December 19, 1989: The Rolling Stones vs. Donald Trump

Left to right: Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts,

Keith Richards, Mick Jagger and Ron Wood

December 19, 1989: When The Rolling Stones have the moral high ground over you, that is not a good sign.

In 1985, lead singer Mick Jagger released his 1st solo album, She's the Boss. In 1987, he released Primitive Cool. Neither did well. In 1988, lead guitarist Keith Richards, who isn't even as good a singer as Mick (Mick is one of the greatest frontmen in rock history, but not a good singer), released his 1st solo album, Talk Is Cheap. It did do well, proving that Mick needed Keith a lot more than the other way around.

So, with the Stones' eligibility for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame kicking in for 1989, and the band's reuniting for the certain induction ceremony, Mick ate crow, and got together with Keith to write new songs. The result was the album Steel Wheels, which produced "Mixed Emotions," which hit Number 5, and remains the last major hit for "The World's Greatest Rock and Roll Band."

And so, at the induction ceremony, the Stones announced the Steel Wheels Tour. Mick said, "You know, Americans are a funny people: First they arrest you, then they put you in a museum."

And so, for the last time with the lineup established in 1974, the Stones hit the road: Jagger, Richardson, rhythm guitarist Ron Wood, bass guitarist Bill Wyman, and drummer Charlie Watts. (Wyman left the group after the tour.) Chuck Leavell, formerly of The Allman Brothers Band, became their keyboard player and musical director in 1982. Bobby Keys became their touring saxophone player.

The tour hit mostly stadiums, including Shea Stadium in New York, Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia, the Los Angeles Coliseum, and the Oakland Coliseum to meet the San Francisco Bay Area market. Oddly, they didn't play in Chicago, the nation's 3rd-largest city. But they did play the top 3 cities in Canada: BC Place in Vancouver, the Olympic Stadium in Montreal, and Exhibition Stadium and later the newly-opened SkyDome (now named the Rogers Centre) in Toronto.

The oldest of the Stones was Wyman, 53; the youngest, Wood, 42. Already, jokes were being told about their age. Filling in for Johnny Carson on  The Tonight Show, Jay Leno, no spring chicken himself at 38, said, "You can tell which tour bus is the Stones': They leave their left blinker on." (Turn signal.)

The tour was scheduled to conclude on December 19, 1989, at Convention Hall (now named Boardwalk Hall) in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Producer Michael Cohl organized a pay-per-view broadcast of that concert. This event was expected to generate significant revenue. But it required a major financial backer.

New York real estate mogul Donald Trump agreed to shell out a huge sum. I used to think Trump was smart, because he put his 1st Atlantic City casino, Trump Plaza, between that city's two most famous buildings: Caesars Atlantic City (then as now, the best-known American casino-hotel outside Las Vegas) and Convention Hall. In the years to come, I came to the conclusion that, as they used to say on Match Game, Dumb Donald was so dumb (How dumb was he?), the idea had to be someone else's.

Time magazine, January 16, 1989

Trump's reputation for dishonesty in business -- as well as in his 1st marriage, to Ivana Zelníčková, which was then breaking up in the public eye -- was already well-known. And the Stones, with their history of drinking, drugs, debauchery, and leaving their native Britain to avoid high taxes, were reluctant to do business with him.

So Cohl contracted strict conditions: Trump was not allowed to publicly promote the show, he would not be allowed to attend the concert, and his name would not allowed to dominate the advertising.

When the band arrived at the Convention Hall, they were met with advertising posters that read, "Donald Trump presents The Rolling Stones." It seemed like shameless advertising at the band's expense, especially since the band's name was in small print.

An hour before the concert, the band was scheduled to broadcast live to major U.S. news channels. When producer Cohl entered the press room, he found Trump in the midst of his own press conference. Cohl asked Trump to leave, reminding him of his contract. Trump waved his arms at the crowd of American TV journalists who were actually waiting to hear The Rolling Stones, and replied, "But Michael, they begged me to come up here! They begged me!"

This was, like so many things Trump has said over the years, a flat-out lie. Upon learning of what was happening, Richards summoned Cohl to his dressing room. When Cohl arrived, Richards pulled out a knife, and jammed it into the table, yelling, "What the hell am I paying you for? Should I go and kick him out myself? It's him or us! If he doesn't leave, we're not going on stage!"

Cohl went to Trump, and gave him the band's demands. Trump went into his fake tough-guy act, saying the Stones weren't going anywhere, weren't leaving Atlantic City, and his security team would "beat the shit out of your whole band."

Did I mention that Dumb Donald was so dumb? Cohl called the tour's head of security. He immediately called out four dozen of the band's security men. They arrived with hockey sticks, screwdrivers, and tire irons. Trump and his entourage hurriedly left the building. I guess they forgot about what happened at Altamont, 20 years to the month earlier.

The concert went on, on time. The broadcast was perfect, and the Stones made all the money, just as planned.

In 2016, Donald Trump was "elected" President of the United States. Keith Richards said, "I warned America back in 1989!" Yes, he did.

*

December 19, 1989 was a Tuesday. Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. There were 10 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Utah Jazz, 115-107 at Madison Square Garden. Patrick Ewing scored 41 points and grabbed 15 rebounds. The Stones played The Garden many times, the 1st being on November 27, 1969, a Thanksgiving Night. Although they toured the United States before the old Garden closed in 1968, they never played there.

* The New Jersey Nets beat the Miami Heat, 100-98 at the Miami Arena. The Stones never played there.

* The Washington Wizards beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 112-99 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland. The Stones played there several times, starting on their 1975 tour.

* The Charlotte Hornets beat the Dallas Mavericks, 102-97 at the Charlotte Coliseum. The Stones went on to play that arena on March 20, 1999. They played the previous building with the name, now named the Bojangles Coliseum, on November 15, 1965 and July 6, 1972.

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Sacramento Kings, 115-112 at The Omni in Atlanta. The Stones played there on July 30, 1975.

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 94-77 at The Palace in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan. The Stones went on to play there on February 22, 1999.

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 93-83 at the Chicago Stadium. Michael Jordan scored 37 points. The Stones played there on July 22, 23 and 24, 1975.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 95-86 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee. The Stones went on to play there on February 19, 1999 and September 8, 2005.

* The Los Angeles Clippers beat the Indiana Pacers, 128-102 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. Ron Harper scored 39 for the Clips, and Chuck Person 42 for the Pacers. The Stones played the Sports Arena early in their career, on December 5, 1965.

* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Houston Rockets, 119-100 at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland. The Stones played there on July 21, 1966.

And there were 6 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Islanders beat the New Jersey Devils, 5-4 at the Nassau Coliseum. Former New York Ranger Don Maloney won the game for the Islanders, scoring the winning goal with 1:42 left in overtime. The Stones have never played a concert at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The Washington Capitals beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 2-1 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. The Stones played there a few times, including 2 shows on July 20, 1972, with Stevie Wonder as the opening act.

* The Hartford Whalers beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 8-4 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh. The Stones played there several times, including on their early tours in 1965 and 1966.

* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Minnesota Twins, 5-0 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. The Stones played there on June 18, 1972.

* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Winnipeg Jets, 9-5 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California. The Stones played there many times, the first time on their 1969 tour.

* And the Calgary Flames beat the Vancouver Canucks, 2-1 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver. The Stones opened their 1972 tour there on June 3.

October 24, 1978: Keith Richards Cops a Plea

Left to right: Charlie Watts, Keith Richards,

Mick Jagger, Ron Wood, Bill Wyman

October 24, 1978: Keith Richards cops a plea. Having been busted for heroin possession at his Toronto hotel on the Rolling Stones' 1977 North American tour, the guitarist pleads guilty, gets a suspended sentence plus 1 year of probation, and forced rehab.

On that tour, Richards' addiction to heroin delayed his arrival in Toronto; the other members had already arrived. On February 24, 1977, when Richards and his family flew in from London, they were temporarily detained by Canadian Customs after Richards was found in possession of a burnt spoon and hash residue.

Three days later, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrived at Keith's hotel room, armed with an arrest warrant for Anita Pallenberg, Keith's longtime domestic partner, and the mother of 3 of his children. (One had died shortly after birth. Keith had stolen her from a former Stones member, the late Brian Jones.) They discovered 22 grams of heroin in the room. Keith was charged with importing narcotics into Canada, which carried a minimum 7-year sentence. The Crown prosecutor later conceded that Richards had procured the drugs after his arrival.

A blind fan testified on his behalf, so the judge got the idea to have Keith play a benefit concert on behalf of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind. With the Stones, Keith played 2 shows at the Oshawa Civic Auditorium in Oshawa, Ontario on April 22, 1979.

The story that Keith beat his addiction by having all of his blood drained and new blood of the same type pumped in is an urban legend. It's not possible: Such a procedure would kill the patient.

The old joke is that, if Keith Richards tells you that you have a drug problem, you know it's bad. But as recently as 2016, he says that he still smoked marijuana. In 2022, Keith, so often photographed with a cigarette in his mouth or in his hand, said that he had quit smoking 2 years earlier.

*

October 24, 1978 was a Tuesday. Baseball season had ended a week earlier, with the New York Yankees beating the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series. Football was in midweek. There were 8 games in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Atlanta Hawks, 113-109 at Madison Square Garden.

* The New Jersey Nets beat the Indiana Pacers, 97-95 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the New Orleans Jazz, 122-104 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.

* The Kansas City Kings beat the Chicago Bulls, 123-117 at the Chicago Stadium. Artis Gilmore scored 30 points in defeat for the Bulls.

* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Boston Celtics, 132-109 at the HemisFair Arena in San Antonio.

* The Phoenix Suns beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 124-116 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Walter Davis scored 38 for the Suns.

* The San Diego Clippers beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 124-123 at the San Diego Sports Arena (now the Pechanga Arena). Lloyd "All-World" Free, later to change his name to World B. Free, scored 35 for the Clippers.

* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Washington Bullets, 104-102 at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland.

There were 3 games in the NHL:

* The New York Islanders and the Philadelphia Flyers played to a tie, 4-4 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The Atlanta Flames beat the Los Angeles Kings, 7-2 at The Omni in Atlanta.

* And the Boston Bruins beat the St. Louis Blues, 7-2 at the St. Louis Arena (then known as the Checkerdome).

And there were 2 games in the World Hockey Association. The New England Whalers beat the Cincinnati Stingers, 2-1 at the Riverfront Coliseum (now the Heritage Bank Center) in Cincinnati. And the Birmingham Bulls beat the Edmonton Oilers, 3-2 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton.

July 5, 1969: The Brian Jones Memorial Concert

July 5, 1969: A concert is held in Hyde Park, in London, in memory of Brian Jones, who had died 2 days earlier.

Lewis Brian Hopkin Jones was born on February 28, 1942 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, in England's West Country. In 1962, living in London, and already the father of 3 children by 3 different women, he placed an ad in a trade paper for musicians to form a band. It was answered by singer Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards. They later added bass guitarist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts.

They were all fans of American blues performers, including Muddy Waters, and Jones named the group after one of Waters' songs: "Rollin' Stone Blues." It was later adjusted to "The Rolling Stones." By 1963, they were having hits in Britain. By 1964, they were having hits in America, and touring there. In 1965, they topped the American charts with "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction."

They were promoted as the "bad boys" of "The British Invasion," as opposed to The Beatles being "good boys." It was closer to the other way around: The Stones were middle-class kids, poseurs, who became genuine bad boys, while The Beatles were already pill-popping womanizers, though this was hidden from the public.

Jones was the best musician in the band: A good guitarist, he played the sitar on "Paint It, Black," the recorder on "Ruby Tuesday," and the piano on "Let's Spend the Night Together." But he developed a serious drug problem, as marijuana use led him to try heroin, and he became addicted.

On June 9, 1969, he made a public statement that he was leaving the band. It wasn't his choice: Because of a drug conviction, he was denied a visa to enter the U.S. for the band's tour. He was replaced by Mick Taylor from John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. (In 1974, Taylor was replaced, under far less controversial circumstances, by Ron Wood of The Faces.)

On July 3, 1969, Jones was found drowned in the swimming pool at his home at Cotchford Farm in East Sussex, formerly the home of Winnie-the-Pooh creator A.A. Milne. He was 27 years old, and this was before there was such a recognized thing as a "27 Club," making him one of the earliest rock stars to have died at that age.

Drugs were not a direct cause of his death, but an autopsy showed he had an enlarged heart and an enlarged liver, as a result of drug use. So he might not have lived a great deal longer, anyway. There is a theory that he was murdered, but this has never been proven.

The Rolling Stones had been scheduled to perform a free concert in Hyde Park two days later. The concert had originally been promoted weeks earlier as Taylor's public debut with the band. At the beginning of the concert, Jagger took the stage to read excerpts from "Adonais," a poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley, written in 1821 about the death of his friend and fellow poetic giant, John Keats. (Keats was 25. Shelley died the next year, at 29.) Stagehands then released hundreds of white butterflies from the stage area as a tribute to Jones.

A crowd of 500,000 is said to have attended the show. The same number that was alleged to have attended the Woodstock concert in New York State 6 weeks later. But, given the population difference between America and Britain, this was, proportionally, a far larger crowd.

When asked if he felt guilty about Jones's death, Mick Jagger told Rolling Stone magazine (named for the Bob Dylan song "Like a Rolling Stone," not the band) in 1995, "No, I don't really. I do feel that I behaved in a very childish way, but we were very young, and in some ways we picked on him. But, unfortunately, he made himself a target for it; he was very, very jealous, very difficult, very manipulative, and if you do that in this kind of a group of people you get back as good as you give, to be honest. I wasn't understanding enough about his drug addiction. No one seemed to know much about drug addiction."

Within the band, that would change.

*

July 5, 1969 was a Saturday. Hockey star John LcClair was born on this day. And these Major League Baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Cleveland Indians, 4-2 at Yankee Stadium. Steve Hargan outpitched Stan Bahnsen.

* A doubleheader was split at Fenway Park in Boston. The Washington Senators won the 1st game, 6-2. The Boston Red Sox won the 2nd game, 11-4. Carl Yastrzemski went 1-for-8 with a walk and an RBI.

* The Montreal Expos beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-4 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Detroit Tigers, 9-3 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Brooks Robinson went 1-for-5 with a home run and 2 RBIs. Frank Robinson went 1-for-3 with 2 walks and 2 RBIs. Al Kaline went 3-for-4 with an RBI.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the California Angels, 4-3 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Oakland Athletics, 13-1 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Harmon Killebrew hit 2 home runs, and Rod Carew went 1-for-5 with a walk and 2 RBIs. The A's only run came on a home run by Reggie Jackson.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Cubs, 5-1 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Ernie Banks did not play.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Seattle Pilots, 6-4 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium. Fans of Jim Bouton's book Ball Four, take note: Mike Marshall did not get out of the 4th inning. I guess he didn't smoke 'em inside. Bouton pitched a scoreless 5th and 6th innings. Mike Hegan and Don Mincher each had 2 hits.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Houston Astros, 9-8 at San Diego Stadium (later renamed Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium). The game went to extra innings, and each team scored a run in the 10th. The Astros scored 4 in the top of the 12th, but the Padres scored 5 in the bottom of the 12th. Walt Hriniak, later one of the game's great hitting instructor, singled home the winning run.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Cincinnati Reds, 6-5 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Pete Rose went 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs, and Johnny Bench went 0-for-2 as a pinch-hitter.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the San Francisco Giants, 7-1 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Hank Aaron did not play. Willie Mays went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* And the New York Mets and the Pittsburgh Pirates were rained out at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on September 12. The Mets won each game by a 1-0 score. In the opener, Jerry Koosman pitched a 3-hit shutout. In the nightcap, Don Cardwell outpitched Dock Ellis. And each Met pitcher singled home the only run of the game. Roberto Clemente went 2-for-4 in the opener, and pinch-hit without reaching base in the nightcap. 

May 12, 1965: The Rolling Stones Record "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"

Left to right: Bill Wyman, Brian Jones,

Charlie Watts, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards

May 12, 1965: The Rolling Stones, already the next-biggest British rock and roll band behind The Beatles, record "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction." It becomes their signature song, and one of the most popular songs in rock and roll history.

The Stones consisted of lead singer Mick Jagger, lead guitarist Keith Richards, rhythm guitarist Brian Jones, bass guitarist Bill Wyman, and drummer Charlie Watts. Also on the recording were pianists Ian Stewart and Jack Nitzsche, although Jones could also play the piano -- and, as it later turned out, the sitar (on "Paint It, Black") and the recorder (on "Ruby Tuesday"). Andrew Loog Oldham produced the record.

Richards claimed he wrote the opening riff for the song at his apartment in St. John's Wood, North-West London. Then he recorded it on a reel-to-reel tape recorder. Then he fell asleep. When he played the tape in the morning, he found it contained 2 minutes of acoustic guitar, "and then me snoring for the next 40 minutes." It became one of the most famous opening riffs in rock and roll history. He said Jagger wrote the lyrics by the pool in Clearwater, Florida, in the Tampa Bay area.

They recorded the song on May 12, 1965, at the studio of Chess Records on the South Side of Chicago, home to Richards' hero Chuck Berry, and to blues musicians such as Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and Willie Dixon. The studio's address became the title of an instrumental the Stones later recorded, "2120 South Michigan Avenue."

The song was released on June 5, and was so damn catchy that, despite the bad grammar of the title, Billboard magazine listed it as the Number 1 song in America in their July 11 issue. It remains the Stones' most familiar song. As Jagger put it: 

It was the song that really made The Rolling Stones, changed us from just another band into a huge, monster band... It has a very catchy title. It has a very catchy guitar riff. It has a great guitar sound, which was original at that time. And it captures a spirit of the times, which is very important in those kinds of songs... Which was alienation.

It hit Number 1 right around the high point of Lyndon Johnson's Presidency. And yet, had Johnson heard the song, whether he liked it or not, would have understood the title completely.

There are 3 surviving musicians from the recording session on "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction": Jagger, Richards and Wyman. Oldham is also still alive. Jones died in 1969, Stewart in 1985, Nitzsche in 2000, and Watts in 2021.

*

May 12, 1965 was a Wednesday. These baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Boston Red Sox, 2-0 at Fenway Park in Boston. Bill Monbouquette threw a 6-hit shutout, to outpitch Jim Bouton. Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-2 with 2 walks. Mickey Mantle went 1-for-4.

* The New York Mets beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 2-1 at Shea Stadium. Jack Fisher went the distance for the win. Lou Brock went 1-for-3 with a walk.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-3 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. Frank Robinson went 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI. Pete Rose went 0-for-4 with a walk.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Cleveland Indians, 4-2 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Brooks Robinson did not play.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Washington Senators, 5-2 at District of Columbia Stadium in Washington. (It was renamed Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in 1969.) Al Kaline went 1-for-4 with an RBI.

* The Milwaukee Braves beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-4 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Joe Torre and Felipe Alou hit home runs for the Braves. Hank Aaron did not, but did go 3-for-5. For the Pirates, Roberto Clemente went 3-for-4 with an RBI.

* The Chicago White Sox swept a doubleheader from the Kansas City Athletics, 7-4 and 6-4 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the California Angels, 4-3 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Harmon Killebrew hit 2 home runs.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Houston Astros, 4-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Don Drysdale went the distance for the win.

* And the Chicago Cubs beat the San Francisco Giants, 7-3 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Ernie Banks went 1-for-4 with a walk and an RBI. Willie Mays went 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI. Ron Santo of the Cubs and Willie McCovey of the Giants hit home runs.