12 replies to this topic

[morrison005]

He told me he was coming out with one soon.  He also mentioned that he really respected Babe Hill for not writing a book and capitalizing off of his close relationship with Jim.  According to Funches, Babe Hill is living in Mexico now.

[mizscarlett43]

morrison005, on 18 August 2012 - 04:59 PM, said:

He told me he was coming out with one soon.  He also mentioned that he really respected Babe Hill for not writing a book and capitalizing off of his close relationship with Jim.  According to Funches, Babe Hill is living in Mexico now.

Yes, that's what I've heard. Supposedly he's living in Taxco (Old Mexico) and making silver jewelry for a living. Way, way cool, Babe, way to go.  I'll tip one for you--after noon of course (though you and Jim wouldn't have cared what time it was, would you? )

[*~adrienne~*]

He's on facebook. He'll add you if you friend him.

[mizscarlett43]

*~adrienne~*, on 20 August 2012 - 11:26 AM, said:

He's on facebook. He'll add you if you friend him.

I'm not on Facebook, though it seems as though everyone else in the Universe IS so I may have to reconsider. Can you tell me why I should do that?

Edited by mizscarlett43, 22 August 2012 - 09:31 PM.

[crazyhorse80]

Speaking of the three in question:

Jim, Babe and Tony

Could only imagine what happened next, haha. But that'd be cool if he did write a book on his experiences, as he was not only Jim's personal bodyguard, and friend, for a time, but was also on stage during the whole Altamont fiasco as well as being involved in a lot of other interesting things along the way from what I've read. Thanks for the heads up...

[morrison005]

mizscarlett43, on 22 August 2012 - 09:30 PM, said:

I'm not on Facebook, though it seems as though everyone else in the Universe IS so I may have to reconsider. Can you tell me why I should do that?

You are not alone.  I don't have a Facebook account either.  As far as I'm concerned, technology is making people more antisocial.  You can do pretty much anything online as opposed to talking to people face to face.

[mizscarlett43]

crazyhorse80, on 23 August 2012 - 01:26 AM, said:

Speaking of the three in question:

Jim, Babe and Tony

Could only imagine what happened next, haha. But that'd be cool if he did write a book on his experiences, as he was not only Jim's personal bodyguard, and friend, for a time, but was also on stage during the whole Altamont fiasco as well as being involved in a lot of other interesting things along the way from what I've read. Thanks for the heads up...

For those too young to remember, Altamont was The Stones' disaster--infinitely worse but of course less well known in rock history than what Jim didn't do in Miami, since it didn't involve anyone's (in)famous cock.

Altamont was the free Stones gig at the Altamont Raceway outside San Francisco in August 1969 when the fucking Hell's Angels--the brutes the very British Rolling Stones had naively and stupidly hired as bodyguards (Americans would have known better)--beat and shot to death a black man named Meredith Hunter in full view of the audience, and of the camera(s) of a documentary filmmaker  named Albert Maysles, whose classic film documenting the savagery is called GIMME SHELTER.
Check it out.* It's truly gut-wrenching, especially sweet Charlie Watts' commentary on the events of that awful day.


* I've tried and tried to add the link but it just doesn't work anymore. Can't tell you how much I miss the old (stolen) laptop...and BTW --FUCK YOU STEVE JOBS

(Or maybe I should just read the instruction book --IF I could find it...)  

Edited by mizscarlett43, 23 August 2012 - 04:31 AM.

[Pedro Kazit]

Hey Janet, is this video?:  

[*~adrienne~*]

mizscarlett43, on 22 August 2012 - 09:30 PM, said:

I'm not on Facebook, though it seems as though everyone else in the Universe IS so I may have to reconsider. Can you tell me why I should do that?

I don't know why you should join facebook LOL! I had an account for years...then I just got sick of people who wanted to be your friend online but then when you wanted to take the virtual friendship offline and turn it into a realistic friendship they ran the other way! It was sort of fake...I deleted my facebook account this past June (my husband still has his account) and although I miss it...and still think about rejoining...I'm just not sure. To answer your question Janet it'd be a great way to reconnect w/old friends, make new friends...practically everyone and everything is on there already...I think you should give it a trial run. If you reconsider you can always delete your account. Tell Salli to consider joining facebook too! You guys gotta join the 21st century already LOL!

[crazyhorse80]

mizscarlett43, on 23 August 2012 - 03:43 AM, said:

For those too young to remember, Altamont was The Stones' disaster--infinitely worse but of course less well known in rock history than what Jim didn't do in Miami, since it didn't involve anyone's (in)famous cock.

Altamont was the free Stones gig at the Altamont Raceway outside San Francisco in August 1969 when the fucking Hell's Angels--the brutes the very British Rolling Stones had naively and stupidly hired as bodyguards (Americans would have known better)--beat and shot to death a black man named Meredith Hunter in full view of the audience, and of the camera(s) of a documentary filmmaker  named Albert Maysles, whose classic film documenting the savagery is called GIMME SHELTER.
Check it out.* It's truly gut-wrenching, especially sweet Charlie Watts' commentary on the events of that awful day.

I know it was probably in bad taste to hire the Hell's Angels for security at a concert of this magnitude, but from everything I've read and heard, The Stones actually hired the Hell's Angels on the recommendation of The Grateful Dead, as the HA used to act as "security" at a number of their concerts prior to Altamont without incident, and from what I can recall, the relationship with The Dead and the HA dated as far back as 1965-66 and is detailed in Tom Wolfe's book The Electric Koll-Aid Acid Test--and as a matter of fact, The Dead were supposed to play Altamont, but decided not to and took off when they found all about all the bullshit the Hell's Angels were up to. On a side-note, I could only imagine if The Doors were invited to play Altamont, but you know Mick would never allow himself to be upstaged; he learned his lesson when they booked The Who to perform on their Rock'n'Roll Circus TV special the prior year.

The HA shouldn't have been at Altamont, and they shouldn't have been paid with unlimited free booze, and especially they shouldn't have been "policing" a concert of that magnitude. And I'll agree with you, their behavior was abominable, to say the least, throughout that festival, even going so far as to knock out Marty Balin from the Jefferson Airplane during their performance. But actually, if you ask me, the only thing they might have done worthwhile is take down Meredith Baxter during The Stones' performance, as he was rushing and pointing a gun at the stage, which is made clear by the film footage. It's unfortunate that the man died, and it is possible they could have been a little less excessive, but when someone is waving a gun in an open crowd, there's hardly time to react, and if they didn't, who knows how many other people might have died as a result.

But I agree with you in the fact that an incident with the magnitude of Altamont--which some say was the death of the 1960s--has seemingly become a footnote in the history of music/pop-culture, while petty incident's like Jim's "innocent" Miami ordeal still seem to be in the mainstream just as much, or even more then they were when it happened. But, anyway, to get back on topic, here's a link to the Jefferson Airplane's performance at Altamont with the Hell's Angels being the ultimate buzz-kill, and Tony Funches can be seen intervening (as well as Grace Slick) in the mayhem around the 3:40 and the 4:55 mark, while the second video features Tony corralling a bunch of stage-rushers between the 1-2-minute-mark during a Stones concert at MSG earlier in '69, which is actually pretty amusing.

Jefferson Airplane at Altamont

Stones at MSG in '69

[Pedro Kazit]

Little news about book Tony Funches "Memoirs of a Rockstar Bodyguard":  http://www.tonyfunches.com
This news in:  http://www.idafan.com/

[flashing bliss]

There seems to be some confusion as to the surname of the man with the gun who's killing was shown in the 'Gimmee Shelter' film.   Wasn't he called Meredith Hunter?

Peace

[mizscarlett43]

flashing bliss, on 19 September 2012 - 09:17 AM, said:

There seems to be some confusion as to the surname of the man with the gun who's killing was shown in the 'Gimmee Shelter' film.   Wasn't he called Meredith Hunter?

Peace

Yep. Meredith Baxter is an actress IIRC.

BTW, I was at the Stones' MSG gig, and the thing I remember most is wishing that Jagger would just sit down and shut up once in a while. It was ultimately pretty tiring, watching him. Also his voice wasn't as strong as one would have thought from their records, and the band drowned him out regularly.

Don't remember noticing Tony, though...

(Incidentally, When I saw The Doors at the Felt Forum a couple of months later I was really struck by the contrast. Jim didn't move very much, so when he did do one of his great leaps it was quite powerful. I was checking out some performance shots on someone's Doors photo site recently, and was amazed to see that he looked to be at least three feet off the stage at the height of some of those jumps--Air Morrison! Also his timing was perfect--he'd hit his note precisely at the top of the leap.)