It was the summer of ’66 and I was living in Hollywood, CA with two ladies I affectionately refer to as my aunts, Honey and Ann. Cindy, who was a little older than me also lived with us. She was Honey’s daughter and already attending Fairfax High School.

I was only 13 at the time, but when I think back, it was really quite incredible: how many kids could say they got to hang out with Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones for an entire week!

The Stones had just released their hit song, Satisfaction, the previous year and it catapulted the rock group into super stardom. Of the few albums I owned back then, their compilation LP, High Tide and Green Grass was one of them, and that song was on it.

Our home was located on Havenhurst Ave. right down the street from the Plush Pup, a popular hot dog joint on the Sunset Strip. We lived in the front house which was a large, older home with a sun deck on the 2^nd story. The back house had a top and bottom unit and Carlin Jeffries, an avant-garde artist, lived in the top unit. Jagger was on vacation and visiting with his friend Carlin.

Here’s what happened. It was a lazy summer afternoon and Cindy was on the sofa, drying her hair with one of those old-fashioned hair dryers that fit over your head. She was reading a teeny-bopper magazine and I was on the other sofa probably reading something intellectual like Mad Magazine.

Honey and Ann were always so welcoming and many neighbors would come in through the back kitchen door for coffee and conversation. On this afternoon, it was Carlin who walked in the back door, “Hello . . .  Honey? . . . Ann? . . . Anyone home? . . . Cindy?” “Yea Carlin?” “Cindy there’s someone I’d like you to meet.” And of course, Carlin turned the corner and then said, “Cindy, I’d like you to meet a friend, this is Mick Jagger!”

There he was. Pretty cool. Carlin introduced me too. I think Cindy and I were both in shock but remained cool. There was some small talk and then they left. Mick had been smoking (everyone smoked back then, in homes, cars, everywhere) and he put his cigarette out in Cindy’s ash tray. She had been smoking too. She took the ashtray with his cigarette in it, went upstairs and started calling all her girlfriends to tell them what just happened.

After about 15 minutes and careful consideration, I grabbed my Rolling Stones album and went over to Carlin’s house to have Mick sign it.

That album was double jacketed and when opened, there were about five large pages of photos inside. Mick not only autographed those pages for me, he made a lot of commentary about the photos, the songs, and the album. He even poked fun at himself. He was really a very cool guy and very gracious with his time. I spent about 45 minutes there.

When I said I got to hang out with Mick Jagger for an entire week, I was exaggerating. In truth, there were about four different occasions that we met over the course of a week.

A couple days later, Mick came over to the house, to my room, and picked my brain for an hour. One on one. He wanted to know who I listened to, what other albums I owned and about American teen culture. At that time, I owned one Beach Boys album and not much more. I told Mick that I liked the Beatles too and that local radio stations were the main source for listening to music. He shared what it was like to be a Rolling Stone with the crowds and screaming fans etc. He told me fans would spit on them, not because they didn’t like them, but because in their minds, it was the only form of contact they could have. So that was a really neat meeting.

It’s only now – 49 years later – that I think he may have been impressed by the fact that this 13 year old American kid from Los Angeles bought their record. Speaking of records, there was one song that Mick was all jazzed about – I wasn’t familiar with it – he heard it on local radio; Mind Excursion by the Trade Winds. He loved that song.

Anyway, I think it was Carlin who said that Mick washed his hair twice a day. So one day Mick came over to the house and wanted to borrow Cindy’s hair dryer. Well, she was reluctant to lend it out because she thought he could break it. So Mick made Cindy a promise: he told her if he broke it, he would not only buy her a brand new one, he would replace it with a live band. Cindy lent him her hair dryer.

Towards the end of the week, one of Carlin’s friends saw me in the back where all the cars were parked, and asked if I could pick Mick up at his hotel on Sunset Blvd. and bring him back. He couldn’t do it but offered his convertible T-Bird. I hesitated. I didn’t even have a driver’s license, and had only driven a car a couple times – in empty parking lots. When I look back, I was either naïve or fearless or both because I agreed, and did it. It was only a couple miles from the house and I knew the hotel because my dad had lived there before.

So there I was, 13 ½ years old, helping Mick Jagger with a suitcase in his hotel room and driving him back in a topless T-Bird down the Sunset Strip. It doesn’t get much better than that!

Mick turned out to be a really great guy and easy to talk to. My life during this period was on standby because plans had already been made for me by my mom to attend a boarding school in Switzerland. Mick told me if my flight should stop in New York, to call him and he would send a limo and have me meet the rest of his mates. They had some recording dates set up and would stay in New York about a month.

It was the last time we spoke. I did go to Switzerland about a month or so later on a non-stop flight; Los Angeles-Geneva. And Mick went on to have a phenomenally successful career as the lead singer for one of the best pop/rock groups in history. In the process, he became a legend.

Maybe Mick Jagger can’t get no satisfaction, but he’s been dishing out plenty of it for the past 49 years to his devoted fans worldwide.