Tribute from another drummer:
RIP, charlie watts, someone i respect for living his entire life in mild contempt of his employer.
— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachi) August 24, 2021
Drummers don’t always get the respect they deserve — what do you call a guy who hangs around with musicians? — but Mr. Watts was exceptional:
Lol, Charlie: pic.twitter.com/4w7vzPhJTv
— bmaz (@bmaz) August 24, 2021
The best Charlie Watts story, courtesy of Keith Richards: pic.twitter.com/pEycNN9bKx
— Kyle Daly (@dalykyle) August 24, 2021
I’m gonna let those of you with better ears find the appropriate clips to memorialize the man…
"It's supposed to be sex and drugs and rock and roll… I'm not really like that"
How Rolling Stones' Charlie Watts, who has died aged 80, described his time with the bandhttps://t.co/YaVd2Y2UBC
— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) August 24, 2021
Perspective: Charlie Watts was a gentleman in the world’s most dangerous band https://t.co/rZJ40fVDCI
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) August 24, 2021
… Watts is totally fine with letting the maniac over there play the curtain-raising guitar riff, but when it’s time for the song to really get up and get moving, the drummer doesn’t launch into a fireworks show or somersault down the stairwell. He just pats his snare a few times, as if he’s patting us on the back, bringing us into the music with him. C’mon. Let’s go.
Watts — who died in London on Tuesday at 80 — was a misfit among misfits, a gentleman lost at sea with hungry pirates, a cool jazz mind in the world’s most insatiable rock-and-roll troupe. He dressed nicely, he performed with excellent posture, and he struck his drums with a politesse that somehow made the music of the Rolling Stones feel exponentially rude. He knew what was essential to his band’s singular surge-and-swing, so that’s what he did. No grand gestures, no wasted strokes. “When you’re playing rock-and-roll, you know, the challenge is . . . the regularity of it,” Watts said in 2008, inadvertently explaining the riddle of his magnificence…
"The ultimate drummer." Rock ‘n’ roll royalty are among those mourning the death of the Rolling Stones' Charlie Watts. https://t.co/UqOfNMYpyW
— The Associated Press (@AP) August 25, 2021
The life of a Rolling Stone in pictures https://t.co/Wro5rP5gqc
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) August 24, 2021
… Watts famously described the journey as “four decades of seeing Mick’s bum running around in front of me”, but his solid presence helped to keep the band grounded..
Benw
RIP Charlie, unquestionably the source of the Stones’ power!
raven
I saw them at McCormick Place in Chicago, Nov 1965. I was always much more of a Stones dude than a Beatles.
Get Off My Cloud starts with Charlie.
raven
Can’t You Hear Me Knockin
Benw
@raven: so does Honky Tonk Women: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_q0EQk2Bt74
Absolutely peak cowbell there. Just retire it after that!
raven
Girls would throw their panties at the band and, in order to make the carry, filled them with jelly beans. At the show I was at Charlie got hit in the head and almost fell off his kit!
Cermet
The the famous author Professor James Loewen died the other day ago (the book “The Lies My Teacher Told Me”) and no front pager bothered; this book was and is a major influence on all left wing thought today and the heart of so much social commentary such as critical race theory, BLM, and the fact that people are finally addressing unequal justice both in the past and today. But a drummer for a band, now that’s vitally important and should be a front page post.
debbie
Keef had the best tweet last night:
realbtl
I said earlier he was the heart of the Stones. He’s right at the front of the sound mix in everything.
raven
@Cermet: Why don’t you start your own fucking blog and quit bitchin here?
Mike E
@raven: As a Beatles fan I never got into the either/or sparring. The Stones pretty much are the only one of the “original” British groups I got to see live, they are the flagship imo and I would gladly contribute money to have that Cleveland museum renamed The Rock and Rolling Stones Hall of Fame, no joke
debbie
@raven:
I felt betrayed when they kicked out Brian Jones.
raven
@Mike E: Ever see Quadrophenia! The Mods vs the Rockers!
Cacti
@Cermet: Not just a drummer for a band. A drummer for a band beloved by Boomers.
The BJ comment section is an AARP convention for the most part.
raven
@debbie: They kicked him out for good reason.
raven
@Cacti: The worst thing is how you douchebags are forced to be here.
West of the Rockies
@Cacti:
There’s the door.
Cacti
Anyhoo, so long Chuck. I never cared all that much for the Stones, but your music made a lot of people happy.
Cacti
@raven: I’m surprised you haven’t thrown in a Vietnam anecdote yet.
Flanders Other Neighbor
It hurts less when these folks have had a long and excellent career – can’t last forever.
I was way more devastated when Chris Cornell was announced dead. And I don’t know why, but when Ozzy finally kicks, it’s going to hurt even though in most timelines he would have died decades ago..
West of the Rockies
Why is mourning the departure of Prince a slap in the face to Bowie? Mourning Petty somehow pisses on Lemmy?
Oh, that’s right… it isn’t. It doesn’t.
So sick of the nattering nabobs here…
raven
@Cact
I got your anecdote right here.
raven
Didn’t Cole have a post about whiny assholes the other day?
Mike E
@raven: That’s the one with Sting, yeah? ;) Never saw him or his Police either. I did attend a Benny Goodman concert though! Dunno if that makes me a mod, rocker or a fuddy duddy!
Ohio Mom
Cermet:
I was never a big Rolling Stone fan but am finding the stories about Watts’ workaday attitude toward his career with the band amusing. It’s making the rest of the Stones seem kind of silly and vain in comparison.
MomSense
We’ve been so sad chez MomSense about Charlie Watts. Last night we watched Sweet Summer Sun and at one point Charlie talks about getting older and dying. Tears.
raven
@Mike E: Yea he was Ace Face and the Bellboy.
raven
@Mike E: I saw him and Annie Lennox opened and she blew him away. She was incredible.
Catherine D.
I always loved the lyrics from John Hiatt’s Slow Turning:
Now I’m in my car
I got the radio on
I’m yellin’ at the kids in the back seat
‘Cause they’re bangin’ like Charlie Watts
followed by a drum riff.
raven
@Catherine D Great song.
Mary G
They put on a hell of a live show. I wish I could have seen more than one. The way they changed the rhythm and the whole band just went right along. He stuck little bits of jazz into a few songs. No matter how Mick and the other guitars, base, keyboards were raging, he found little nanoseconds of silence to fill with the beat. “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” that @raven: cited at #3 above is the first song I thought of, but really it’s “all of ’em, Katie.”
piratedan
@Cermet: I get what you’re saying but your desire would have best been served with a polite e-mail to WaterGirl and asking if you could cite some remembrances of their works and impact if no other FrontPager offered to do as an observation of their passing.
geg6
@Cermet:
Fuck off. I was influenced by both, but vastly more by the music I love. Not just intellectually, but spiritually and emotionally. And no band influenced me more than the Stones. My very first 45 (at age 7, no less) was a Stones 45, Satisfaction. I saw them fives times between 1975 and 1989. My love for punk and funk and blues grew from my childhood love of the Stones. You have no idea what you are talking about. At all.
raven
@Mary G: And Chuck Leavell, good ol Georgia boy, played those keys a great deal.
SiubhanDuinne
@piratedan:
You, sir, are a gentleman.
Mike E
@raven: I mentioned this to you before…the best “opening act” I saw was a blues review with BB, Albert and Buddy, and Joe Freakin Cocker followed! Otherwise, not much luck with openers in my concert viewing life alas
Roger Moore
@Flanders Other Neighbor:
How much deaths hurt isn’t rational. It really hit me hard when Tom Petty died, and I still don’t really understand why. I liked his music alright, but he was never my favorite. Still, his death was a total gut punch like no other musician I can think of.
Mary G
@Mary G: Also “Paint it Black” after the first solo guitar (?) plays the Middle Eastern kind of quiet frilly bit, then Charlie just comes slamming in. Glorious.
raven
@Mike E: Ya pays your money ya takes your chances.
Steeplejack
@Cermet:
Did you bother to mention Loewen’s death here before launching into sanctimonious whining mode? No, you did not.
It’s not the blog’s responsibility to be all-knowing and all-aware. It’s a coöperative enterprise, with commenters bringing contributions from their own expertise and interests.
Your post could have been written like this:
Which probably would have engendered some interesting, educational discussion. Instead you brought a “fuck you” message guaranteed to get “fuck you” in return. Good job!
raven
@Roger Moore: Nanci Griffith crushed me last week. Maybe it has something to do with their age. Nanci was only 68, Petty was about the same.
Tony Jay
@raven:
When you’re a C you’re a C for life, and how nice it is of them to prove it.
Anyhoo, it just so happens that I inherited the Mother-in-Law’s car last week, and it’s so vintage it only has a cassette player. She’s always been a Stones fan so, of course, she left a load of cassettes in the glove compartment. I was listening to one of them, some early ‘best of’ collection from the ‘80s, on the commute into work, and wow but did their sound change.
All the bangers are the stomping rock-blues tracks that would make them famous, but interspersed are a lot of songs I can only describe as The Stones trying to mimic the sound of other artists who must have been popular at the time. Some are Dylanesque, some sound straight out of the Hippy school, a few could almost be early (pre-Ziggy) Bowie. It’s been an education, I can tell you.
Also, ‘Under My Thumb’. WTF was that about? I didn’t know the Incels even had an anthem.
debbie
@Mary G:
Every concert of theirs was a lottery and I never won. I would really have loved to see them. One of my friends got a ticket and they remain her favorite concert of all time.
Mary G
@raven: Oh yes another master. And they took stuff from country music also too.
debbie
@Tony Jay:
Pair it with “Stupid Girl” and the incels would have gone wild!
ETA: Add in “Out of Time” too.
WaterGirl
@piratedan: That could work!
Steeplejack
@raven:
Which was what?
Anotherlurker
I had the pleasure of seeing the Stones live, 4 times. I was being paid for 3 of those shows. The 1st time I saw them was in1969 at The Garden. These shows were released as “Get Yer Ya Yas Out”. The opener was Stevie Wonder.
Great memories.
raven
@Tony Jay: It was a different world. If you watch the TAMI Show you can see them do that, James Brown do “It’s a Man’s World” and Leslie Gore do “You Don’t Own Me”.
Ohio Mom
@Tony Jay: I thought the incel anthem was (I can’t get no) Satisfaction but there’s an argument for a lot of their songs, they kinda personify misogyny. But with a catchy beat.
MomSense
@Mike E:
I saw The Police when I was 14. I was standing right next to the stage and Sting came over and sang Don’t Stand So Close To Me soooooo close to me. He caressed my face. My friends were mad with envy especially since they knew my crush was Stuart Copeland.
raven
@Steeplejack: He had severe drug and alcohol problems and drowned, drunk, shortly after he got sacked.
CaseyL
The Stones were a HUGE part of my teenage years, though I was never able to see them in person. I loved their music for its rawness, roughness, and sheer fuck-you vibe.
Plus, incredibly danceable. I’d tell people, “if I’m ever on my deathbed, put on middle-period Stones. Jumpin Jack Flash, Brown Sugar, Honky Tonk Woman. I absolutely will get up”… if only long enough to dance to ’em.
RIP Charlie.
@raven: Brian definitely had many problems, but there were rumors that he had some “help” drowning, from a dealer who thought Brian had ripped him off.
MomSense
Got to add that our Governor Janet Mills is a big music fan and loves The Stones. When the protesters outside the Blaine House really annoy her with their bullhorns she blasts You Can’t Always Get What You Want.
MomSense
@raven:
They didn’t even kick him out for the drug use. He was missing performances and that was a big no no for the stones.
Tony Jay
@debbie:
I was sitting there at the lights just waiting for the clever change in narrative direction that would undercut the prior celebration of “I broke that bitch’s spirit, now she knows who’s boss” awfulness, but no, Jagger just went on sounding like a punchable prick.
Mike E
@Tony Jay: heh, they had “the world wide web” choose a song for each of their Bridges to Babylon tour dates and our show’s internet extra was UMT, not the original but the PC-cleaned up version. I was rooting hard for them to play 2000 Light Years From Home but no joy :(
raven
@Tony Jay: You want a critique?
How Rock and Roll Became White
And how the Rolling Stones, a band in love with black music, helped lead the way to rock’s segregated future.
WaterGirl
@MomSense: I love that she does that.
debbie
@Tony Jay:
Yep, he was that, which is why my favorite (after Brian) was Keith. Talk about a survivor!
raven
@MomSense: He didn’t miss shows because he was a church.
Mary G
My dad was completely out of touch with pretty much anything after the Middle Ages, very uptight about sex, plus he was a total Grammar Nazi.
Roger Moore
@MomSense:
I’m gonna guess there was a connection between the drug use and the missed performances. One of the signs that an addiction is getting dangerous is when it interferes with the rest of your life.
Mike E
@MomSense: Nice! I heard many tales of their early days, playing holes in the wall and racetracks. For their gig at Charlotte’s Milestone in the ’80s they broke into somebody’s studio (music store?) to get gear for that show, as the legend goes
trollhattan
@Mike E:
The Beatles versus Stones thing was just a distraction from the biggest rivalry in music: The Beatles versus The Four Seasons.
Tony Jay
@raven:
That reminds me of a laugh out loud part of a documentary I watched about Lynyrd Skynyrd where one of the surviving members is saying how the band loved black music and how the lead singer would have been utterly horrified to learn that people thought their backdrop of a fuck-off huge Dixie Swastika was a paean to white supremacy and the Confederacy.
Cut to the band performing in front of that flag, cut back to the guy being interviewed, beat.
“But I can see how people might have misinterpreted that.”
trollhattan
@raven: Kind of a sleeper movie but a great one, not just for the music but the gritty portrayal of post-war England. Sting’s screen debut, before The Police became huge.
geg6
@Mary G:
I love that story!
Speaking of beloved rockers no longer with us, my mom, who’s love for Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington was second to none, loved, loved, loved Tom Petty. She saw him on some late night show and just went head over heels for him. My older sister and I, both big Petty fans ourselves, were shocked and amused that a 70 year old (at the time) child of the Depression was so taken by a rocker.
Mike E
@trollhattan: Haha that’s great! Too bad The Four Aces didn’t get a chance to joust them off that stage (I went to school with Al Jr)
trollhattan
@Tony Jay:
I’m sure they were “jess kiddin'” about their love for Governor George Wallace.
Another Scott
The vocals in Gimme Shelter get lots of deserved praise, but the drum track is its own kind of wonderful too.
RIP Charlie.
Cheers,
Scott.
raven
@Tony Jay: Petty also used the Confederate flag at shows until he didn’t!
raven
@trollhattan: I love Ray Winstone! Ever see “Nil By Mouth”? Horrible brutal flick but he was awesome.
Amir Khalid
There’s a YouTube video from a few years ago of Charlie playing on All Down The Line, and then puffing his cheeks after the song — maybe because he wasn’t too keen on the very fast tempo.
Haroldo
@Tony Jay:
Nice marimba, tho’.
Quinerly
Saw them once. Bridges to Babylon Tour. Great show. The stage was incredible. One of their first stops of this new tour is here in St Louis. Middle of September, I think. JoJo and I will be on the road in Colorado at that point.
Delk
He married his wife in 1964 and they remained married until his death.
Another Scott
@raven: Dunno.
The Who was billed as “Maximum R&B” for a while.
Sure, they all were greatly influenced by the great Black blues masters. But so much of what we hear about them was just marketing.
I like the observation that someone made that the guys who went to London art school (the Stones) were the supposedly the hard-core rockers, while the guys who grew up in a hardscrabble working class town (the Beatles) became the soothing pop song masters.
Cheers,
Scott.
(“Who liked The Who most of all.”)
trollhattan
@raven:
No, will have to watch for it. Holy cow, his filmography goes on for days!
The Thin Black Duke
Hey.
The Stones produced great music, and they did it for a long time.
They made a lot of people happy.
And I’ll miss them when they’re gone.
RIP, Charlie.
JMG
Saw ’em in 1969 in Philly. B.B. King was the opener. Saw ’em in Boston in ’72, the famous concert where Mayor Kevin White got ’em out of a Rhode Island jail. Saw ’em in Boston again in the late ’90s, when we took our children to see what the fuss was all about. Watts was of course an amazing drummer. Read an old interview today where he explained that while Mick had a valet, he himself could not stand to let anyone else touch his clothes. “They might not fold the socks correctly.”
I’m a Stones guy, Alice is a Beatles gal. Of course we both love them both.
Raoul Paste
@Mike E: Gotta agree on 2000 Light Years from home
if Led Zeppelin can play Kashmir live (and they can), the Stones could’ve performed that number live. Now there’s a missed opportunity
Amir Khalid
@Roger Moore:
Also too, Brian was by then in no state to contribute much of anything in the studio. I remember Mick saying, in a documentary, how the Stones had to baby him through recording sessions. A sad ending, considering that it was Brian who co-founded the band with Stu.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@raven: Yup
Rebels is such a great song, though.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Another Scott: Lennon also went to art school.
AliceBlue
@debbie: Those three songs were supposedly written about Chrissy Shrimpton, at the time Mick’s soon to be ex- girlfriend. He dumped her for Maryann Faithful
There are those who call me...tim... (Still posh)
@Cermet:
Gurl, bye!
geg6
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Mick went to the London School of Economics. That’s why, after much mismanagement of the group’s finances by greedy managers, Mick runs the business end of the enterprise.
Mike in NC
Been a very long time since I read “Lies My Teacher Told Me”. Will need to revisit it.
Haroldo
@raven:
Grim business and very much not a good first date movie.
SiubhanDuinne
@geg6:
At some more appropriate time, remind me to tell you my Duke Ellington story. (I won’t in this thread; this is a memorial tribute to Charlie Watts.)
Amir Khalid
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I remember the Stones toured in the 1980s with 40-foot tall inflatable hookers for stage props, which would be seen today as scandalously misogynistic.
steppy
The Stones were my first concert, at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia in 1981. The tour was in support of Tattoo You. Openers were Journey and George Thorogood and the Delaware Destroyers.
Even then, we wondered, “how much longer could the Stones go on?” Turns out, another fucking 40 years.
There are those who call me...tim... (Still posh)
On Gaga’s pandemic from- home special concert, where the Stones literally phoned it in, how cool was Charlie playing luggage and furniture? That cool. That’s how cool. Also, rock n’ roll heaven, etc. Rest, mate.
Another Scott
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Misremembered, too simplistic stories are the best!!
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
SiubhanDuinne
@AliceBlue:
I don’t know Chrissy’s name, but have to assume she is/was related to Supermodel of All Supermodels Jean Shrimpton?
Another Scott
@steppy: One of the few Mick stories I remember is someone asking him how long he would keep playing as his voice would eventually give out and he said something like, “I hope I sound as good as Muddy Waters when I’m 80 and I’m still doing this” and seemed sincere about it. The implication being that they would sound better as they got much older.
Cheers,
Scott.
AliceBlue
@SiubhanDuinne: She’s Jean’s younger sister.
Amir Khalid
@SiubhanDuinne:
Sisters, if I recall correctly.
Omnes Omnibus
@SiubhanDuinne: Chrissy is Jean’s younger sister.
SiubhanDuinne
@AliceBlue:
I was obsessed with Jean Shrimpton in the ‘60s. But in those days, I paid no attention to — in fact, actively avoided — rock music. I wouldn’t have known who Mick Jagger even was, let alone his girlfriend.
debbie
@AliceBlue:
I always thought Out of Time was directed at Carly Simon in response to You’e So Vain.
Delk
@Amir Khalid: on their 1975 tour they had a giant inflatable penis. The city of Memphis wouldn’t let them use it.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
She had hair like Jeannie Shrimpton
Back in nineteen-sixty-five….
SiubhanDuinne
@Amir Khalid:
@Omnes Omnibus:
Thanks. I kinda love that I’m only now, at 79, beginning to explore my Boomerhood.
Omnes Omnibus
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: “And she stood just like Bill Wyman, Now I am her biggest fan.”
Just to bring it back to the Stones.
AliceBlue
@debbie: “Out of Time” was recorded in 1966; “You’re So Vain” in 1972.
steppy
@Another Scott: More’s the pity. We have been trying to go to the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival for two years now. They announced a special day with the Stones on the Wednesday between the regular Festival weekends. I was so looking forward to seeing the old ass Stones maybe doing the blues that they grew up adoring, in NOLA, along with their own stuff. And it was all taken away AGAIN because people don’t know how to act.
Omnes Omnibus
@AliceBlue: The Stones had Obama’s time machine after he finished with it.
Haroldo
@SiubhanDuinne:
Let me suggest a further study aid. Marianne Faithfull’s remembrances of those heady days, Faithfull, An Autobiography.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faithfull:_An_Autobiography
debbie
@AliceBlue:
Another theory shot to shit.
trollhattan
@Delk:
Hah! Seattle either didn’t care or didn’t know. Believe that was the “Goats Head Soup” tour and “Star Star” was the song in question. Spewed confetti, of course.
zhena gogolia
@Omnes Omnibus:
Oh, glad you’re back.
I was staying out of this thread, no interest in Charlie Watts, but glad to see you.
Omnes Omnibus
@Haroldo: Just starting at one of Shrimptons’ Wiki pages and following the links to people gives a Who’s Who of Swinging London.
ETA: I love Marianne Faithfull – truly an interesting life and a great voice.
zhena gogolia
@SiubhanDuinne:
Yeah, I thought somebody was mixing up Jean Shrimpton with Christy Turlington. But google set me straight.
trollhattan
Who is GOLIKEHELLMACHINE? (first Tweet) Guessing Grohl?
geg6
@SiubhanDuinne:
Love to hear it!
zhena gogolia
@SiubhanDuinne:
She’s still alive, my God.
Geminid
@geg6: I noticed that Dave Matthews cut his manager loose after hanging out with the Rolling Stones some. I always thought there was a causal connection, that Mick Jagger explained to Matthews how managers work for the artist, not the other way around. The manager had promoted Matthews and his band from the beginning, and ended up with a ton of money, some from a second, cash-only business.
Omnes Omnibus
@zhena gogolia:
Thank you.
zhena gogolia
@Omnes Omnibus: A number of people were lamenting your absence the other day.
SiubhanDuinne
Paywall alert: This is a really interesting NYT Style article about Charlie. He owned hundreds of bespoke Savile Row suits and hundreds of pairs of handmade shoes, and his wife complained that he spent too much time in front of the mirror.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/25/style/the-uniform-cool-of-charlie-watts.html
SiubhanDuinne
@Haroldo:
Ooh, thank you!
Omnes Omnibus
@zhena gogolia: This isn’t time place to get into it, but this blog wasn’t something I wanted to be around for a while. OTOH the risk that someone might get something wrong about the Shrimpton sisters was more than I could handle.
Haroldo
@Omnes Omnibus:
Precisely this. It’s gotten creakier as she’s grown older, but her voice is as communicative as ever – maybe more so.
The Guardian has always been gaga over her, but this is a nice, relatively recent interview.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/jan/15/marianne-faithfull-i-was-in-a-dark-place-presumably-it-was-death
Gin & Tonic
@zhena gogolia: “Lamenting” is pretty strong. I’d say “noting.”
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus:
Chrissie Shrimpton, as long as you’re correcting the record.
Amir Khalid
@trollhattan:
Keef calls that song Starfucker, which is the word actually used in the chorus.
Jeffro
My brother and I saw the Stones at FedEx Field back in the Before Times, summer of 2019. Truly amazing show, easy top 10 of my lifetime, maybe top 5 (and I have seen probably 100+ big-deal concerts)
Bro had seen them in the late 80s and couldn’t get over how much better they sounded in 2019. It was funny. Hey, (mostly) cleaning up one’s act and of course better sound tech makes a difference!
Omnes Omnibus
@Haroldo: Cool.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack: Petard, hoist, etc.
Jeffro
@SiubhanDuinne: that’s awesome – thanks for the link!
Almost makes me want to rush out tomorrow and get a suit. Almost! I think I’ll wait until temps around here drop, oh, 50-60 degrees… =)
Just One More Canuck
@Cermet: start your own blog
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus:
No blame. ‘Chrissy” was already out there.
coin operated
As I approach the 6-0, the bucket list items start to get attention. One night, a bartender (tip them well, as this story will show you) was freaking the fuck out about her then boyfriend (a butler at one of Vegas’s more fancy establishments) texting her with two VIP tickets to the Stones in T-Mobile Arena and he couldn’t go. She asked my then g/f (now wife) if I could attend, being as we’d talked about this particular bucket list item a number of times.
Incredible show…and I married well. She has always cherished my childish enthusiasm when she said “Of course you can go!”
laura
I’ve been fortunate to have seen the Rolling Stones 6 or 7 times and each time was a joy. The last time was August 2019, spouse and I got to sit on the sound board with Roadie Brother the Younger and his partner. To see David the Sound Engineer flip through a stack of cards on a ring – notes for each song, and mix the sound on a big old analog board just gives me chills remembering it. That rock steady beat. What a lovely gentle man who brought a diligence and rigor to his daily gig and was admired and respected by everybody but … well, you know.
Time Waits For No One.
James E Powell
The Stones were the first band I cared about and the only band I cared about as much as I did.
That Charlie Watts the drummer and the person were both essential to the existence and music of the Rolling Stones is common knowledge. Here’s a few more things maybe not that widely known, though a few have already been mentioned.
19 Reasons to Love Charlie Watts
Miss Bianca
@Roger Moore: I know what you mean. Prince’s death hit me very hard, for some reason – I liked his music, but I wasn’t a super fan – but I felt devastated nonetheless. RIP, Charlie – the anchor of another band I was never crazy enough about to buy their albums, but always cranked on the radio – in no small part because of Charlie’s powerful, but understated drumming. He and Ringo, man – they could *swing*!
@Anotherlurker: Funny, Get Yer Ya Ya’s Out is the one Stones album I do possess, for some reason – and it’s a slammer. I would have loved to see some of those shows!
MontyTheClipArtMongoose
@Flanders Other Neighbor: when bill ward goes, that’s when the universe is thrown off its axis
MontyTheClipArtMongoose
@trollhattan: to be fair… plenty of the nouveau left that follows in bernie’s wake would be george wallace democrats, if it would mean medicare4all (at least, where all = white people)
J R in WV
@Mike E:
Saw the Chambers Brothers open for The Kinks in Philly in winter of 1969-70. They were great, I walked out of the Kinks show after a couple of songs — they sucked so bad, out of tune guitars, out of time…
Then we saw Bonnie Raitt open for Little Feat, same, she rocked the hall, they sucked. We left after a couple of tunes, had a long drive home.
Never saw the Stones, so far. Missed them, not that much into stadium rock sized crowds.
J R in WV
@Cermet:
The book you pitch is filled with falsehoods and extremely unlikely crap. Not well respected at all… Not worth mentioning except with scorn!
@Mike in NC:
I wouldn’t bother, full of tripe like space aliens building the pyramids, etc. Some such fabricated drug dreams, anyhoo.
Chris Johnson
@Another Scott: That is absolutely amazing.
I was expecting him to swing the backbeat (it’s hesitated just a bit, like a jazz great, blues drummer or John Bonham might do) and I heard him put the accents right up front, but I did NOT expect to hear him swinging only some of the kick drum part. Parts of the kick pattern swing like the backbeat and other parts are right up front. I’ve never heard that done and I’ve heard a lot of drumming. Never heard the isolated drum track from that song before.
As for Skynyrd, you have to know that part of the lyric is ‘in Birmingham they love the Governor, BOO BOO BOO’. They booed him. But he’s still theirs, he’s still Alabama, but not without criticism. But they’re not having Neil, an outsider, throwing his opinions around. Very Southern, that.