Charlie Watts passed away last week. I remember where I was like only a few times when I get news like this. The kind of news about someone who you don’t know personally but you have been in the same space with so many times. One of those people who is on hundreds of tracks in your music collection. I was in my studio getting ready to hit record on my podcast episode as my phone banner lit up. I just stopped and shook my head no. It took a few minutes to get my breath back.
Charlie is that kind of person who helped shape a soundtrack for your life across decades by taking a very normal Gretsch drum kit and playing across all genres of music while excelling at it. A person who improvised tracks that sound so unique even the best drummers in all music genres give him accolades. I mean Charlie was a very normal guy who could play country, rock, blues, and his favorite…Jazz. He could not only play the music he would play tracks in ways that just gave you that rebel rock and roll feeling that only the Rolling Stones can give you. Sometimes all of the attention goes in all directions when you watch a Rolling Stones show but one thing has always been true. When Charlie hits that drum kit he hits it hard and sometimes you don’t even realize he is the guy leading the song with that drum riff. Only a few drummers can express that feel that Charlie Watts can add to a song with his groove. He followed no one…he blazed the trail. With all that talent in one band it is easy to overlook the guy with the perfect posture on the drum riser but there is no mistake Charlie Watts left a huge mark on Rock and Roll music. He was incredible.
On the companion episode of “My Passionate Musical Journey” I am going to take a moment to celebrate the life of one of the best Rock and Roll drummers to ever play on a rock and roll recording or a live stage. Charlie Watts of the Rolling Stones. Given Charlie left us only a few days ago I think most of us who have been life-long fans of the Rolling Stones are still trying to process our thoughts of losing a key member of an amazing band that provided the background music to our life through so many decades. As we talk through some special live Rolling Stone concert experiences I have invited my long time friend from Key West who has photographed many American presidents and so many musicians it would take a page or two to list them all. https://robo.zenfolio.com/ Rob has photos in books and online photos as well while holding down a long-time gig at the Key West Citizen which is the local newspaper in Key West. He has had AP wire photos of many of his photos find their way all over the world and I can think of no better photographer on the planet than Rob O’neal. Earlier this month I was in Key West and as usual Rob and I spent some time talking about our experiences over the years at Rolling Stones concerts. He is only person I know who was in the photo pit as the Rolling Stones played Havana Cuba. Together we have attended over 30 Rolling Stones in many locations and seen most of the American Tours since the 1980’s. Today we are going to tell you some of our stories of being at Rolling Stones shows and dive into some notes about the band as well as salute the drummer who is likely our favorite drummer from any genre of music, Charlie Watts.
If you would like to listen to my companion podcast you can listen here or subscribe for free on any of the streaming services you use. My podcast is easily searchable on any streaming service where you get your podcasts by searching “Andrew Talbert.” Look for the World Wide Music Media logo. Be sure to listen in as Rob O’neal joins me on the companion podcast for this Rolling Stones episode. We are going to talk about Charlie Watts, Rolling Stones Tours, the show in Cuba from a first-hand experience and just being a Rolling Stones fan.
To give you an indication of my journey with the Rolling Stones I was born in 1959 and the Stones debuted as a band in July of 1962. It was the Summer of 1972 and I was very young in fact at 13 I was very into music already. My recollection of this time was I was playing badminton with my family and my favorite aunt Terri had the then recently released “Sticky Fingers” album on the turntable blasting it as best a 1970’s turntable could out the window as we played in the front yard of the farm my Mother Judi grew up on. I fell in love with those tracks and started listening to everything Rolling Stones. Soon I was into all those 1970’s and 1960’s tracks and really wanting to go to see them in concert. That would not happen for some time mostly due to my age and the challenge of the distant travel. I remember the “Black and Blue” album in 1976 as I was finishing high school with the single “Hot Stuff” on the jukebox at the local taco bar. When I hear that song I go right back to that time and remember all the things that happened during that year or two.
Soon came “Some Girls” which was a landmark album for my life. I was in my second year of college in Starkville, Mississippi and totally loving every track on that album. I bought the original pressing of that one right after the release date that had all the faces in the album window before the cover design was challenged legally when Lucille Ball, Farrah Fawcett, Liza Minnelli (representing her mother Judy Garland), Raquel Welch, and the estate of Marilyn Monroe threatened to sue for the use of their likenesses without permission sued them to stop production and change the cover. That album really broke ground with the raw sound and all those songs that Charlie laid down such a cool beat for. There was nothing in music that sounded like the Rolling Stones. They took blues and rhythm and blues and molded it into rock and roll as so one else has really ever done. They throw in country and then play blues, it is crazy. No one has come close to playing music this diverse so well and just made it their own.
Speaking of cool beats I want to tell a quick story from the time period of ‘Some Girls.” In 1978 I walked into a bar on the Chunky River in Chunky, Mississippi. Now to get the feel of the place you ride in on a two lane road that has litter in the weeds on both shoulders. There is a muddy river that flows through the area. The building is a rectangular cinder block building with a flat roof. The building has one door and no windows. One way in, one way out. When you walk in there is a jukebox and pool tables to either side and a bar that goes all the way across the back wall. As I walked in on this fall night it was still warm outside so the door was standing open. My soon to be girlfriend from the college I was attending was sitting on the bar. Yes sitting on the bar. Why do I tell you all this well…”Honkey Tonk Women” was a hit and it was on the jukebox. It wasn’t long before I had a beer in my hand and I was sitting on the bar singing “Honkey Tonk Women” with several others at the top of our lungs. I think I spent my entire weeks allowance of my weekly pinball budget in that jukebox that night. Like they say…soundtrack to your life and Charlie was there driving the beat.
Fast forward to 1987. The Steel Wheels Tour. I was there. It was so exciting. I had never had the chance to see the Rolling Stones play live. I had a Jeep Cherokee at the time and I remember taking a white shoe polish bottle and writing “Stones or Bust” on the back glass before heading to Raleigh North Carolina to Carter Findley Stadium where I would see a show that was incredible. The stage was amazing and the electricity was off the meter. The stage was the largest thing I had ever seen on a concert stage. Charlie Watts and Mick were heavy into the design of the industrial waste as they called it. Tons of steel and such a cool functioning stage. It was just the beginning of what was to come.
Soon there was the Voodoo Lounge Tour and I was on the 30 yard line at Carter Findley Stadium again to see another Stones show. So I asked my Aunt Terri to go with me. After all she was the one who hooked me on Stones music playing “Sticky Fingers” all those years ago. The show was incredible and I have to tell you about the opening of the concert from our seat not so far from the stage. First just before show time smoke began pouring into the stadium and completely covering the stage. Then the music started. The song was the instrumental from the Steel Wheels album called “Continental Drift.” Overhead was a metal snake-like object I am sure Charlie and Mick had designed. As the music started green lights began slowly spinning in time to the music. The music tempo starts to slowly increase and the chasing lights continue overhead getting faster and faster. The vocals are chanting and on the per-recorded track Charlie is smashing the drums. Suddenly the music and the lights stop. All you can see is smoke. All of the sudden it is like fans come on and the smoke reveals the stage as fire erupts from left to right then BOOM over our head there is a HUGE plume of flame so intense I actually ducked. You could feel the heat overhead and it was a sight to behold. At this point with all the distraction we missed that the band had sneaked on the stage then “Start Me Up” erupts across the PA and the show begins. I will never forget that night as long as I live.
The Bridges to Babylon Tour. Charlotte Stadium October 10, 1997. We spend the day in “Uptown Charlotte” waiting for the show. This show featured that huge bridge that came from the center of the stage and the band ran out to play the center of the field. It was a spectacle and as I recall John Popper with Blues Traveler opened the show. I remember being in the bathroom and standing behind famous wrestler Rick Flair as our seats were in a pretty nice section although not all that close the show was great.
A Bigger Bang Tour. I went twice. Outdoors was the HUGE multi-story stage at one end of Wallace Wade Stadium at Duke University on October 8, 2005. I took my daughter Alexandra to see this show and it was amazing. The band rode a small stage to the center of the field and played. There was not a bad seat in the house and the place was jammed with people. I remember trying to leave the parking lot and literally trying to slow idle through such a sea of people it was almost claustrophobic. The amount of people in that parking lot was incredible! The second show only a few months later was in the brand new up-town Bobcats arena that was not quite finished from construction. This was on October 21, 2005 and the indoor show was somewhat different due to space constraints and no ability to shoot fire out of a multi-story outdoor stage. From what I had read the outdoor stage took a week to assemble just for one show so the Stones were using two stages on alternative dates to manage logistics. It was really cool to see both setups and the shows were great.
I am going to stop here as there are so many other shows I attended in between and after those shows. They all were different with things I can remember from all of them but I will say one thing that was a common theme. When you walk into a Rolling Stones show the electricity is amazing no matter how many times you go. I saw many Rolling Stones concerts through the decades. I have most of their vinyl in my collection. I am not sure who my favorite band is but the Rolling Stones are in the running. There are several things that come to mind when I think of the Rolling Stones in concert. Like using my binoculars or camera zoom to see the set list on the drum riser, the electricity of the moment like no other no matter how many times you have seen them, and one of my favorite things was to hear a massive crowd react as the band was introduced. Who did the crowd react to the loudest during every introduction without fail? Charlie Watts. He would get a thunderous appreciation because he was loved by everyone for just being Charlie. I am sad hearing the news of his passing but thankful I got to see Charlie perform so many times. He was and always will be one of the best drummers in Rock and Roll.
Until next time I’ll see you, down the road.