Airport Meetings

Sunday night

A 1965-era Mick Jagger was walking through an airport, wearing a smart dark pinstriped suit and a pair of pistols sticking out at his hips, mainly for show. He was hoping to buy tickets for himself and a few others to fly to Morocco, but the flight was completely sold out, so he was walking up and down the line of travelers, hoping to make a deal. Word soon got around that he was there. Jagger came upon a tall black man who was waiting in line, and instinctively stopped, looking up into his face. The tall man said, "That's a nice suit... and those pistols are new." Mick opened his coat, revealing the guns and their white handles; he was impressed that the man had noticed them. The tall man motioned Mick over to a table. It turned out that he was a reporter -- he was a trained observer. Maybe he and Mick could strike a deal. The reporter said, "I'm writing a book about rock in Hamburg. Can you tell me about your experiences there?" Mick flicked his cigarette into an ashtray and reacted with interest. He said, "Yeh -- we opened for Roy Orbison there. I'd forgotten all about that." Later, after he'd given his interview and made the deal for the tickets, he and his entourage waited in a private V.I.P. lounge for his flight to take off.

Meanwhile, I was in the same airport, waiting with my own entourage of friends to take our next journey, to London. We were wealthy playboys (and girls) and could fly wherever we wished, on a whim. Suddenly my old high school friend Sally C. burst into our V.I.P. lounge. She said, "I saw you and decided that I'm going to join you on your trip!" I rolled my eyes and said, "Great."

*****

I saw a book at Restoration Hardware this weekend called "365 Days of the Rolling Stones," which featured tons of great photographs of the band in the 1960s, some of which showed them in striped suits. The Beatles played in Hamburg, but I'm not aware that the Stones every played there.

The only photos I've ever seen of Mick Jagger with guns were from his movie role as Ned Kelly.