Lennon is Spinning in His Grave ...

Everyone knows the famous shot of Abbey Road, but Beatles fans more in the know will recognise the exterior of what used to be the London HQ of Apple Records ... except that it now appears to be a part of the Abercrombie Fitch family.

I've come late to party, as the controversy is already several years old, but then again, I haven't really wandered this section of London for roughly the same period of time.



The interesting part of the story ... As I was taking photos of the storefront, an older gentleman, perhaps in his late sixties or early seventies, dressed in a mustard-coloured coat with an equally bright yellow and blue tie, missing several of his bottom front teeth, but carrying a rose and gold iPhone (oh, the iRony in that!) that was certainly more useful for the task than my BlackBerry, came up to me and asked,

"Do you know what that is?" And before I could actually answer the question, he continued,

"Yeah, I was here in 1969. Almost got arrested that day, I did. The Beatles were doing a concert up there on the roof. Do you know about that?" he asked, pointing up to the roof.

"Yeah, but I was a bit young and on the other side of the world ...."

"I was just a teenager myself, but we were here, and we were almost arrested.  We heard this noise, so we came around to see what it was, and the street was jammed, and the police came along and told us to keep moving along or they would arrest us."  

So I asked, "Do you think John Lennon is spinning in his grave"

"Yes, most definitely he is."

Then I thanked him for sharing the story with me and wished him a good day, and he said, "Yeah, I'm going to take a few photos for the grandkids.  You have a good day too!"

I got around the block and thought, "Dammit, why didn't I break out the iPad [more Apple iRony there] and get him to tell his story in video?"  Well, the lame excuse that I can offer is that he seemed a bit eccentric and I was in a hurry to get on to my next meeting, but can't help but feel like I really missed a chance to throw something interesting up on YouTube.

It's the old Lennon line of Life being what happens to you while you're busy making other plans. Well, maybe there might be a "next time."