Did you know that the Stones were at Shea Stadium for the Beatles show? (Well, at least for a little while.)
We went there on the yacht that was used for their press promo. The yacht pulled into the yacht basin near Shea Stadium and we walked from there to the stadium. We got down to the dressing room and it was jammed with all types of people. It was total chaos and a funny thing happened. It was myself, the Stones, and my uncle Allen Klein. I pushed ahead through the crowd and came to a security guy guarding the dressing room and got passed him. They stopped my uncle and he called out to me.. I looked back and yelled to the guard, “he’s with me” and they let him through. It was iRonic, as I was no one and we all laughed about it later. The Stones spent a little time with the Beatles and then we went out to watch the show. We were standing back behind a wire fence and we couldn’t hear a thing. The crowds of fans were screaming so loud that you couldn’t hear the music.. so we left.
For a few reasons: there are so many cliches that come to mind with this opening scene- while we are waiting on the helicopter that will take us to hell, the film ‘The Deer Hunter’ comes to mind, the innocents partying before the next shot that has them in Viet Nam (I am not too sorry for the allegories I may stretch for example).The Lull before the Storm also comes to mind (that is self explanatory for those that know the story and in this case the documented story). I want to scream at the screen—Go Back Don’t Go..
Another reason is that I always hated my voice. When I was entering the University of Miami I had to to take a physical and based on the sound of my voice, they thought I had polys or throat cancer and I wouldn’t be admitted until I saw a throat doctor. My mother freaked and we went immediately to the doctor ..he said I had flaccid vocal cords that were loose in the middle and caused my throaty weird pitched voice (at 2:04 into the video-I speak)and he said it could be ‘fixed’. So I took a poll as to whether girls liked my voice or not. Unanimously they liked it…okay my poll was limited to about 8 but whatever..I kept the voice and people who haven’t heard from me in years always know it’s me. It is a bit of a curse as I can never make obscene phone calls without being recognized.
Finally, the face I make at Mick is my “why are you asking, you know I have told you all I know and have already asked the questions you asked me and will give you the answers as I have them” face…
and further
When I heard that the helicopters wouldn’t fly at night and there was no way we were going to fight traffic to get out of there, I told one of my security guys (he was either a Fed-off duty- or a NYC detective), “keep the helicopter for our departure” This was before we knew what was happening. He told the pilot to wait and he got the ‘we can’t fly at night’… the security guy pulled his gun and said.. Wait Here! You note that we flew that night..and what a scary flight it was..
This picture is from the 1966 Tour book. At the end of the tour I got almost everybody to sign my book. I didn’t ask Mick as it seemed too un-business like at the time. Brian showed his creativity by incorporating a lot of the stuff we had been through together. For now I will give a brief description–
Ronovan, Ronald or whatever… At the time I was also working with Donovan, and I didn’t like my name Ronald.. my uncle and everybody called me Ronnie..(I hate that as well)
Unpleasant character…that speaks for itself
Mankie’s Wanker.. As Gered Mankowitz was my ‘roommate’ on the road(to save money on motels) I used to tease him..no further detail at this time..
Beautiful Reamer….. my best friend in school -high and college, both noticed that no one pays attention to the majority of what anyone says, so instead of a hand shake and a hello when you first meet someone, we gave a hand shake and said “Ream” (referring to the sexual ream). 99.999% of the people, smile and say hello back, never acknowledging the ‘ream’. Brian acknowledged this.
Walkie Hawkie Doll… another reference to a (this is going to be hard to describe as you had to be there and it is lost in translation ‘well not so much translation as sounding childish but what was, was..’) thing we did.. and that thing was called ‘hawking’. Basically, a guy would unzip his pants and –see the illustration that Brian drew..(the Jewish star was also a reference to the fact that I would tease him after the release of his “Nazi photo stepping on the baby doll.”–I’d say that as a Jew I would ‘get him’) and a further reference to me being an unpleasant character.
A preposterous New Year… all said he was a very loving guy..
On the 1965 tour, part of the time we were using New York City as our base as they were performing in Boston and New Haven, etc. We were staying in a hotel in the center of Manhattan ( I think it was around 50th street and Broadway ) After being away for awhile, we came back to the city and as our limo driver was taking us back to the hotel he said that we had been moved further uptown. He said that the management of our hotel had packed up everyone’s room and moved them to the other hotel. Further stating that the hotel found that the bell men and others in the staff were being bribed with ‘sexual favors’ from Stones’ fans to be let into our rooms and rather than fire their, almost, entire staff they moved us under cover of night to the undisclosed location (the Lincoln Square Motor Inn). It was here that we went through the blackout that struck NYC.
After a couple of weeks on the road, Micks throat would become a problem. And when he felt there was something wrong with his voice, he needed more consolation than a cup of tea with honey. In this photo, I am assuring Mick that I would have a throat specialist come and ease his fears.
We traveled the States in a Martin 404 charter plane. This was a two engine craft similar to a DC3 I believe, and the first plane I ever flew in. On one of our flights to Salt Lake City, Utah for a concert, a window blew out of the plane. We were in our customary , let’s play monopoly to alleviate the boredom mode, when there was a bang and the loud sound of air rushing throughout the plane. Bill and I were in our seatbelts when Brian climbed over me to rush up the aisle, screaming that we would be sucked out of the plane. Bill and I wondered why he took off his seatbelt when we felt that would protect you from being sucked out. But that wasn’t the problem, since we were not pressurized the sound was that of the air rushing in. And so we lived…
When the tour ended in California 1966, our charter plane was heading back to the East coast and the pilot asked if we wanted to be dropped anywhere along the route back. Keith asked if I wanted to join him and Gared Mankowitz on an overnight camping , horseback riding trip to Scottsdale, Arizona. I loved the idea and told the pilot to drop us off in Scottsdale. We made arrangements with John Wayne’s cowboy guide (the chiseled faced cowboy looking scruffy guy in the picture) to take us out. The only shoes I had were my Bally shoes and a pair of jeans.. so much for home on the range. When we arrived we outfitted ourselves with chaps, hats, and Winchester rifles. Keith also had a custom made 45 that was loaned to him by Lou Adler. A horseback riding we went. At the very start of our quest for nature my horse walked through a stream and started pawing the water I asked what this meant and found out, as the horse laid down in the stream with me aboard. So much for the Bally shoes…no wonder they wear boots. These are little vignettes for now, as I want to have more to tell, but I will mention the bobcat who stole our bacon..more to come, along with our other horseback riding adventures in Dallas, etc.
When we first did the “Ed Sullivan Show”, “Let’s Spend the Night Together” was their hit. Of course, conservative Ed was against the lyrics and wanted the Stones to sing Let’s Spend Sometime Together. This evolved into an artistic battle that lasted for hours on end ..As you could well expect, the Stones felt that their artistic integrity was at stake while Ed felt that the moral imperative was at stake. The morality of the show was further tested when I noticed that on the bill was a group of singing Nuns. I requested that they take a picture with the Stones and when Ed and his producers found out, they didn’t like the idea and wanted to have me thrown out of the building. For some reason, they thought it was tasteless (the Nuns didn’t mind). They let me stay, the Stones relented and agreed to sing the changed words. When we watched the show, we were totally pissed to find that they drowned out the lyrics with audience screams. Ed’s people obviously did not trust us. I would have my revenge, but that would be the next time we played the Ed Sullivan Show. (I’m the guy over Ed’s right shoulder)
After the show in Phoenix in 1969, our pilot informed us that the plane wasn’t due back until the following morning and we could stop anywhere enroute from Phoenix to Los Angeles. Boom, Las Vegas. We got off the plane (which was a 707 with about 100 seats of which we used about 35) and walked into Vegas. First stop Circus Circus and the pitboss asked if we wanted our picture taken (which was against the rules), we said yes and hence the photo of : from the top left corner is a trapeze person, Astrid (Bill Wyman’s girlfriend), Bill, Keith, me, Mick, and Sam Cutler behind us with the long blond hair is Howard Hesseman of WKRP in Cincinnati fame.
Wonder what happened to the Hell’s Angel that was accused of murdering Meredith Hunter at Altamont? I have posted the newspaper article that will tell you..and I also have page 2 of that article.
I didn’t have a “Take your kid to work day”..so this is my way of telling them what I did for a living. I will attempt to update this blog with a different story each week. For those of you that say "Ron you are devaluing your book", don't worry, I have over 7 years of stories with the people I worked with, thanks for your concern.
Enjoy!! (Long Live Rock and Roll)
