Ronnie, Charlie, Keith, Mick and Handsome

It is very rare that one gets the chance to meet true legends. For on short week in late January, I had the pleasure of meeting them every day.....Who Who? Who Who?

It was 11:30 am and I am at work. I stop over to the lobby bar to get an espresso from my Irish buddy Tom as usual. I see tom look up and smile at who was approaching the bar. I turn to see who it was and there he was in his decrepid, alcoholic, morning blur.....Ronnie Wood. For those of you who suck, Ronnie wood is a/the guitarist for the Rolling Stones. Holy fucking shit. The Geriatric Boys themselves were staying at my hotel for their 2 shows at MSG on Jan 18 and Jan 20. I say hello as Ronnie strolls up to the bar, plops down a pack of Cowboy Killers and orders 2 beers. 11:30 am folks. 60+ year old. Badass! I raise my espresso to Ronnie as he grabs his frosty glass of Pilsner Urquel and proceeds to down the entire glass. A man of the Captain's own heart. He takes a fond look down at his M. Reds, decides its time for another, then proceeds to down beer #2 to quicken his date with lady nicotine. Scampy Powers knows this ritual well. He said good day and was off. I proceeded to meet him every morning at that bar. A man of ritual, I like that.

I saw the other guys strolling throught the lobby from time to time. Keith Richards might just be god. More later on that. Everyone had all the alcohol removed from their rooms accept ole Keith. In fact Keith had his mini-bar removed and a full sized bar replace it. His other requests included: a bose sound system, 6 extra ash trays, top shelf full size bottles of liquor, a carton of Marlboro Lights, and a lot of privacy. We had complaints about his bose sound system every night. The man can still party. As if you had any doubts. Did I mention that Ronnie Woods told his tour manager to get me a ticket from the hotel's allotment for the Friday show at MSG! Fuck yeah, I am goin to see the stones. For free. I love the band but ain't payin that kind of $$ to see them. Now I don't have to.

MSG January 20, 2006
I end my work day with standing guard at the hotel enterance to hold back guests as the Rolling Stones hop into their Navigator's and head to the Garden. Holy shit, what a way to get pumped up for a show! I run home, bragging to Scampy Powers on the phone and just unleash havoc on my body. I proceed to chief 2 fullies all by myself, drink multiple beers, and take shots of Tequila all alone. I love drinking Tequila alone. My new seceret invention was concocted this very evening. "Spiked Parliments". What you do is take about half the tobacci out of a parliment then fill it with snoochies and tobacco. This is something I have repeated every single weekend since. Out the door I go and off to the show

I get there and meet up with the heavily Mullett'd Director of Engineering from my hotel. We get fucked up and chat about our previous meetings of all walks of trouble. This guy turns out to be THE man. We get into The Garden and he sees this security guard on the Floor Section and says, " Hey I know him!!" We run down, and the next thing I know we are 10 feet from the stage. This was the shit. I was out of my mind and sitting in a section with the likes of John Lithgow, Bruce Willis, Martin Scorsese, The White Stripes, and Trey. Lets talk about that for a minute.

Trey Anastasio Interlude:

The guy that exactly 10 years earlier played a concert in MSG which happened to be a turning point in my life. I remeber the exact moment. Little Captain Handsome sitting on the steps shrooming his nieve ass off listening to Phish ruin his motivation to do anything productive in his life. This was a big moment for me believe me. Back to Present Day. Well, I was walking out to get another beer and there Trey was standing there in the portal. I almost shit myself. This guy was my idol for years. I have since learned that he is just another hippy ass, but fuck it there he was! I had to say hi. I had to do something. I panicked.

I walked up to him, slapped him on the Ass and said "YOU ARE A GOOD AMERICAN!" He just looked at me and was like, who the fuck is this. However, to my delight he laughed and seemed generally entertained. Thank god I didn't blather, cause then I would have been a fag. So that is my trey story. I finally met my high school hero. Back to the Stones..

The Stones Show was itself a bit of a blur. I was so fucked up I remember every part but in a blurry sort of way. The sound quality was great. Mick was bouncing around like an eight year girl after the ice cream truck just came through. And Keith.....oh Keith.

Keith Richards Interlude:

Keith Richards might be the coolest guy on the plant. He has done everyting. Powers clames to have been told that he once stayed up for 9 straight days. Can you imagine that shit. Watching him onstage gave me a new respect for the man. The way he stalks down the stage like Pirate Pants on an SAE dancefloor. His crouched pose as he plays down the the 2o something girls in the audience that would surely polish his wrinkled wrangler. Wow, I really apologize. Sorry. Anyhow, here is a photo tribute to Keith. Fuck you Trey, Grandpa Keith has taken over! The last picture is the best. How the hell do you get that kind of skin color?

So to sum it all up, the show was the shit and I had a great time. The Stones still got it. The highlight of the show was hands down "Sway" The place went nuts and I didn't even know the name at the time. I have since learned and played it 1,000 times. Below are the final stats on the show. I will shut up now. These long posts are tough!

Jumping Jack Flash Picture from MSG
It's Only Rock'n Roll
Let's Spend The Night Together
Oh No Not You Again
Sway
As Tears Go By
Rain Fall Down
Ain't Too Proud To Beg
Gimme Shelter
Tumbing Dice --- Introductions
This Place Is Empty (Keith)
Happy (Keith)
Miss You (to B-stage)
Start Me Up
Get Off Of My Cloud
Honky Tonk Women (to main stage)
Sympathy For The Devil
Paint It Black
Brown Sugar
You Can't Always Get What You Want (encore)
Satisfaction (a la Mustang Sally) (encore)

Metric (warm-up) 8:00pm - 8:45pm
Rolling Stones 9:40pm - 11:40pm