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“He said, ‘here you are’ and he signed it for me. It was a very nice thing to do, you know. Just to sort of make me feel appreciated, I guess.”   how can anyone not love him

When Brian May wrote, “Perhaps inside you, you were messed up like me,” and when Brian May wrote, “Save me, I can’t face this life alone,” and when Brian May wrote, “There’s no use in crying; that ain’t what you what do,” and when Brian May wrote, “My soul is painted like the wings of butterflies (…) I can fly, my friends!” and when Brian May wrote, “I don’t want pity, just a safe place to hide…” 

… He was thinking of Freddie Mercury. 

i love them i love them i love them

Ok in an interview (maybe from 2011?) Brian was asked this; forgive the quality from his old, crusty website:

[in case you can’t see:

Question: What does QUEEN mean to you?

Brian: A White Queen and a Black Queen. Pleasure and Pride. Stress and Pain. A sword in my hand and a chain around my neck.]

There are a few things to unpack but...the two colored queens were always his thing with Freddie. Brian wore white nail polish, wrote “White Queen”, and often wore his white Zandra Rhodes outfit on stage, while Freddie wore black nail polish, wrote “March of the Black Queen”, and more often wore black outfits on stage. Fans used to paint their nails a certain color to support Freddie or Brian, so this color motif was only their thing.

Here’s what strikes me. First, Brian’s response to what Queen means to him is essentially “me and Freddie.” Second, this stopped being a real thing on stage by the mid-to-late 70s and I’d guess most casual fans don’t even know about this dynamic, especially nowadays, but it was the first thing to pop into Brian’s head. This dynamic meant so much to him. I am Emotional

The fact that both Mika and Michael tried to grow a moustache in different times of their life with the same outcome: disappointment.

London - 13 Nov 2022

As a continuation of this post here are pictures from my visit to London last month! I dropped by some Queen-related places, it was a long list and impossible to get to in only 1-2 days. I'm also horrendous at schedule management so I missed places that were actually close to each other, welp.

But anyway! Here are the places I got to visit that day. You can click to see the full pictures. Please do not repost my photos!

Garden Lodge was the first stop! I think this place needs no explanation. Lovely place during a lovely weather. I had the area for myself for about 15 mins before a few other fans came along as well to take pictures.

The next stop was 12 Stafford Terrace in Kensington. This was supposedly Freddie's first flat in London, and it is the location of many familiar photos including this one above I attached. It was a really nice place, not that we question it but Freddie had an excellent taste.

Afterwards I had to rush off and barely caught what used to be the location of Kensington Market. Here's a video I took from the bus lol. The market was sadly already demolished and is now a Currys. If I get to go there again I'll take a proper photo of the entire area!

From Kensington I went to Soho and visited 143 Wardour Street. This address was where they took this well-known photo above (Watal Asanuma)! This area is where I should have visited the original Marquee site as well as Trident studios, but I messed up the day's schedule that I didn't get them. Next time for sure!

On my way back from lunch in Soho I went to Carnaby Street where they have the lyrics of Bohemian Rhapsody (I didn't think they were still there!). They were put up there to celebrate the launch of the movie in 2018. I bet they look a lot nicer at night but I was there in the afternoon so this is what I got.

Next up is Royal Albert Hall. This was very annoying because there was a huge tent set up that ruined the scenery and again thanks to my bad scheduling management this was the last day I could go anywhere. So I couldn't stand on the exact steps that Smile stood on in this photo (Douglas Puddifoot) without the tent in view, but oh well. I tried my best!

Just around there I went to see the plaque for PRS for Music Heritage award, which commemorates Queen's first public performance in London at Imperial College. Also got a video of where exactly it is. It was originally unveiled in a different place (as shown in photo) but after about a month it was then moved outside for better visibility.

While around Imperial College I looked for this specific site where Queen took this picture when they were still with Mike Grose. It was fun searching for it (it was quite hidden imo) and I felt really triumphant once I found it! There were several compartments (?) but I just picked one that I think is the same one lol.

Genuinely tried my best to keep up with the sun but it set so quickly so I dropped by whatever was on the way back to my hotel. This building at 54 Russell Gardens was formerly Kensington Tavern. This was apparently where Freddie first met Ibex and Roger met John Harris. Pretty iconic! It's a shame that it was closed down.

And from there I finally went to 100 Holland Road, which was also a flat where Freddie once lived in. Firstly, I regret not taking this when there was still sunlight because it didn't look as pretty as it I hoped it would. Secondly, scaffoldings... ugh. Just my luck. Well here's a photo of when it looked nice, hope I can get a shot of it like that next time. This flat is also where this iconic photoshoot (Douglas Puddifoot) took place.

Lastly, below are some bonus of tourist-y photos I took the day before haha. It was a cloudy night but the lights were so pretty!

And that's all for this part of London visit! Again I know I missed a lot of obvious places in literally the same areas that I visited, but with the combo of my bad route planning and the fact that there are just so many historical places in London related to the band, it was obvious that it's going to require several dedicated visits to eventually get to all of them, if I really want to.

My sincerest thanks to Ribbit London who made me a custom map for my visit, put up with my whining about tents and scaffoldings, and always responded so quickly when I get lost pretty much every other turn looking for a specific landmark lol. I couldn't have made it without you!

I will be visiting London several more times for sure, and I hope to be able to get to as many Queen-related sites next time!

“I won’t be touring on my own or splitting up with Queen. Without the others - I would be nothing. The press always makes out that I’m the wild one and they’re all quiet, but it’s not true. I’ve got some wild stories about Brian May you wouldn’t believe!”

— Freddie Mercury, 1985

Freddie Mercury gives a radio interview after their show in Detroit, January* Boston, February 1977.

It's so lovely oh my god 🥰 He's so toughtful and soft-spoken, chuckling to himself saying "oh dear, oh dear"! Also, the mic must be so close to him! I listened to it with headphones and it was like he was speaking directly into my ear.

~~~

Some interesting bits (time stamps approximate):

6:10 - talking about being business savy and learning from Smile's experience getting ripped off

14:40 - Freddie got the idea of playing the entirety of BoRhap live while rehearsing for the tour in Boston

18:30 - Roger has books about the Marx brothers and Freddie sees some parallels between their and Queen's approach to their art (meticulous)

23:15 - "That's the whole fucking point of doing it!"

23:50 - they weren't confident initially to play the lighter stuff (Freddie at the piano etc.) on stage when they were just starting out, focusing on the hard rock aspect instead

24:45 - Freddie is being served tea

26:30 - They want to do Long Away live and have rehearsed it, but don't feel it's quite right yet [spoiler: they're never going to play it live *cries* I wonder who'd have sung it, Freddie or Brian...]

27:40 - Somebody to Love is 'nerve-wrecking' and 'a killer': "The first time we ever did it we did it so fast - we just wanted to get it over with."

27:36 - "You want some tea?"

29:10 - Freddie munching on a biscuit?

36:30 - How to keep an accurate picture of yourself with all the things written in the press. Lovely bit.

40 - How they write their songs and approach album recording.

43:15 - They are quite rudely cut off because Roger and John are sitting outside waiting for their turn (Brian already had his turn)

Also, this is the interview where Freddie forgets the name of Brian's 'vaudeville' contribution to ANATO (Good Company) and tries to remember it for a whole blessed minute (forgot to note the time stamp).

(Yes, the others' interviews are also on Youtube, and I'll spend the rest of my day listening to them 😊)

~~~

*It seems the date and place on the vid is wrong, since Brian implies in his interview that they're in Boston.

Interview with Brian

Interview with Roger

Interview with John

Uhm...

Do they know something we don't???