Great Art has the power to compel people on pilgrimages. On my first trip to Paris five years ago I headed straight to the Left Bank and the cafes—Café de Flores, Deux Maggot, Brasserie Lipp--frequented by Scotty Fitzgerald and Papa Hemingway. I wasn’t the first and I won’t be the last. When Barb and I moved out to California in 1987 we stopped at Joshua Tree—not to climb rocks, but to find the exact spot U2 stood for their anthemic album of the same name. We weren’t the first and weren’t the last. A book or an album or a painting can be so profoundly intimate that those bespelled are surprised to find others trampling their sacred grounds. On the other hand, the skeptical throngs—the art-adverse philistines among us—not only can’t see the light, they don’t want to look for it, either.
That’s why when I heard Skyer Grey was spearheading a small group towards Abbey Road I was thrilled for her—you don’t see that kind of passion in PV—but worried that the tag-a-longs wouldn’t get it. Yes they knew the Beatles and possibly even seen the famous-to-a-generation album cover. But did they realize how many spins the faithful have taken with this dizzying collection of tunes? The analysis, the wonder, the mystery, the endless symbolism. No not even.
Well, I was wrong. All who went were thrilled with this peregrination. These are the girls who went with Skyler: Amanda Brown, Stena Chang, Natasha Jaffe, Page Maltun, Casandra Robinson, Drew Wyman, Matt Yamamoto and Jennifer Snow. They have some great pictures reenacting the famous street crossing--here's one.
Wryly but Truly,
LV
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