Thursday, July 16, 2020

Your Thursday Moment of Yes, Steve is a Schmuck

From 19981, please enjoy -- from Tattoo You -- the official video for The Rolling Stones' "Waiting on a Friend."



Okay, this is a very sad story so please try not to laugh.

Short version: Back in July of '81, I was toiling at The Magazine Formerly Known as STEREO REVIEW, and somebody from the Stones PR firm -- I should remember their name, but I don't; hopefully one of my Facebook ex-publicist friends will -- called me up on a Thursday and invited me to be an observer at a video shoot for a Stones song that was going to be done in the East Village on the following Friday in the late afternoon after work.

Bottom line: It was the beginning of a summer weekend, and I figured, big deal -- so I'll be hanging out in the street watching the filming. Which is basically an incredibly boring process, and it's not like I had never seen the Stones up close before. Hell, I was actually outside for this one in 1975, so I was pretty jaded.



So instead I went home and watched TV, had a few drinks, and went to bed.

In any event, when I got back to work on Monday I was informed that, had I bothered to show up, I would have been one of the extras sitting at the bar (the St. Marks Bar and Grill, specifically), and that the Stones actually did a song or two live when the shoot was over. (BTW, the place was at the corner of St. Marks and First Avenue, and yes, it's long gone.)

As I said, this was a very sad story, and thank you for not laughing.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I waited until the end.

Blue Ash Fan said...

I would never have forgiven myself. It's good to see you haven't forgiven yourself.

Billy B said...

Bummer. Real bummer.

The 1975 flatbed truck thing was too cool.

On July 4th that year, I saw the Stones for the first time in the Memphis State U football stadium. Along with 55000 other people.

Anonymous said...

I was visiting a cousin who lived north of Chicago. he said, "Muddy Waters is playing the Checkerboard Lounge tonite, I bet the Stones show up. We should go." We did not go.

steve simels said...

Oy gevalt.:-)