![Stones continue love affair with T.O.]( "Stones continue love affair with T.O.")
Stones continue love affair with T.O.
TORONTO (CP) - It's become a familiar summertime event in the city - spot Mick, Keith, Charlie or Ron grabbing a bite in chic Yorkville, riding a bicycle or signing autographs.
Yup, the Rolling Stones are back in town, spending several weeks in Toronto prepping for a world tour - Rolling Stones: OnStage, which begins Aug. 21 in Boston. The quartet arrived last week with minimal fanfare but plenty of smiles. "It's very exciting. When the Rolling Stones come to town my phone rings off the hook," says Ken Witt of the band's label Virgin Music Canada.
It's likely the band's famous frontman will even spend his birthday in the city, as he's done on previous occasions. Mick Jagger turns 62 on July 26.
This is the fifth time the grizzled bad boys of rock practise their moves in advance of a world tour. They did the same in 2002 for the Licks tour, 1997 for Bridges to Babylon, 1994 for Voodoo Lounge and 1989 for Steel Wheels.
In the past, the band has rehearsed at Toronto's Masonic Temple, Maple Leaf Gardens and the Crescent School.
This time, they're at Greenwood College, a midtown private school, and an empty hangar at Pearson International Airport is being used to construct a set.
Trying to figure out why the Stones keep coming to Toronto has become a ritual for the local music press and fans. Frontman Mick Jagger has simply called it a "time-honoured tradition."
"It's such a great place and everyone treats us really well," he has said.
True, Canada's paparazzi-lite culture means the band can roam the city relatively undisturbed. They've been known to dine in Yorkville. Guitarist and part-time artist Ron Wood has even exhibited his artwork at local galleries.
But the truth may lie somewhere closer to the business world.
Their longtime concert promoter Michael Cohl - the man who organizes schedules, flights for gear, ticket sales, etc. - calls Toronto home.
And when the Stones began setting up here, the low Canadian dollar provided cheap practice turf and plenty of tax benefits.
Whatever the exact reason, the Stones' relationship to Toronto dates back to their first gig in Canada's most populous city in 1965.
The band performed twice that year at Maple Leaf Gardens where rabid fans were so eager for a glimpse of their idols they even climbed on top of limos outside the venue. In London, Ont., there was practically a riot when police pulled the plug on a show.
But the most talked about visit to Toronto happened in March 1977 when the band played a surprise gig at the El Mocambo club - and Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's wife Margaret showed up to party with the rockers.
That same weekend guitarist Keith Richards was arrested at the Harbor Castle Hotel on heroin possession charges. He was found guilty but in lieu of a jail sentence, the judge ordered Richards to play two benefit concerts for the blind at the civic auditorium in Oshawa, east of Toronto. He obeyed, and the Rolling Stones played in April 1979.
As a result, Richards has publicly credited the city with saving his life because he gave up the drug after the incident. He often wears a silver bracelet linked with two tiny handcuffs to remind him of the event.
"I have a very strange relationship with this town," he said of Toronto.
Aside from rehearsing, the band have a habit of thanking the city for its hospitality with concerts. The most public one was in 2003 in front of about 450,000 people at a benefit show to help SARS-battered Toronto.
There's also a history of last-minute intimate shows in tiny clubs. The band usually announce such events the morning of the show and charge a mere $10 admission to cover costs.
But in typical rock star fashion, the details of such a show are being kept secret.
"If there's (even) going to be one," says Virgin Music's Witt.
"They really do their own thing."
http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/2005/07/18/1137250-cp.html
