Thursday, May 24, 2007

Anecdote #646 part 2

Uneasy Meetings With Gods
part two.

twelve years after our first world tour I was touring again with david, this time on the Sound and Vision Tour. we played two nights in paris, april 2 and 3, 1990. after the second night's show david, the band, the crew, and most of our entourage of fifty people went to a chic parisian nightclub to celebrate. the place was packed with excited euros dancing and looking around for david.
mick jagger was there.
I first spotted mick standing at the crowded bar.
"I've always loved your music," I said.
mick gave me the look of Death and moved on.
'gee,' I thought, 'it worked so well with david.'

to one side of the club there was a VIP room which looked out into rest of the club. you had to step down two steps to get inside but more importantly you had to be asked. it was guarded. I walked aimlessly around listening to the music and watching the dancers of paris. all of a sudden I heard david shouting towards me and waving me over to the VIP room.
the velour rope parted and I was in!
david motioned me over to a couch where he was sitting. he placed me right between himself and mick. which is where i spent the evening. david and mick laughed loudly and talked back and forth over me like I was a coffee table. they were obviously happy to see each other.
david was trying to hit on a girl whom he kept dancing with. I tried to strike up a conversation with mick but what do you say? "how do you like your Ferrari?", I asked ever so lamely. "got 3 of them," mick said. "never drive them. they're investments."
mick was far more interested in david's girl.
david is not a "drinker". in fact the few times I've seen him drink I'm always amazed. he gets drunk faster than anyone I've ever known! two beers and he's blasted.
on this night david was happy and amorous and soon a little drunk. while he was dancing with the girl, mick started warming to me. he needed an audience. he began hitting on david's girl. he would get up and dance beside her flirtatiously. then he'd come back to the couch and say to me, "watch me steal his girl". then he'd watch david dancing with the girl some more and he'd laugh and say, "look at that old queen".

this banter went on for the rest of the evening. it was all done jokingly, mick was hysterical. he and david had a great time out-doing each other.
two masters.

it was one marvelous night.

5 comments:

  1. I hope the girl had both of them!

    It's always a bit awkward meeting our idols. What to say. What to do.

    I'm grateful that you welcome your fans into your space a little. Thanks for that.

    In that picture you look like Iris. She looks so much like you. :)

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  2. Nice line, "gee, I thought, it worked so well with David." A had a good laugh.

    I saw Bowie maybe in '83 in support of the Let's Dance album. Joe Louis arena in detroit. That wouldn't have been you.

    I liked the Youtube video of you playing with Bowie in 1978. great solo, and looks like you were having big-tiime fun.

    I saw the NC symphony and guests last night, NC music tour. At one point a bluegrass band was doing foggy mt. breakdown, and the orchestra kicked in for the second chorus. That was weird.
    DHolt brought out a resonator guitar during the encore.

    Anyway, another great story!

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  3. Hi Adrian, I had the same 'what do you say' experience when I met you at Ronnie Scott's in Birmingham (UK), playing with projeCKt Two.

    I had been a fan of yours for a long time and couldn't miss the chance to see you playing in the UK (I didn't know much about projeCKt Two, so you can imagine how suprised I was when you sat at the drum kit!).

    During the interval I approached you and Ken at the bar and asked if I could buy you a beer. You accepted and we talked for most of the interval (needless to say I was touched by how friendly and open you both were, especially with a fan who'd had a few drinks by that point).

    Anyway, love the blog and here's hoping you get to say "got 3 of them" one day!

    thanks

    gareth

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  4. For a while you really had me wondering where you were going with this story. I had this picture in my mind of Mick being jealous of this girl because he wanted to dance with David....

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  5. I bet that girl thought she had a pretty marvelous night too! your stories are too much fun! More please!

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