http://www.hempels-musictour.de/en/ Archives - Jim Murty’s TravelTravelTravel

Liverpull of Euro music

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It is little surprise Merseyside has won the race to host Eurovision for Ukraine because it’s always been a Liverpull of Euro music.

It may have been a surprise surprise (well that’s our big-up to Liverpool’s favourite daughter Cilla Black done).

Yes, Glasgow put together a good bid but who can realistically compete with The Beatles as host ambassadors?

And lifelong supporter of Liverpool Paul McCartney will doubtless be front and centre when Eurovision kicks off next year.

Love me do

It’s apt too that Liverpool should get the nod 60 years on from the release of The Beatles’ first single Love Me Do.

The tens of thousands of Eurovision fans descending on Liverpool next year will flock to The Beatles story on Albert Dock.

They’ll get a picture taken with the statues of The Fab Four at Albert Dock and the Eleanor Rigby monument on Matthew Street.

And channel our inner Beatles at their old stomping ground The Cavern Club.

Tour de four

Take one of the tours around the city and tick off Strawberry Fields, Penny Lane and The Beatles birthplaces.

And you may be lucky too to have a driver with a pop link (everyone in Liverpool is a musician).

Ours was Holly Johnson’s brother on the Magical Mystery Tour.

The invasion of European music fans to Liverpool then is nothing new.

And its place in the continent’s thinking existed too back in the late 50s.

Hamburger thrill

When talent spotters headed to the north of England to find bands to feed American servicemen’s appetite in Hamburg for the new rock’n’roll music.

The thinking was that they would be cheaper than the London bands.

The Beatles were a late pick but they honed their skills on the Reeperbahn with exhausting sets.

While days of seeing and enjoying Beatles music in the German port city are long behind us.

The Stef of dreams

The best Beatles experience you can have there is signing up for Stefanie Hempell’s Beatles tour.

Where she will take you around Hamburg’s Beatles’ landmarks.

And strum her way around their hits on George Harrison’s favourite instrument, the ukulele.

That’s the Liverpull of Euro music for you and why we’re endorsing Merseyside as the best choice for Eurovision 2023.

And that’s coming from a proud citizen of Glasgow.

America, Countries, Music

Get Mac with 80 years of Paul McCartney

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Being a globetrotting superstar means you adopt fave destinations around the world, and so on the day that’s in it, we Get Mac with 80 years of Paul McCartney.

In My Life (and there will be a few of these) I’ve followed in a few of the Great Man’s footsteps.

So here’s Something Macca-related to add to the Rainy Days and Songdays catalogue from around the world.

Live and Let Liverpool

Liverpool: And back in my days in Liverpool in the Nineties, alas a dilapidated McCartney’s Bar sign was all that advertised that Paul had even been born here.

Liverpool City Centre is all Beatled up now to go alongside the Beatles Story at the Albert Dock and the Cavern Club.

And there are no shortage of Beatles coach tours to take you around Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields, and even Macca’s family home.

And passing the baton along, Holly Johnson’s brother takes the Magical Mystery Tour.

Hamburg on the run

Hamburg: And Hamburg is the city where The Beatles became men.

And where Der Fab Four honed their skills with five-hour sets in the bierkellers.

Ja, and when they were leather jacket-clad Teds.

Let the ukulele-strumming Stefanie Hempel take you down Memory Strasse and give you a Beatles set in St Pauli.

Mist rolling into the sea

Mull of Kintyre: When Scotland claimed the Irish-Scouser as their own.

And Macca gave the kids a taste of Highlands life.

If it’s isolation you’re looking for then the peninsula in the west of Scotland is perfect.

And you can belt out the song yourself on Saddell Bay about seven miles from Macca’s old stead, High Park Farm.

Caribbeatle

I’m all right Jack: Macca with Jack Sparrow

Jamaica and the West Indies: And we immediately associate Macca with Jamaica because of James Bond and Live and Let Die.

And The Green Grotto Caves on the north side of the island.

Macca has become a great fan and supporter of the islands.

Even playing Jack Sparrow’s uncle in Pirates of the Caribbean.

And holidaying with Nancy in St Bart’s at the the Eden Rock Hotel (not shabby).

Sings over America

USA: We know, of course, that Macca has a thing for American women (who hasn’t?)

And while we know too that Jo Jo left his home in Tucson, Arizona, Macca and Linda saw out her last days there on the family ranch.

McCartney and The Beatles, of course, wowed cities the length and breadth of the States including the Hollywood Bowl and Red Rocks.

They are probably most associated with Shea Stadium in New York.

The site US Discover Music will give you a more definitive guide.

And so now we’ve travelled with Macca across the universe and just let it be.

And get the records out because we should all Get Mac with 80 years of Paul McCartney.

Canada, Countries, Culture, Europe, UK

Hey Willie, I’m On the Road Again

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On the road again, I just can’t wait to get on the road again, the life I love is makin’ music with the my friends, and I can’t get wait to get on the road again.
Willie Nelson

And when I was asked by woman-of-many-trades (she asked me to write this) Aileen Eglington to pick my song for her Destinations Anywhere show on Dublin South FM I plumped for Willie Nelson’s classic to the Open Road.

And so continuing my top roads I’ve been on (or hope to trudge) which included the Appian Way, Rome. Beale Street, Memphis, The King’s Highway in Jordan, the Royal Mile, Edinburgh and Via Dolorosa, Jerusalem On the Road again… I give you five more.

The arc of angels

arche de triumph — There’s a golden sun. Photo by TravelingTart on Pexels.com

Avenue des Champs-Elysees, Paris: And, yes, you are taking your life into your own hands when you cross the road here.

The Arc de Triumph with its record of French victories is, of course, the centrepiece although there hasn’t been an inscription on it for many a year. Either in war or the Tour de France which passes through it. See https://en.parisinfo.com.

Aspiring Dublin

O’Connell Street, Dublin: And if you like your streets lined with historical statues then this is for you.

At one end is the Liberartor Daniel O’Connell, with bullet holes from the Easter Rising, and at the other ‘The King of Ireland’ Charles Stewart Parnell. There’s the modern-day Centennial Spire but my favourite is the statue of workers’ hero Jim Larkin. See http://www.visitdublin.com.

The long, long road

Yonge Street, Toronto: And why let the facts get in the way of a good story. The Guinness Book of Records tagged it as the longest in the world until it became clear that they were conflating the Downtown Street with Ontario Highway 11 to make it 1,896kms.

When it’s actually 56kms long. And this being Toronto it’s cleaner, safer and with a laid-back vibe than New York which it is often unfavourably compared to. See http://www.seetoronto.com and Canadian high.

It’s a Shambles

The Shambles, York, England: The Old York, as it’s never called, has something the New York has.

This has overhanging timber-framed buildings that date from the 14th century. And if you like your trains there’s also the National Railway Museum. See https://www.visityork.org.

A night on Der Town

And if it’s good enough for the Beatles then…

This is where the Beatles grew up and George Harrison got his first taste for mud-wrestling Germans. It’s the Reeperbahn in Hamburg. And let Stefanie Hempell who runs the best music tour you’ll find.

See http://www.hamburg.com http://www.hempels-musictour.de/en/ and Hamburgers and ships and The Beatles in Hamburg – With Stefanie Hempel and Why German trains always run on time.

Uncategorized

The Beatles in Hamburg – With Stefanie Hempel

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Next year will mark 60 years since the Beatles did their first gig in Hamburg.

In the Indra Club on the Grosse Freiheit in the Reeperhbahn in St Pauli.

It was the first of 48 nights they played in the German port city.

John Lennon was to say when asked what it was like growing up in Liverpool: ‘I didn’t grow up in Liverpool, I grew up in Hamburg.’

Nobody knows the story of Der Fab Four in Hamburg better than Stefanie Hempel who will take you on a guided music tour around their favourite haunts.

And sing you their songs along the way.

On the ukelele.

Which was George Harrison’s favourite instrument.

Just one of the many things you didn’t know but will after Stefanie has finished with you.

Stefanie’s music tour is without a shadow of a doubt the best music tour I have ever been on.

Just when you think that she has exhausted her backlog of stories she will come up with another.

Stefanie, of course, is a true believer and had a picture of John above her bed as a young girl.

She is also one of the first (and I will promise you, the best) Beatles tour guide in the city.

Stefanie gave us three hours of her time and finished up with a three-song set in the Reeperbahn Museum.

August 17 was the date that The Beatles played their first song at the Indra. I would love to be back listening to Stefanie on that date next year.

And I bet that John will be smiling down on her too when she does belt out In My Life.

For a recap on a couple of wunderbar days in Hamburg then give this an oul’ read https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/hamburgers-and-ships/ and https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/why-german-trains-always-run-on-time/.

And visit http://www.hamburg.com. And of course http://www.hempels-musictour.de/en/ .