The world’s tango capital is dancing to a new beat at Latin America’s first museum devoted to the Beatles, displaying items from boots to wigs and even condoms stamped with John Lennon’s picture.
Although none of the 2,500 articles on display actually ever belonged to a member of the Fab Four, thousands of visitors have already poured through the doors of the Buenos Aires-based museum since it opened a few weeks ago.
“Many people think I’m obsessed, but collecting is a passion, a virus which is hard to overcome,” said Rodolfo Vazquez, 53, the master of the collection.
Photo: AFP 照片：法新社
He has already entered the Guinness Book of Records for owning the biggest Beatles collection in the world — some 8,500 pieces.
Now a third of his collection is up for public viewing at the permanent exhibition, with the contents to be renewed every year “to keep the Beatles’ flame alive,” he said.
There are photographs and autographs, miniature Beatles figurines, and examples of some of their first records, including discs distributed in 1960s by the Vee-Jay Records company when the Beatles crossed the Atlantic and took the United States by storm.
Photo: AFP 照片：法新社
There are also some historical pieces, such as one of the 5,000 bricks sold at auction when the Liverpool club “The Cavern,” where the Beatles first performed, was demolished in 1983.
There are also hundreds of pens, watches, brooches and chewing-gum packets dating from the days when Beatlemania was at its height and the marketing gurus had a field day.
Vazquez, who first caught the Beatles’ bug 10 years ago, acknowledges his collection is far from complete.
Photo: AFP 照片：法新社
And his biggest dream? “The thing I would most like to do is to one day shake the hand of Paul (McCartney) or Ringo (Starr),” he said with a sigh.
(AFP)
世界探戈首府這回不跳探戈，而是玩新花樣，開設拉丁美洲第一個獻給披頭四的博物館，館內展示各式各樣物品，從靴子到假髮，甚至是印有約翰‧藍儂照片的保險套。
展出的兩千五百件物品中，雖沒有一件是披頭四任何一位成員親身擁有，不過上千民眾已湧入位於布宜諾斯艾利斯的這間幾週前才開幕的博物館。
Photo: AFP 照片：法新社
這次收藏展的靈魂人物是現年五十三歲的魯道夫‧巴斯克斯，他表示，「很多人認為我太著迷，不過收藏是一種熱情，就像個難以抵抗的病毒。」
他已因擁不下八千五百樣堪稱世界最多的披頭四收藏品，而名留金氏世界紀錄。
他說，有三分之一的收藏是屬於常設展供民眾參觀，展品每年更換一次，「保持披頭四熱潮繼續延燒」。
展品有照片、簽名、迷你披頭四公仔，與他們的一些首次錄音樣品，其中包含維傑唱片公司一九六零年代在披頭四跨越大西洋風靡美國時，所發行的唱片。
亦有一些具歷史意義的展品，像是位於利物浦的披頭四發跡酒吧「洞穴俱樂部」，當它一九八三年被拆除時，五千塊磚頭中的一塊，在拍賣會上賣出。
展場上也有數百隻筆、手錶、胸針與口香糖包裝，它們都是在披頭四狂熱如日中天且行銷專家欣喜萬分之際所留下的產品。
十年前首次染上披頭四病毒的巴斯克斯承認，他的收藏距離完整，其實還有一大段距離。
他最大的夢想是什麼呢？他語帶惋惜地說，「我最想做的事就是，有一天能與保羅（麥卡尼）或林哥（史達）握手。」
（法新社／翻譯：林亞蒂）
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