Friday, January 30, 2004

The Stones rule

Up at Herkimer, I spotted a young woman wearing a baseball-sleeved concert t-shirt: The Rolling Stones, at the Kingdome, 1981. Also on the bill: the J. Geils band AND the Greg Kihn band--Jesus, that really must have been a hell of a show. The girl in the shirt was plainly, at most, a toddler in 1981, if that.

Here is my memory of that concert: I was in the sixth grade, riding home on the school bus, coming down Cherry Street to get on the freeway. On the sidewalk were many folks walking down the hill towards the Dome for the show...including a classic rock-groupie chick. Bleached platinum feathered hair, black leather and Spandex, f*ck-me shoes, teetering down the block. One of the older kids--Jude Stoller. He was cool, he was in seventh or eighth grade--popped open the bus window. It was a gorgeously sunny fall afternoon. Jude stuck his head out the window and hollered, "The Stones RULE!"

And the rocker chick turned and smiled, flashed a hot trashy smile to this 14-year-old boy unfortunate enough to be on a big yellow bus, instead of going to see the Stones...

...and fell right off the curb in her giant shoes.

Christ, we laughed. We screamed. Oh, man, that was awesome. It's still funny. God bless you, blonde rocker chick, wherever you are. I hope you had a good time.

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