Happy Birthday Mick Jagger - The night I saw the Stones play with Muddy Waters
Over the years I've seen the Stones play many times, even went to a party they were at. But seeing them play in a bar with less than 100 people was amazing.
I was teaching at the Art Institute when I had my heart broken and began going to the Checkerboard Lounge which was in the heart of the ghetto. I had been a hippie during the free love era and the transition to real life was not going well. Hippies were really kind of a cult.
I had been in a relationship with a woman who was cheating on me and everyone knew but me. And no one told me. As a hippie no one cared who slept with who, so "normal" took some getting use to. Finding out people said one thing and lived another was not what I was used to.
I had gone from a group of people - well I can sum it up like this: when hitchhiking through New Orleans I looked for a place to crash- the first long hair I met gave me the keys to his home and address. I had never met him before. This I would discover, was not the way of the world.
Wearing my leather jacket and Converse shoes I must have looked way out of place on the bus I took to get there. To let you know my mood, I was once held up at gun point on the 47th Street platform and told to hand over my wallet. I declined as the robbers looked on in shock. I didn't care.
When I first started going there I noticed Junior Wells walking down the bar- or trying to. Everyone was buying him a drink, and the pour at this place was unreal. 3/4 booze in each mixed drink! And he drank every drink offered until he reached the stage and chose from his table filled with harmonicas and let it rip. Gradually people began to know me and start talking to me.
I may have been working at the Art Institute, but I was still a bad ass. This was before I spent 7 years partying with bikers. I always seem to get along with the poor, working class, rich and criminals. But I scare the hell out of the middle class to this day!
Would you walk into this bar? I did many, many times. And I took the bus!
Becoming a regular would lead to me singing with Phil Guy and becoming friends with the people there. When I left, the door man would walk me to the bus stop and while chatting with me he would hold a straight razor open visible to passing cars- nobody was going to bother me.
Phil Guy, Buddy Guys brother, called me to tell me Muddy Waters would be playing with the Stones for the Stones crew and that night was the greatest number of white people I'd ever seen at the bar.
I got to see the Stones play at the bar, some terrific shows and even got over my heartbreak. I love the blues, but I hate having them!
I was always a Stones guy and a Mick and Keith fan. They were always the most dangerous of rock bands and had even been framed in a drug bust. Let’s face it, when either Mick or Keith dies, rock and roll is officially dead.
Happy Birthday to the greatest rock frontman/singer: Mick Jagger.
Behind the paywall THE ALTERNATIVE EXILE ON MAIN STREET alternative takes, live and demo versions of the album .
Folks I've started a Substack page CLASSICS OF THE SILENT SCREEN where I put the sin back in cinema. I examine the erotic world of film during the silent era, censorship during the era and much more. I can't post this material on social networks except for Substack. Check out the first posting and subscribe, you can get the main page for free. By 1934 The Hays Code would censor American movies for years to come, but during the silent era it was a state- and local police issue.
When Silent Films Had Adult Themes: Melies, Edison, Lois Weber Part 1
The early days of silent films often had adult themes and nudity, in Europe this continued.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The Acid Test 1967 to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.