The Stones

oh i love the stones

always have

when i was a boy in the 60s

my dad - knowing how much i loved music

called me in from playing 

to show me a tv show with them on it

baited and hooked

years later 

when keith had to play the benefit concert in oshawa

our local new station went live (CFTO - scarborough baby)

and there’s mick leaning into the crowd singing ‘starfucker’

i remember writhing about because my favourite rock star

was swearing on national TV and the censors didn’t have a clue

that was 79

mick’s lyrics are amazing

fat nouns and jangly adverbs

and keef is riffalicious

and with that i realize that

i don’t like people who don’t like the stones

i got to see the stones play the club shows in toronto

RPM, horseshoe, phoenix

i have all kinds of stories (just ask me)

i remember the set lists

the clothes

the audience

it was like seeing royalty

and isn’t that the point?

the stones are still out there

enduring well past the 'getting old' jokes

and riffing their hearts out

touring like no other band ever has before

committed man!

a while back - i spoke the above comment

someone retorted with ‘the beach boys have endured!’

i punched them in the face

i’m writing this from prison

drunk on cell block booze

we’ve been rehearsing the sticky fingers album

it’s been emotional 

and i’m happy to be amongst people i have genuine love for

the other night - i looked around the room during ‘waiting on a friend’

and realized that for 15 years, we’ve all been touring together 

in and out 

up and down

through and through

like bastardized royalty

one month bobby spent more time with us than he did his family

we belong on the road

that’s where the real musicians go

away

tonight we return to the roy thomson hall patio for 2 nights

the band is smart and tight

and happy

and i’m excited to be back on stage

it will be emotional 

i’ll be carrying the canoe 

but these songs elevate your mojo

and get you kicking at the stall

we’re playing in delaware this weekend

so expect the RTH shows to have a heavy dose of sticky fingers stuck to them

and of course my love of 'exile on main street' is well documented

so an unhealthy dose of those songs will also be featured

we won’t be playing miss you or satisfaction

this is a musician’s show

we want to shine

the entire week is being filmed for a episode of undercover boss

sometimes the world gets spinning on some kind of axis

that throws me off balance

and makes me feel out of sync and untested

but getting on stage with people you care about

and playing music that vibrates your soul

in venues that cloak you in cool

that’s the stuff that raises the dead off the battlefield 

hoists the flag

and gets you fighting another day

craig martin

august 1, 2018

amanda’s smoothie