Visiting
London with my girlfriend Mariana was really good. We attended at Manic Street
Preachers concert in Brixton Academy, bought lots of records and met the TATEs
(both ones). These museums were really of her
interest, so after going to the newest one (just across river Thames), we headed
to the original TATE. But what happened? I remembered that an inconic videoclip
was filmed somewhere in the middle of our way, just at the back of a famous
hotel. Well, let me introduce you to “This the story of how I met the Subterranean
Homesick Blues shooting location”
“Maybe
there are some put out cigarrettes that both Bob and Allen (Ginsberg) smoked” /
“Perhaps I can find some of those signs Dylan used in the video. Hope I get the
one that says –Wind Blows-, it´s my favourite”. All these thoughts were dancing
over my head, as Mariana looked at me kind of scared. My heart-beating was
dramatically increasing at the same time we were getting close of our destination,
when all of a sudden it appeared in front of us: The Savoy Hotel. A couple of
security guards looked down on us. The tallest one, suddenly spoke to his
partner. I guess he said “This poor young people cannot afford a single room
for half an hour” at the same time we held our hands nervously tight, acting like
a “young and enthusiastic NOT criminal tourist couple”.
We kept on
walking, turned round the block through “Savoy Hill” and headed to that ¿legendary?
alley. There it was: Sublime. Dark. Dusty. Well, it was a dead-end street,
after all. I started to walk all through it in its entirely. I searched for
some lost Allen Ginsberg´s writings, “Bring it all back home” outtakes, or at
least a broken Ray-Ban that Mr Zimmerman left on the ground in 1965. Well, none
of this really happenned, but at least I confirmed that it´s impossible to find
anything thrown on the ground about fifty years ago in a dead-end alley.
On one side
of “Savoy Steps”, some offices we built. Busy workers stopped their duties to
watch me come in and out the tiny street, like some hamster trapped in a cage
looking for freedom. Well, my “freedom” was to be able to find any souvenir
from that amazing video. Suddenly, I realized that a pretty big sign on the
ground could be one of those which Dylan carried in the “Homesick..” video. I
turned it back and said “London City Council”. Worthed a try, though.
Mariana
looked at me tenderly. Trying to overcome my frustration, I asked her to take
me a picture just like Dylan in the video. She agreed. I used a London map
because there wasn´t any Bob Dylan close enough to write me a sign. Glamorous.
“Shall we
go to the TATE? It´s getting dark” she said. I turned round and gave a last
glance to the alley. My eyes were kind of wet for the excitement. We held our
hands, kissed, and headed to the Museum.
The same
security guys were standing at the front of the Hotel, and watched us made our
way through Victoria Embankment.
“I told you
they didn´t have the money” the tall guy must have said.
Search for Bob Dylan records in this week´s PopMarket "Folk/Rock Legendes III" section.
