Dan R.
Yelp
"Living is easy with eyes closed
Misunderstanding all you see
It's getting hard to be someone but it all works out
It doesn't matter much to me
Let me take you down
'Cause I'm going to strawberry fields"
(Lennon & McCartney)
From childhood, I've always been a Beatles fan, and I was at their historic Shea Stadium concert in Queens, NY on October 15, 1965. You see, my father was a paint chemist in Newark, NJ and one of the salesmen that called on him offered him tickets, so our family went to the show. I still have my ticket stub which I've posted as a photo with this review.
I've wanted to visit the John Lennon memorial at Strawberry Fields ever since it opened on October 9, 1985. That day would have been his 45th birthday. Strawberry Fields is in a section of Central Park across the street from the Dakota Building, where Lennon was assassinated on December 8, 1980.
John's widow Yoko Ono Lennon played a big role in the design of the memorial. The finished product is near the Park's West 72nd Street entrance and includes
The design of Strawberry Fields includes small landscaped meadows and a winding path that leads to a mosaic tile star built into the pavement with the word "Imagine" in the center, from the iconic song from John's solo career.
I've read that Strawberry Fields is always crowded, and when we visited on a beautiful Saturday afternoon it sure was. The mosaic was ringed with tourists awaiting their turn for a photograph standing in its center.
I ended up being disappointed with my visit, because John and the Beatles meant (and continue to mean) so much to me. Much of that disappointment came from an obnoxious guitarist who detracted from the spirit and atmosphere I expected .
He sat on a bench playing and singing Beatles songs between his harangues begging for donations. Hearing him say "I'm a serious artist, I'm on Spotify" and "if you clap and walk away you make me sad" really seemed inappropriate.
Had John been around, no doubt he would have told him to "bugger off".