JUST A HIPPIE GYPSY

From the Archives....November 13, 2003

I read an entry in "Coming to terms with Middle Age" by miraminiak about a Simon & Garfunkel concert she had just seen. It triggered memories of all the concerts I have attended over the past several decades.

A sound track has accompanied my life ever since I have been about 12 years old. The Rolling Stones were a major force in the movie of my life from about 1978 till mid 80's. The above photo is from the Start Me Up tour. The photo's are bootleg...(oops, you don't think I will be in trouble do you?)...and I have several of them.

I was living in Louisville. My best friend had a friend who was the door man at Phoenix Hill Tavern. He secured a lot of tickets for this concert. He begrudgingly sold us four tickets. He was unsure which were the best seats. I could not find anyone I wanted to go with and so we ended up in front of Broadbent arena with an extra ticket. It was sold pretty quickly to someone in the crowd outside hoping to score a seat.

OH MY GOD! The seats were left hand stage! On the upper deck, first row, overlooking the stage! When the Stones came out, I could see everything on the stage. Everything and everyone. I could practically reach out and touch Keith.

Then, this attitude heavy dude comes up and sits next to me. The fortunate one who got the extra ticket. All I remember about him was that he had a hash pipe and he was sharing.

The next day I go to work and everyone knew how excited I was to see the Stones and were asking questions about the concert. For some reason....I remembered the beginning and .....

The phone rings, its Lloyd (who got the tickets from Phoenix Hill). "So, how did you like those seats?" (Unfortunately, he had chosen the lesser of the two). "They were great! Too bad they didn't play very long". Lloyd was silent for several seconds, then just said, "Good-bye".

When I finally got to talk to my friend she told me the rest of the story. The guy with the hash pipe was shot-gunning me and I passed out. Mick Jagger got in the cherry picker and came right up to us. She tried to wake me up (smacking me!) but I was out cold. She swears, Mick looked at me, shook his head and rolled his eyes.

These may have been my best seats ever and I blew it!