When you like to go on long walks, as we do, you can have some of the most unusual discussions…once you’ve solved the world’s problems, of course. On the weekend, a mile or so into our promenade, up popped Elvis.
Not the Elvis reputed to be working at a convenience store in Missouri, this was the real deal. The one who passed away in 1977. The one who couldn’t have imagined what a business he has left behind. He “popped up” only in conversation.
In Las Vegas, you can find “an Elvis” on many a street corner, and we assume they’re not waiting for a bus. No trips, just tips. When it comes to creating a post-career business empire, the late Elvis is not alone. There’s also The Beatles, who are missed by so many that any kind of Beatles tribute or revue or memorabilia attracts the masses (guilty!). These things must be profitable, or they wouldn’t exist.
Usually, there’s a legitimate connection, as there is on Beatles Tribute Cruise 2012. It’s on Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas (one day they can do an Oasis Tribute Cruise!) and the tribute band is called Revolution, the title of a Beatles single.
That’s a stretch, but the special guests on the cruise are not. Mark Hudson (left) was a producer for Ringo Starr. Laurence “LJ” Juber was in the band on the run, Wings, with Paul McCartney. Tony Bramwell (right) is a Beatles author and record producer/promoter and claims to have been a childhood friend of the Fab Four.
So they’ll have some stories to tell to the Beatles lovers who can never get enough when it comes to tales of rock ‘n roll’s most famous quartet.
There is, naturally, a price to be paid for being a Beatles Baby Boomer. The BTC, as this promotion is called, is a one-week Royal Caribbean cruise and starts at $1,315 per person. The same room on the same cruise on the Oasis, without the private Beatles-related events, starts at $919 per person. If you’re okay with that, click here.
The cruise is the first week of February, and that’s not a stretch either. It’s 48 years to the week since The Beatles arrived in North America. Some of us even remember.