Off and running...

Azaleas at Charlane Plantation

The azaleas, dogwoods and wisteria had reached peak bloom as we left for Los Angeles to begin rehearsals with the Stones for our spring/summer run of the “50 and Counting” tour. The dates we did in London in November and New York in December to kick off the tour had gone so well that the band decided to keep working. Those shows were stellar, and proved that the band was still on top. For the London shows we had Eric Clapton, Mary J Blige, Jeff Beck and Florence Welch as guests…as well as Mick Taylor. In New York we had Taylor on two of the shows, my pal John Mayer and Gary Clark, Jr. on two, Mary J Blige again, Bruce Springsteen, The Black Keys, and Lady Gaga. Reviews were all positive and there was quite a buzz all around the world about the way it had all gone. So it was determined that we shouldn’t stop at just five shows. The timing was perfect, as we finished up the three NY shows in mid December, getting us home for the holidays and to get into full swing with our quail hunting season at Charlane. So it was off the sage and off the plane and onto my horses and riding in the woods. Our hunting season was the best we’ve ever had. Lots of repeat clients, fast flying birds, great dog work and good times. Sprinkled throughout the season were some private shows and interviews to promote my still new CD, “Back To The Woods”. I played two solo shows in Vail, Co…one show in Houston being backed by The Randall Bramblett Band and a few tv appearances to promote the CD as well as The Mother Nature Network (www.mnn.com), our environmental website. MNN has grown tremendously since our launch in 2009, and we are now the most visited independent environmental site in the world. We recently acquired two sites previously owned by Discovery: Treehugger and Planet Green. That has almost tripled our traffic and we are now getting close to 10 million unique visits per month.

After the hunting season ended, we had just enough time to have some family fun with our daughter Ashley (now officially a Dentist and about to finish her first year of Endodontic studies at the University of Florida) who brought seven of her dental student friends up to Charlane for a few days. Our other daughter Amy and her husband Steve had taken their two boys, Miles and Rocco Bransford, down to Florida on their spring break and were able to come visit us for a day before they had to head back to Atlanta.

Miles and Rocco Bransford

So, the timing was perfect on all fronts….we got to rock and roll with the Stones, have a great holiday time, enjoy our hunting season, have some fun family time at Charlane, and now hit the road again. Life is good!

We left for Los Angeles to engage in rehearsals on April 13. I wanted to get there and have a day to acclimate before the rehearsals at Center Staging started on the 15th. Rose Lane and I were given a very nice Jr. Suite at the Four Seasons and settled ourselves in for the three week stay that we would have. We had dinner at Ill Ciello, a great Italian restaurant just across the street from the hotel. Ill Ciello was to become a favorite of ours, and we would go there a half dozen more times before we left. We met the owner, Pasquale, as well as the manager, Lorenzo and our bartender, Dan. All of us became friends and the food and service there is nothing less than stellar. The next day we took it easy, sleeping in some and having a slow start to the day. I went to the gym for a workout, which always helps me dust off the travel before we both went to check out the pool and soak up a bit of sun. I rented a car, so in the afternoon we drove around, going to the Grove, an outdoor shopping mall that has become a popular spot in LA. We also visited the Beverly Center for a while. It turned out to be mostly window shopping, but we did make some minor purchases. For dinner we tried Thai Kosher, also right across the street from the hotel, next to Ill Ciello. It is an interesting, small restaurant, and they serve exactly what the name implies…Thai food that passes the Kosher standard. The quality was excellent, but the only drawback was that they do not serve any alcohol, and Rosie and I do enjoy some wine with dinner. But we really enjoyed the meal and went back to our room afterwards where we had a nice bottle of chardonnay waiting on us.

In the coming days and weeks, we rehearsed at Center Staging in Burbank…oddly, in the exact same room that I rehearsed last year in with John Mayer. Sadly, on the 4th day of rehearsals with John, he knew something was wrong and went to see his Dr. to be told that the granuloma on his vocal chords that he though he had overcome had returned, and we had to cancel the whole tour. I guess things worked out best for me, though…because it wasn’t long after that that Mick Jagger emailed me about doing some rehearsals in the NY area in late April of ‘12. If had had been out with John, I would have found myself in a perplexing situation. John had intended to work through mid December…and as we know, the Stones not only did the rehearsal in late April and early May, but we wound up doing full rehearsals for the month of October in Paris  and the shows in London and the NY area in Nov and Dec. So it all worked out really well in the end. I had felt bad for John having to cancel and go through another recovery, but it was certainly best for him to take the time and make sure he had gotten rid of the granuloma and had time to get his voice back in shape. He had asked me if I could tour with him this year…and while I was waiting for solid word from the Stones, he was very patient to hold a spot for me as long as he could. In the end, the Stones made the decision to work from mid April through mid July, so John had to find someone else. He and I have talked a few times, and I was able to recommend a couple of players to him. Andy Burton eventually got the seat…Andy is a great player and really great guy, and I know John will be pleased with his work. But I do so much hope that John and I get to work together again before too long. I love his music and we have become friends. He is always a joy to be with…very funny and witty, intelligent and oh so talented!

The rehearsals in Burbank went very smoothly. The first few days we were there, Paul McCartney and his band were in the rehearsal room on one side of us…and on the other side was the house band for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony that was coming up. That band included Paul Shaffer as band director and on keys…. Greg Phillinganes on keys as well, Waddy Wachtell on guitar, Will Lee on bass, Jim Keltner and Steve Ferrone on drums…and were supplemented by some great horn players. All of us really good friends, and it was so cool to have us all rehearsing next to each other. Wix Wickens is Paul’s keyboard player and we spent some fun times together both at rehearsals and at the Four Seasons where he was staying. Eventually their guys moved on to production rehearsals, leaving Center Staging and the Hall of Fame band were only there for three days…. so it came down to us concentrating on our business at hand. We must have touched on some 70 or so songs during the 2 1/2 weeks we were there, and everyone was in great shape (except for the fact that I had caught a cold that stayed with me for the whole rehearsal time). There were some new crew and staff members to get to know, and they were all doing a great job fitting in and performing their various duties. 

The rehearsals continued to progress well…the band getting tighter and tighter, the crew getting into shape…my new technician, Mike Klvana, who had done the US shows late last year was finding his footing and doing very well for me. After the final day of music rehearsals at Center Staging, we did a club show on April 27th, my birthday eve, at the Echoplex, a club that holds about 500 or so in the Echo Park area of LA. It was a smash hit…we played a 90 minute set that totally rocked. There was a lot of chatter on the Internet the next day, as well as a glowing review in the LA times. Everyone felt great about it. There was lots of star power in the audience: Johnny Depp, Bruce Willis, Owen Wilson, Mark Harmon and many others. It was a solid set and I had lots of folks….notably Don Was, who was there….to tell me how good it sounded out front. We were all relieved and pleased it went so well. I told people that asked me about it that…“Hey…last year on my birthday eve I got to play Jazz Fest in New Orleans to an overflowing crowd in the Blues Tent…and the band knocked it out of the park. Rose Lane had arranged a great party after the show at Arnaud’s Restaurant in the upstairs private section and we had tons of friends and family come to help celebrate my 60th….and this year I got to play a club with the Rolling Stones on my birthday eve…not bad!”

Chuck outisde The Echoplex Club

The following day, my birthday, was off for us and Rosie and I spent the day together. Again soaking up some sun in the mid morning and then going out shopping for a while after. I have been thinking about buying a new mandolin and we went to Guitar Center for me to browse around their acoustic room. They had a few that I tried out, but I decided not to do an impulse buy and to take my time and shop around. I am leaning towards what they call The Gibson F-L5 Fern, which apparently they stopped making last year. It runs in the $5-8K price range, so it’s a pretty serious buy. So I’m checking around on the Internet to see what I can find. We went back to the Duplex for dinner, which was excellent…and so it was a great couple of days.

On the next day, April 29, we started production rehearsals at Sony Studios in Culver City. We were on Stage 30, a huge room that accommodated our big stage and lighting…although we did not get to use our whole sound system. We were there for 3 days, honing in on the final set. On the third day, my friend and business partner in MNN, Joel Babbit, came with me. It was a rare thrill for him to see the band in that setting…sort of like seeing the band perform a private show for a handful of people at no charge. I was able to introduce him around to folks like Paul Gongaware, our new Tour Director who works for AEG, the company that is promoting the tour. He also met John Meglen, co-CEO of AEG and met most all the folks that work with the band. That final rehearsal went very well, and at that juncture we all felt confident and it was time to do this for a real audience on the big stage.

That occurred two days later. The day in-between, May 2nd, was a day off. We did the usual, sunned by the pool for a while, went shopping for a couple of hours, came back and relaxed in the room until dinner. That evening we were to dine with our friend David Spero. David has had a long career as a manager to many different artists including Joe Walsh, Richie Furray, Cat Stephens (Yusuf Islam ) and others. David is a great guy and we’ve known him for a long time. He was instrumental in making sure I was included in the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award bestowed to The Allman Brothers Band in 2012. We had a nice time catching up, and he informed us that he has signed a deal with Simon and Schuster to do a book on his life experiences in the music business. I’m sure it will be a great read and we expressed our congratulations to him.

Staples Center and the first big show of the tour

So, with our confidence and our spirits high, our preparation behind us and anxious to get going, on May 3rd we all made our way to the Staples Center for the sound check and the show. Mick Taylor would be on board for the whole run, and tonight’s guests would be Gwen Stephanie and Keith Urban. A couple of years ago the Stones re-released the famous Exile On Main Street record. And as part of the promotion for it, Jimmy Fallon, a die hard Stones fan, had decided to dedicate a week of his show for musical guests to do songs from it. Keith had reached out to me, requesting me to play with him on “Tumbling Dice”, which I did. It was good fun, and he was very kind to request me. The next night I stayed on to play with Sheryl Crow on “All Down The Line”, again having a tremendous time. This time Keith did “Respectable” and knocked it out of the park. Gwen did an admiral job with “Wild Horses”, even though it was low for her vocal range. The other highlights of the show were “Factory Girl”, which we have not done since ‘89//90 on the Steel Wheels tour and “Emotional Rescue”, which the band has never played live before. I think it came off great, and the audience really reacted to it….especially towards the end where there is a sort of breakdown and Mick does his “rap” about being “…your knight in shining armor…”. 

The rest of the show rocked…and it was such a buzz to be back on the stage with the guys again. After the show, back at the hotel there was a party given by Paul Gongaware and John Meglen, our reps from AEG. It was a nice quiet celebration and we all got to mingle and give our thoughts to each other about the gig. All in all a fantastic start to the tour.