Me and the Rolling Stones

This is the type of plane we toured with in 1965

I always thought of the Rolling Stones 1965  tour as “If It’s Tuesday, This Must be Belgium”.  Each city blurred into to a mirror image of itself and it became a McDonald’s and mini mall world with all city’s looking the same.  We would, usually, arrive via our small charter plane, at 1 or 2 AM, immediately drive to the hotel/motel we were staying at and immediately search for food.  The food available usually was fried chicken, beef stew, mostly all night diner fare.  We’d stay up another couple of hours unwinding and then up in the morning to get the troops together for an afternoon (about 2 PM)  sound check.  Off for dinner and relaxing? until the show.  I would have to get to the venue’s early to prevent promoter trickery.  I had been tipped off by our William Morris agent, Jerry Brandt as to some of the scams.  A typical example would be the promoter advertises tickets at $8 at the door or advance purchase at $5.  If you don’t get to the door and check the ticket numbers you shouldn’t be surprised that “all” the tickets were sold in ‘advance’  without a way to prove otherwise.  I always had to get the ticket count before the doors opened while making sure ‘the boys’ got to the venue. 

Exception to the rule-

Sometimes we arrived and got a police motorcycle escort from the airport to our hotel and then after the show to the airport.  These were usually harrowing events.  The motorcycle entourage would leap frog intersection to intersection to stop traffic.  The minute we went thru a light, that officer would jump on his motorcycle and speed up to catch and pass us to get to another intersection, past the one where another officer was holding off traffic.  These guys were flying at over 100 miles an hour , which we also did in some instances,  but were usually doing about 80 throughout the cities.  It was amazing, exciting and scary.

29th October – 6th December: 4th North America Tour.

651029B  29th October: Montreal, Canada, Forum

651030A  30th October: New York City, Hilton Hotel. Press conference.

651030B  30th October: Ithaca, New York, Barton Hall, Cornell University
651030C  30th October: Syracuse, New York, War Memorial Hall

651031A  31st October: German TV (Radio Bremen) ‘Beat Club’.
- footage from the famous Waldbühne-gig in Berlin 15.9.65

651031B  31st October: Toronto, Canada, Maple Leaf Gardens

651000A  October: US radio (WSFA) ‘Teen Time’, incl.
- BJ, MJ, CW & BW reading letters with requests from listeners

651101A  1st November: US radio (Radio Boston), New York.
- recording of ads for the upcoming concert

651101B  1st November : Rochester, New York, Memorial Auditorium
651103A  3rd November: Providence, Rhode Island, Auditorium
651104A  4th November: New Haven, Connecticut, Loews State Theater (1st show)
651104B  4th November: New Haven, Connecticut, Loews State Theater (2nd show)
651105A  5th November: Boston, Massachusetts, Gardens
651106A  6th November: New York City, Academy Of Music

651106B  6th November: US TV ( ), Philadelphia.
- interview with one or more Stones

651106C  6th November: US TV (ABC) ‘Shindig!. Incl.
- Good Times (Sam Cooke) -promofilm
- Mercy Mercy (Don Covay/Ron Miller) -promofilm

651106D  6th November: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Convention Hall
651107A  7th November: Newark, New Jersey, Symphony Hall/Mosque Theater (1st show)
651107B  7th November: Newark, New Jersey, Symphony Hall/Mosque Theater (2nd show)

651109A  9th November: New York, Lincoln Square Motor Inn. Jam-session
(a/k/a ‘The Lost Jam’ due to electricity breakdown)
Line-up: BJ (acgtr, harm)/Bob Dylan (voc, acgtr)/Robbie Robertson (p)/
Bobby Neuwirth (acgtr)

651110A  10th November: Raleigh, North Carolina, Reynolds Coliseum

651111A  11th November: US TV (NBC) ‘Hullabaloo’, New York.
- She Said Yeah (Sonny Christy/Roddy Jackson) -playback with live vocals
- Get Off Of My Cloud (MJ/KR) -playback with live vocals
+ Charlie Is My Darling-footage
Note: The movie-footage was dubbed with Satisfaction played by the
Hullabaloo-orchestra. Televised on the 15th November.
Released on video in 1998 (see 980326A).

651112A  12th November: Greensboro, North Carolina, Coliseum

651113A  13th November: Washington, D.C., Coliseum. Unverified set:
(Everybody Needs Somebody To Love/Play With Fire/Mercy Mercy/
Around And Around/The Last Time/That’s How Strong My Love Is/
Get Off Of My Cloud/Satisfaction)

651113B  13th November: Baltimore, Maryland, Civic Center

651114A  14th November: Canadian TV (CBC) ‘This Hour Has Seven Days’, incl.
- interview with all five Stones by Larry Zolf (on a plane, late April 1965)

651114B  14th November: Knoxville, Tennessee, Civic Coliseum Auditorium

651115B  15th November: Charlotte, North Carolina, Coliseum
651116A  16th November: Nashville, Tennessee, Municipal Auditorium
651117A  17th November: Memphis, Tennessee, Mid-South Coliseum
651120A  20th November: Shreveport, Louisiana, State Fair Youth Center
651121A  21st November :Fort Worth, Texas, Will Rogers Memorial Center
651121B  21st November:Dallas, Texas, Memorial Auditorium
651123A  23rd November: Tulsa, Oklahoma, Assembly Center
651124A  24th November: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Civic Arena
651125A  25th November: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Arena Auditorium
651126A  26th November: Detroit, Michigan, Cobo Hall
651127A  27th November: Dayton, Ohio, Wampler’s Hara Arena
651127B  27th November: Cincinatti, Ohio, Gardens
651128A  28th November: Chicago, Illinois, Arie Crown Theater, McCormick Place (1st)
651128B  28th November: Chicago, Illinois, Arie Crown Theater, McCormick Place (2nd)
651129A  29th November: Denver, Colorado, Coliseum
651130A  30th November: Phoenix, Arizona, Veterans Memorial Coliseum

651200A  Fall: US radio (Boss Radio 90 KHJ), incl.
- jingle by MJ for the upcoming gig at L.A. Sports Arena

651201A  1st December: Vancouver, Canada, Agrodome
Note: The whole show was filmed for a police documentary.

651202A  2nd December: Seattle, Washington, Coliseum
651203A  3rd December: Sacramento, California, Memorial Auditorium (1st show)

651203B  3rd December: Sacramento, California, Memorial Auditorium (2nd show)
Note: A colour super-8 film with KR getting an electroshock during this gig exists.

651204B  4th December: San Jose, California, Civic Auditorium (1st show)
651204C  4th December: San Jose, California, Civic Auditorium (2nd show)
651205A  5th December: San Diego, California, Community Concourse, Convention Hall

651205B  5th December : Los Angeles, Calornia, Sports Arena
Note: A 10-15 minutes police-film about this concert is reported to exist.

651205C  5th December: Los Angeles, Beverly Rodeo Hotel. Press conference.

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.

Here’s a postcard from the hotel: