Blythe
12 : 30 PM just after eating lunch at the Odessa Diner
NYC
My band was booked for sessions at the Skybag Studios,
East Village,Manhattan in late May of 1997. The bass
player and I (guitar player) had just walked through
the entranceway to the elevator, waiting for the rest
of the band to get there. Just another day in America.
Out of nowhere, this huge black Lincoln pulls up to the front of the building. Looking out from the window, we thought nothing of it as a throng of rastafarian- type Jamaicans emerged. Doing a triple take with my eyes, I was completely amazed to see Mr. Keith Richards in tow behind the crew. I was completely speechless. I began to touch the bass player on the arm pointing in a breathy voice,"its keith man!!!!,
He said "who?" as they walked in the entranceway, laughing and singing in a mix of jiveyspeak and cockney that echoed through the large marble lobby and up to the glass windows overhead. The next thing I knew we were in the elevator with the rastas and one stone in total awe and disbelief singing as they got off on the first floor. Everyone in the elevator smelled of carribean spices and rum punch. I just stood there leaning on the wall.As they got off the elevator, Keith looked at me right in the eyes over his dark sunglasses.
Lifting his red beverage up to the ceiling, he said "Man, you got a nice voice! keep it up" and the elevator doors shut with just Mike and I standing there in total shock. What were we here for? Oh yeah, the studio time.