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Shooting "I Go Wild" January 1995
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Topic: Don't know if anyone posted this Return to archive
01-02-03 10:03 AM
nankerphelge Touring with the Rolling Stones
By Debra Scacciaferro, Daily Record

The Rolling Stones have always been known as the bad boys of rock 'n' roll. At their Altamont concert in 1969, a fan died during a melee with Hells Angels motorcyclists hired as security guards. Later the band made headlines with Mick Jagger's well-publicized romances and divorces, and lead guitarist Keith Richards' problems with drugs.

But trumpeter Kent Smith paints a very different picture of the Rolling Stones. Smith, 45, of West Milford, took this year off from his job as music teacher at Pope John XXIII Regional High School in Sparta to tour with the band.

Six years ago, when Smith first toured with the Stones, Keith Richards and his wife, Pattyi, offered to babysit for Smith's 8-year-old daughter while Smith took his wife out to dinner.

"Everyone said, 'You trusted him to babysit your daughter?" Smith said, smiling at his now 14-year-old daughter, Nicole. "I guess that sounds odd to people who don't know them. But when I asked Nicky what it was like being with them, she said, 'Just like the Brady Bunch.'"

Smith laughed at the incongruous image. "Keith and Patti and their kids and Nicole all watched TV together."

He thought a moment, trying to sum up the Stones. "Mick keeps to himself on tour, but the rest of the guys are just dudes. Their bad boy thing, it's all carefully calculated and marketed. It's an act."

So much for the bad boys of rock 'n' roll.

If the Stones have mellowed in the long years of their legendary career, they have not changed in musical respects. They are still considered "The World's Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Band" and still play one hell of a live concert, Smith reported.

In fact, Smith's students will benefit from the Stones' Jan. 18 concert for HBO at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Smith has donated two concert tickets and backstage passes for the show, to be raffled off by the school. The proceeds will benefit the high school concert band and studio jazz ensemble. Raffle tickets will be on sale Thursday at Pope John High School, 28 Andover Road, Sparta.

"The school is very supportive of the bands, but we always have a wish list," Smith said. "A set of orchestral chimes costs five grand." A set of marimbas also costs about $5,000. Smith also hopes to set up a musical computer lab in 2004, where students can learn to compose on a multiple instrumental digital interface program, just as professionals do.

Smith spoke at his home in West Milford last week while on a holiday break. Tall and slim, with dark, short-cropped, curly hair, the only sign of his rock 'n' roll status was the official tour sweatshirt he wore, embossed in red with the Rolling Stones "Licks" logo.

Instead of heading for the classroom in September, he headed for Boston for the first concert. When his students return to school this week, he'll be heading to Montreal, and then to a dozen more concerts in the United States, before flying to Australia, Japan, China and Europe, ending in London in August.

This tour is promoting the Rolling Stones' latest double CD, "Forty Licks," a compilation of 36 past hits, including "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," "Ruby Tuesday" and "Brown Sugar." Four new songs also were recorded for the CD: the single "Don't Stop," "Stealing My Heart" (which Jagger describes as "garage rock with a hook"), and two ballads, "Keys to Your Love" and "Losing My Touch" (the latter features Richards on vocals).

When the Stones began rehearsing for the tour, they listened to the original recordings they had made 30 years ago. "Then they got up and played it, just like it was 30 years ago," Smith said, admiringly. "But they've never been a studio band. They don't use a click track. They don't record one track at a time. They've always gone in there and set up their instruments and played together, just the way they do on the road. That's why they're so good in concert."

The Stones also don't push themselves on tour, Smith said. "They'll do a leg (of the tour) and give you a nice break, do another leg and take a break. That's why they've lasted so long. The Stones kind of invented the giant world tour, anyway, so they've learned from their early mistakes."

The band has its own aircraft, and health-conscious Jagger travels with a personal trainer and a vocal coach. Wives, kids and grandchildren join the tour at regular intervals, unlike many bands that ban wives and girlfriends.

"The Stones have figured out how to keep it a family thing," Smith said. "It's just healthier."

Smith's daughter Nicole has a string of five backstage passes from the concerts they have attended so far. She also keeps a tour journal, with written impressions and mementos, like a piece of confetti from the show and a stick of incense favored by one of the band members. "The entire backstage smells like this," she said, tapping the page.

Smith's wife, Deborah, a musician, songwriter, and computer teacher at St. Joseph's School in Newton, plans to join the tour again in Europe. "We try to make it educational," she said. "I try to hit museums and important sights, so we get the most out of traveling."

Touring with the Rolling Stones has definitely spoiled Kent Smith. "I guarantee I'll never go out with another band after the Stones," he said. "They treat you like a king. You don't reach in your pockets for anything. They're very nice people. They kind of keep it almost like a family."

Still, there is also the glamour of meeting famous stars like Jack Nicholson, James Taylor, designer Tommy Hilfiger, Lenny Kravitz, Sheryl Crow and Sarah "Fergie" Ferguson. And the drama of being driven back to the hotel accompanied by screaming police escorts, which have, on occasion, even delivered fresh ice backstage when the band ran out.

All that is a far cry from Smith's middle-class childhood in North Dakota and Minnesota. His father, an FBI agent with a passion for jazz, played recordings of jazz pianists Earl Hines, Fats Waller and Art Tatum.

"There was no rock 'n' roll in the house or anything like that," Smith recalled. "In fact, later, when I'd hear rock 'n' roll, it sounded unmusical. It took me till much later to appreciate rock 'n' roll."

His older brother played trombone. "I got going on the trumpet in third grade," Smith said. "I enjoyed playing, showed off, took piano lessons. When I got into high school, I thought, I don't want to work for a living; I'll do music. Little did I know how much work it is."

He met his wife, who had grown up in New Milford, Pa., at college in Bloomington, Ind., where both majored in music. "We were swinging our way through college," he recalled. "Then we moved to Indianapolis and got our feet wet as professional musicians." But soon they were in New Jersey, close to the New York jazz scene.

"I knew the trumpet players in L.A. were fierce," Smith said. "At the time, the talent pool wasn't as deep out here, so I thought there might be more of a place for a guy who is a good player, but not a prodigy."

Smith freelanced with Latin bands and toured with singer Paul Anka before joining a horn section formed by Chris Botti (who has since played with Sting and Paul Simon). The group did studio recordings and TV jingles. Hearing the Rolling Stones were looking for horns, they auditioned in Toronto for the "Voodoo Lounge" tour.

"We didn't really think they would take us," Smith recalled, "because we were not really rock 'n' roll guys. We were sort of like music school nerds. We knew we played better than those guys, but we didn't look the part."

But their preparation impressed the Stones' tenor saxophone player, Bobby Keys, who had played on "Brown Sugar," and they were hired. They followed up with the "Bridges to Babylon" tour in 1997, and the "No Security" arena tour in 1999. After that, Smith was ready to quit touring, and sent out resumes to several high schools.

Neva Rae Powers, the music teacher at Pope John High School, hired him on the spot. Originally a singer and Broadway actress, she had taken over the music department after the death of her husband, Frank Kubik, who had built up the school's music program.

"I didn't want to see all the work he did go to waste," Powers said. "The program continued to grow, and I stayed on for seven years. I was doing everything."

Now, she shares music classes with liturgical expert and choral teacher Kelly Dachisen, who also runs the school's three choirs. Smith, in his first two years, expanded the concert band and started a studio jazz ensemble - a 25-piece band that is often asked to appear at outside conferences and concerts.

"I liked him from the first," Powers said. "He's an easygoing guy and very knowledgeable. We all come from a performing background. So we can offer the students a well-rounded program."

"For the concert band, we don't play Sousa marches," Smith said. "We do Duke Ellington and Antonio Carlos Jobim medleys ("The Girl From Ipanema"). In real life, where are you going to play Sousa? I want them to be prepared for the real world."

The real world of the Rolling Stones tour? Sure, he said. The Rolling Stones have excellent business sense, a commitment to playing live and a professionalism that newer bands don't have.

"You get the feeling they're more interested in fashion than in music," he said, ticking off rap stars who can't play, producers who keep session musicians waiting for hours, and record companies that save money by using electronic music instead of live musicians.

"I've been exceptionally fortunate to get a gig of this standing (with the Rolling Stones)," Smith said. "Not a lot of guys get to do it. I like to think that I can bring my students the professional prospective."

At the very least, he has some great stories to pass on. Like the time Mick Jagger called the horn section together after finishing dress rehearsal. Since there was no audience, the horn players had been milling around, talking quietly during the songs they weren't required to play.

"I don't know much about playing the horn," Jagger told them dryly. "But I have learned one thing in my days of touring. It's always better for the audience if you look like you're interested in what's happening on stage."

01-02-03 10:26 AM
FPM C10 Thanks for posting that. I like this guy's trumpet playing - the break he did in "Out of Control", with the mute, was a really nice touch, and it was different every night. He's no Miles Davis but he does a good job.

But, jeez, what happened to the days when the Stones hired junkies for the horn section? Now it's Jr High band directors!
01-02-03 10:27 AM
jb Jim Price!!! As good as , or better than BK...
01-02-03 10:28 AM
nankerphelge Not only a junior high teacher but at a Catholic school no less!! Hey we should see if we can get some of those raffle tix!!!
01-02-03 10:29 AM
jb I'll bid on them if you get me the site.
01-02-03 10:35 AM
nankerphelge I called the school -- the tix are open to the public but have to be purchased today before 3pm. Anyone live near Sparta, NJ??
01-02-03 10:39 AM
jb I'm interested in the Backstage passes...
01-02-03 10:41 AM
nankerphelge Psssst! jb! Everyone is interested in the backstage passes!!
01-02-03 10:42 AM
jb Right.but not everyone has 5k to blow...
01-02-03 12:32 PM
parmeda God Bless ya jb!

Happy New Year!
01-02-03 01:53 PM
jb Hello Pam...Hope you had a great New Years !!!! Believe it or not, I had to sit through a Meatloaf concert.
01-02-03 02:14 PM
Joey " Right.but not everyone has 5k to blow..."

<----- did someone say BLOW !!!!!!!!!!!


Easy little buddy ................


Never say " Blow " to the Joester !

{{{{{ J }}}}}}}
{{{{{ O }}}}}}}
{{{{{ E }}}}}}}
{{{{{ Y }}}}}}}


01-02-03 02:15 PM
Highwire Rob J.B.,

Does Ellen Foley tour to do the female vocals on Paradise By The Dashboard Lights?

Did they have a hottie doing that live with him?

I don't suppose Phil Rizzuto goes on tour these days to do his classic part.

--Rob.
[Edited by Highwire Rob]
01-02-03 02:18 PM
jb She was a really sexy brunette, who was the highlight of the show..She actually sang 3 songs before Loaf came out....
The Rizzuto part is taped in....The thing is, Meatloaf has a few good songs, but you have to suffer through some horrible stuff before he gets to them...Nontheless, a crowd of about 2k at Mizner Amphitheater.
01-02-03 04:19 PM
LadyJane What a great story, Nanker! Thanks for sharing! I've always had a special place in my heart for Keith! (Sigh) He's the ultimate outlaw rocker with a heart of gold. Speaking of gold, Santa brought me the Criterion Collection edition of "Gimme Shelter". It's a must see for all you Stonesians!! The additional footage of Keith and Mick mixing "Little Queenie" is priceless. Seeing Keith circa '69 with those tight paisley pants just makes my, well, um, I'll stay ladylike and say "he makes me swoon". Okay all you macho comedians, can't wait for your replies.

LadyJ.
01-02-03 08:20 PM
mick&keith Interesting stuff...thanks for posting this!