I’m not sure how I missed the fact for all of these years that Queen drummer Roger Taylor, shares July 26th, his anniversary of birth, with Mick Jagger. Taylor made his first appearance on the planet in 1949, while Jagger was here a few years before that, in 1943. I mean Mick Jagger is Mick Jagger – the guy is just everywhere – but Queen is the band that were like a religion to me at a time (high school) when music can really, literally save your life. So I really should have committed his birthday to memory at this point. Sorry Roger! Happy Birthday, guys!
It has been pretty freezing ass cold in NYC these past few weeks. But I don’t think you could have asked for a more beautiful mid-winter day on Sunday, and it certainly was perfect weather to uncover your head, strip down to maybe one or two layers and make the trip down to Soho to visit the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Annex. Because it is no secret that I like to Rock. Geoffrey snagged a few discount tickets on Goldstar, so I met him and his friend Susie outside the Annex and we got ready to rock like nobody’s business.
Our visit began in a small theater with a fifteen minute film featuring live performances and notable quotes from many of the artists ensconced in the HOF. My favorite clips were The Beatles, The Who and The Doors. They did show a live clip of Queen (I saw them five times back in the 70s), but it was from after Freddie Mercury cut his hair off and started looking like one of the Village People. So it did not yank my chain quite as hard as it would had it been one of those satin-jumpsuit-wearing Freddie clips. Anyway, when I saw Jim Morrison in his leather pants singing, “Come on baby, light my fire,” like the immortal Sex God that he is, well, I got a little teardrop.
When it comes to providing living proof that chain smoking and living inside of a bottle of alcohol can ruin your looks, Keith Richards takes the cake! Happy Birthday, Keef!
