A sad day for rock n roll. Charlie Watts, drummer extraordinaire has died. He was 80.

I've played drums for nearly 4 decades and I always liked Charlie's style. He's a drummer. The spine of the band. He didn't need the spotlight, didn't crave attention, didn't give a shit about having the solo, he kept the beat. Keith could wander off on his heroin infused solos, going everywhere and nowhere at the same time and when he came back to his senses Charlie was there, ticking and tapping in perfect rhythm to bring the boys back in.

He'll be missed.

I got extremely lucky and saw the Stones in a small bar down by the waterfront in Toronto many years ago. They used to lease a hangar at YYZ and practice before world tours. As a thank you I suppose , for the generosity of the Canadian government when Keith was busted for heroin and the charge was for the band to play a free concert and donate the proceeds to charity. When they were ready to pack up they would wander into that small bar and ask to play a short set. No announcement, not big toodoo. They asked to get up on stage and play. There may have been a couple dozen people in there that evening, and that was fairly full.

A sad day for rock n roll......