(Part 13) The Tale Of Two Cities

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2007

I am doing my best to write factually about the events in the life of Bobby Jameson. There has been and continues to be enormous contradictions regarding what Tony Alamo has said about these events and what Bobby Jameson's (my) position is. There is widespread interest it appears from followers and ex-followers of Tony Alamo.

Some will not believe what is said here, because they won't ever believe anyone but Tony. Others will want to believe what is written here simply because anything that negatively portrays Tony Alamo fits into their way of thinking. I am not interested in either side's position. I have my own side to represent and it can only be represented honestly with facts known only to Bobby Jameson and Tony Alamo.

In the end there will be two different versions of the same events as described by the two individuals who were originally involved. While Tony has spent decades representing his version of these events it is only after 43 years that Bobby Jameson's side of this story comes to light.

Tony Alamo made millions of dollars with his brand of honesty and hurt countless human beings in the process. Bobby Jameson made nothing and has struggled for over 4 decades to make ends meet, while obtaining and maintaining 31 years of sobriety. It is only because of the internet's creation and growth that this opportunity to tell his (my) story became possible. Prior to the internet Bobby jameson was no more than an obscure fact of history.

Part 14 Tony Sent Me...I Went

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2007


Toward the end of me being Tony's boy I was flown alone to a city I believe on the east coast. It could have been New Jersey or New york, but frankly I'm not sure. As much as I was moving around It could have been anywhere. The plane landed and I was met by a limo. The driver had been directed to take me to a lower middle class home in the suburban part of whatever city I was in. I had zero information about what was transpiring, but didn't think it was any different than what I'd been doing until we pulled up to a small house on a residential street.

There were a lot of people out in the street and on the sidewalks and in yards. The whole area was loaded with cops and a bunch of press. Flash bulbs were going off and police were trying to keep some kind of order as the crowd moved in on the limo. I asked the limo driver where the hell we were and what was going on, because this obviously was completely different than anything I'd expected. He could only say that he had been directed to pick me up at the airport and bring me to this address and that was all he knew.

At this point someone was tapping on the window and motioning for me to get out of the car. Without knowing what to expect I reluctantly did so. I was greeted by a number of very official looking people in suits who appeared to be very happy to see me which was somewhat of a relief. "Hi Bobby," came a voice from one of the greeters, "very glad to see you and thank you so much for coming. This will mean everything to the parents." Now I was really confused. What parents? What was this guy talking about? I was completely in the dark and tried unsuccessfully to obtain some info as to what the hell was going on.

"Bobby this is his honor the mayor," of wherever we were, "and he has been looking forward to meeting you personally." I reached out and shook his hand and could barely make out what he said to me. The crowd had begun to push it's way closer to us and I was keeping one eye on them and the other on all my new buddies. I'd been in crowds before that just all of a sudden got out of control, so I was none too comfortable being out in the middle of the street with these guys. A helicopter kept flying in circles above us making a hell of a lot of noise and this just added to my anxiety.

At last we made it to the house and in the front door where even more people were waiting. They were all trying to thank me at once for coming and I was just getting more and more uncomfortable and kind of angry, because no one was bothering to fill me in on any of what they all seemed to know about why I was there. Everybody was trying to touch me and shake my hand as I was escorted down the narrow hallway of this small house. We got to the doorway of a back bedroom and all of the noise around me suddenly grew quiet as I entered the room. Inside were more people and what appeared to be the parents of a sick boy who was lying on his back on a hospital bed in the very center of the room.

There was a priest and a couple of nuns or sisters holding what looked like rosary beads and they were all staring at me with a look that I find difficult to explain. Kind of like OK do something. I just stood there looking back at them not knowing what they wanted from me. I heard a voice begin to talk and it was the mother of the sick boy telling him that I was there in his bedroom. I looked over at the kid who had not moved a muscle since I'd arrived. The soft voice of his mother seemed to awaken him to the fact that I was in his room standing by his bed. He turned his head toward me and asked, "Are you Bobby Jameson?" "Yes," I said, "I'm Bobby Jameson."

All of a sudden out of nowhere this kid sits straight up in bed as if some invisible chord had yanked him upright. I was somewhat startled by this, because he had not moved at all since I'd arrived. His mother started speaking again telling him I was there to autograph his copy of "I'm So Lonely." God I thought! Why didn't someone just tell me that that was why I was here to autograph this sick kids record. For a moment I was relieved that I now knew what the big fuss had been about. But then the kid got even more animated and stood up on his bed and as he did there was kind of a gasp from those in the room.

He began jumping up and down on the bed yelling "Bobby Jameson's here, Bobby Jameson's here." I just stared at the kid jumping up and down not knowing what I should do at that moment and feeling extremely awkward and wanting to leave. Simultaneously the parents and a few others burst into tears and fell to their knees muttering words of thanks and I'm not really sure. I quickly signed the record and began my retreat to the door leaving them behind me and heard them still crying as I went. I did not stop or speak to anyone on my way out of that house. If they spoke to me I didn't hear them. I heard nothing. I was angry and confused that I had been brought there without being made aware of the circumstances.

I hit the street and again I spoke to no one. I saw the limo driver and motioned to him that I wanted in the car and out of this place now. He seemed to know exactly what I was thinking and opened the door to the limo which was still parked in the middle of the street. He drove me straight to the airport and on the way I learned from him the circumstances of the boy which he had learned from talking to people outside the house while waiting for me.

The kid was gravely ill and not expected to live and had not walked for 6 months until I showed up in his bedroom. I did not want to hear anymore and closed myself off to the world as we drove on to the airport. Before I knew it I was back on the airplane and was headed to, God I didn't know. I didn't know anything except that I was ready to tear Tony's head off for sending me there at all. Why in god's name did he send me there? And why didn't he tell me about the sick kid? What was he going to do next and how was I supposed to be ready for it whatever it was going to be? I didn't know the answer to that and it scared me. I had a terrible sense of uneasiness about Tony and I knew that I would not go on forever doing what he told me to do.

(Part 15) Each Time I Hear The Name Tony Alamo

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2007



There is no explanation for this story. There is no hidden meaning. It was just one more confusing day in my life with Tony. The reason I posted this is, because for 43 years I have not forgotten it. Like a mental tattoo it is just there in my mind brought to life each time I hear the name Tony Alamo. I still do not know why he sent me there.

I was promoting a record and then out of nowhere this turned up. It is of primary importance to me in that it preceded the eventual collapse of my relationship with Tony Alamo. This episode signaled to me in the deepest way possible that Tony was thinking in completely different terms than I was. He now appeared to be using me for some other purpose of his which I could only guess about, based on what I knew.

The ill child and my unwitting part in it caught me completely off guard and placed me in a no win battle with myself. What did it mean? I didn't and still don't know, but I know it meant something to Tony. It caused me to change in some final way my entire view of what I was doing with him. I began questioning deeply whether I should continue to do anything with this man who had single handedly put me in the life I was living.

This kind of cross purposes split me in half and left me with two completely different options to choose from. A crossroad! What was I going to do? How at 19 years old was I supposed to figure this damn mess out. Part of me still needed Tony and part of me was sure I had to get away from him before more weird things occurred. I knew for sure that Tony had been on some sort of God trip, but now I had to consider what that really meant.

I had been kind of ignoring it as best I could hoping that it was just some trip he got on when he smoked pot. But in light of the kid in the bedroom incident I began looking closer a lot closer at Tony's ranting about God. There had been spooky overtones about religion in that house and I had felt like a captured rat in that room with the priest and people falling to their knees. Hell I could have easily just assumed that the kid was excited to see me and was jumping up and down on an adrenaline rush. But those people seemed to take it to the next level whatever that was. They appeared to me to be assigning some greater meaning to it all. Anyway, that's why I pretty much just ran out of the place and didn't talk to anyone. I did not want to discuss what had happened. I was 19. I was a damn pop star not anything else. I was still that kid from nowhere who wanted to be famous.

(Part 16) The Tide Turned

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2007


After the sick kid incident I rebelled against anymore of Tony's I'm in charge of everything without question. I began to openly disagree with Tony's ideas regarding my future. For example. I refused to let him book me into shows unless I got a band which I never did. I flat out refused to go and told him if he booked me I wouldn't show up. I brought up the long list of odd things he had done and confronted him for the first time. I had changed since he first met me from the hungry little kid to a more seasoned performer who'd been out on the road a bit and had learned a few things.

I asserted myself and my position and Tony didn't like it. The fear of being disapproved of by Tony which had always been the case, began to crumble in the wake of my new found willingness to stand my own ground and claim my own selfhood. Tony's iron clad power over me had shifted to a we better work together or else. Or else what? Therein was the dilemma. Tony's position had always been, "I made Bobby Jameson." He believed, or at least he claimed to believe that without him I never would have gotten off the ground and in large part that's true. But then I became me and when that happened I reclaimed myself from Tony.

My new position had become, "Yeah you probably did make me Tony, but now that it's happened I am not the same willing little kid you could control with promises like before." It was a Mexican standoff and Tony knew it. Hell there was no way he could force me to do anything. It wasn't like he could refuse to pay me if I didn't go, because he wasn't paying me anyway. Everything he could have used for leverage didn't exist. You can't take away something if you never provided it in the first place. Tony had played himself into a corner with his own greed and lack of real fairness. So when it came time to use his chits he didn't have any and I damn well knew it.



(If you are reading this and have no real sense of a timeline, let me clarify briefly. Most of what I have discussed here only took about 6 months to occur. The beginning middle and eventual end to Tony and me was like a ride on a rocket ship in that it started and my life was forever changed in 9 weeks and then for 4 or 5 more months to a bizarre conclusion. Everything that occurred between us went extremely fast. No real plan at all. No time to consider anything before it was done. So in essence mistakes were common place.)

As I was saying, Tony was completely aware that the power he had had over me was now different. He could not command me like a dog any more without fear of getting bitten. He looked for new ways to gain control and one of them was a live performance in Los Angeles which I had never done other than American Bandstand and a few other local television music shows like Ninth Street West and Lloyd Thaxton. I knew that I would be performing by myself again, but Tony convinced me it was the last time I'd have to do it so I agreed.

He booked the old Ciro's night club on the Sunset Strip and put up a 35 foot black silhouette of me on the roof which said, "Bobby Jameson Here! One Day Only." I don't know how many people Ciro's (now the comedy store) holds, but it was full on the day I played there. It was invitation only and I did my job well. I played by myself for those people with my guitar and amplifier and a microphone. No band just me and I was good. That was the last time I ever went on stage alone again. It seemed to be a moment in time that just got stuck and hasn't moved since that day.

After I played I vaguely remember talking to people. I couldn't tell you who was there, but I remember leaving pretty quickly afterwards. I knew Tony would be making use of my work and make promises to people about my availability to perform somewhere. I knew he would get money in front from some of them and I knew too that he never intended for me to show up. He just made money by promising things, but the promises were only used to get the money. It was a quirk I discovered about him. He could have made so much more if he had done it right, but he seemed doomed to an addiction of always pulling something off on people. Like that was the point, when in fact that was the smallness of Tony.

 


He had big powerful ideas, but he always went for the chicken shit payoff. He had been offered a deal by just about every major record company there was for me, but he wouldn't take it. He wanted to be Col. Tom Parker who represented Elvis Presley. He wanted to be a big shot. The tragedy was that he damn near made it, but figured out a way to screw it up at the last minute. That was and I would guess still is Tony Alamo. It is easy for me to see this in Tony, because I have seen it in myself. Always getting so close to the dream coming true and then at the last minute doing something insane or just plain stupid to screw it up always with the tag they or he or something made me fail. This is classic alcoholic thinking I know because I am an alcoholic and I believe that Tony Alamo is too.

(Part 17) If You're Sure You See, You Can't See

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2007

(For the followers and ex-followers of Tony Alamo)

It would be wise to understand if you are a reader of this, to read only the words I am writing and try to grasp the simple meaning. I have waited 43 years to relay this story which altered my life forever and was a central cause in my radical behavior that followed my split from Tony Alamo.

I by no means am the only one who suffered from things done by Tony, but this is my story and the followers of the Alamo's did not materialize till well after these occurrences. It is too easy to read into this what you want to believe. I am going to great lengths to accurately lay out what transpired. I make no other claims than the ones I write.

There will be no hidden intentions to imply anything not stated clearly by me as I write this. There will be things that I say which will be difficult at best to grasp without supposing that something has been implied by the mere reporting of my recollections.

I realize there is great interest, by some, in the office meeting spoken of in the past by Tony Alamo. I have already said that there were only 3 people in that office. Tony, me, and an investor. There was no press, no movie stars, no nothing other than the three of us. My version of this precise moment in time will be so far removed from what has been stated by Tony that once you read it you might not be so glad to have to try and explain it to yourselves and each other.

Try and remember that I had to live with this moment which was not easy from then until now. It was the day that changed my life forever and caused me to reject outright anything and everything that came out of Tony Alamo's mouth from that day until now. What I did after that day probably only occurred, because of that day. I have been left to wonder for over 40 years what might of happened to me if that day had never happened.

(Part 18) The Office, The Meeting, The End

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2007


Tony's position was always "Let me do the dirty work and the business." He kept me away from everything by playing to my one true weakness, which was, "you are the star. You are untouchable. I'll deal with these people, because I know how they think and what they want." I pretty much went along with that, believing I was a star. He never told me anything about what he was doing when I wasn't around and I was too inexperienced at the time to demand that kind of cooperation from him. It was Tony and me for sure, but with Tony always taking the lead when it came to deals and money. But the day came, when one of Tony's deals required my willing participation with him to accomplish it.

Tony set up a meeting in Beverly Hills with an investor and he told me I had to go with him and meet the guy. I agreed to go not suspecting that my entire world would be turned upside down by the end of that particular day. Prior to the actual meeting I have no recollection of how I even got there. I don't remember whether I went with Tony or met him there. I recall vividly being with Tony as we entered the building where the meeting took place. It was on a corner, south of Wilshire Blvd., but I don't recall the exact streets. No one was with us when we went into the office and no one, but the person we were meeting was there when we met.

The three of us were the only ones in the meeting. The man was kind of short, a little overweight, and balding. He was friendly and smoking a cigar. He appeared to be jewish, and I don't mean this in a belittling way, he just appeared to be a jewish guy from Beverly Hills pretty typical. His office was pleasant but not lavish. It was one large room, maybe 40 by 25 feet. At the far end of the room was a desk and chair where the man sat down and faced us. I don't remember if the Billboard ads were up on the wall, but it's possible.

I stayed at the opposite end of the room and sat in a chair a few feet from where we came in. I didn't know what to do so I just sat there trying to look like a star. Tony stood in the middle of the room between the man's desk and my chair. I don't recall what was said, because Tony and the guy were talking back and forth for a while. During this exchange Tony took a particular stance in the middle of the room which is hard to explain without sounding like I'm joking, which I'm not, but it kind of looked like a bad impersonation of Elvis Presley.

Tony stretched out one arm and pointed at me and uttered out loud "That is Jesus Christ and if you, now pointing his other arm and finger at the guy do not give him $50,000 he will point his finger at you and you will die!" I looked over at the man just in time to see that his face looked frozen. His jaw fell open and his cigar just kind of rolled out of his mouth onto his desk. Other than that he didn't move a muscle, but stared at Tony in disbelief who was still standing with his arms stretched out in the middle of the room. I could not believe what was happening. I had no way of knowing this was coming and had no way of dealing with it now that it was there.

I remember staring at the floor trying to decide what to do. I just stood up, didn't say anything and walked out the door as fast as I could. I reached the sidewalk and kind of walked around in little circles hoping that Tony would come out and tell me it was all a joke and that everything was OK. In a few minutes Tony did come out the door and down the steps toward me. "Why did you say that Tony," I pleaded, and stood waiting for some rational explanation to what I had just witnessed. "Because it's the truth," he said, looking right at me. I stared at him in a second wave of disbelief and was devastated by his response, knowing fully at that moment my world had just ended, "No it isn't Tony, no it isn't."

(Part 19) Now What Do I Do

originally from december 2007 bobby jameson blog

Andrew Oldham

I'd already received a letter from Andrew Loog Oldham in England who was the producer of The Rolling Stones at that time in 1964, but I hadn't responded to it until after the last incident with Alamo. I'd grown wary of Tony over time, but now I was afraid of him. I thought he'd completely flipped out after what he'd said in the office and to me afterwards on the sidewalk outside. As I mentioned earlier, Peter Caine was the photographer on most of the later pictures used in Billboard. He had also become my close personal friend and I relied on him heavily, once I knew I had to get away from Tony.

The letter from England was an offer by Oldham of sorts that basically stated "If you ever get to London I'd be interested in working with you." My previous disregard to his invitation now looked like my chance to leave America and get as far away from Tony as I could. I believed and still do, that had I stayed, Tony would have tried and possibly succeeded in conning me into believing everything could be worked out and we could go on. I didn't want to stick around and find out so I implored Peter to find someway to get me to England.

I had no idea what to expect from Tony once he knew I wasn't going to talk to him. I avoided all contact with him and kept a constant eye out for him. I new Tony believed his golden egg was being stolen from him and he wasn't about to let that happen. His position was that I was his property, because he had made me into something of value, but after the office trip I was convinced that he was capable of just about anything. I had no money, but I was still living with Lois, the ex wife of Gordon Gessler, the guy Tony had conned into backing the Billboard campaign.

My life was like a hurricane and the only way to live in it was in the calm of the eye of the storm. Everything outside of that was madness. This meant that all my energy was directed at one goal. Get out of here, before something really bad happens. Tony had no contract with me another flaw in his thinking so he couldn't legally force me to do anything. This is why I was able to walk away from him in 1964 and there wasn't anything he could do about it. He had never paid me as I've stated so I wasn't suddenly going to be without money hell I never had any to begin with, again another flaw in the character of Tony Alamo.No leverage! He always managed to chase people away without having some sort of leverage to get them back.

As the weeks went by I kept hearing things about how Tony was not going to let people steal me away from him now that I was the star he'd made. The constant reports of these kinds of things just kept me on edge and I in return put pressure on everyone around me to get me the hell out of L A and away from this crazy bastard.

(Part 20) London...A Town Without Pity

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2007

Peter Caine finally came up with a guy named Lee Karsian who worked at Ashley Famous Artists. Lee was extremely interested in becoming involved and had contacts in London who he notified about the Andrew Loog Oldham offer. Once the people in London were satisfied the letter I had received was indeed legitimate they agreed to finance me coming to London. They arranged pretty much everything and I assume, because I have never known that they were in for some sort of a piece of the action believing it was a sure fire arrangement with a substantial benefit for them in the long run.

Once again, no one ever brought me a contract to sign or told me any of the details of the arrangement to get me to England. Honestly I never asked, because I just wanted away from Tony Alamo. It wasn't important to me at the time how I got there it was that I got out of California and as far from Tony as I could. That's why I went to England. Most people thought, and I guess still think, that it was a big opportunity for me to go there and record with Mick Jagger. But what they don't know, is that by me going to England at that time I killed my career in America.

My record "I'm So Lonely" was left to die when I vanished and I do mean vanished. No one knew where I went except the small number of people who were involved with getting me there. It wasn't until I released a record in England that anyone really knew what had happened to me possibly no one cared one way or another except for Tony. Peter Caine, Lee Karsian, and I borded a Plane at LAX and my life changed again. It was still the year 1964 and I had already gone from no one to someone and now I was on my way to England to do something I had never intended to do. It would have been one thing to go there, because my record was doing well, but that was not the case. I was basically starting from scratch in a foreign country and had no idea of what to expect when I got there.

I barely knew Lee and Peter kept assuring me that it would all be OK when I got to London and met Andrew Oldham. I remember it took a long time to fly to England a lot longer than I'd imagined. It was the middle of the night and I stared out the window at the lights on the wing and listened to the engines hum out over the Atlantic Ocean. It was an eery feeling being up there at 19 wondering how it was going to turn out. I thought about Tony and all that we had done together and wished he hadn't screwed it all up. I felt kind of scared and alone, but I was glad that Peter was with me, because I knew he wasn't going to let anything get out of hand along as he was there to keep an eye on things. He and Lee seemed to hit it off from the start and that made things run pretty smooth.

We started the landing approach and I gazed out the window at the yellow lights all over. Lee said that they used yellow lights, because of the fog in London and I said, "Oh yeah, the London fog. I remember that. They gotta lot of fog in England." I was like a tourist making comments. We were met at the airport by some people and there were no crowds and no cameras. Just a few of Lee's associates and a driver who took us in to Knightsbridge I believe and dumped us at what I remember as being an Inn or Bed And Breakfast kind of a place. It was dark, damp, and cold and everything looked old and tired. I wasn't too sure what I'd gotten myself into, but it was a long way from California and Tony Alamo and that made it tolerable.

The next day was like coming to, after a bad drunk. All that time on the airplane and the times were all changed around so I started off confused and stayed that way for quite a while. I knew I was going to meet Andrew Oldham and I didn't feel to good. The jet lag and different surrounding played havoc with my brain, but I used what I'd learned on the road and just moved forward through the day. Peter and Lee weren't doing that much better and I think that helped, because we started joking about how screwed up we all were and got a good laugh out of it.

(Part 21) London Bridge Is Falling?

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2007

Andrew Oldham

The day was grey and drizzling. I remember it being like that most of the time I was in England, just cold and damp. For a kid from Southern California and Arizona it was a big change and it colored everything I did there whether I knew it or not at the time. Peter, Lee and I ventured out into London in one of those famous black cabs that forever roam the streets there. We did a little sight seeing and tried our hand at English food which was a shock in itself. I finally learned about Whimpy Burgers, but not soon enough.

This was not like the US where you could always find some place that had something you liked. It was a whole new ball game and most of the time a poor experience. I don't remember exactly where we were when it happened maybe Picadilly Circus or something, but a brand new 1964 Chevrolet pulled up and everybody on the street stopped to stare at it. They were gawking at it like it was the rarest thing they'd ever seen. While they stared at the car we stared at them.

It seemed to me that who ever was driving just parked it damn near in the middle of the street and got out. He was a young guy maybe early 20's when all of a sudden I heard. "Bobby, Bobby Jameson is that you Mate?" I figured out quickly it was Andrew Oldham. "Yeah it's me you must be Andrew." I said, "what an accent," he replied. That was something I had to get used to. Every where I went people would comment on my accent which was really strange at first. "I didn't have an accent they did," I thought.

"Ok, well let's get you out of the road so we can get properly acquainted," said Andrew. We all piled in the Chevy and he headed out into to traffic. Everything was going the wrong way and it was just something else to get used to. "Where'd you get this Chevrolet Andrew?" I asked, "I'd of thought you'd be driving a Rolls Royce or something?" He said he used to have a British sedan, but then he got the Chevy and it was like nothing he'd ever imagined. "People go wild," he said, "Everywhere I go." Man did he like that car. I watched out the window at London zipping by while Peter and Lee talked to Andrew about the schedule and what to expect in the next few days.

I was tired from the long flight and my sense of direction was nonexistent. I couldn't figure out where we were or where we were going. It always seemed like we were moving in circles. Andrew dropped us off at our hotel after an hour or so and we watched as the Chevy Belair drove out of sight. "Man he likes that car," we all said. and laughed as we went inside. Andrew was a tall lanky guy with longish curly hair and glasses. He looked like kind of a geek, but handled himself well and had an air of self assuredness about him that made you think he was on top of things.

From bobby jameson

He didn't hesitate when he spoke and had no shortage of opinions about everything. After the first meeting we all pretty much decided we liked him from what we had seen and we began to look forward to the coming events and meeting Mick Jagger. The jet lag was killing everyone so we thought we'd try and go to bed early and get ready for the next day. The trouble with that kind of jet lag is you're tired as hell, but your body won't go to sleep. This ended up in the long run as a major problem for me.

(Part 20) Shrimpton, Jameson, And Jagger

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 2, 2008

Jagger and Shrimpton

Meeting Mick Jagger was the agenda for the day. I was still wiped out by jet lag, but I pushed it aside as we rode the London taxi to our destination. It looked like an old warehouse when we got there, but then everything in England was old looking to me. I was used to California where something new popped up every day so London was an experience everywhere I went. Lee paid the cab and we found a doorway that appeared to be the way in as had been the instructions we were given for finding the place.

Peter, Lee and I walked inside and started guessing at how we were supposed to find anyone and finally reached a point in a hall that was blocked off by a metal fence of sorts with a gate or door for entering. Seated at a small wooden table on a chair was a very attractive girl with a notebook and a pencil, I guess taking names of visitors. It was Chrissy Shrimpton, Jaggers girl friend. She was the first one to greet us. "Hi," I said, "I'm Bob," "Bobby Jameson from America," she said, looking right at me. "We've been expecting you. My name is Chrissy." "Ah, well yeah, hello! This is Peter Caine and Lee Karsian and they came with me to England and." I felt like such a jerk.

I was mumbling and stumbling like some kind of dork. "Andrew's in the studio finishing up something, but he shouldn't be long. Would you like some tea or coffee?" she asked. We all gladly excepted are preferences. After she left we all looked at each other and Peter said, "God is she good looking." "Yeah," I said, "I think she's Jagger's girl friend. She's really pretty." I lit up a cigarette and dragged on it trying to look calm, but inside my nerves were on edge and the anticipation of what was coming next was beating my head in.

After a few minutes Shrimpton returned with a couple of cups and left to retrieve more. When she came back the second time Mick was with her. I stared at him for a moment trying to make sure it was him and just blurted out, "Hi Mick!" I reached my hand out and started walking toward him to shake his hand. Peter and Lee straightened up as if to appear at attention as Mick and I shook hands. Strangely enough he was really low key and kind of bashful it seemed. It surprised me, because the only picture I had in my head of him was The Rolling Stones playing "NOT FADE AWAY" with Micks vocal. So a low key Mick Jagger in person was pretty different than what I had expected.

After I introduced Peter and Lee Mick and I kind of moved off to the side to size one another up. After asking about our flight Mick moved directly to the subject of America where he'd never been with The Stones. He wanted to know as much as I could tell him in the short amount of time we would have to talk together. He asked about The Beatles and said, "They're really huge over there aren't they?" "Yeah," I said, "but you guys are just about as big." Then the strangest thing happened. Mick said, "No way man, no way." I said, "No, really Mick The Stones are just about as big there as The Beatles are."

He just stared at me as if he were trying to figure out whether I was bullshitting him or not. "You're having me on mate," he said smiling, "you're just having me on." I figured it was and English version of "you're putting me on." "No, I'm not," I insisted, "I'm telling you the truth." He now seemed to know I was telling him what I really believed. "Look," I said, "When I was in Cleveland, that's a big city in the US." I didn't know if he knew that or not, "they were running a contest on the biggest radio station there to see who was more popular The Rolling Stones or The Beatles and it was pretty much of a tie," I told him, "You guys are really big in America. Like it's The Beatles and you guys."

He just stared at me. He just seemed to be waiting for the punch line that never came. He could not believe what I was telling him, but then again he couldn't not believe it. I'll never forget how surprised I was to find out that day that he really didn't know at that time how incredibly huge The Rolling Stones were in America. The look on his face when I first told him will stay with me forever.