| 6th November 2006 11:40 AM |
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| charlotte |
The New Yorker:
SHATTERED
WANTED: S.W.F., LOVES KEEF
by Shauna Lyon
Issue of 2006-11-13
Posted 2006-11-06
The persistence of the Rolling Stones, like that of diphtheria or kudzu, is a riddle of nature. As a band, they are easy to mock: a collection of wealthy gents adding to their fortunes each year by replaying their tunes of sexual dissatisfaction and satanic dread. The Stones are not so much a band as a corporate juggernaut like Citibank or Microsoft, and an enduring medical miracle: Can your grandfather even climb a tree, much less fall out of one, bash his head, survive, and still remember the changes on “Sister Morphine”?
As a matter of fiduciary responsibility, the Stones almost always play vast venues like Giants Stadium––a date at the Garden is considered très intime––and the Baby Boomer fan comes to the event with three beers, two or more indulgent children, and the keys to the minivan; the Boomer then watches Mick and Keef on huge screens as the real Mick and Keef scuttle around on the stage. Martin Scorsese, who is working on a documentary feature about the Stones, wanted a much smaller venue—something less Leni Riefenstahl, more Ingmar Bergman––and so the band agreed to play a couple of nights at the twenty-eight-hundred-seat Beacon Theatre, the Art Deco gem on the Upper West Side.
The theatre’s orchestra section was made even smaller because Scorsese had set up seventeen large movie cameras; there were also three runways built to thrust out into the crowd, the better for Mick to do his prancing thing. Perhaps the most important equipment required, however, was a suitable-looking audience. Bill Clinton’s charitable foundation had taken up a block of tickets for one of the concerts, but it would certainly not do, for Scorsese’s purposes, to have John Podesta playing air guitar in the front row.
And so the movie people had advertised for, and summoned, a flock of camera-ready fans through Shidoobee, a Stones Internet message board. In order to be considered, Shidoobees, as the fans call themselves, had to submit a photo and then wait to be called. If they were selected, they would be paid seventy-five dollars to attend the concert. The producers were evidently underwhelmed by the sexiness of the group on the first night, and so they took special pains for the second show, issuing a set of revised instructions to all would-be seat fillers:
You should be dressed trendy, sexy, hip. Do not come looking sloppy or disheveled. Women really glam it up, but not trashy. You can wear Rolling Stones shirts or other band shirts but please do NOT wear the following: no fan club shirts, no logos (Nike, Coca-Cola), nothing too over the top and outrageous (wigs, crazy hats, etc.) and do not wear WHITE. . . .
You will not be allowed to purchase alcohol. Again, you are not just attending a concert, you are working.
MOST IMPORTANT NOTE: You guys will be in the very front of the stage and will be the only people on camera for the documentary. We really need high energy. Dance, sing along, cheer on the band. They need your energy to play a really amazing show.
On the first night, a forty-four-year-old Shidoobee from Levittown named Debi Gula arrived at P.S. 87, where the extras had been asked to convene, wearing a black leather vest covered with Stones buttons and decorated, on the back, with an elaborately sequinned lips logo. “Since ’81, I’ve missed one tour,” she said. “The farthest back I’ve been was sixteenth row, in Hartford.”
Once inside the theatre, the hopeful extras stood in line in the aisle of the orchestra, waiting to be told where to go. An assistant picked through the queue: young ones, small ones, cute ones. A pregnant fan narrowly escaped being turned away.
“What are they looking for?” one woman asked nervously.
After a spry set from the legendary Buddy Guy, various assistants started rearranging the crowd in order to create just the right blend of sex, youth, and spontaneity. Gula and another woman were positioned at the foot of stage left, Keith’s side. Several grizzled Shidoobees who had been in the front row were moved to the rear, replaced by newly arrived statuesque young blondes in tight jeans and boots.
In the pause before the Stones came on, a few more women were brought in. A roving crew member murmured into a walkie-talkie, “I don’t have any more babes.” Albert Maysles, the surviving director of the 1970 Stones documentary, “Gimme Shelter,” stood at the front of the stage, smiling beatifically, using a handheld video camera to pan the crowd. Scorsese was nowhere to be seen. Within a few minutes, Jagger was preening and singing duets with Jack White and Christina Aguilera. In contrast to the highly managed vibe of the rest of the evening, the performance itself was stripped-down and raw. Some of the statuesque seventy-five-dollar women looked bored, some walked out. But when the band played “Satisfaction,” for an encore, many of the remaining pretty girls bounced up and down and even sang along.
Debi Gula made the cut for both nights, and she noticed the transformation from one to the next. “Diehard fans got screwed out of this,” she said. “Honestly, it sucks.” But when she was asked how she enjoyed the show, her eyes sparkled. “Did you see Keith give me the pelvic thrust? Some people think he’s God, others think it’s time to go to the bathroom when he’s on. You never get up when Keith sings.”
http://www.newyorker.com/printables/talk/061113ta_talk_lyon
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| 6th November 2006 11:47 AM |
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| Joey |
Great Read !!!!
Thanks . |
| 6th November 2006 11:49 AM |
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| jb |
embarrassing and humiliating ....what a disgrace to do this to the fans...and it will show in the dvd just like Mick's LA show with the paid models... |
| 6th November 2006 11:58 AM |
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| Saint Sway |
not only have I never seen a group of hot models in the front row off a Stones show like they had set up at the Beacon... I've also never seen a group of 100 models in the front row of any bands show. It just doesnt happen. Its gonna look so staged and phony. A horrible idea. Especially in 2006. No bands do this shit for their dvds anymore. Just embarrassing. Stones are out of touch. This film will reveal them as posers. |
| 6th November 2006 01:53 PM |
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| briankilledme |
funny stuff. |
| 6th November 2006 02:03 PM |
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| Lethargy |
quote:
Saint Sway wrote:
not only have I never seen a group of hot models in the front row off a Stones show like they had set up at the Beacon... I've also never seen a group of 100 models in the front row of any bands show. It just doesnt happen. Its gonna look so staged and phony. A horrible idea. Especially in 2006. No bands do this shit for their dvds anymore. Just embarrassing. Stones are out of touch. This film will reveal them as posers.
This story is sickening on so many levels...
Do they honestly think THIS is the way to make an exciting documentary? With phony politicos and staged pseudo-fans pre-selected?
I've got an alternative: how about fill the place top to bottom with hard core stones fans like the folks on this board, and/or fan club members! There's all the genuine excitement you need. Less work than trying to fake something that need not be faked.
I just don't understand this band and their management. They're the lamest out there in terms of fan appreciation and fan-friendly policies. So many bands out there are doing it right - Crowes, Pearl Jam, Petty, etc. - why can't the stones?
ARGH!!! |
| 6th November 2006 02:05 PM |
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| jb |
100% correct lethargy... |
| 6th November 2006 02:10 PM |
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| Ten Thousand Motels |
quote:
jb wrote:
embarrassing and humiliating ....what a disgrace to do this to the fans...and it will show in the dvd just like Mick's LA show with the paid models...
Only Hef is for real.
[Edited by Ten Thousand Motels] |
| 6th November 2006 02:15 PM |
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| jb |
quote:
Ten Thousand Motels wrote:
Only Hef is for real.
and they kow-tow to that old toupee wearing bag simply to get exposure with the shoot... |
| 6th November 2006 02:24 PM |
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| Saint Sway |
its like Tom Jones staff hiring woman to throw panties onstage at him in Vegas |
| 6th November 2006 02:29 PM |
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| jb |
quote:
Saint Sway wrote:
its like Tom Jones staff hiring woman to throw panties onstage at him in Vegas
Exactly..and equally embarrassing,,,is it possible Jagger is so out of touch? We always loved them b/c they were so 'cool", but has the bloom really fallen that far off the rose? can't they see howe gay this is? |
| 6th November 2006 02:30 PM |
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| WJ |
quote:
Saint Sway wrote:
its like Tom Jones staff hiring woman to throw panties onstage at him in Vegas
Those women are hired?!?!
Nothing is real anymore; even "reality" shows are totally staged. |
| 6th November 2006 02:35 PM |
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| Saint Sway |
the simple fact is that the young girls that they filled the front section with CANT AFFORD Stones tickets even if they had any remote interest in the band - which they dont. I guarantee they dont listen to ANY rock music. Especially classic rock.
the people who can afford the tickets and who would be genuinely freaked out excited to be there are the ones that they shooed away
the Stones are my favorite band. But they are cretins. No band treats fans worst. |
| 6th November 2006 02:36 PM |
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| Some Guy |
I'm feeling an Ishtar! |
| 6th November 2006 02:37 PM |
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| WJ |
quote:
Some Guy wrote:
I'm feeling an Ishtar!
Hey, are you a friend of Tony's? |
| 6th November 2006 02:40 PM |
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| Some Guy |
quote:
WJ wrote:
Hey, are you a friend of Tony's?
don't think so. |
| 6th November 2006 10:36 PM |
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| sammy davis jr. |
I don't blame them.... who'd want fat ugly people on their documentary? |
| 7th November 2006 12:14 AM |
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| Bitch |
Regarding the casting of the actors as the extras, this was not done by the RS it was controlled by Martin Scorsese. He made the decision to hire professional actors because its a movie! I saw them, and they looked great, wearing studded clothes, red leather, lots of accessories, sequined jackets, trendy jewelery etc to look the part. They really looked good, a hundred times better than the actual fans. Once I saw the two groups side by side, I realized Mr. Scorsese knows what he's doing and by hiring the actors he got the look he was after.
Lets see, since I was one of the extras that got the ax, I was very upset, even crying when I didnt get in, and the paid actors did. I dont think I looked like shit, but I dont look 20 either! It's not an opinion that the actors were 19 and 20, and the actual fans were 40+. That is a fact that I can do absolutely nothing to change. I'm not saying it was the right decision to use actors, only that they looked younger & hipper, and it was the director's decision so I dont think MICK or the STONES had a say in it. I wish I could have been a part of it. I hated being rejected for the movie. I'm still mad about it!
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| 7th November 2006 12:28 AM |
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| MrPleasant |
quote:
Bitch wrote:
Once I saw the two groups side by side, I realized Mr. Scorsese knows what he's doing and by hiring the actors he got the look he was after.
Maybe Scorsese should have hired De Niro.
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| 7th November 2006 12:47 AM |
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| concerned citizen |
quote:
sammy davis jr. wrote:
I don't blame them.... who'd want fat ugly people on their documentary?
How many people here are sick to death of the summit spammers? It is unseemly.
I think they took that into account too, and only hired a handful of young shidoobee newbies. They have lurkers, and there is a reason why Rock Off people were not called. Namely, the summit group.
[Edited by concerned citizen] |
| 7th November 2006 06:13 AM |
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| stonedinaustralia |
quote:
jb wrote:
embarrassing and humiliating
sadly jb, i concur
the dream is over? (finally?)
as st. sway has say - "that's posin'" |
| 7th November 2006 07:37 AM |
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| glencar |
I would personally rather see a hot young chick at the front of the stage rather than some hausfrau from Levittown wearing her tacky vest. That said, I think the fact is that most fans are more like the latter & this film will look silly if they only show the audience but most of the film will naturally concentrate on what's up on the stage. |
| 7th November 2006 07:37 AM |
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| glencar |
BTW Nice article from the NYer. |
| 7th November 2006 07:58 AM |
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| Gazza |
quote:
Lethargy wrote:
This story is sickening on so many levels...
Do they honestly think THIS is the way to make an exciting documentary? With phony politicos and staged pseudo-fans pre-selected?
I've got an alternative: how about fill the place top to bottom with hard core stones fans like the folks on this board, and/or fan club members! There's all the genuine excitement you need. Less work than trying to fake something that need not be faked.
I just don't understand this band and their management. They're the lamest out there in terms of fan appreciation and fan-friendly policies. So many bands out there are doing it right - Crowes, Pearl Jam, Petty, etc. - why can't the stones?
ARGH!!!
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| 7th November 2006 08:09 AM |
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| glencar |
What must it be like for Mick to perform to a good-looking yet lackluster crowd? |
| 7th November 2006 08:31 AM |
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| Gazza |
almost as much fun as it is for Keith to be hanging over the stage dangling his guitar in the "fans"' faces - and see them turn their back on him! |
| 7th November 2006 11:05 AM |
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| Saint Sway |
I clearly stated in my contest entry that I was very willing to flash my tits. Yet I never received a call back. |
| 7th November 2006 11:29 AM |
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| Ronnie Richards |
Have you seen your mother, baby, standing in the shadow? |
| 7th November 2006 11:39 AM |
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| jb |
quote:
concerned citizen wrote:
How many people here are sick to death of the summit spammers? It is unseemly.
I think they took that into account too, and only hired a handful of young shidoobee newbies. They have lurkers, and there is a reason why Rock Off people were not called. Namely, the summit group.
[Edited by concerned citizen]
Can you elaborate? |
| 7th November 2006 11:45 AM |
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| GotToRollMe |
"Shidoobee newbies"...heh heh. |
