Who->'s Met Who-> ..[was].. Re: Questions...

["An English Boy" <peter_dennis_blandford_townshend@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

From: Keithjmoon70@aol.com

> Subject: Re: Questions...
> I know that AEB has hung out with Keith Moon (!)
> I am still waiting to hear the details of this.

=============================

OK, here is a narrative of my evening of drinking and
merrimaking (getting blasted together) with Keith that
I posted to the Gov't Mule list a few years ago:

=============================

Subject:
           Re: You lucky bastard..../An escapade with Rocks Maniac
           Drummer
      Date:
           Sun, 23 May 1999 19:18:43 -0700
     From:
           BlueLew <BlueLew@stones.com>
       To:
           Dwight
       CC:
           "EMULE@netspace.org" <EMULE@netspace.org>

Dwight wrote:

> "Now I'm older, I'm tattooed all over, my wife is tattooed too...."
>
> Hey man, any further elaboration on the Keith story would be much, much
> appreciated.  He is larger than life to me, and if you have the time to
> do a little typing I would love to hear the tale of how you met him/what
> it was like.
>
> -Dwight
>
> By the way, I'm less jealous of the meeting Keith and way just insanely
> jealous of ANYONE who got to see the horrible Who between 67 and 71.
======================================================================


Well, Dwight, I did see The Who-> in intimate settings on the
first US tour in Dec. 1967, and in 1968 at the Santa Monica
Civic with James Cotton where they sold so few tix to a 4pm
& 7 pm show that they postponed the 4 pm show, combined the
two shows, and I ***still*** sat 10th row ctr.

Saw the 'orrible 'oo-> twice on the Tommy/Live At Leeds tours
and twice on the '71 'ooo->'s Next tour. (others too, but that's another 
story!)

As for my extremely close and KozmiK encounter with Moonie, it went like 
this:

Moon was (has/will) always (been/be) my fav unschooled "from the gut"
pure instinct drummer. I followed his antics closely, so it was no
surprise that I went to the premier of his film with David Essex,
"Stardust", that was loosely based on the rise and fall of a BeaTlesque band 
called "The Stray Cats!" Moon plays the drummer (J.D.Clampett or somthin' 
like that) who ultimately fires
(Piss OFF!) the egomaniac McCartney-like character (David Essex).

After the film, we went to the notorious Rainbow Club, next to
The Roxy on the Sunset Strip where Moonie was known to hang out.

'couple o' JD's and Heinie's into our stay, a fancy car, chauffeur
drivin, rolled up outside the entry door (the same car from the
cover of "Under A Full Moon") and out steps a tux'n'tailed, top
hatted Moonie, sauntering in, aloof and PERFECT!

His sits near us, nods hello and waves an offering hand to the two
empty seats in the booth with him! (I proceed to DIE!)

We talk, we reminisce about past 'ooo-> concerts he played and I
attended. (this was in February 1975, the 18th to be exact, three
days after The Who->'s "Tattoo" was inked on my arm.....KozmiK!)

We discussed his yet to be relesased solo album, and he proceeds to tell me 
to _be_ disappointed if I am expecting The Beach Boys and
Jan & Dean to be the predominant music. I, quite honestly, AM surprised 
after all the hoopla the press has made about his Beach
Boy thang!

All the while, as he and I drink our respective poison's, (he
drinking congnac, me more & more JD) he intermittantly unscrews
the handle of the cane he is fondling, tipping it to his lips,
but ne're offering a swallow of the sacred blend to another.

When I excitedly speak of having good seats to Entwistle's concert
the following week, he tells me that John is flying in the next day and 
spending the interim escapading around LA with him, staying at
his house in Malibu till the concert is over (HogFat headlined).

We speak about the near SUPERGROUP forming when Beck had JPJones,
Moonie, Nicky Hopkins and Jimmy Page do the session for "Beck's Bolero" in 
late 67.

He was the pentultimate gentleman, a gracious host, and when it
became time to depart (we instictively knew when he was ansty
to move on) I offered him the collages I had made on 4x8ft masonite 
dedicated to the 'oooo-> since he was as big an 'ooo-> fan as
anyone.

He politely declined, shaking my hand with his white gloved right hand, and 
whispered to me that he was no different than I, or any
of his fans, that we were ALL FREAKS!

As you might expect, my date and I returned to the bar, visibly
shaken and stirred by having met Moonie, a member of the BIGGEST
Rock Band in the world, our favourite drummer, the same night we
went to see him star in a film premier.

There were no moments of Moon the Loon, nothing outrageous,
just an aristocratic Englishman at leisure, have a few (many,
many) drinks with a couple rabid fans on a summer evening in
Hollywood. My date got his autograph, and, after he left
she swiped his brandy glass (that was broken in the Los Angeles
earthquake in 1994) and the book of matches he lit his smokes
with. Me? I took away the greatest souvenier of all. My
conversation with Keith Moon...soon to be taken away. I saw
Keith play two more times in 1976, now bearded and sporting
a growing paunch round his mid-section, but still the greatest
drummer rock music ever knew, bar none. Little did I know this
was the beginning of the end.

So....

Did I cry upon his death three short years later?

No, I *wept like a child,* as I do on it's anniversary each
year. An era had passed, as had a GREAT man and musician.

"Not To Be Taken Away"....indeed!

TheBlueOne...........................................................

To date, I have met one member from two of my three fav groups, and
fully believe that the third WILL happen, in it's own time.

I've been fortunate enough to have met The Who->'s Keith Moon, and
The Rolling Stones' Mick Taylor, and intend to meet one of The BeaTles
before I join Moonie, Brian Jones and Ian Stewart, and John Lennon in
RnR Heaven.

Imagine!

======================

So, that's my story as told almost 4 years ago. It's how it was,
it's my story and I'm stickin' to it. 'course, my chance to
Meet The BeaTle is seriously reduced with the tragic passing a
year ago of George Harrison.

Hmmmmm?

Waiting is.....


AnEnglishBoy~




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