Minneapolis, Minnesota

BIRTHDAY BOYS IN MINNEAPOLIS

6/1/15

Ronnie Wood’s birthday! He does love a party, and Sherry Daly and Jenny Taylor...along with Sally Wood, arranged a party for that evening, in a new downstairs bar in the Ivy. During the day we first went to a luggage store...as Rose Lane’s bags had given out and were tearing up. We were lucky that the place we went had a sale on Briggs and Riley...really good luggage that I’ve owned for years and that I wanted for her. Fortunately, they had a sale going on...so we bought her two really nice B & R suitcases and went back to the hotel to put them in the room. Then we walked up Nicolette Street where there are a good many shops....Minneapolis is the home of the Target Stores, and along with several other shops we explored that. I bought a couple of long sleeve tees, as it was kinda chilly in the city and I had not brought many long sleeves with me. So we messed around the area and made our way back to the hotel for some down time before the party.

The girls did a great job decorating the brand new bar, and we all had a great time celebrating Ronnie’s birthday. There was plenty of good food and drink, and it was just really nice that we could all get together like a family to share the time. Sally set up a “Musical Chairs” game, and I almost won it...was in the last two, but  Elizabeth Curran, the band’s Social Media specialist, won the final. It was great fun.

Keith and the band bought Ronnie a guitar...a vintage 1953 Fender Startocaster “hardtail”...in the original case and a Fender amp from the same year. Nice....

The party started at around 7:45 and apparently went on rather late...and some of the late folks hurt themselves a little bit...Rose Lane and I left around 11 or so. We went back to the room and laid on the sofa with our “binkies” and watched tv for a while.

6/2/15

Charlie Watts’ birthday...but unlike Ronnie, Charlie just doesn’t want to know about it. He just doesn’t care to count them. Tonight we would do another club gig in a place called The Dakota...a beautiful dinner and music venue that seats about 280. Lisa Fischer had played there the previous two nights, and this would be another Tim Ries thing with local players along with Bernard and me. Darryl didn’t want to do this one, so there was a guy named Gary that Tim had lined up to play stand up bass. We did a rehearsal/sound check at 4:30. Tim was supposed to have sent the local guys some mp3s of the tunes I wanted to do, but he didn’t follow up to make sure they got them, and so they never did. The tunes I wanted to do weren’t working without them having heard them first, and there just wasn’t enough time to really get them right...so I wound up doing simpler ones. In the end it turned out ok, though. Charlie showed up and played on “Ruby Tuesday”...and prior to sitting down at the drums, the whole audience gave him a standing ovation and sang “Happy Birthday” to him. Tim had also invited an old friend of his that was his room mate in college...another sax player named Pete Whitman. The bass player was Gary Raynor, and the drummer was Kevin Washington. Cory Wong was on guitar. On a couple of songs, Tim had a gal named Laura Caviani play piano on one tune, and there was also a female trombone player on a couple...she was from Australia, but I didn’t get her name.

Playing At The Dakota in Minneapolis

Another fun night and packed house.  Our son-in-law’s brother, Mike Bransford, and his wife, Gretchen, came to the show....really nice to see them and we had a chance to catch up some after the show.

6/3/15

TCF Stadium tonight. About a 40K capacity. The weather looked iffy, and there were predictions of rain. Indeed, as the day progressed, rain came off and on...after our morning routine, I walked down to the Target Company Headquarters, only a couple of blocks away. Several years ago I met their Chief of Sustainability, Tony Heredia, at a conference in California sponsored by the Wall Street Journal called “Eco-Nomics”. He was a very nice guy, and we’ve stayed in touch over the years. Target is a great company and does a lot in their philanthropy, sustainability and social responsibility programs. I have been telling Tony all about The Mother Nature Network, and he seems interested in possibly coming on board with us for a sponsorship. I think it would be a great match...we had a nice short chat (he had a lot going on...his son’s graduation from high school in addition to his work), and agreed to re-visit the situation later this year or early next. Fortuitously, as I was about to leave their offices, it was pouring rain and I decided to wait it out for a while. A nice young lady started talking to me, asking about my umbrella...I told her that I had seen some umbrellas at the Security counter and walked her over there to get one. As we were waiting for the rain to subside, she asked me questions, and I divulged to her that I was in town to do the Stones show, and that we had played the Dakota the night before. She asked why I was at Target, and I told her about Tony and MNN. Her name is Abby Ruben. It turned out that she is also involved in their sustainability programs. We had a nice chat and I gave her one of my cards. She emailed me the next day with some more info on Target’s environmental work, which certainly helps. She had very favorable comments on MNN, so I will keep her in the loop in our conversations with the Target folks.

Rose Lane left on the early van as usual, to get to the stadium and start the process of helping to put things in order. I left with the band van at 3:30. www.gracepotter.com Tonight’s opener would be Grace Potter, and Mick invited her to sit in as a guest on our set. She wanted to do “Gimme Shelter”...which she sometimes does in her own shows. So before the sound check, I went to Mick’s dressing room to run over it with the three of us. She was quite gracious and excited to do it, and was well prepared. We went through it a couple of times, then headed for sound check. Tonight we would put “Out of Control” and “Moonlight Mile” in the set, so we went over those and a couple of other numbers before getting to Grace. We did “...Shelter” with her, and then did the local choir for “Can’t Always Get What You Want”, then retired to our respective dressing rooms. I made it to VIP to see Mike and Gretchen again...she had her parents with her, and we all talked together for 10 minutes or so before I had to leave to prepare for the show.

We got VERY lucky with the weather....it had poured down during sound check and had rained pretty much all day...but when we went on, while it was cloudy and damp, it held off for the most part. Very lucky indeed. It was a smooth show...and during the introductions, the audience sang “Happy Birthday” to Ronnie and Charlie at Mick’s prompting. After the show Rosie and I decided to stay in...we were both pretty tired. We sipped on some wine and it wasn’t long before we took it to bed.

6/4/15

Headed to Dallas today. We packed up....Rosie pleased with her new bags and re-arranging her packing...me with my usual routine. I stayed on the computer for a good two hours answering and writing emails....mostly about our upcoming Atlanta show and dealing with guest lists for it. Working with the AEG folks and the folks at Bobby Dodd Stadium, we’ve sorted out a separate room for our guests. My partner in MNN, Joel Babbit, is also hosting a pre-show party for our company and some of our clients. His gig will start at 6:45 and go to 8....and mine and Rose Lane’s personal guests (about 150 or so) will go to what will be called “Hospitality”. I figure I can get there around 7:30 for 30-40 minutes. It’s going to be nuts, but a fun kind of nuts. So I have been compiling the list of names for all that and coordinating the logistics. The whole “Southern Swing” of our tour...Dallas, Atlanta, Orlando, Nashville and Raleigh we’ll have lots of guests, so I’m working on those other cities lists as well.

I had time for a short 40 minute gym hit...the fitness center at the Ivy is really great...and I wanted to take as much advantage of it as I could. Soon it was time for the Lobby call and we boarded up for the flight to Dallas. Wheels up at 4...we’re on the same time zone, so we should get there about 6.