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paulspendel
Why always pick on the ones who really get out there and do some real research? The guy I interviewed is sick and old now. As you might imagine, i did not interfere with the way he wrote down his memories. No redaction whatsoever. I was planning to release a lot more, but why would i if people like you react in such a petty manner without having any real understanding?

The guy you interviewed is sick and old now and that's why he sometimes misspell names, but all other things he says are 100% truth!

Do you really think this is a new story?!

Btw. what would interest me - how was the agreement/contract after Brians death between Stones/Klein and Brian's heirs? Especially when they made more and more money for longer than anybody had thought.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-04-17 16:17 by CousinC.

An insider, wanting to stay anonymous, recalls the Stones last photo session with Ethan Russell.

I have to guess it must have been circa spring 1969 that all five R. Stones were ever together in one & the same place -- the occasions, (1) a photo of them lying flat on the ground @ St. Catherine's Dock in East London; and (2) the photo you see on the front jacket of Through The Past Darkly. These were two ideas I had had and had put to Ethan Russell, who completely miscarried the first idea in terms of what I had had in mind (a white backdrop so as to give the illusion of guys floating). Anyway, as for (2), the photo-session took place in a photo-studio in a mews just 100 yards or so from South Kensington Underground Station; and again, as per both occasions, I had had to telephone Brian warning him he HAD to attend (or he'd find himself out of the band). During the course of (2) there was a break -- a pause of some kind for a half hour or so -- and Charlie asked me if I didn't want to join him for a pint of beer at a local pub. So off we set and as we walked up the mews I looked around to discover, to my amazement (and mild horror), that we were being followed by the four other members of the band (and no one else). My discomfort was simply that -- I did not fit, I was a 'gooseberry' (as one says in UK) in that situation, yet I could hardly back out. So at risk of being mistaken by members of the drinking public as one of the band (yeah, I too had long hair), I promptly adopted the persona of man-servant and dealt with all matters at the bar, ordering the drinks and taking them over to the table where the five Stones sat.

There shortly followed a bizarre episode -- after a few minutes of stunned silence (don't forget, the band were [over-]dressed for the occasion), a small group of customers started snickering, very audibly, and 'taking the piss'. Whereupon Keith smashed down his glass of beer loudly on the table, thereby commanded silence, and simply stared those guys down with an angry look on his face. Mind, this story does not concern Brian as such, but I tell it because I am as good as certain that that was the very last occasion when the five members of the band were all together as one. I might also mention that, by then, Brian was showing signs of incipient obesity, and looked pretty wrecked by comparison to his younger self. And what perhaps has been overlooked with all the talk about drugs is that he had become habituated to vodka -- he would attend meetings only if he was pretty assured (by Jo B.) that there'd be a bottle of vodka there (that he would consume with the pure purple grape-juice which JB always kept in stock in the office).

thanks, great story.

incipient obesity?

bloated looking from drinking I guess..

did they talk about music at all while at the pub?

You are welcome, Duke.

Outstanding story, thanks. Does anyone have a link to the pic handy?

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jazzbass
Outstanding story, thanks. Does anyone have a link to the pic handy?

See this thread (scroll down for photos from that occasion):
[forums.stevehoffman.tv]

This is great -- thanks, paulspendel. Any more stories/info you can share? I love reading this stuff.

Thanks for the support Watts fan, tomorrow i will post some more.

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paulspendel
An insider, wanting to stay anonymous, recalls the Stones last photo session with Ethan Russell.

I have to guess it must have been circa spring 1969 that all five R. Stones were ever together in one & the same place -- the occasions, (1) a photo of them lying flat on the ground @ St. Catherine's Dock in East London; and (2) the photo you see on the front jacket of Through The Past Darkly. These were two ideas I had had and had put to Ethan Russell, who completely miscarried the first idea in terms of what I had had in mind (a white backdrop so as to give the illusion of guys floating). Anyway, as for (2), the photo-session took place in a photo-studio in a mews just 100 yards or so from South Kensington Underground Station; and again, as per both occasions, I had had to telephone Brian warning him he HAD to attend (or he'd find himself out of the band). During the course of (2) there was a break -- a pause of some kind for a half hour or so -- and Charlie asked me if I didn't want to join him for a pint of beer at a local pub. So off we set and as we walked up the mews I looked around to discover, to my amazement (and mild horror), that we were being followed by the four other members of the band (and no one else). My discomfort was simply that -- I did not fit, I was a 'gooseberry' (as one says in UK) in that situation, yet I could hardly back out. So at risk of being mistaken by members of the drinking public as one of the band (yeah, I too had long hair), I promptly adopted the persona of man-servant and dealt with all matters at the bar, ordering the drinks and taking them over to the table where the five Stones sat.

There shortly followed a bizarre episode -- after a few minutes of stunned silence (don't forget, the band were [over-]dressed for the occasion), a small group of customers started snickering, very audibly, and 'taking the piss'. Whereupon Keith smashed down his glass of beer loudly on the table, thereby commanded silence, and simply stared those guys down with an angry look on his face. Mind, this story does not concern Brian as such, but I tell it because I am as good as certain that that was the very last occasion when the five members of the band were all together as one. I might also mention that, by then, Brian was showing signs of incipient obesity, and looked pretty wrecked by comparison to his younger self. And what perhaps has been overlooked with all the talk about drugs is that he had become habituated to vodka -- he would attend meetings only if he was pretty assured (by Jo B.) that there'd be a bottle of vodka there (that he would consume with the pure purple grape-juice which JB always kept in stock in the office).

Thanks for sharing this pub episode story, paulspendel.

I an only imagine how these five - plus one - a bit over-dressed odd-looking long-hair dudes might have looked to the locals back then... Anyway, they were not doing the photo session for "Have You Seen Yuor Mother. Baby" this time, which I am sure was a helluva scene, no matter how much 'that' kind of thing is in English blood like Jagger claims...

Sad to think that this was really probably the last time those five original Stones were together. There is always something tragical in those 'last time ever' moments, and nobody knowing that yet... And Keith smashed his beer glass, of course...

- Doxa

Thanks Paul. It's interesting that your source says that Brian was told to attend or he'd be out of the band.

Yes, thanks for posting this, paulspendel!

The date was May 21, 1969.

This is what Bill wrote in Stone Alone about it:

...we attracted people with original ideas, such as the photographer Ethan Russell.
For the cover of Through The Past Darkly technicians had been at St Katherine´s Dock, next to Tower Bridge, from 8.30 a.m. on 21 May, setting up a hydraulic platform.
We lay on the ground in a star shape for the shots, which we used on the inside cover.
Back in Ethan´s sudio, he had set up a huge sheet of glass and took pictures of us with our faces pressed up against it.
He later had us throw chairs and a brick at it until it cracked to enable another imaginative shot.

Ethan Russell says (quite insistently) that the shoot took place in the winter of 1968.
May 1969 seems more likely to me but perhaps there were two shoots.

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with sssoul
Ethan Russell says (quite insistently) that the shoot took place in the winter of 1968.
May 1969 seems more likely to me but perhaps there were two shoots.

Maybe it was a cold May-day...

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rootsman

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with sssoul
Ethan Russell says (quite insistently) that the shoot took place in the winter of 1968.
May 1969 seems more likely to me but perhaps there were two shoots.

Maybe it was a cold May-day...

Russell's recollection is based on the timing of this shoot and the Beatles' Let It Be shoot, not on the weather.
He's sure this shoot took place first. I suspect he confused it with the Rock & Roll Circus,
but he wasn't open to negotiations. Maybe he's revised his recollection in the meantime, though :E

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paulspendel
Hi, we are working on the DVD with all kinds of interesting footage and interviews. Should be out in 2015. there is still a lead I did not follow up to my satisfaction: a living police officer in the know. I just can't figure out how to make him talk.

There's no answer to that!

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Nikkei
Wasn't there recently a group called "Rolling Stones Brothers" claiming to use the name since before 1962?

y

A number of companies trade under the name Rolling Stones.
I suspect Stones Inc. cant do anything about it, though if it was a new boyband or of some showbiz activity it might be different.

Maybe "Rollin' Stones" would be ok though?
Perhaps not.

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with sssoul

Russell's recollection is based on the timing of this shoot and the Beatles' Let It Be shoot, not on the weather.
He's sure this shoot took place first. I suspect he confused it with the Rock & Roll Circus,
but he wasn't open to negotiations. Maybe he's revised his recollection in the meantime, though :E

I reckon Ethan is confusing the spring 1969 photo sessions with photos he took at their Bermondsey rehearsal space and at their homes (Inside and outside) in autumn 1968.