Showing posts with label Rolling Stones. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rolling Stones. Show all posts

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Movie Review: ***^Gimme Shelter; Altamont Pass Concert 1969

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh9QQrI6OkU
I watched this movie on You Tube.  Gimme Shelter is a very disturbing look at the 1969 concert at the Altamont Speedway.  It starts with the showing the summer tour of the Rolling Stones throughout the United States, and ends with the tragic free concert at the Altamont Speedway.  300,000 people crowded the speedway and the surrounding area.  There was not enough parking, not enough restrooms, and there was too much drugging and boozing.  Part of the problem was crowd control.  There was not enough security.  And Hells Angels ended up providing most of the security.  It didn't work.  There were other performers throughout the day.  Jefferson Airplane's lead singer was hit.   Mick Jagger was hit arriving at the concert.  Needless to say it was a mess.

The problems started with the venue had to be changed at the last minute.  As a result fans were allowed to get too close to the stage, and into equipment and on scaffolding.  The concert saw four births and four tragic deaths.  There was a hit-and-run acident in which a vehicle drove over two people who passed away, another person drowned in the canal which was close by.  The fourth was a tragic murder, ruled in self defense, when a young black man, high on meth, pulled a gun and was stabbed by a Hell's Angel.

The concert is from the perspective of the Rolling Stones and shows their reaction to the events.  At the moment of the murder at the concert, they knew their had been a scuffle, but not that any one had died, and went ahead and finished their concert.

A warning about the movie.  It seems some people wore less and less clothing as the concert went on, including topless men and women.

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Music Review: Rolling Stones: Between the Buttons

I can't say I am a Rolling Stone fan, but my sisters had this album when I was young, and I really enjoyed it.  The album came out in 1967.  Some of the songs on it have always been some of my favorite.  One of them had a restaurant named after it, or at least with the same name, Ruby Tuesday.  I just watched it on You Tube.  It was fun to see Nick Jagger hitting the low notes.  It also was a very nice theme.

Ruby Tuesday

She would never say where she came from
Yesterday don't matter if it's gone
While the sun is bright
Or in the darkest night
No one knows
She comes and goes

Goodbye, ruby tuesday
Who could hang a name on you?
When you change with every new day
Still I'm gonna miss you...

Don't question why she needs to be so free
She'll tell you it's the only way to be
She just can't be chained
To a life where nothing's gained
And nothing's lost
At such a cost

There's no time to lose, I heard her say
Catch your dreams before they slip away
Dying all the time
Lose your dreams
And you will lose your mind.
Ain't life unkind?

I especially like that part about catching your dreams before they slip away.  And it rings true, if you lose your dreams you lose your mind, dying all the time.  You have to be fighting for something to make life enjoyable.

There is another song I really liked from the album.  It is one of the songs I would sing from time to time, and when young I taught myself to play it on the piano, using chords.  This is "She Smiled Sweetly."

Why do my thoughts loom so large on me?
They seem to stay, for day after day
And won't disappear, I've tried every way

But she smiled sweetly
She smiled sweetly
She smiled sweetly
And says don't worry
Oh, no no no

Where does she hide it inside of her?
That keeps her peace most every day
And won't disappear, my hair's turning grey

There's nothing in why or when
There's no use trying, you're here
Begging again, and ov'r again

That's what she said so softly
I understood for once in my life
And feeling good most all of the time

I really like the attitude of being able to take things sweetly, even when our thoughts are getting away from us.  There are some other nice songs on this album, that I enjoyed growing up, including "Yesterday's Papers" and "Connection."  This album represents a different style for the rolling stones than what followed in their career.