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.
I waited until the end.
ReplyDeleteI would never have forgiven myself. It's good to see you haven't forgiven yourself.
ReplyDeleteBummer. Real bummer.
ReplyDeleteThe 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.
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.
ReplyDeleteOy gevalt.:-)
ReplyDelete