Lulu and I met in the Summer of '69. We like to say that our first date was to see the Rolling Stones at Woodstock. But everyone know the Stones never played Woodstock. Also - Lulu's Mom refused to allow her to go to Woodstock with me. But I did ask her - and I did go. The trip from Pennsylvania to New York would have required me to violate the Mann Act - if I took Lulu.
The rumors of the Stones - my favorite rock and roll band - playing at Woodstock were exaggerated. I ended walking through three hours of mud to see The Incredible Stringband and risked losing my recently purchased new 1969 Volkswagen - parking it near a swamp. I even lost my friend in the crowd - and returned home alone - a little bruised but still waiting for my first Rolling Stones Concert.
I didn't have to wait long. The Stones were booked into the Spectrum in Philly for November 26, 1969 - funny how exact dates come back to you 40 years later. The radio station from Philadelphia - 100 miles away - was offering a pair of front row tickets to the person that had their ticket stubs from a Blind Faith Concert that they sponsored three months before. At the time - I saved everything - and I had my stubs. It was almost too good to be true - but I was the proud owner of two front row tickets to see The Rolling Stones.
I went to the concert - and it was everything one could imagine. The fact that my parents absolutely hated them made it even sweeter. The Stones were the Ying to the Beatles Yang. They were as anti-establishment as they could be - all of them being under 5'9" - and less than 130 pounds - in button down shirts and tweed jackets that didn't match.
So today - when Lulu told me about The Rolling Stones making an IMAX movie - and it would be opening today at the Tallahassee Mall - we had to go.
Would they hold up after 40 years? Better yet - how would I hold up?
A hot date for Lulu and me is a Sunday morning movie at the AMC at the mall. The 11:15 AM show cost $4.00 - sort of the early bird special for the baby boomers. We arrived at about 5 minutes before show time. There were 14 people in the theatre. We sat up front - a favorite place for the nearsighted - where you have to turn your head left and right to see the whole screen.
Although the movie was produced in IMAX - the theatre wasn't. Still the quality of the pictures and sound were excellent - sort of like watching an HD basketball game on a regular TV. The sound was loud - but superb.
The Rolling Stones look like 4 old geezers - geez - they were 6 years old than me. That was before they started to perform. From the first chord of "Jumping Jack Flash" until the final bows after "Satisfaction" - I was in a time warp.
Sir Michael Phillip Jagger sings and dances better than ever. Forty years of the touring and the rich life did not seem to affect him at all. Last time I saw him - we were fighting to pose for the "before" picture of a Charlie Atlas ad. Now - I weighed over 200 pounds and he still looked about 130 pounds.
Martin Scoreses - the director - threw in just enough old footage to be able to advertise the movie as a documentary. They even had a song with Christina Aguilera to appeal to the present generation. But 98% of the film was shot during one concert at the Beacon Theatre on Broadway. It even opened up with a lot of smoozing with Bill and Hillary Clinton.
When Mick Jagger enters through a flaming doorway singing "Sympathy for the Devil" - you would have sworn the Gates of Hell opened and Lucifer was dancing in front of you. One of the great things about 30 foot tall head shots of Jagger singing - you could actually understand the words of the song. I guess baby boomers rely on lip reading as we get older.
In the old days - I tried to relate to Mick Jagger. I wanted to be a rebel just like him. Little did I know that he went to the London School of Economics. Both his father and grandfather were school teachers. To keep his dancers body - he exercised three hours a day. Now - I can relate better to Keith Richards - with his five or six chins and distended pot belly.
As Jagger at age 66 dances around like a school kid on steroids - I am convinced he made a visit to The Crossroads - and was enjoying it as long as he could. With over a half billion dollars in the bank - he obviously still performs because he loves it. Mean while - after about two hours in the theatre - I was fighting between going to the restroom and not missing a single second of this deja vu.
Early in the movie - they ask a teenage Jagger if he could imagine doing rock and roll when he was 60. He says, "Absolutely."
Time marches on for some of us.
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