways themselves, often being greeted by New Yorkers who probably mainly respected their privacy and let them be for the most part.
There was a tour or something that came along, with a woman telling a large group about the history of the Dakota and how Strawberry Fields came to be. Eventually we made our way through other areas of Central Park. It was gorgeous.
But the John Lennon and Beatles stuff just seems sooooo long ago now.
It was a gorgeous sunny day, and after eating and making some rounds to some old record shop areas (it's not the same; I used to get so many great bootlegs there between 1980 and 1990, but so many of these places are either all gone now or useless in terms of rarities) we decided to take the train uptown to W72nd St.
We got off right near the Dakota building, but truthfully everyone seemed to be chatting together and didn't show much interest in checking it out. Besides, my wife's cousin is only 30 and not much interested in The Beatles or John Lennon... so we just went into the Strawberry Fields entrance of the park instead. It was really hopping in there with a TON of people gathered around John's IMAGINE circle, and also with a band who was performing Beatles songs. When we got there they were doing THANK YOU GIRL followed by DAY TRIPPER.
This wasn't my first time here, but since it was so spontaneous and the weather was gorgeous, it was really nice to visit. Of course I couldn't help casting my mind back 29 years ago to that awful night (I can't believe John's been gone almost 30 years), and studying the Dakota which loomed right across the way. I kept thinking of how many times John and Yoko probably strolled these very walkways themselves, often being greeted by New Yorkers who probably mainly respected their privacy and let them be for the most part.
There was a tour or something that came along, with a woman telling a large group about the history of the Dakota and how Strawberry Fields came to be. Eventually we made our way through other areas of Central Park. It was gorgeous.
But the John Lennon and Beatles stuff just seems sooooo long ago now.