Greetings from Laurel Canyon!
The sound of strangers sending nothing to my mind / Just another mad mad day on the road / I am just living to be lying by your side / But I’m just about a moonlight mile on down the road
Made a rag pile of my shiny clothes / Gonna warm my bones / Gonna warm my bones / I got silence on my radio / Let the air waves flow / Let the air waves flow
Some musicians just simply deserve a standing ovation. Charlie Watts was one of those players. As I came to the final song for this week’s Idelic Hour, I just stood up—my instincts had my fingers flipping through crates and reaching for one of the first albums I purchased. It was 7th grade, fall of 1974.
I believe I bought Hot Rocks at Marlboro Books on 86th Street just below Lex. By spring I had my first pair of Rolling Stones tickets. I invited my friend Jeff Sampson. He was the biggest and toughest kid in the middle school. As I recall, Jeff wasn’t the biggest music fan but he knew The Rolling Stones were playing and the Hells Angels would be there, so he was game for the danger.
We were sitting on the side of stage, last row of the lodge (red seats), waiting for the Angels or the Stones to show when Jeff leaned over and told me to slowly turn around and check out the man standing behind us. I turned and my eyes focused in disbelief as adrenaline rushed through my veins. It was Mick Jagger looming over me, giant Jackie O shades and a hooded cape. As I turned back to Jeff he calmly asked me…
“Are The Rolling Stones standing behind us?”
I gently turned to look over my other shoulder and there he was—Charlie Watts—looking down and chuckling at my look of shock! Within minutes the Stones entourage was gone and Charlie was behind the cow bell for the first bars of “Honky Tonk Women.”
I’ve always said there is nothing in rock ‘n’ roll like the feeling of a crowd when they realize they are in a room with The Rolling Stones playing live. It’s just heaven on earth.
There’s my Charlie story, here’s my Idelic hour. It’s another Friday. Have a listen and enjoy.
Idelic Single of the Week: Hubert Lenoir – DIMANCHE SOIR
