Fantastic.

Myself and my younger brother nipped off from a family gathering in Hull many years ago to visit the various locations of a(then) recent Housemartins' Samsh Hits photo shoot . We had pictures taken outside their pub, Paul Heaton's gaff and best off all a bakers were Stan was pictured buying cakes from. The only outcome was I believe some rather good Yorkshire cheese curd tarts.
PS. Also we tried to find a shop named "totally trousers" also featured but to no avail sadly.

I've posted this before, but it fits perfectly here, so...

A few months after seeing Jimmy Webb tell the story behind Wichita Lineman at a Jazz Cafe gig, and vowing to see the place for myself, I found myself on a miserable, never-ending Greyhound journey from Flagstaff to Wichita (28 hours in the company of race-obsessed rednecks, a glue-sniffer and a maniac claiming to be heir to the Ping golf fortune). I started playing Glen Campbell's 20 Golden Greats every time I thought the bus was getting close to the city, wanting to make the most of the moment and have the song playing as I arrived.

I kept on having to rewind the tape (this was well before iPods) to avoid spoiling the moment, but when it finally came and I was able to hear the song, I looked upwards from the window, and there were the telephone wires of Jimmy Webb's song, spidering out across a gloomy sky. It was a lovely moment.

The mood was ruined somewhat by the teenager in the seat next to me, who leaned across and asked, "Excuse me sir, but do you know how to spell 'arson'?" He was filling in a form provided by the Kansas City Parole Board.

Wichita itself was a dump, one of those American towns without a heart - the centre deserted because everyone had moved to the malls and business parks in the suburbs. Six hours was more than enough, and I booked myself on a flight to Memphis rather than face another day on the bus.

I once made my missus drive a 40 mile detour from our journey from Dorset to Brighton just so I could visit Selsey Bill as featured in Madness's "Driving in my car". Alas it was January and there was a huge storm breaking, so we stopped for 10 minutes, had a peek over the sea wall and were pretty much instantly drenched and windblown back to the car. Memorable!

While Eurorailing in 1992, I dropped in on Jim Morrison, on the anniversary of his death.

An immaculate stone bust of Morrison peruses the graveside floral tributes and terrible poetry left in his honour.

Morrison's static performance left many in the crowd disappointed.

in Guildford several times. Knackering it is. Robyn Hitchcock doesn't remember it though...

Z

Drove for hours out of Dublin. Picked up the N17 ('stone walls and the grass is green'), sang our heads off, and then headed for the beautiful Clare Island. Got to Roonah Quay and watched the ferry heading for the island. The setting sun, the flat-calm sea, the island in the distance, the whole thing made me weep. I'd sung the song for years, but to be standing there was really special ('Will you meet me on Clare Island, summer stars are in the sky, we'll get the ferry out from Roonah, and wave all our cares goodbye.') The rest of the world thinks the Saw Doctors are a bunch of rowdy paddys, but they don't half write some lovely songs.

Jesus, what a s**t hole!

Yes I've walked across that zebra crossing. It was only my second time in London and I was 14 so I think I have some excuse. It's something you do when you're away from home. I've never visited my local rock sites as such, however ...

For those of you who might make it to Belfast I recommend a stroll past the wrought iron gate rows of Cypress Avenue, preferably on a sunny Sunday afternoon, or indeed a golden autumn day, with some cherry wine, and possibly a light in, on, or otherwise about the head. An accompanying underage girlfriend with rainbow ribbons in her hair is entirely optional, and at your discretion obviously.

By all means also visit Coney Island but be advised, try following Van's directions and it will take you about a week to get there.

You might also like to visit Dunluce Castle to try to recreate the inner gatefold of Led Zeppelin's 'Houses of the Holy', in which case having an understanding (or preferably extremely drunk) female companion, and a really sturdy tripod are nothing short of essential.

Please note that recreating the cover itself will not be feasible as the photographing of naked children on the Giant's Causeway is no longer encouraged.

[ * This post has not been endorsed by the Northern Ireland Tourist Board]

...and wish I didn't.

Quite possibly the dullest, most boring city in the whole of North America.

(and yes, I know the song essentially reinforces that viewpoint - the home of failed Hollywood wannabes - but I still somehow expected it to still be quite a 'happening' place)

Memphis, on the other hand, is almost certainly the most wonderful place on the surface of the planet.

Also drove a small part of route 66 and have to agree that the New Jersey turnpike is indeed a hellhole.I have yearning to go to Lindisfarne and hope to get there later this year.But local to me The Jewel in the Crown in Moseley (as featured on the cover of the Fairports album of the same name)is a very fine curry house and well worth a visit if you are passing through Brum.

when i was last in new york.

this thread reminded me of the fact and prompted me to check on streetmap to confirm that there is no london street with that name.

does anybody know if i therefore inadvertantly made a pilgramage - and that this NYC street was the one mentioned in scott walkers song montague terrace (in blue)?

...along Penny Lane. But I don't think that really counts.

I lived for three months in the Yucatan Peninsula, which I like to tell people was in honour of Sun Ra.

Even though I have to cross Waterloo Bridge by foot about once a week, each time I do so I stop at half way and spend five minutes looking round at London in all its glory. Inevitably the Kinks song fills my head as I gawp and it is such a perfect soundtrack for the view, whatever the time of night or day.

I'm convinced that London does not look better than at that place & on that bridge. Houses of Parliament, tour boats going up and down the river, the South Bank Centre and the dome of St Pauls. And the Ray Davies song nails it. Terry meets Julie and I am in Paradise.

Not sure if this qualifies as a pilgrimage as I have to be on the bridge anyway, but every time I am I offer up a silent "Thank the Lord" before carrying on home.

Wandering around New York one time I thought, "Hello, I'm sure this is Chelsea" and was able to navigate down to The Chelsea Hotel. "Bob Dylan stayed up all night writing 'Sad Eyed Lady of The Lowlands' here" I opined to a less than impressed Mrs Skirky. "And Sid Vicious killed his girlfriend". "Ah!" she said, now in a frame of reference she was more familiar with.
The Dakota Building was impressive, Strawberry Fields less so - it was closed for gardening repairs, presumably not forever.

I visited Hughes bar in Spiddal and The American Bar on one of the Aran Islands (can't remember which one), famous to Waterboys fans as haunts of the band during the recording of Fisherman's Blues and Room to Roam.

Both very friendly places.

Rock pilgrimages in Memphis: Sun? Check. Graceland? Check. Beale Street? Check. But I had 24 hours left in Memphis and I just had to find the site of Chips Moman's American studio; home to The Box Tops, From Elvis In Memphis, and where Dan Penn, Spooner Oldham and King Curtis and the like cut some of the greatest pop and Southern Soul records of the late 60s and early 70s. My brother had lent me a ten year old book that said it was now an auto parts store on Chelsea and Thomas in uptown Memphis. Peter Guralnick said in Careless Love that it was in South Memphis. I didn't have time to try both, so took some local advice from a guy in my hotel - who was shocked when I said I was planning on walking - and headed north.

After a very short time, I realised that I was in a pretty desolate and probably not entirely safe part of town. But I had come on a quest, and this was my one and only chance. Then I saw this:

The address - according to the book - wasn't quite right, but it was as close as was really possible. And it kind of looked right. The lady in the shop on the corner said "Auto parts store? Nah, it used to be a day care centre...oh, you know what? Before that it was an auto parts store." I told her that the site - not sure if it's the same building - was where Elvis Presley recorded Suspicious Minds. She seemed to neither know nor care.

Just in case it was the original building, I took this too:

My time in the south was marked by a series of pilgrimages and ancient recording studios. I shopped in Poplar Tunes, where Elvis bought lots of records - and thanks to the wealth of literature on the subject, I can inform you that he spent $3 here on Friday 13th January 1956 - and I also sought out all 3 Muscle Shoals studios in Alabama, as well as the more well-trodden Sun studio and Graceland. But there was something special about this. It took work. Since returning, I read somewhere that Elvis really did record In The Ghetto in the ghetto; and I kind of know what they mean.

One of these days i'm going to stand on a corner in Winslow, Arizona.

20 years ago I went to the building in East Village, NYC which Led Zeppelin used for the 'Physical Graffiti' album cover. It was also employed by the Stones in the video for 'Waiting On A Friend', the sequence in which Keef climbs some steps and hangs five with some of his Jamaican bredren.

As I remember it, it was very much the same and instantly recognizable. At the time, I probably went "wooow". Now, I would probably be less impressed.

Last October (Halloween in fact) I visited Sun Studio in Memphis to see the spot that Elvis, Johnny Cash and so many other greats recorded their first hits. While there I pitched them the idea of bringing some of today's rising new acts to perform in that room and make into a web video show. They liked the idea and now I work with them on the show. You can check it out here:

Future webisodes will be at http://livefromsunstudio.blogspot.com

cheers!
Jeff from Sun

I noticed Steve Turner yearns to go to Lindisfarne, I have been there many times and actually saw Lindisfarne live doing one of their famous christmas shows though not at Lindisfarne (Middlesbrough Town Hall) strangely though I never connected the two!!!

On the weekend of a friends wedding in Fazeley, her brother presented us with a lovingly created guide to Julian Copes Tamworth. Unfortunatly time restraints meant that we could only enjoy The Mound, site of the Sunspots Sleeve and Cutlers Scrapyard for Christ like poses a la St Julian. Some may say we saw the best Tamworth had to offer. I couldn`t possible comment.

I had the strangest sensation when I went to New York. I went out of my way to find the Strawberry Fields section of Central Park and while I was there I looked across the road and I saw the Dakota Building. I thought "That's where John lived" I recognised it from all the news reports I'd seen about ten years previously.

I saw people milling about and I went to join them to have a gawk when suddenly I was stopped in my tracks by the Wall of Voodoo song "Far Side of Crazy" which flashed through my mind unbidden. The lyrics goes "I honoured the assailant when I visited the shrine" and I thought, "They're right, that's a shrine to Mark David Chapman, not John Lennon" so I walked off very quickly and never looked back.

We did Memphis and Nashville pretty much as Lucas outlines above. Tootsies Orchid Lounge in Nashville is also worth a visit. We also caught a gig at the Exit Inn just down the road from our hotel (Canada's finest Blue Rodeo supported by fellow Canadian Oh Susanna) which is the venue that Keith Carradine plays at in Altman's Nashville as well as being a venue where a very good Ryan Adams boot was recorded.
We drove south along Highway 61 for 50 miles or so, but then got off it. It is the most boring road in the world (at least in Mississippi it is). It's dead straight and on either side you've got cotton fields. Cotton is not a beautiful plant. We moved west and took a road that followed the course of the Mississippi. Much more interesting and we witnessed the aftermath of the great golf cart hijack in a town called Greenville.

...is great, isn't it? Worth releasing.

I moved to London 4 years ago and noticed that one of the streets near my flat was called Britannia Row. A little bit of research informed me that it was the same Britannia Row I knew from Pink Floyd albums. Since then, my familiarity with North London has been generally informed by music.

I moved up to Holloway Road and happily walked by Joe Meek's old place everyday on the way to work. One day I was reading a Beatle book to discover that that art deco church near Finsbury Park was the old Astoria, later the Rainbow.

And the Kinks have informed me most of all. I agree with the beautiful view from Waterloo Bridge. (One of life's simple pleasures is parking on the bridge and heading down to the NFT.) I went to visit the Archway Tavern, as featured on the cover of Muswell Hillbilies (not the same anymore). I now live further up the Northern Line: The Clissold Arms, where Ray & Dave first played, is now a dull gastropub. The first time me and the wife went for a walk around Muswell Hill after moving in down the road we stopped off for supplies and came face-to-face with Ray himself. That was the ultimate in Rock & Roll geographical sightseeing.

A few years back I went to a conference in Liverpool as an excuse to do some Beatle tourism. I made this little movie...

A few years back on a trip to New York I took off on a walk around The Village locating placenames from Dylan's past. The location of The Freewheelin' Cover (Jones Street), Bob & Suze Rotolo's 1st apartment on 4th Street, The Cafe Wha?, The White Horse Tavern etc. etc. Nice memories of a lovely, sunny afternoon finding all these places, while my wife shook her head, rolled her eyes then took the photographs!

Another time we went off to Paris to see Oscar Wilde's grave. The whole monument is covered in lipstick kisses. That was a lovely cold crisp day in December.

Sure would love to see The Sun studios in Memphis sometime.

On a business trip to Madison, Wisconsin, I spend some free time exploring the recently built Conference centre, designed originally by Frank Lloyd Wright who lived nearby in Spring Green. The building sits of the waterfront of Lake Monona. I wandered up to the rooftop terrace to get a better view of the Lake and stumbled upon a small memorial plaque, marking the tragic death of Otis Redding and the Bar-Kays on December, 1967. They were on their way to play a gig in Madison when their Beechcraft light aircraft crashed into the Lake. All on board perished apart from one member of the band. Ironically, the hand-lettered poster advertising the concertmentions the support band: The Grim Reapers...

Last summer, greatest excursion of my fairly young life.

Read all about it:

The Trip Part 1

Graceland, Sun & Tupelo

Further Memphian Tales

Music City, USA

Abbey Road - tick - back in the 80s I played in a series of indie combos, one of whom (the cutely named BookEmDanno) cut a record at the hallowed building - as in cut the master disc, rather than recorded the thing. Anyway I seized the opportunity and attended said cutting session, mainly to have lunch in the basement canteen and generally wander around with the air of one who was often to be found there, and of course to see whether the loo roll actually had EMI stamped on it as was the stuff of legend. It didn't. We didn't sell many of our singles, either.

New York is probably the place where I did my best punk rock tourism, New York Dolls related Gem Spa on St. Marks' Place and Mercer Street
CBGB's, now sadly no longer with us
53rd & 3rd
and more recently Joey Ramone Place.

Have to add my agreement about Waterloo Bridge - walked over it every day for about 3 years and never tired of the stunning views. Mind you the Waterloo end wasn't quite so stunning back then when you got to cardboard city...showing my age!

Abbey Road loses it's appeal when your bus home each night is constantly blocked by tourists on that bloody zebra crossing.

Used to live in Polesworth which was walking distance from the mound and Alvecote - mentioned in Julian Copes Reynard the Fox. It is quite a spiritual place but not sure Cutlers Scrapyard would share the same vibe somehow!! Also, of the same parish the late Edwin Starr had a pretty impressive mansion in Polesworth.
By the way Copey used to go to the same school as my ex wife and some of her friends are mentioned in his memoirs. She (my ex wife) claimed that she dated him but I dispute that as one of her numerous flights of fancy - none of her friends ever verified it for sure but guess it made her sound important. Also dated another girl who reckoned she went out with Brian May.
By the way Tamworth doesnt have much else going for it - waits for the onslaught of embittered Tammies!!!

Well Steve, I had a very entertaining afternoon at the Lamb watching Tamworth F C v Accrington Stanley. Our Tour was drawn up by Nigel Horton and Mark Mortimer of Tamworth soul revue D C Fontana. Mortimer appearing in full colour in Copeys epic tome.

Going to New Orleans this weekend, any places of music interest I should see?

I can pass on one tip about the Big Easy.
When I was there I had a conversation with a local that I think is worth passing on.

Local: So you're a music fan?
Me: Yes
Local: You'll be tempted to go to Louis Armstrong Park then. Whatever you do don't go.
Me: Why?
Local: Just don't go there.

I don't know what the circumstances were that inspired such a warning but I heeded it. I guessed at the time that a dopey, white tourist (such as myself) had just been murdered there.

Mind you this was almost twenty years ago and much would have changed since then.

Its a fantastic city to visit. Prior to Hurricane Katrina that is. I've been all over the USA and New Orleans was one of the highlights.

Is great for sightseeing

Chelsea Hotel

Physical Graffiti Building

The Dakota

Paul's Boutique

Hours of fun...

that I once stood outside the actual building in Carnaby Street where NME lived. The actual building. I was so much younger then...

And I had my photograph taken outside the hotel on Lindisfarne that features on the gatefold sleeve of Fog on the Tyne by Lindisfarne.

in 1996 i think it was,at Roseland Ballroom and found myself "stompin' on The Avenue by Radio City" Unfortunately I did not have a "transistor and a large sum of money to spend".It was almost a religious moment seeing Dan & Walt for the first time in the flesh.

Did other Rock Landmarks that trip where,after a few "scoops" as Mark Ellen would say, we found ourselves outside the Dakota where my mate insisted on re-enacting the whole shooting incident (The drink was no excuse,and I am ashamed of myself)before insisting that I take a picture of him sprawled out on the floor by the doorman's hut.....v tasteless but we were very very drunk.Sorry.

I've done a few tours round the US based purely on music. My first visit to New York included a trip to 53rd & 3rd (Ramones) and a visit to CBGBs - I was also pleased to stumble upon the Brill Building. I moved on to Nashville where the highlight (and just thinking about it still gives me shivers) was the Ryman Auditorium visit where you're able to wander onto the stage (or you were back in 1991). This is not just any stage but a stage where Hank Williams stood! On my circuitous route back to New York I took quite a detour to locate the Stone Pony club in Asbury Park. I got very funny looks at the tourist information office in Memphis when I was trying to locate the Big Star supermarket that the band took their name from - I think they were more used to directing people to Graceland.

It was hard work finding Weaver D's in Athens simply to see the Automatic for the People sign but it was fun to "Head out on the Atlanta Highway" although we never found a shack with a rusted tin roof! I think I found the street that Hank Williams grew up in but confirming it was a little hard in those pre-web days. I travelled to Tupelo just to see Elvis Presley's birthplace which I was astounded to find was virtually uncommercialised. In LA I managed to locate quite a few places mentioned in Dead Mans Curve.

Sorry, but I keep finding excuses to post my holiday snaps...

By the way, the shop at Elvis' birthplace has far more tack than the shops at Graceland.

The States are certainly the place to visit. I have done(if that is the correct tourist term?) Tupelo(Presley Family Shack), Graceland(Twice), Ryman and Opry Mills, Haight Astbury, Beale Street, Stax Studio Museum, stayed in the Flamingo, Las Vegas(where Elvis made Viva Las Vegas, Croce's Restaurant in San Diego, Clarksdale, Mississippi - home of the Blues and birthplace of Sam Cooke.
But for me the highlight was a little club on the outskirts of Nashville called 'The Bluebird' where on the night I visited I had a front row seat to witness the comeback of PF Sloan

Didn't see Bo Diddley.

I'm a terror for ticking off rock locations (mainly Punk and Beatles) to the point of having visited several Beatles sites including the tree from the Strawberry Fields vid' (Knowle Park - Kent) and West Malling also in Kent with it's Magical Mystery connections.

However there is one street bursting with pop culture history...Kings Road. Here's just a handful of the many sites to see if you're in and around the area(going west to east).

Edith Grove - where the Stones had a legendarily grotty flat in the early sixties.

430 Kings Road- the site of Let It Rock, Sex, Seditionaries the cradle of Punk and Vivienne Westwood still keeps a shop there. (the site of Granny Takes A Trip is just a few doors away too)

Oakley Street- home to Bowie (70s).

Cheyne Walk - Mickand Keef (60's/70s).

Old Church Street - Sound Techniques Recording Studio, used by Nick Drake and John Martyn.

Flood Street - the Sgt. Pepper cover photo was shot here

The Chelsea Drugstore - as mentioned in the Stones song, (now a McDonalds)

Mary Quants first Boutique -(now part of a large Cornish pasty chain)

The Pheasantry- (now a Pizza Express) Germaine Greer wrote the The 'Female Eunuch', and Clapton wrote Layla while living here. And Clive James had a room too.

Royal Court Theatre
First staged 'Look Back In Anger' the birth the kitchen sink dramas. And also first to stage the 'Rocky Horror' punk and glam in one camp bundle

I've been there - does it count ?

Mrs Wendell and I recently took the back roads from Las Vegas to Palm Springs, driving through Robert Plant's '29 Palms' and stopping briefly at Gram's Motel ($180 dollars a night seemed a little steep, there's not even a pool) in The Joshua Tree National Park. We also managed half an hour on Route 66 during the drive. Needs a bit of work to be honest, which is why everyone else uses the new 6 lane Freeway 50 yards to the right of it.

We have also spent a few hours driving around the Hollywood Hills looking for Blue Jay Way, Steve McQueen's house on Solar Drive and I did once sit in for a tour guide in LA who had been shot (not while taking the tour, I might add). I pointed at random houses and said some actor's names. Randomly. The 12 Japanese and German tourists seemed happy enough, especially when completely by accident I actually did recognise the house used on 'The Fresh Prince of Bel Air'.

We did hear Sheryl Crow singing about it on the radio as we drove down Santa Monica Boulevard once, and just to prove that my wife loves me, we spent ages wandering around San Fransisco finding streets and areas named in 'Jellyfish' songs. Ahem.

...in Hampton, SW London, I once made haste across the crowded bar to take occupancy of a stool recently vacated by Chas Cronk of The Strawbs.

On a trip to Australia in '94 I persuaded the friends I was staying with to take me to the 'Dogs In Space' house in their little white VW beetle. (Australian movie set in a Melbourne squat 1978 - Michael Hutchence played 'Sammy No Brain'):

Was quite taken with the idea of living in a squat with Michael Hutchence.

Not sure it exactly counts, seeing as I lived there, but I grew up in W9 in London so used to go roller skating under the Westway (The Clash) and Sid Vicious lived with Nancy round the back of our house in Pindock Mews. Their little mews house was directly opposite our kitchen window. I think at some point (in no particular order) Marc Bolan, Adam Ant, David Bowie, Annie Lennox, Chrissie Hynde & Jim Kerr lived within a couple of blocks of my childhood home. And of course there were the Peel sessions at the BBC Studios on Delaware Road.

Not a pilgrimage for me really, its in the town of my birth and I was there visiting me Mum. Home of Joy Division recordings with mad Martin Hannett of course as well as McCartney, 10CC, John Cooper Clark etc., Not only that, but if you stand on the little grass hill opposite near the wall backing onto the pub you will be standing in the spot where a certain Mr Hendrix rammed his guitar through the ceiling of the famous Tabernacle club in the long ago purple haze of the mid-sixties!!

Jimmy Webb's Crying In My Sleep mentions Lucy's olf cafe which is in fact Lucy's El Adobe cantina on Melrose just by Paramount studios in LA. I had to go there of course this being one of my favourite songs by my favourite songwriter.
Lucy had been warned of my impending arrival and sure enough was there to meet me. I was sat beneath a signed photo of Mr Webb and also John David Souther and was treated to some spectacular margheritas.
Lucy and her late husband Frank befriended many aspiring songwriters in the late 60s and early 70s including a bunch of Eagles and the likes of Ronstadt. Her restaurant is well worth a visit for the memorabilia alone, not leat a piano that Mr Webb donated to her. I gather he recently visited there when in the City of Angels.
I directed my friend Tim Light there recently and he will echo my sentiments. Likewise do visit Amoeba Records on Sunset, the best record store in the world. It was so good that dear old Tim overstayed his welcome on a meter and picked up a parking ticket. ROCK AND ROLL!
Richard Lowe and Fraser Lewry, take note.

Amoeba Records in LA is as good as record stores/shops get.

On my only ever visit to NYC a couple of years back I stayed in hotel on Lexington and 51st ... I didn't pop down Lexington to 125, felt neither sick nor dirty, and more alive than dead actually ... Oddly enough the impulse to walk up to 52nd Street never really hit me and it's only now that it occurs that I could have made such an MOR pilgrimage...

I'm a big fan of Fountains of Wayne and so are my parents, and luckily enough my mother is from the same(ish) part of the world as them (Massachusetts and New Jersey), so whenever we go to visit her family, not only do we get a nice holiday in the States, we get to delight in seeing landmarks from the songs, such as The Tappan Zee (a large road bridge in New York), the Long Island Expressway, Hackensack, and many more. The lovely Valley Winter Song on Welcome Interstate Managers was written about Northampton, Massachusetts, a lovely town where my aunt lived for about 20 years.

I have even been to the shop they are named after, an emporium of tacky garden ornaments in Wayne, New Jersey, where I acquired a souvenir carrier bag.

Apart from that, just the obvious New York ones. My dad and I went to 53rd and 3rd to see where Dee Dee Ramone used to sell his body to satisfy his cough syrup habit.

The best story of this kind that I know is not about me, but a friend of mine who in the 1990s was a travelling freelance journo in the States and once while travelling somewhere in the South-West, drove about 100 miles out of his way just so he could 'stand on a corner in Winslow, Arizona', à là Take It Easy.

My first trip to California.

And I stayed on La Brea/Sunset Boulevard at a cheap Travel Lodge.

One of the first things I did was to walk over to the Capitol Records building and then walk back to La Brea and see the A&M studios.

Bliss....never understood whereabouts Sheryl Crow sang about the sun coming up over Santa Monica Boulevard though.

I always wanted to take the Canadian Pacific. So I did, as in the song by George Hamilton IV - from Toronto to Vancouver. Loved every part of the journey too.