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Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 7,743
Registered: ‎03-15-2010

Re: Say It Isn't So -- Charlie Watts Dead?

@golding76 

 

What a fascinating life you have lead!

 

Having grown up in a tiny Midwestern town (2,000 people), I can only imagine such scenes!

 

We would listen to the Stones, etc., and imagine we were at Club 54 or some other famous place...in reality, we were listening in our basements and bedrooms.

 

Your life is one I could only have dreamed.  

Honored Contributor
Posts: 16,195
Registered: ‎03-13-2010

Re: Say It Isn't So -- Charlie Watts Dead?

He was always as cool as a cucumber when he was playing the drums!  Such a great loss!  It's hard to think of all our musical legends who are "getting up there" and we have lost so many!  I am so happy that I grew up when I did and got to experience this fantastic --- the best ---- era of music and performers!!!!  

"A day without sunshine is like, you know, night." - Steve Martin
Respected Contributor
Posts: 2,104
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Say It Isn't So -- Charlie Watts Dead?

I've never been a die hard Stones fan, mainly because Jagger creeped me out. Charlie was always my favorite and, through the years, the things I've read about him reaffirmed that choice. I imagine he lived a good life as he wanted to live it, may he rest in peace. He gave his all to his fans, all the while staying true to himself.

 

An "end of an era", for sure :'(

Honored Contributor
Posts: 13,775
Registered: ‎07-09-2011

Re: Say It Isn't So -- Charlie Watts Dead?

@golding76 

 

I too have been fortunate to travel a good bit.  I confess to having itchy feet, and have missed traveling so much.  But, there are still places on the wish list I don’t intend to miss!

 

Having wealthy family strategically located must be great.  I have none of those, but am fortunate to have friends scattered about.  They have aided and encouraged me. Never have I had a date ‘nicked’ by such a famous person!

 

I do enjoy your travel stories, thanks for sharing.

"Animals are not my whole world, but they have made my world whole" ~ Roger Caras
Honored Contributor
Posts: 9,739
Registered: ‎05-19-2012

Re: Say It Isn't So -- Charlie Watts Dead?

[ Edited ]

Witchy Woman,

 

No need to dream of my life.  Some of the most exciting and bizarre personal events I experienced I have posted here over the years, and if anyone is counting, one can see that there aren't all that many, considering my age.

 

By and large, my life has been mundane with a few dazzling moments tucked in here and there over the decades.  However, the summer of 1966 did glint with a ridiculous number of golden and unforeseen moments.

 

I would like to clarify the nature of my date the night that Melina Mercouri snatched my evening's companion away.  Actually, it was more a matter of my date's obsequiously ingratiating himself with a famous woman.  As was the custom, a huge company of us (about 20 people) went to the restaurant together.  I was not alone with this fellow nor would I have been allowed to do so.  My first cousins were with me at all moments as well as my aunt (the sea captain's granddaughter) very often, too.  But that night it was a group of people in their 20s. 

 

After we were there for a bit, Mercouri swept in with her coterie of about 10.  When she started to sit down, my date for the evening swooped in and got her chair and placed it under her.  She cooed at him and invited him to sit with her.  Keep in mind that she was about 46 years old to his 22 years.  Anyway, he never came back to rejoin our table.  He was a beautiful boy, reminding me of Thomas Mann's Tonio Kroger -- neither blond nor brunett.  Petros (his hame) was very wealthy and bright, too.  We did not see him again until the next day.

 

Another "glamorous" thing that happened was that my maternal grandmother and one of my aunts visited Greece during that same summer, too.  Grandma and Aunt Sophia stayed at the Athens Hilton when it was but a few years old.  It was a nice place.  We were eating at the top-floor restaurant when none other than Lex Barker (an actor who played Tarzan) was dancing about the dance floor with his very lovely wife.  She was petite and wore the most beautiful short evening gown and gold strappy sandals.   

 

To top it all off, I was staying with my cousin and his wife in Piraeus, and one evening Mikis Theodorakis gave an outdoor concert.  His fine reputation was emerging then, and I had the thrill of hearing him, his orchestra and Maria Farantouri (a famous Greek singer) in person.

 

I was also very fortunate to visit the restaurants/clubs owned by some of Greece's most famous singers and bouzouki players, such as Stelios Kazantzidis and Giorgios Zambetas.  Ah, I loved to listen to them.

 

Anyway, most of my life has been made up or the ordinary, which I treasure.  

 

[I forgot to add that one evening on Spetses, as we were walking along the dusty paths with the smell of jasmine and donkey poo hanging in the air (such an interesting combination), walking in front of us were Melina Mercouri, Jules Dassin and the famous Greek composer Manos Hadjidakis.  They were staying at Mercouri's Spetses home as they readied the Broadway musical Illya Darling, which was based on Mercouri and Dassin's hit movie, Never on Sunday.  The press had informed the world of their working together on Spetses.  Mercouri's father had been Mayor of Athens and originally bought the home.

 

Hadjidakis had written the popular hit "Never on Sunday" for the film of the same name.]

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAh-RA6IjRQ

Honored Contributor
Posts: 9,739
Registered: ‎05-19-2012

Re: Say It Isn't So -- Charlie Watts Dead?

Drythe,

 

Like you, I'd love to travel and have new adventures again.  There is COVID-19, of course, but then there is my state of being, too.  I am so glad I was able to travel when I was young.

 

And yes, it was fortunate that I had some wealthy relatives in Greece, but I had an equally wonderful time with those who were still in the villages and were not so well off.

 

Believe it or not, up until 1967, my father's village had no electricity -- nor did the village of his sister, which was about an hour and a half away.  Let me tell you, some of my fondest memories are those of sitting outside at night beneath a canopy of stars that I've never experienced again in my lifetime.  No light pollution for miles around lights up the sky!

 

Fresh bread baked in an outdoor oven, milk from the goats, olives from the family olive groves.  And the olive oil!  Don't get me started.  Umm umm.  Then there was the goat (I'd never eaten that before) and lamb cooked on an outdoor spit.

Respected Contributor
Posts: 4,640
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Say It Isn't So -- Charlie Watts Dead?

The other Stones posted photo tributes to Charlie on their social media pages. 

 

Keith Richards:

 

May be an image of cymbal and indoor

 

Mick Jagger:

 

May be an image of 1 person, playing a musical instrument, cymbal and indoor

 

Ron Wood:

 

May be an image of 2 people and indoor

 

 

 

Valued Contributor
Posts: 833
Registered: ‎05-17-2010

Re: Say It Isn't So -- Charlie Watts Dead?

So sad

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 7,743
Registered: ‎03-15-2010

Re: Say It Isn't So -- Charlie Watts Dead?

[ Edited ]

@golding76 

 

What sweet memories...I would not have expected Petros to return from the table of Melina M.  You cannot blame him for loving the attention.

 

I've never been to Greece and likely will never go, but I know it is a beautiful place.  With all that sun and sea, I believe magic can happen...and it sounds like it did for you.

 

Those experiences you described were extraordinary by any measure.  Like gems in a necklace!

 

Thanks for sharing.