To call Mike Spurr a Beatlemaniac would be a big understatement.
Walking down to the basement of Spurr’s Waverley Road home is like taking a trip down memory lane, or perhaps Penny Lane, as one of only 10 of the replica street signs in the world, with the same imperfections as the original Liverpool sign, welcomes visitors into a mini museum dedicated to the British musicians.
That includes Sir Paul McCartney, the famous former Beatle who will take the stage on the Halifax Common this Saturday, much to the excitement of many Nova Scotians, but especially to longtime fans such as Spurr, who has made the trek across the pond for conventions in the band’s birthplace 14 times.
“He’s a walking legend,” said Spurr — surrounded by shelves of countless records, books, magazines and memorabilia that he couldn’t put a price tag on either monetarily or sentimentally — on Thursday inside his beloved Beatles shrine.
The 54-year-old superfan has seen McCartney perform three times, but will watch again from VIP seats Saturday with his family, including mom Gerry Spurr, who will likely keep warm underneath a Wings quilt she once made for her son.
“You wait for Paul McCartney to do All My Loving,” Spurr said. “I’m going to be pretty teary-eyed.”
Spurr admits he can’t whistle a Beatles tune, but Hal Bruce of Lawrencetown can sing ’em all.
He’s arguably the most well-known Beatles soloist in the world and runs the annual Maritime Beatles Event in Halifax.
“I saw the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show for the first time in ’64,” Bruce said on Thursday. “They’re infectious.”
The self-described “Beatles addict” dreams of opening for McCartney, adding if he meets the man himself this weekend he’ll probably only mutter “da, da, da, da, da…”
“In my heart it would be, if I could get it out, that ‘I just want to let you know that you and John (Lennon) have made me the person that I am today.’”
