ON TO SAN DIEGO AND THE BIG STAGE....

SAN DIEGO

5/22/15

We packed up the bags and turned in our LA rental car  on the evening of the 21st. We had a few errands to do....pick up laundry at the Poppy Cleaners down on 3rd, and we took some time to go to the Bill Graham exhibit at the Skirball Museum. As Bill was largely responsible for me getting my gig with the Stones and had been such a good friend since the Allman Brothers Days, we wanted to so see it and tickle our memories. It was a fine exhibit...giving lots of background on his childhood days as a Holocaust survivor as a child to his arrival in the US when he was 11 years old and through his school years. It of course had lots of photos from the Filmore East and West days...as well as many from shows he has promoted on the big stages, special events like Live Aid and much more. It was a fun trip down memory lane for Rose Lane and me. She reminded me of the last time we saw Bill...we had lunch with him with just the three of us in San Francisco not too long before his untimely and tragic death via a helicopter crash in 1991.

After that we went to Rodeo Drive and popped into a few stores...but didn’t make any purchases...we were sort of “shopped out” at that point. That evening, we went to dinner with our friends Herren and Susan Hickingbotham, who had come in the previous day and who attended the club show at the Fonda. We went across Burton Way to dine again at Il Cielo. Great fun to have their company and to catch up, and the meal was excellent.

With bags packed, I went to do a light gym hit, then we went to Culina in the Four Seasons for our final lunch there. We then met our Entourage for the bus ride to San Diego. Leaving 30 minutes late, the traffic was just terrible all the way down to Del Mar, where we would be staying at the Fairmont Grand.

FAIRMONT GRAND DEL MAR

I guess it was mostly due to the fact it is Memorial Day weekend. We finally got there right at 5pm and got settled in our very nice room there for an hour or so, then went down to the bar for a drink. We ran into William Gilchrist and Ira Hammon ...both who help with buying our wardrobe for the tour. We had a nice chat with them for a while and then saw Herren and Susan coming up the stairs. I went to meet them...and they had their 15 year old son, Christian with them. They joined us for a bit, and then we went with them to Amaya, one of the hotel restaurants. Towards the end of our meal, we were joined by Caroline Clements and Tim Ries for a while. After that, we shut down and headed up to our room.

CHRISTIAN, HERREN AND SUSAN HANGING WITH US...

5/23/15

A day off on a Saturday. We had a leisurely morning, I did light work in the gym and then Rosie and I went to have lunch in the Club Grill, which is in the Golf clubhouse of the hotel. Nice and quiet, we had some decent fare and then headed back to the main part of the hotel and up to our room. Herren and family had gone horseback riding for a couple of hours mid day, and then we met them at 2pm to drive into Del Mar and look around. We nosed into a few different stores....I bought an extra pair of sunglasses at Banana Republic...actually, Herren insisted on buying them for me...he is so generous to us always and has picked up the tab for all the meals we’ve had together in spite of my strong protests. We wound up having a drink at a place called Jakes that had a nice view of the ocean...just chillin’ for a bit. On the way back to his car, we noticed what looked like a good Chinese restaurant called The Del Mar Rendezvous. Christian likes Chinese food, so I went in and made us a reservation for 8 o’clock.

We made our way back to the hotel for some down time, then re-grouped for dinner. Had a cocktail together back down at Amaya, then drove back to Del Mar for dinner. Great fun again, and excellent food. That ended the day and we drove back to the Fairmont and went to our respective rooms.

SAN DIEGO BAY

5/24/15

Show day...first one back on the big stage, at Petco Park in San Diego. After our morning routine, Rosie and I watched some of the HBO movie on Bessie Smith with Queen Latifa in the lead role. She did a great job, and we enjoyed the piece. Then I took an hour treadmill walk down in the gym and we readied ourselves to take the early van at 2pm to go to the stadium.

I had the set list all done the day before, having communicated with Mick about it. Sound check went smooth...it felt great to be back on the big stage again. I had several folks to see in VIP....Jimmy Hall’s wife, Karen, and her sister Myra, who’s birthday it was. Herren and Susan Hickingbotham with their son Christian. Pam Tracy (works for Gail and Rice, who I did a private event for a few years ago) and her daughter and daughter’s friend. Alan Arora, friend of Steve Ferrone. I “worked the room” for a while...there were other fans there that wanted a picture taken and to say hello...fun to be back in the fray and madness. Everyone was really excited.

The gig couldn’t have gone better. From the first chord, the band was tight and powerful. It was smooth sailing all the way. Sold our crowd of over forty-two thousand. I must say that the audience wasn’t as energetic as I thought they would be...they didn’t quite sing along with Mick as is the case most all the time...but you could tell they enjoyed themselves...just in a more reserved way. In any case, it was a stellar start to the tour.

5/25-27/15

On the 25th, we again spent time with Herren, Susan and Christian. We had lunch at a place called Poseidon...a nice spot overlooking the ocean. Later we drove into La Jolla. Nice drive down, with ocean views occasionally popping up. We walked around La Jolla...poking our heads in various shops and stretching our legs a bit. Didn’t do any damage to the pocketbook, but enjoyed getting out for a time. Back at the hotel, Rosie and I rested up a bit...then went down to Amaya in the bar for a cocktail..we wound up having dinner there. It was nice and quiet and we enjoyed having the time together. Herren texted me about dinner with them, but I replied that we appreciated the invite, but that we had already dined and were heading back to the room to call it a night.

They departed the next morning...we really enjoyed our time with them, as we always do...and we’ll see them again a couple of other cities on the tour. It was another “May Gray” day in the San Diego area...just about every day had been cloudy and cooler than usual, in the mid 60s for the most part. We kept hoping for the sun to pop out, but it rarely did. We did our usual routine...coffee, computer, phone call back home and I hit the gym. I met with Mick later to go over the set list for the private show to be held the next day. Rose Lane went to a Zumba class with some of the other girls on the tour for an hour in the late afternoon. Our friend Scott Jones and his girlfriend Arline had invited us to dinner, and we had accepted...so we headed out at 7 to a Mexican place called Fidel’s. Scott’s son, Brian, was with us. We had a good time catching up, drinking some Margaritas and chowing down on the Mex. That wrapped up a pretty quiet day as we returned to the hotel and shut down for the night.

LA JOLLA

BELLY UP

We had been told just before we left home for rehearsals that there had been confirmation of a private show to do in San Diego. No details were much discussed about it, just that it would take place in a small club in the area. As it turned out, it was put on by a fellow named Ralph Wentworth, who if a successful financier and I believe, Hedge Fund operator. The venue was a place called the Belly Up, which is a well known and respected club. www.bellyup.com. Karl Denson, who lives in the San Diego area, says he plays there 5 or 6 times a year. Bernard Fowler told me he had also played there before. It was a pretty cool spot in my opinion...probably holds about 600, but for this private party, there were about 450 or so. We had worked out a set that would last right at 90 minutes. I had to downsize my usual keyboard rig due to the small stage...but I didn’t mind. I just used my Hammond B3 and put my Yamaha CP4 on top of it, replacing where my Wurlitzer usually goes and giving up the Wurly for the night.

IF YOU CAN AFFORD IT....

Before we started our sound check, someone told me that our old friend Joe Rascoff was there. Indeed, he was...and apparently he had a lot to do with arranging the affair. He is friends with Wentworth and helped usher the whole thing into fruition. Joe was the band’s chief business manager back in the 80’s and was the person we negotiated our deal with back in those days. I also knew him before that...when I was with the Allman Brothers Band and we had met him to discuss doing business with him. It was good to see him...and his wife, Jane. We enjoyed catching up on family and other matters with the little time we had.

After sound check, I went to finalize the set with Mick...and then it was a wait of about an hour and a half before the gig was to begin. I really enjoyed the set...it qualifies as one of the smallest places I’ve ever played with the Stones....the only one I can remember that was smaller might be the 100 Club in London...or perhaps this one club we did years ago in Chicago...although I don’t think that one was any smaller than Belly Up. Mick made some funny jokes about Ralph....one was to the effect that Ralph was going to buy the club and split up the bar from the music part in order to increase profits (as a “corporate raider” may do on a takeover of a business). It was all good fun...and a big payday for the band. Of course I am not privy to know how big, but the guys don’t do these things unless it is huge. My guess...5 million. But that is only a guess and I doubt if I’ll every know for certain.

We did a runner back to the hotel and Rosie and I hit the bar at 11pm for a nightcap and light fare. Then a bit of packing in the room and lights out.

A ROSE IS A ROSE

The next day, the 28th, we had bag call at 10:30 so we finalized the packing, zipped it all up, and the bellmen came right on time. We killed what was left of the morning and met everyone in the lobby at the appointed time, 1:30, to bus to the plane and fly to Columbus. It was wheels up at 3...a 4 and a half hour flight. This was the first time we’ve seen the leased plane...a Boeing 737-400 owned by Swift Air. Pretty good ride...a bit of age on it, but comfortable seats and the food was better than we expected. I killed some time reading papers, an article in Q magazine with an extensive interview with Paul McCartney... and some of Jerry Lee Lewis’ autobiography by Rick Bragg called “His Own Story”....and writing this journal. With the long flight and the 3 hour time change, our arrival was about 10:30pm.

When we got to the hotel, our friends Lynn Lavery, Bill, Red Neinkerchen were there to greet us. We put our carryon bags up in the room and came down to the bar to have a drink with them and catch up.

 

THE ROLLING STONES 2015