I Reckon That Greenwich Village Will Have to do with One Fewer Queen

About this time last year, there was a lot of talk about establishing a new enclave in New York, an official district like Little Italy or Chinatown. There, in the heart of Greenwich Village, British expats and marketing geniuses alike dreamed of founding Little Britain.

The area, near 12th and Greenwich, does have a few English-inspired and English-owned shops, notably the restaurant Tea and Sympathy, which was head office for the "movement." The Campaign for Little Britain in the Big Apple had rallies, petitions, a video on YouTube starring Tango spokesman Ray Gardner, endorsements by Joss Stone and Kate Winslet ... The whole affair gave loads of nice publicity to Tea and Sympathy, the shops in district, and the sponsor, Virgin Atlantic. The activists's motto is, "What's Another Queen in Greenwich Village?" Good on them.

I went to check on the movement's official website, and now they have a strange message scrolling across the homepage, "Breaking News: New York Shuts Down Little Britain." Yet, when one rolls over the message, it mearly leads one to a pdf file of "7 Reasons Why Greenwich Avenue Needs Little Britain." Mysterious.

If anyone knows what's happening with this effort, please let us know here at Phonybrit. If I learn anything from separate inquiries, I will do a follow up.

Gear!!

Many thanks to my good friend S-Frog for making sure I didn't miss yesterday's op-ed page of the Old Grey Lady. Yes, there where the incomprehensible polemics about Albany usually are, a mad rant about the much rumoured Beatles video game.

First of all, a Beatles video game would be brilliant, but more on that in sec.

The blogosphere is buzzing about one section in particular: "For fans of a certain age, those of us who literally grew up with the Beatles, the idea produces a certain sense of loss."

What? This only underscores the stereotype that Baby Boomers are now a bunch of geezers who hate change.

According to S-Frog, who has his finger on the pulse of these things (and remains the grooviest number I know) the game is going to be fantastic. "You will be able to play as one of the Beatles with facsimiles of their famous Rickenbacker and Hofner guitars and the graphics will progress from Hamburg up to Abbey Road."

Do you hear that? You'll be in a virtual Cavern Club playing "I Saw Her Standing There." You'll be in the studio playing, "All You Need is Love," with all those flower children at your feet. You'll be on a London rooftop with Billy Preston playing, "Get Back."

No sense of loss there.

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