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..
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 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 just met with Albert Maysles while he was in LA for the Emmy’s. Grey Gardens tied the record for most nominations for a TV movie (17)and won 6 Emmy’s including Best TV Movie. After the success of GIMME SHELTER, in the ’70′s, Albert expressed his artistic side when he said that even though GIMME SHELTER was a commercial success for he and his brother, David, he would have preferred that people saw the documentary art that was exhibited in their earlier films, SALESMAN and GREY GARDENS. It took forty years for people to see..but better late than never..
An investigation into the death of Brian Jones has been reopened in the UK. In light of that I wanted to highlight a picture of Brian in happier times. You will note that Brian’s hand is bandaged. This happened as we were going to the Ed Sullivan Show to record their appearance where we battled over the words to “Let’s Spend the Night Together”. Our limo took us to the stage door in back of the theater, unfortunately, it was locked and as the fans came rushing to where we were, we ran to the front of the theater. The front doors were glass and locked as well. In moments before the guards could get us in, the mob pushed forward and pushed Brian through a glass panel where his hand was cut. The photo was taken my Tom Monaster and it is all of us at Ondine’s in NY. Ondine’s was a great club where we watched Jimi Hendrix perform. Mick is observing one of our road managers prepare something that was cool then….and it isn’t coke..I’ll leave you to ponder and guess..
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.
Enjoy!! (Long Live Rock and Roll)
