Yes, he would approve, but he's humble and wouldn't think it was not the Stones without him. To me, it's not.

Quote
Naturalust

Quote
Doxa
No Charlie, No Stones.

No Doxa.

No anything.

I hate the words 'love' or 'god' for their American nonsense and bullshit use but oh god, I truely loved that man.

- Doxa

Doxa, I have always loved your posts for god's sake...don't go away!

Huh, I have forgetten I did that post. That was my instant reaction and that is what happens when one writes something in the state of shock with no any kind of reflection...

So I won't go anywhere, but like I wrote just in another thread I am still so confused about the whole thing that I truely can't say anything about the future. Time to mourn still.

To paraphrase Ronnie, I have years prepared myself to the unevitable to happen some day... But when it does, well, it gets you anyhow no matter how much one is supposed to pre-thought or whatever about it.

Still can't really believe it, to be frank.

- Doxa

I think that all of us here on IORR are in a state of shock. Most of us were hoping for a return.

For decades now I have planned my life around their tours and now life will just not be the same.

I am so grateful I made the Miami show.

[www.youtube.com]

Quote
georgemcdonnell314
I think that all of us here on IORR are in a state of shock. Most of us were hoping for a return.

For decades now I have planned my life around their tours and now life will just not be the same.

I am so grateful I made the Miami show.

Me too George re: all you said. I was also at the Miami show (thank God) but I felt a lot of the people around me were not true fans. They just grabbed the tickets because others were afraid of the predicted hurricane and cancelled or couldn't make it due to the change in day. I enjoyed shows more depending on the the vibe of those around me, which was normally joyous and in happy hysterics.

Not just a drummer – a genre’: Stewart Copeland and Max Weinberg on Charlie Watts

[www.theguardian.com]

I've read a number of comments from people feeling a bit silly that they are so upset regarding the passing of someone they never met. Aside from saying that there's nothing wrong with feeling what you're feeling, I'll leave a quote I read when Bowie passed.

"We mourn our musical heroes not because we knew them but because they helped us know ourselves."

Surely the scheduled shows will be done, also because Charlie's absence was already foreseen and yet in a month it should be less painful.
But I think the Stones will not do anything after that, maybe a couple of dates for the 60th and I think they will release the new album which will be dedicated to Charlie and maybe it will contain a surprise as a tribute to him.
By now they were at the end regardless ... maybe they would have done a little tour for the 60th, but nothing too demanding.
I am Italian and I was amazed by the affection that even here in Italy was shown towards Charlie, yesterday many specials and tweats of Italian actors and singers.
I am very happy with this, because Charlie deserves it, a great man and a great drummer.

Quote
wanderingspirit66
Not just a drummer – a genre’: Stewart Copeland and Max Weinberg on Charlie Watts

[www.theguardian.com]

That’s a great piece. Thanks.

Copeland really understood and put words to what «the wobble» is. Nice!

Quote
downagain
I've read a number of comments from people feeling a bit silly that they are so upset regarding the passing of someone they never met. Aside from saying that there's nothing wrong with feeling what you're feeling, I'll leave a quote I read when Bowie passed.

"We mourn our musical heroes not because we knew them but because they helped us know ourselves."

Yes

Stewart nailed it. Well written…

Red Hot Chili Peppers Drummer Chad Smith: My Day With Charlie Watts

Smith got a lesson in curiosity, humility, and class when he spent a day with Watts in 2018

By HANK SHTEAMER
August 26, 2021

[www.rollingstone.com]

excellent read, thanks !

Quote
wanderingspirit66
Not just a drummer – a genre’: Stewart Copeland and Max Weinberg on Charlie Watts

[www.theguardian.com]

This is great, thanks for posting.
This sums up Charlie so well "Not just a drummer – a genre".

Any news about his funeral yet? How many people can attend a funeral in the UK during the pandemic"at this moment? Prince Philips'was limited to 30 I think...

He passed away on tuesday so the funeral would likely be held on saturday?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2021-08-26 17:36 by ribbelchips.

Quote
georgemcdonnell314
This pretty much says it all.

Take a read. It sure will make you think about the rest of them:

[www.msn.com]

This is one of the better articles about Charlie.
For those that might have passed it by, worth a few minutes for sure.

"There will never be a world without Charlie Watts, because his backbeat changed how the world sounds. The Rolling Stones’ legendary drummer got away with nothing but boss moves, for just about 60 years. For me, the Charlie mystique is all there in his five-second drum intro from “Let It Bleed.” It’s one of the Stones’ best tunes, yet it’s nothing but the band listening to Charlie play. Mick just tries to keep up with him, while the guitars try to keep up with Mick, but Charlie is the guy everybody else is working hard to impress. He made the Stones great by conceding nothing to them."

No, the funeral will not be on Saturday. Possibly later next week, I would imagine.

Quote
swiss
hi everyone...yesterday I was in the city of Boston--after a year of being in the boondocks of rural New Hampshire--and marveling at the people and buildings and general level of energy and activity, the vibrant green trees and grass in Boston Common and the swirl of humanity. Got a text from a friend who's, I guess you'd say, a "casual fan" of the Stones and who knows I am more than a "casual" fan. The text said--and I could sense sort of breathy excitement of someone pleased to be breaking the scoop--"Did you hear? Charlie Watts!" I said aloud to the air "Oh shit." And texted "Tell me it's good news." But alas...

There are times when things seem to stand still like in a movie--and sometimes it's because something amazing's happened and sometimes it's the opposite. That happened to me, standing there, in what 30 seconds before was vibrating with positivity, and I looked around, and no one knew...everything was the same for them...looked around, and no one knew.

I made it through the day and last night talked to good friends who are simpactico on the topic of the Stones, and tonight connected with a friend on Facebook and talked about Charlie and the fact he's not here on the Earth with us anymore...and he mentioned he'd been over here on IORR...

I was torn because I knew if I came over here to IORR I would cry again--and even more, perhaps, than I have so far (driving back to the New Hampshire sticks I listened to Exile twice through). But so many names here on IORR, familiar names from throughout the years, friends not seen and also not forgotten, we all have this bond---we all get what this means. Even when in the supermarket today I looked around for anyone to say to "OMG....Charlie's gone" but it wasn't in anyone's reality there but mine.

And here on IORR, with you friends in the Stones, so sweet to read your thoughts and feelings and how hard this has hit you too.

It's funny--I've learned the past years how differently people deal and grieve--and here on IORR is no exception.

I can barely really even say how I feel about Charlie's dying...I cannot even express what this means, or what Charlie's playing has meant...it's so deep, and I am so, so sad and feeling a sort of thud in the solar plexus.

Some people are already eloquent and I appreciate that. Some people are emotionally tongue-tied like me. Some people feel better reading articles or reading what Elton John or the Go-Gos or Bill Clinton have to say about Charlie (I don't care but I appreciate that the fact of their posting tributes is meaningful to others). But what means most to me--and I read every one of the 25 pages--is just the posts from people who are speaking from their hearts right now, whatever comes out--and knowing we're here for each other, and even when you might be somewhere where few or no people have any idea what a profound hit this is--IORR is a place (better, for me, for some reason, than social media) where we're gathering as a sort of tribute in itself for Charlie.

To everyone here, I'm so sorry for your loss...can't even imagine how much it hurts for his family, friends, and colleagues.

Thanks for posting this swiss, was great to read your thoughts this morning.

For me the grieving process has felt similar to when I have lost my brother, who was my main Stones influence and the reason I became such a lifelong fan. Rather than take a moment to feel, my tendency is "the show must go on", and to focus on processing the loss as quickly as I can, focusing on tributes and shared loss.

The gathering here on IORR is a tribute in itself and glad to see people, some of whom don't post here often anymore, come round to express themselves.

More details shared by Kenney Jones on the "timeline" of what happened, [www.mirror.co.uk]

"Kenney said he called Charlie at the beginning of June on his 80th birthday. He added: “I spoke to him at home – it was amazing that he reached 80 after everything he had been through such as having cancer."

"“He didn’t sound very great but he was wonderful to talk to and very friendly. He was so pleased that I had called and we laughed together about being on tour in the 80s.'Kenney said that just days after he spoke to Charlie, the Stones drummer went to hospital."

"He said: “I kind of half expected it as a month before he died I had been recording with Ronnie Wood and Rod Stewart to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Faces, which is now two years late. I spent a lot of time with Ronnie so I knew about Charlie and how he was doing. I knew it wasn’t good... so I wasn’t surprised."

Not that it really matters now but it does look like the situation was already very dire three weeks ago when the "optimistic PR" was made :-(

--------------
IORR Links : Essential Studio Outtakes CDs : Audio - History of Rarest Outtakes : Audio

Nice article about Charlie from the Economist (of all places) -

[www.economist.com]

The unlikely rock-and-roller
Charlie Watts’s drumming style helped define the Rolling Stones’ sound
It was understated but vital
Aug 25th 2021

THE ROLLING STONES might be best understood as a band with a split personality. On one side there have been those who hogged the front of the stage—Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood—musicians who didn’t so much play their instruments as flaunt them. But the band’s sound was rooted in its rhythm section: Bill Wyman on bass and, particularly, Charlie Watts on drums. If the lead musicians were dishevelled and dangerous, the backline was stylish and steady. It was a winning combination that formed the basis of one of the world’s most successful rock outfits.

Mr Watts, who died on August 24th aged 80, did not have rock and roll coursing through his veins. He was brought up on the jazz music of Charlie Parker and Gerry Mulligan. Indeed it was hearing Chico Hamilton drum on Mulligan’s “Walkin’ Shoes” that first persuaded him to take up the instrument. He had bought a banjo, with plans to play in a skiffle group. But, unable to get along with it, he removed the neck, placed it onto a stand and turned it into a snare.

He had never taken a lesson. Instead he learned simply by watching other drummers, in clubs like Ronnie Scott’s in London, and by imitating his jazz heroes’ recordings. Getting to see them in the flesh was difficult in Britain in the 1950s, though. The musicians’ union forbade America’s best swing and jazz bands from crossing the Atlantic to play, for fear they would be doing local musicians out of a job. (Instead they flew right over Britain and settled in Paris which, to Mr Watts’s annoyance, quickly became the jazz capital of Europe.)

After Mr Watts had spent years jamming around with jazz musicians, in 1961 Alexis Korner asked him to join his band, Blues Incorporated, to form the rhythm section with Jack Bruce, later of Cream. It was, according to London musical lore, the country’s first amplified rhythm and blues group, and the forerunner for the great British blues wave of the 1960s, that stretched from Led Zeppelin to Fleetwood Mac to, of course, the Rolling Stones. Mr Watts took the leap of styles in his stride. “Blues to me was just Charlie Parker playing slow,” he later said.

He took that measured sensibility with him when he joined the Stones in 1963. While contemporary drummers on the London scene, such as Ginger Baker and Keith Moon, would assault their snares and cymbals like brawlers in a pub car park, Mr Watts’s beat would instead coax Stones’ songs forward. The swing time he had grown up playing in his jazz days gave the band its heartbeat: incessant, vital and yet often taken for granted.

When you play the Stones’ more raucous records in your imagination—think “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”, say, or “Brown Sugar”—it is likely you hear the drums as pounding and aggressive. Concentrate on the actual recordings, however, and most will be surprised at just how understated Mr Watts’s playing really is. In both of those examples it at once allows Keith Richards’s bombastic guitar riffs to take centre stage, while also binding them into the overall song. It is the tension between the guitar straining at the leash, and Mr Watts’s steady grip on the choker, that gives a sense of pent-up excitement to the best Stones songs.

Indeed, Mr Watts spent his life confounding the image of the Neolithic rock drummer. He was usually to be found in bespoke Savile Row suits. He by and large avoided narcotic excesses (although he did, for a while, succumb during the 1980s). And while other drummers’ equipment grew ever more extravagant—with added gongs, cowbells and a circumference of tom-toms—Mr Watts kept his kit modest, true to his jazz roots. Using the “traditional” grip, in which one stick is held overhand and the other one under, gave him the light-touch feel that was his trademark.

Yet Mr Watts was, still, a versatile musician. For a while the Stones would “adapt with what music was in the air”, as Mr Wood once put it. That might require a four-on-the-floor disco beat, as on “Miss You”, the reggae feel of “Hey Negrita” or the samba of “Sympathy for the Devil”. But it was always jazz that seemed to pull him back. In between world tours, he would convene a big band, and record an album or play the clubs. Perhaps he never really had rock and roll in his blood. Ironically, that is one reason he became one of the best rock drummers who ever lived.

Drew

Dead & Company Debuts Rolling Stones Cover In Darien Center
Check out the band's tribute to the late Charlie Watts.

Dead & Company tour rolled into Darien Center, New York on Wednesday, where the band honored Charlie Watts one day after his death by debuting a cover of The Rolling Stones’ “The Last Time.” The group’s take on the Stones’ 1965 single came within last night’s second set at Darien Lake Amphitheater.



[www.jambase.com]

Blackberry Smoke & Allman Betts Band Cover The Rolling Stones In New York
The latest Spirit Of The South tour stop featured multiple Rolling Stones covers played one day after the death of Charlie Watts.



Blackberry Smoke and The Allman Betts Band resumed their Spirit Of The South tour with The Wild Feathers on Wednesday at New York City’s The Rooftop At Pier 17. Multiple tributes to Charlie Watts came in NYC one day after the drummer’s passing as The Allman Betts Band fit a Rolling Stones cover into their set and then teamed with BBS for another Stones classic later in the evening.

The Allman Betts Band opened with original “Savannah’s Dream” and then covered “Dead Flowers” off The Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers LP. Last night’s “Dead Flowers” was the third ever for the ABB as per Setlist.FM. The group led by Devon Allman and Duane Betts played their own “Carolina Song” before treating fans to a double dose of The Allman Brothers Band classics in “Blue Sky” and “Midnight Rider.” A run of originals ended the set.

Watch fan-shot video featuring some of the “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” collaboration below thanks to Janine Monti Louie:
[www.jambase.com]

@gunsnroses @SAP Center 25/08/21
[twitter.com]

Just one more from me. My first show was in 1969. My last show was Glendale (Phoenix) in 2019. Fifty years of my life with The Rolling Stones.

And always, always, it was "Charlie Watts on drums."

I didn't take a camera with me in 1969, but I never made that mistake again. The shot on the left is from 1972 at the Forum in L.A. The one on the right is from Glendale.

Remembering a legend.



[twitter.com]

Rock Concert: Wilco and Sleater-Kinney — Honoring the Spirit of Charlie Watts
Sleater-Kinney’s Carrie Brownstein gave Charlie Watts a shout-out, while Wilco’s Glenn Kotche displayed the words “Charlie is my Darling” (the title of a 1966 Stones tour documentary) on the head of his bass drum.


Wilco covers The Rolling Stones’ “Honky Tonk Women” with Corin Tucker at the Leader Bank Pavilion. Photo: Paul Robicheau.

Most every rock ‘n’ roll fan appreciates the graceful, swinging beat that Charlie Watts brought to the Rolling Stones. Count the musicians of Wilco and Sleater-Kinney among them as the two bands paid tribute to Watts, who died at age 80 on Tuesday, in their co-billed concert at Leader Bank Pavilion that evening.

Sleater-Kinney’s Carrie Brownstein gave Watts a shout-out for that inspiration, while Wilco’s Glenn Kotche displayed the words “Charlie is my Darling” (the title of a 1966 Stones tour documentary) on the head of his bass drum. And Sleater-Kinney’s Corin Tucker joined Wilco for a faithful encore of “Honky Tonk Women,” sharing a mic with Pat Sansone, who handled its famous cowbell while Kotche manned his bare-bones kit with some of Watt’s trademark mid-stroke pauses.
[artsfuse.org]

How the Rolling Stones' late drummer Charlie Watts indulged his love of jazz in New Orleans



When Charlie Watts visited the New Orleans Jazz Museum's "Drumsville" exhibit in July 2019, it wasn't as a dilettante.

A dedicated jazz student, collector and practitioner, Watts was already familiar with James Black, Baby Dodds and other New Orleans greats represented in the exhibit. He pored over the related text, photos and artifacts.

“Some people breeze through,” Jazz Museum director Greg Lambousy said. “He went section by section, very carefully. He really took his time and went through everything.”

Tuesday’s announcement that Watts had died in a London hospital at age 80 hit fans and fellow rock icons hard. Both Ringo Starr and, via video selfie, an unshaven Paul McCartney paid tribute to the man who powered the other side of the great “Beatles vs. Stones” debate.

While Mick Jagger and Keith Richards engaged in all sorts of shenanigans, Watts kept a lower profile on and off stage. He had little use for the typical trappings of rock stardom. He stayed married to his wife for 57 years, the duration of his time in the band. On tour, instead of trashing hotel suites, he sketched them.

Reserved, dapper, well-spoken and unflappably British, he was a gentleman jazz drummer at heart who also happened to occupy the drum chair in the world’s greatest rock ‘n’ roll band. He always seemed wholly unimpressed by the antics of his bandmates. In that sense, he was Keely Smith to Jagger’s Louis Prima.

And like Smith, Watts was essential to the act. He was versatile enough to color in everything from “Gimme Shelter” to “Honky Tonk Woman” to “Miss You.” In “Tumbling Dice,” “Start Me Up” and elsewhere, his drums tumbled into the arrangement and immediately locked into the necessary groove. What he lacked in flash he more than made up for in taste, feel and swing.

Watts and the rest of the Rolling Stones rattled the rafters of the Superdome five times over the decades. In a fitting tribute, the Stones' tongue logo was projected on the Dome's red-lit exterior Tuesday night.

Following a 1994 stop on the Voodoo Lounge Tour, another 25 years would pass before the Stones rolled back into New Orleans. They were initially slated to play the 50th anniversary New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in 2019, only to cancel so Mick Jagger could undergo heart surgery.

They instead added a stop at the Superdome to their postponed tour that summer. On Monday, July 15, 2019 — the show had been delayed 24 hours by the threat of Hurricane Barry — Watts, then 78, sat behind his modest drum kit looking like an especially prim parliamentarian.

But for two hours, he held the Stones together and stamped exclamation points on songs.

Jagger introduced Watts as being “fresh from Preservation Hall.” Watts, along with guitarist Ronnie Wood, had indeed made a pilgrimage to Preservation Hall that week. Watts took a turn behind the hall’s signature drums for an afternoon jam session with Charlie Gabriel on saxophone and Ben Jaffe on piano.

Jagger could just as well have said Watts was “fresh from the New Orleans Jazz Museum.”

The band had planned to spend a weeklong tour break recharging in the Big Easy. After Barry shuttered many local businesses, restaurants and music clubs, the Stones spent much of their time holed up at the Windsor Court Hotel.

But a hurricane, crossfire or otherwise, wasn’t going to keep Watts from “Drumsville: Evolution of the New Orleans Beat” inside the Old U.S. Mint.

Don McAulay, who is Watts' drum tech on the road, arranged the visit. Off the road, McAulay also cares for Watts’ extensive collection of historic drums and memorabilia.

In the months leading up to the visit, there were discussions, Lambousy said, about possibly combining elements of “Drumsville” and Watts’ personal collection for a touring exhibit in Europe. But the idea never got past the talking stage.

At the Jazz Museum, Watts had “Drumsville” to himself: the museum, like most businesses in New Orleans, was closed to the public because of Barry. But the staff opened it up for Watts.

The power was out at the building that morning; the lights flicked back on just before Watts arrived. “Drumsville” co-curator Bob Cataliotti guided the celebrity visitor through the exhibit.

“He was charming and witty,” Cataliotti said. “He meticulously went through, reading all the labels and narrative panels and watching all the videos. He was clearly absorbed in the content.”

But what most impressed Cataliotti was that, as they were leaving hours later, Watts “expressed his concern as to whether the two young women from the museum staff would be safe making their way home with the storm approaching.”

As a thank-you, Watts invited the museum crew to attend the Rolling Stones show at the Superdome as his guests; McAulay gave them a tour of the stage and a close-up peek at Watts’ drum kit.

When the Stones’ COVID-postponed No Filter Tour resumed this fall, they planned to make up their missed Jazz Fest date with a stand-alone Wednesday appearance at the Fair Grounds between the festival’s two October weekends.

But it wasn’t meant to be. First came the announcement that Watts would miss the tour because of an unspecified medical issue. Steve Jordan, an esteemed drummer who powered Keith Richards’ X-Pensive Winos side project, would fill in for Watts.

Then the 2021 Jazz Fest was canceled because of COVID’s surging delta variant.

For now, at least, the other dates on the Stones’ No Filter Tour are still on, starting Sept. 26 in St. Louis. Because they’d already planned to go on the road without Watts, his death likely won’t change that. The shows, assuming they don’t fall victim to COVID-19, will now serve as tributes.

The Rolling Stones have survived previous personnel changes. Founding guitarist Brian Jones was fired in 1969, then died a month later. His replacement, Mick Taylor, quit after a few years. The more durable Ronnie Wood then stepped in.

Bassist Bill Wyman left the band in the early 1990s. Watts reportedly recruited his replacement, former Miles Davis and Sting bassist Darryl Jones.

The conventional wisdom is that Jagger and Richards, the band's songwriting core and larger-than-life figureheads, are the only irreplaceable Stones.

But Watts, in his quiet, unassuming, jazzy way, was just as essential.
[www.nola.com]