Christmas With The Stones

I grew up in the middle of nowhere. Scratch that. People who grew up in the middle of nowhere looked at where I lived and said, “That’s the middle of nowhere.” You may think I’m exaggerating but I’m not. Growing up I felt as if I was in a time warp 25 years behind the times. I would watch television and read magazines that showed me that there was life on the planet. Just not in my town. When it came to rock and roll, I was trapped in a cultural wasteland.

Thankfully, there was a radio station. And a really cool record shop that stocked imports. Without those to things I would have gone nuts. But, even those things were the proverbial double-edged sword. I heard music from bands I could never hope to see live. One of those bands was the Rolling Stones.

I am convinced that if someone was to mention the name of my hometown to any of the Stones, world-class travelers that they are, they’d say, “Where the hell is that?” Not that I blame them. It’s possible that they have flown over it many times, but like most people, they didn’t stop.

Why am I telling you this? What does it have to do with Christmas? Well, it’s what writers call “background” for the story to come. The story of the greatest Christmas gift I ever got.

By 1994 I had moved to Vancouver and was pretty much living the cosmopolitan lifestyle. I like to think that I was no longer the country mouse in the big city. I was totally in love with the cultural choices provided by my new home. When I learned that the Stones were actually going to play in Vancouver I was over the moon. Better still, they were to play on the magic date of December 18th (Keith’s birthday). That year all I wanted for Christmas was a ticket to the concert.

Needless to say the ticket was provided for me by my fairy godmother. As the date of the concert drew near, I got more and more excited. I wondered what it would be like. I knew it would be fabulous but what else? By the day of the concert I couldn’t sit still. Needless to say I was at the venue, BC Place, early.

I’d never been to BC Place so I was totally amazed at how many people where there. When the lights went down and people flicked there lighters, it looked like a small town. Stonesville. A couple of rows in front of me, a young boy about ten years old was looking around with saucer huge eyes. I wondered what would have happened to me if I had been taken to a Stones concert at his age. How warped would I have been? I was amazed by the wonder of it all as it was.

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