Have you seen my cell phone, baby ... (laying around in Berlin)?

uwe · June 12, 2014, 06:32:02 PM

If it had not happened to my (sort of) next of kin, I would have filed this under "urban legends":

My son Leon lives in Berlin. With his girl friend - as young people do - Katharina her name. Katharina has a girl friend too (no, this thread will not be about anything kinky!). That girl friend found a cell phone a few days ago. Being a good German girl, she didn't keep it, though it was an expensive one, but brought it to the Berlin Lost & Found. They do record your name and address there. Someone might be thankful, you never know.

The cell phone belonged to an old man. An old Englishman to be precise. He was very glad and grateful to have it back. And as he played in some - again elderly - rock'n'roll outfit as a rhythm guitarist (when he is not falling off trees or ladders), he sent three backstage tickets for his band's Berlin show to the honest finderess. Who shared them with her two girl friends, one of them being Katharina. Some girls ... just have all the luck ...

Of course, there is a tragic element to it. There was no ticket for my son who has since then been in a state of continuous depression and general doubt about the justness of the world ...

And Katharina? "Man, they looked ancient up close, but they sure had stage presence! And Keith Richards misses notes and makes mistakes on guitar."

Children ...

Granny Gremlin · June 12, 2014, 06:37:52 PM

rofl

westen44 · June 12, 2014, 06:50:49 PM

Great story.

Dave W · June 12, 2014, 08:04:54 PM

That's a once in a lifetime experience. But poor Leon, getting left out!

Keef missed notes when he was young too.

Basvarken · June 13, 2014, 01:22:35 AM

Cool story!

The missed notes are the best ones.

uwe · June 13, 2014, 02:53:08 AM

I was gonna say - that's his lifelong art!

uwe · June 13, 2014, 06:53:53 AM

By the way: Mick Taylor was dragged out at that gig too. And one newspaper deadpanned: "It's unfair to still rail against Ron Wood who has been doing unobstrusive service with the Stones for almost four decades now. He should finally receive the credit of being the second-best guitarist the Stones ever had."

Talking about deadpans: Herr Jagger mentioned to the crowd that the band had rehearsed "Winds of Change" by the Scorpions "in case there should be any special requests tonight".

gearHed289 · June 13, 2014, 08:20:37 AM

Great story!

westen44 · June 13, 2014, 08:35:43 AM

Quote from: uwe on June 13, 2014, 06:53:53 AM
By the way: Mick Taylor was dragged out at that gig too. And one newspaper deadpanned: "It's unfair to still rail against Ron Wood who has been doing unobstrusive service with the Stones for almost four decades now. He should finally receive the credit of being the second-best guitarist the Stones ever had."

Talking about deadpans: Herr Jagger mentioned to the crowd that the band had rehearsed "Winds of Change" by the Scorpions "in case there should be any special requests tonight".

Considering the awful tragedy he has had to recently endure, I'm glad to see Jagger enjoying himself on stage right now.

uwe · June 13, 2014, 09:18:50 AM

He was even witty! Berlin has this huge scandal about their new international airport called BER which has fire life safety issues, mammoth cost overruns and should have been ready long ago, but keeps on being delayed and is the object of countless litigation proceedings and nation-wide jokes. And what does Jagger do? Dedicates "Waiting on a friend" to "your nice future airport BER". And cracked further jokes that he would like to see the English and the German team in the World Cup final, battling it out "Elfmeter"/penalty shooting-wise. Which, by tradition, Germany always wins - penalty shooting is (rather much like good food, functioning car wiring and decent weather) an eternal mystery to those blighted Britons.

He's a pro. And has kept the Stones machine running through good and bad times.

TBird1958 · June 13, 2014, 10:12:06 AM

Quote from: uwe on June 13, 2014, 09:18:50 AM
Germany always wins - penalty shooting is (rather much like good food, functioning car wiring and decent weather) an eternal mystery to those blighted Britons.

Let's boil food and wire an MG! - For desert we can use a rubber material for the brake fluid that disintergrates

Highlander · June 14, 2014, 04:03:37 PM

Stones...?

Granny Gremlin · June 15, 2014, 08:30:18 AM

As witty and charming as Uwe thinks his long lost countryman Jagger is, he is not naturally so and has to turn it on.

An old high school bud found Jagger one night at his local when he was working at a hostel in a small resort town in Bristish Columbia. Being wasted already himself, he said something stupid like "Dude, you could totally have any girl in here' to which Old Mick replied "do you think I need you to tell me that?" Not peak form, though me bud walked into that one.

dadagoboi · June 15, 2014, 09:56:34 AM

Quote from: Granny Gremlin on June 15, 2014, 08:30:18 AM
As witty and charming as Uwe thinks his long lost countryman Jagger is, he is not naturally so and has to turn it on.

An old high school bud found Jagger one night at his local when he was working at a hostel in a small resort town in Bristish Columbia. Being wasted already himself, he said something stupid like "Dude, you could totally have any girl in here' to which Old Mick replied "do you think I need you to tell me that?" Not peak form, though me bud walked into that one.

Ever cross your mind that your buddy is an idiot?

westen44 · June 15, 2014, 10:12:43 AM

Quote from: Granny Gremlin on June 15, 2014, 08:30:18 AM
As witty and charming as Uwe thinks his long lost countryman Jagger is, he is not naturally so and has to turn it on.

An old high school bud found Jagger one night at his local when he was working at a hostel in a small resort town in Bristish Columbia. Being wasted already himself, he said something stupid like "Dude, you could totally have any girl in here' to which Old Mick replied "do you think I need you to tell me that?" Not peak form, though me bud walked into that one.

Humans tending to be something way less than perfect, the fact is many so-called heroes, whether in rock or anything else, are incredibly flawed. There are some exceptions, but I've come not to expect very much when it comes to things like this. I'm way more of a Beatles fan anyway. But stories could also be told of their flaws,--not just what they did to other people, but also what they did to each other.

Rock appears to be a genre in decline. That's just the way it is. So I try to look for the positive as much as I can when thinking about this kind of stuff. Certainly, if someone gave me a free ticket to a Stones concert, I'd probably go and most likely enjoy it, despite not really being a Stones fan.