The Rolling Stone interviews - Jann Wenner [39]
I listen to the records quite a lot. I’m in no way trying to discredit him as a performer, because I think he’s an extraordinary performer. But what I think’s amazing about him is that there is no single thing of all the things he does that he’s really good at. He’s not—he really can’t dance, and, in fact, he really can’t move. He’s moving in the most awkward kind of curious parody between an American majorette girl . . . and Fred Astaire. It’s like he got these two weird people combined together. On the one hand, it’s the majorette strut, and on the other hand, it’s got to be à la Astaire. But, somehow, the combination works. Or at least it works for most people. . . .
Andy: Did you like traveling around with them?
Truman: Oh, I enjoyed it. I just didn’t want to write about it, because it didn’t interest me creatively. You know? But I enjoyed it as an experience. I thought it was amusing . . . I like the Rolling Stones individually, one by one, but the one thing I didn’t like was that they had—and especially the people around them—had such a disrespect for the audience. That used to really gripe me. It was like, “Who the fuck cares about them?” Well, these kids have merely stood in line for twenty-seven hours, you know, and whatnot to go to their concert—they adore them and love them. . . .
Andy: Why don’t we go and sit in a bar? Get a drink?
Truman: I found the real backstage people nice. The ones who were really doing work. It’s those little fakes like the press agent. There’s a wretched little press agent whose name . . . something . . . who was a great friend of Charlie Manson’s, and who recorded three albums of Charlie Manson’s records, and he believed Charlie Manson was Jesus Christ—this was before Charlie Manson was going. He was a press agent on the rock & roll tour! I mean they had some beauties . . . Marshall Chess . . .
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Andy: Why don’t we go to a bar and I can ask you the six questions that Rolling Stone wants me to ask.
Truman: Okay. My fingers are frozen.
000
[At the Hotel Carlyle Bar]
Truman: Whose questions are these? Jann Wenner’s?
Andy: Yes. The first question is —
Truman: Wait. I want to order something before you do this.
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Truman: I’ll have a J&B on the rocks with a glass of water on the side, please?
Andy: I’ll have a Grand Marnier.
Truman: Well, that was a nice walk. I think the nice thing about walking through the zoo in New York is . . . I used to go to school here for two years. I went to a private school here, and I skipped school almost every day. I mean literally, almost every day. At least every other day. I just couldn’t bear to go to school. I was about twelve years old. And I used to spend more time walking in that park around the zoo to use up the time between nine o’clock when I was supposed to go to school and two-thirty when I was supposed to get out.
Finally, I found three things to do. One was, I’d go for a walk in the park if it was a nice day. Two, I’d go to the New York Society Library. It was there I met Willa Cather, and she became this great friend of mine, when I was, you know . . . only a kid. She took a great interest in me. And the third thing was, believe it or not, going to Radio City Music Hall and sitting through the entire production, starting with the movie at nine, and I’d see two stage shows and the movie.
Even so I didn’t get my diploma.
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Andy: The first question was “problems.”
[Truman laughs]
Andy: Jann wanted to know your problem. With writing the article.
Truman: Why I couldn’t write the article?
Andy: Yes.
Truman: The reason was—twofold. One: As the thing progressed, I saw more and more trash written about the entire tour, and ordinarily that sort of thing doesn’t bother me: I mean, for instance, I could cover a trial that’s being covered