THE STORM
Much has been written over the years about the Rolling Stone's concert at Altamont Speedway in 1969. Using what can only be described as the worse judgement ever, the band employed members of the Hell's Angels motorcycle club as concert security. Most people remember that a gentleman named Meridith Hunter was stabbed to death by a couple of Angels towards the end of the Stones' show. What they don't seem to remember is that Hunter was pointing a gun at Mick Jagger at the time he was attacked. After the concert, Jagger tried to distance the group from the bikers, often degrading the Angels in interviews. This week, the BBC reported that the Hell's Angels actually tried to kill Jagger but were thwarted by bad weather. On their way by water to Jagger's Long Island, NY home, a storm caused the would be killers' boat to capsize, tossing them overboard. All this, of course, is courtesy of Tom Mangold, the host of an entertainment show on the BBC.
PASSING ON
Gary Gygax, co-creator of the "Dungeons and Dragons" board game, died this week at the age of 69. Cause of death was not given but authorities say Gygax and his wife, Gail, had been fighting recently and suspect she may have hurled an arcane death spell at him in anger.
I actually played this game once for 10 minutes in an apartment in Texas while visiting Scott Gilbert in 1980. Sadly, I will never get those 10 minutes back.
ROAD HOUSE TROUBLES
Very sad to see that guitarist Jeff Healey died this week. Healey, who was blind, died from a rare retinal cancer that he had been fighting since age 1, when he lost his sight. The musician, who played the guitar with the instrument laid flat across his lap, and his band were featured in the film "Road House."
Meanwhile Patrick Swayze, the star of "Road House," has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. One of my first duties as an intern in the promotions field was to drive Mr. Swayze, who was in Baltimore promoting the film "Youngblood," to Philadelphia. For almost 2 hours he endured all of my "Red Dawn" and "Outsiders" questions with a smile, sharing some great on set stories with me. Please keep him in your prayers.
AND THE OSCAR FOR 1985 SHOULD HAVE GONE TO...
