London street painted to pay tribute to Tom Waits

By Ray Roa on November 12th, 2010 in News

2010_11Nov_09_WaitsMural

Everyone from your grandma to The Simpsons has tried their hand at recreating The Beatles’ famous Abbey Road cover. Hell, there’s even a webcam that allows you to get all voyeuristic and watch Fab Four fanatics cross the thoroughfare 24/7/365.

While that’s all well and good, we’re not here to talk about John, Paul, Ringo, and George. We’re here to tell you to get your plane tickets and flip video recorders ready because Anti- is reporting that a small part of the wall along Portobello Road in The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea has been painted to pay tribute to Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards.

Recorded by our choice for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, Mr. Thomas Alan Waits, Orphans was released as a sprawling 3CD/7LP behemoth; therefore, it naturally takes up the largest portion of the wall, which is painted to depict albums that represent the musical influences of the West London neighborhood. Joe Strummer apparently loved the place, and the mural will be on display for at least six months.

The installation is part of the Portobello ReCollection project spearheaded by artists Natasha Mason and Tessa Crawley, who first asked residents which records they would like to see painted on the 100m stretch of wall. It’s hard to tell which specific albums made the cut, but the project’s official website shows vinyl from The Libertines, and Hot Chip is represented as well.

And while some of you may have limited edition reissues of Waits’ first four albums on your holiday wish list, all we want to do is take a picture with the mural, then eat some fish and chips. There are about 40 of us on staff at CoS, so here’s a link to buy us some plane tickets. We want to bring our significant others, too.

Everyone else can see the full-size image of the mural here.

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