Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[ripple11]

TJ got it spot on.

Have a great day Tighty.

[tikay]

Been a good week for the blonde girlies.

Ding did the bizz at Luton last Friday, Fran folowed up at DTD on Tuesday, & Chili 5-way chopped it & took £700 last night. She needs to work on her game.

Today, she's Aunty Maria, looking after her brother's kids. She locks them in a cupboard & plays Online I think. Not really a Mumsy one, am Maria.

[I KNOW IT]

Happy Birthday  Rich

[tikay]

The Rollling Stones - the "Stones" these days I guess - were in London this week, for the Premiere of some film of them touring. They look a bit weatherbeaten, but my oh my, they've endured. Early sixties they began, so that's 45 years or so - wow. They were "number 2" to The Beatles during the heady sixties, but The Beatles were busto within 10 years, whilst Jagger & Co just rock & rolled on. And time plays tricks - I still think of Ronnie Wood as a fraud, he's not a "real" Stone, as he's new. And he's been with them for 34 years! He was with "The Faces", who were at one time Rod Stewarts crew. I saw them a few times in the early sixties at the Ealing Jazz Club, down a dingy cellar opposite Ealing Broadway Tube Station. (LUL Central Line, & Great Western). I saw Manfred Mann there & Long John Baldry there, too.

They had a weirdo manager, Andrew Loog Oldham, & Eric Easton, but they have been self-managed for many years now I think.

I believe they tumbled quite early to the idea that recorded music, as a form of earning money, free downloads & all that, was dying on it's feet, but they majored on Tours - BIG Tours - & Image Rights, & are all worth a fortune I think.

They had some women too - Bianca, Marianne Faithfull, Anita Pallenberg, & plenty others.

And tragedy - they canned Brian Jones, & within the month, he was brown bread. I never liked him.

I am not a Stones fan, never have been, but my favourite has always been Charlie Watts, the drummer-bloke, & he's some character. Like all of them, he had drug dependency issues, but he went clean in the eighties. He's been married to the same Lady for 45 years, & was recently voted a "Best-Dressed Man" or "Most Fashionable Man "thingie . He got throat cancer a while back, but he seems ok now. He once punched Jagger plum on the nose, Jagger had called him "my drummer", but Watts said Jagger was "his singer"! Great drummer, too, probably the best musician in the Band. I gather he draws a picture of every Hotel room he's ever stayed in - & that's a few. He must be nearly 70 now.

Bill Wyman departed 20+ years ago. He fell in with a 13 year old girl (child?), Mandy Smith, & later married her, her Mum was 7 years his junior!

Keith Richards - how HAS he survived, all those drugs & booze & decadence? But I think he's been with the same woman for a goodly while now. He's a tidy guitarist I think. I'd like to dress like him, what with that sweatband & everything.

Well played them.

[DesD]

Happy birthday Rich, I echo everything Tony said, you're one of the most selfless people I know and one of the game's big contributors.  We're lucky to have you.

Feet up tonight I hope.

Cheers,

Des.

[Karabiner]

I believe that Martin Scorcese directed the film, which surprised many.

When he was asked why he took the picture on he said it was becase "The Rolling Stones have been the soundtrack to my life".

I know exactly what he means.

PS I have a feeling that you are doing Charlie Watts a disservice Tony by saying that he had problems with drug-dependancy. Charlie was never really into drugs much at all, a family man from way back, a little older than the others.  

[tikay]

The Stones mostly lived in my neck of the woods, West London, Harrow, Ealing, Richmond, & when they were on the up, Jagger would often go to parties on a Friday night. The word would get round somehow - no Internet or Mobiles in them days - & we'd all pole up at the Party. He was never there.

I was in with a bunch of lads, we'd all gone through our motorbike phase, we mostly had Triumph Tiger Cubs, (150cc), or ex GPO "Telegram Boy" BSA Bantams (125cc), but I had a combination, a motorbike & sidecar, a BSA 500cc single-cylinder long-stroke bugger, 3 gears, 45mph downwind, an ex AA thing. There were 20 or more of us, & I bet a dozen died in crashes, no helmets were required in those days. I came off one day when the rear brake rod "pulled out" of it's socket (the front brake was busto) with no helmet, no leathers, no shirt even, & the abrasions I suffered still make me wince.

So, we moved onto cars, & so to get to these Friday night parties, 6 or 8 of us would meet at The Greystoke Pub in North Ealing. (Piccadilly Line). Two of the wilder guys would then nick a couple of cars, & we'd all pile in. It never crossed my mind the hurt I was causing to the owners, but I did know it was out of order, but, well, a teenager with a bunch of mates is easily led astray, & that's how I came to be drinking, too, a practice I ceased on my 21st Birthday.

Anyway, we went to a party in Harrow one Friday night, & nicked a couple of cars to get home. The police came knocking on my door the next day, as, unbenown to me, there'd been a hit & run fatality the night before, it was the "other" car, & they wanted to know what was what. Dad found out, & even then - I'd be 19 I guess - he "strapped me", with a leather belt. It hurt, but not as much as upsetting Dad had. I hope I've never stole anything since, not "proper" stolen, anyway. Kids are so easily led, one bad one has so much more influence than one good one. Nothing changes.

[Karabiner]

I'm dying to know exactly where you woke up the morning after the last night that you had a drink.....

[tikay]

I believe that Martin Scorcese directed the film, which surprised many.

When he was asked why he took the picture on he said it was becase "The Rolling Stones have been the soundtrack to my life".

I know exactly what he means.

PS I have a feeling that you are doing Charlie Watts a disservice Tony by saying that he had problems with drug-dependancy. Charlie was never really into drugs much at all, a family man from way back, a little older than the others. 

Well I hope not Ralph, but I think it was so. I believe he did heroin, amphetemine & alcohol-a-plenty, & went into rehab in the eighties. Until then, his wife never toured with him, she hated drugs & that kinda stuff. (Her & me, too). After he went clean, she started Touring with him, & they've been inseperable ever since. A really remarkable man, & some couple, too. 45 years married - happily married, too - in that game takes some doing. You must recall watching him when the band were playing, he sat there, glum-faced, never a smile, seemingly disinterested, but he's a genuine artist, knows his stuff big time, & is into Jazz, too. The pic I Posted is a rare example of him smiling. I always thought he saw himself as the straight man, a bit above the others. And he was.

[tikay]

I'm dying to know exactly where you woke up the morning after the last night that you had a drink.....

So am I.

[AndrewT]

I believe they tumbled quite early to the idea that recorded music, as a form of earning money, free downloads & all that, was dying on it's feet, but they majored on Tours - BIG Tours - & Image Rights, & are all worth a fortune I think.

The reasons the Stones went so big on touring is that, thanks to people like Andrew Loog Oldham, they made just about nothing from their early records. They couldn't be like The Beatles, and just split up and live off the proceeds of their records for ever. By touring, they got their fans to pay money directly to them, instead of the record companies.

PS I have a feeling that you are doing Charlie Watts a disservice Tony by saying that he had problems with drug-dependancy. Charlie was never really into drugs much at all, a family man from way back, a little older than the others.  

Actually, Charile's story was quite funny. Yes, he was a family man - the 'quiet Stone'. Whilst all the others were partying with groupies, he'd be in bed alone, unable to sleep because his wife wasn't in the bed with him.

Come the 1980s, and The Rolling Stones quietened down. They hit their 40s and stopped drinking and doing drugs. At this point, Charlie went the other way, and got addicted to amphetamines, and then heroin. Went into rehab and got over it - I think his wife then used to go on tour with him.

[tikay]

Tom just rung me, & I could not concentrate on what he said, after his opening line......

"I just seen Billy Hotpot".

So, I had to ask him. Billy Hotpot?, & he replied straight-faced as if it were the most normal thing in the world

"Yup, named after his Dad. So, as I was saying......".

That Tom man has more tales to tell then enough.

Tom was out in one of his fields, as I could hear the birds singing. I'm well jealous of him & his lifestyle.

He won't be at DTD this weekend, he has some stuff to take care of, & I'll miss him. And I won't be alone.

[RED-DOG]

JIMMY Hotpot.

[Ironside]

JIMMY Hotpot.

yak it TJ has no respect

[Karabiner]

JIMMY Hotpot.

You may have to speak up a bit...