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THE ROLLING STONES AT DANCELAND
June 12, 1964: The Rolling Stones played to 283
unimpressed Minnesotans at Danceland, capacity 2,000.
Although they made radio appearances earlier in the day,
Danceland owner Ray Colihan deliberately didn’t advertise
the concert for fear that too many kids would show up and
he’d lose his license. But word of mouth failed to bring in
the fans, and he lost money on the $2,000 he paid the
Stones. A $6.00 admission fee also kept the kids away in an
era where tickets were generally $1.50. (After 10pm
tickets went to half price and more people showed up.) In an interview Colihan says that he booked the
Stones about a month too early, before they were popular in
the Cities. The Stones had a few mild hits in the
spring and summer of 1964, but their first top ten, "Time is
on my Side," wouldn't come until October.
Who else was there and what really happened? Memories
of the night vary. The legendary account is that
things were so bad that they were pelted with eggs and
tomatoes, booed off the stage, and Keith Richards mixed it
up with some local tough guys. Was it really that bad?
In his 2010 autobiography, Life, Keith Richards
did not specifically mention the Danceland concert. He
did observe that there was a big difference between the
atmosphere in the big cities and in the hinterland.
People would heckle them because of their long hair and
they'd have to make quick getaways as they motored across
America.
In his autobiography, Stone Alone, Bill Wyman
remembers the audience reacted with “curiosity and
disbelief” but that they warmed up to them toward the end.
Dan Holm of the Chancellors noted that it was graduation
day for a lot of local high schools, which may have also
contributed to the small crowd. He says that the Chancellors
were not the warmup band for the Stones but an attraction in
their own right. After meeting the Stones backstage,
he observed that, not only did they not play very well,
their "personal (can we say hygiene) appearance was wanting.
The Rolling Stones were on a promotional tour being billed
as 'The Rolling Stones from England.' People were
curious about an English band, but they were not the draw
that the local bands were. I remember Mike Waggoner & The
Bops and a third band. Mostly I remember how skinny and
scruffy The Rolling Stones appeared."
Danny Stevens says that Danny's Reasons performed with the
Stones that night, not the Chancellors.
Larry LaPole, songwriter for the Trashmen, thinks the
poor reception was because the band came on wearing makeup
in the English theatrical tradition, and this didn’t sit
well with 1960s Minnesotans.
Timothy D. Kehr says that the Stones left the concert in
his car. He took the un-fab five to Friar Tuck's in St.
Paul, a drive-in restaurant. They had never seen a drive-in
before, and ended up staying for 2 hours.
They stayed at the Thunderbird Motel, according to the
manager's son, Rod Wallace. Rod reports that his dad
remembered seeing them by the pool and they were very pale
(not much sun worshipping in England) and they also got
busted for drugs when they were there.
It is well established that Mike Waggoner and the Bops
also performed that night. Here's the scoop straight
from Mike:
I think it was an off night .. maybe a Thursday. Ray
"Big Reggie" Colihan called me the prior week or ten
days earlier and we chatted about the show. The Stones
were very, very green .. no real hits; a lot of blues
covers. Anyway, Ray asked if we could come out as he
wasn't sure what to expect, and needed a solid band just
in case. We did a couple of hours, then they did their
stuff. Don't remember many other details simply because
it was no big deal like it was with other groups we
worked with there and elsewhere. I worked a couple of
shows there with Jerry Lee, one with Brian Hyland, (Ittsy
Bikini song), Roscoe and the Green Men (big draw), and I
think The Everlys. Not sure on that one as we
worked a number of shows with them elsewhere including
the Prom, Kato, Turf and Surf Ballrooms as part of a
Dick Clark Caravan deal, etc. I know The Champs used to
summer in Excelsior and did appear on stage in the park
but not sure about the ballroom as it was not used for
many years for skating or dancing, and was used for boat
storage.
I don't recall any concerns about too many people
showing up but who knows. There was very little
advertising except for a few mentions by my dear friend
Bill Diehl on WDGY .. where I later was a jock from '69
- '75. (Bill was my radio mentor, always dear friend,
and very influential in getting me into the biz). I love
him dearly. [Mike was on the air as King Michael.]
The Stones, I don't believe all had amps or equipment
except for their guitars. They used some of our backline
gear and sound system. They borrowed a drum set (via
Ray) from B Sharp. And that was that part of the deal. I
have a picture someplace of Bill Wyman which also shows
our PA speakers. Kinda' cool. The fact of the matter is
that no one really knew about them and they didn't seem
to be a big deal. That is why there are very few
pictures or specifics to rely on for history. I do
remember one of the guys had on a big belt buckle and
jeans. Not sure who .. but the buckle stands out! They
did arrive in a limo type car, and the vehicle got
backed up on the rear ramp that was used to get bands,
pop, beer, etc into the dancehall. We met them initially
out there as we were unloading our trailer and gear. As
I recall they were very modest and quiet. Polite
greetings were exchanged, and that was that. There was a
dressing room behind the stage with a curtain separating
that area from the stage. I would assume that they hung
out in there with their handler.
Finally, the albums that Bill gave away on London
label didn't have Stones vinyl inside. The covers were
Stones but the discs were not. The promo copies had not
yet arrived.
It was quite a ho hum night, and a small crowd. Maybe
300 at most. The stories and the "retells" are very
entertaining, and as said in a Kris Kristopherson song,
"Partly truth and partly fiction." But all is well
that ends well and they certainly ended up selling more
records than we did!
No other bands, no eggs, no tomatoes (people don't
usually go to a teen dance armed with eggs and tomatoes
.. that should dispel that suspicion.)
Whatever happened, it was a disaster and the Stones vowed
never to come back. Indeed, they stayed away from the
Cities until the 1970s.
This from minniepaulmusic.com: "In 2011 Larry Wiegand
reported that the Rave-Ons were playing at Marion Hall in
Bloomington on the night The Rolling Stones played at
Danceland in Excelsior. Larry said The Rave-Ons drew a crowd
of roughly 500, at least double the crowd size for The
Stones (estimates vary from 150 to 250). Some of the people
at The Stones concert went to see The Rave-Ons after the
concert in Excelsior."
Coda: It is well known that an incident that
happened during this trip inspired Jagger to write one of
the Stones' biggest hits. It involves a local
Excelsior character named Jimmy Hutmaker. Jon Rukavina
tells us: "I actually knew Jimmy Hutmaker because when
I lived in Excelsior in 1974 I rented a room at his parents'
house. Jimmy was what we call these days special needs and
quite so. He would walk the streets day and night talking to
himself but if he saw someone he knew he's snap out of
wherever he was in his mind and have a conversation then
right back into his world. Jimmy's dad Dick owned the barber
shop on main street. According to
Wikipedia, the story of him meeting Jagger at Bacon Drug
has Jimmy ordering a Cherry Coke but got a regular Coke
instead. He complained about it to Jagger who happened to be
standing next to him, then said to Jagger "You can't always
get what you want." Hutmaker was referred to as
"Mister Jimmy" in the song, as well as in real life.
The song appeared in 1969. Hutmaker died in 2007.
Read an extended description of the event on the
Lake Minnetonka web site.
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