As author Chris Epting states in his intro to Moonlight Miles A Guide to Rolling Stones Landmarks Across America 1964-1981: “I’ve long been fascinated by the Rolling Stones relationship with this country, especially the places they visited or even just brushed up against, not just as a huge Rolling Stones fan, but also as a travel writer….So I decided to document the places where they played, recorded, lived, were photographed and even arrested.”
And so he does in what he calls the first ever geographical history of the world’s greatest rock and roll band.
Separating chapters into “The East,” “The South,” “The Midwest,” “The West” (the U.S. of A. is a big place, after all), we get a good amount of information (and some great ‘then’ as well as ‘now’ pics) of the shacks, barns, arenas, stadiums and fields the Stones have played and visited over this near three-decade study. There are set lists from the shows as well (which Stones’ fans will especially appreciate), plus lots of real minutia only a good chronicler and fan like Epting could find.
For instance, there’s the story of a famous jam between Bob Dylan and Brian Jones on November 9, 1965 at the Lincoln Square Motor Inn in New York City. There’s Memory Motel, a small motel and bar and the title of a ballad off the Stones’ 1976 album Black & Blue album.
Of course, a picture of the infamous Muscle Shoals recording studio seen in the Stone’s classic Gimme Shelter film where they are seen listening to “Wild Horses” is included. And there’s the big open field of Altamont Raceway, where the Stones’ saw their audience beaten down by members of the Hells Angels, also caught by the cameras in Gimme Shelter.
Epting truly crisscrosses the country here, spending probably the most time in California (there are recording studios, famous houses and TV studios — places the Stones frequented often professionally and socially)
I especially love Epting expounding on the rural setting of the Stones’ Big Hits (High Tide & Green Grass) cover, shot on Franklin Canyon Drive in Los Angeles at the same locale that the opening credits of The Andy Griffith Show were shot!
Moonlight Miles A Guide to Rolling Stones Landmarks Across America 1964-1981 is a well researched chronicle, with a unique and fascinating angle on one of the most important institutions in rock and roll.
~ Ralph Greco, Jr.
