Illinois Entertainer August 2017 | Page 10

Mick IE: But somehow, you wound up in France, working as a session guitarist in the ‘60s, too? Working with Francoise Hardy, amplifier and my guitar, and the curtains came down on top of me and knocked me to the ground. And my guitar fell on the ground, and it was my prized possession. So I went, “Oh, fuck! Shit!” And John Lennon walked up behind me after hear- ing me swearing in English and said, “Hey, lad – we didn’t know you were English! Come up and have a bevy with the lads!” And I couldn’t believe it – he’d invited me up to their dressing room. And from then on, I spent after-show time with them, and every night we’d go out to clubs. And I got to play with George at one point a few years later, and I still see Ringo 08•2017 Sylvia Vartan and Johnny Hallyday? What an amazing time to be in Paris. MJ: Yeah. There’s a famous theater in Paris called the Olympia, and The Beatles were booked to play there, and it was just before their first trip to America. And we were on the bill – me with Sylvia Vartan’s band. And suddenly, there’s The Beatles, and we were in the Olympia, rehearsing. The Beatles walk in, and there was hysteria in the streets, and I was frozen when I saw them, because I really was a superfan. So we were in the middle spot of this show, and in those days they had a curtain that dropped, like a lot of theaters used to have. And I was coming off, carrying my pretty regularly. I was secretly hoping that they’d take me as the fifth Beatle, but it never happened. IE: But France itself must have been awe- some. MJ: Oh, yeah. It was the Yi Yi period, and Nero and the Gladiators had been offered this summer tour, backing a French singer called Dick Rivers. So we decided to do it – come over to France from England and tour in France with Dick Rivers. And on one of the first few days, there was a very beautiful young lady traveling with us, and I quickly fell in love with her the moment I saw her. Plus, French was my 10 illinoisentertainer.com august 2017 August 11 5 Billion In Diamonds 5 Billion In Diamonds David Rawlings Poor David's Almanack Kesha Rainbow Mark Bryan Songs Of The Fortnight Paul Kelly Life Is Fine The Cribs 24-7 Rock Star Shit August 18 Everything Everything Fever Dream Ghostpoet Dark Days & Canapés Grizzly Bear Painted Ruins Mozzy 1 Up Top Ahk Phora Yours Truly Forever Ray Wylie Hubbard Tell The Devil I'm Gettin' There... Shelby Lynne & Allison Moorer Not Dark Yet UNKLE The Road Part 1 Motorhead August 25 Angelo De Augustine Swim Inside The Moon Cymbals Light In Your Mind EMA Exile In The Outer Ring Filthy Friends Invitation Gogol Bordello Seekers And Finders Iron & Wine Beast Epic Nadine Shah Holiday Destination Queens of the Stone Age Villains Savoy Brown Witchy Feelin' The War on Drugs A Deeper Understanding Walter Trout We’re All In This Together September 1 Joan Osborne Songs Of Bob Dylan Mogwai Every Country's Sun Motörhead Under Cover Orchestral Manoeuvres i