More outrage after a police shooting--and the use of Johnson & Johnson vaccine paused. Still, we have live music from the Stones, Bob Marley & the Wailers, and Lucinda Williams.
I have to tell you, this is the best collection of thought-provoking stories based on today's issues mixed in with memorabilia, a person my age could ever hope to find. Speaking of hopes, I hope you don't mind me throwing in my own stories from the 1970s, when they seem to fit. I'm just so happy to find someplace where they might mean something to someone. I've been carrying them around for a long time. Thanks for this blog and for all the work you put into it.
I have a close-encounter-with-Mick-Jagger story to tell too, Greg. I hope you don't mind. In 1974 (after Sticky Fingers), I finished a graduate program at St. John's College and in January or February 1976 I got an invitation to a party hosted by SJC alum Ahmet Ertegun. I wasn't following Ahmet's career at the time, but knew he was very rich, did fundraising for the college and had something to do with music. Since the event would be held at Rockefeller Center, I splurged and bought a dress for the occasion, hoping I would run into my pal Liz Vagliano. I did. She was the only person I recognized. To put it lightly, Liz and I ran in very different circles. She was a classy Manhattan socialite married to a shipping magnet (and later to Feliz Rohatyn) and I was a ridiculously poor Long Island single mom trying to find a way to survive New York. I met Liz when she audited courses in the SJC graduate program one summer to prove to herself and her college-age kids that she could do it, even without previous college experience. At 40-50-something, she didn't want younger students to know she was in over her head, but she needed a little help with her final paper. I was 30ish and enjoyed her company. I thought she deserved a lot of credit. So, there we were. As the token elders at this shindig, we stood at one end of the room, probably drinking white wine, but definitely commenting on the pretentious appearance of several Johnnie alums, especially younger ones. The worst one of all had just entered this room with our host. This odd-looking fellow was all trunk and boney legs, with an unusually large head positioned over a mouth that might have been a sculptor's mistake. He wore a sweated-out white v-neck, extra tight jeans and a very long, very white silk scarf. I chuckled and whispered to Liz, "Look at that Johnnie coming in here trying to look like Mick Jagger or somebody!" She laughed. We clicked our wine glasses in agreement that no matter how hard they tried, Johnnies could never hide behind the masks of people who had actually done something. We loved our time at the school but agreed most of the students (but not us) were and always would be argumentative, self-aggrandizing bookworms with agendas.
Eventually, our host made it around the room and stopped in front of me and Liz. We introduced ourselves to Ahmet and he introduced us to Mick Jagger.
ha ha, good one...maybe that same year or year earlier I was invited to a rather exclusive party for John Phillips (of Mamas and Papas fame), who had a solo album or something, and new wife the actress Genevieve Waite. I think they were hooked on smack at the time and just sat in chairs like thrones in adjacent room dazed out of their minds. But A-list party and Mick's tiny ass shook in front of my face as I sat at a table a couple of times. Highlight was standing on side with little Roger Daltrey for about 20 minutes--easy chatting, humble guy, that night, anyway.
I have to tell you, this is the best collection of thought-provoking stories based on today's issues mixed in with memorabilia, a person my age could ever hope to find. Speaking of hopes, I hope you don't mind me throwing in my own stories from the 1970s, when they seem to fit. I'm just so happy to find someplace where they might mean something to someone. I've been carrying them around for a long time. Thanks for this blog and for all the work you put into it.
that's great, appreciate anything you care to add
I have a close-encounter-with-Mick-Jagger story to tell too, Greg. I hope you don't mind. In 1974 (after Sticky Fingers), I finished a graduate program at St. John's College and in January or February 1976 I got an invitation to a party hosted by SJC alum Ahmet Ertegun. I wasn't following Ahmet's career at the time, but knew he was very rich, did fundraising for the college and had something to do with music. Since the event would be held at Rockefeller Center, I splurged and bought a dress for the occasion, hoping I would run into my pal Liz Vagliano. I did. She was the only person I recognized. To put it lightly, Liz and I ran in very different circles. She was a classy Manhattan socialite married to a shipping magnet (and later to Feliz Rohatyn) and I was a ridiculously poor Long Island single mom trying to find a way to survive New York. I met Liz when she audited courses in the SJC graduate program one summer to prove to herself and her college-age kids that she could do it, even without previous college experience. At 40-50-something, she didn't want younger students to know she was in over her head, but she needed a little help with her final paper. I was 30ish and enjoyed her company. I thought she deserved a lot of credit. So, there we were. As the token elders at this shindig, we stood at one end of the room, probably drinking white wine, but definitely commenting on the pretentious appearance of several Johnnie alums, especially younger ones. The worst one of all had just entered this room with our host. This odd-looking fellow was all trunk and boney legs, with an unusually large head positioned over a mouth that might have been a sculptor's mistake. He wore a sweated-out white v-neck, extra tight jeans and a very long, very white silk scarf. I chuckled and whispered to Liz, "Look at that Johnnie coming in here trying to look like Mick Jagger or somebody!" She laughed. We clicked our wine glasses in agreement that no matter how hard they tried, Johnnies could never hide behind the masks of people who had actually done something. We loved our time at the school but agreed most of the students (but not us) were and always would be argumentative, self-aggrandizing bookworms with agendas.
Eventually, our host made it around the room and stopped in front of me and Liz. We introduced ourselves to Ahmet and he introduced us to Mick Jagger.
ha ha, good one...maybe that same year or year earlier I was invited to a rather exclusive party for John Phillips (of Mamas and Papas fame), who had a solo album or something, and new wife the actress Genevieve Waite. I think they were hooked on smack at the time and just sat in chairs like thrones in adjacent room dazed out of their minds. But A-list party and Mick's tiny ass shook in front of my face as I sat at a table a couple of times. Highlight was standing on side with little Roger Daltrey for about 20 minutes--easy chatting, humble guy, that night, anyway.
Make that shipping magnate, sorry.