A Christmas Gift for the Ages

Some Christmas gifts you never forget.

Especially if they are intrinsically tied to your destiny.

I received such a gift on Christmas morning in 1974 from my dear mother.

It was the Hot Rocks double album by the Rolling Stones.

Lifechanging!

Now you may think, "Yeah, yeah, at some point in our lives we all got a rock-n-roll album that we deemed to be lifechanging." But mine literally WAS because it set me on a mission. From the moment I laid eyes on the iconic photo by Michael Joseph featured on the back cover I was stricken. Stricken with a longing, a deep ache, to be THERE—at those ruins that the Stones were so casually and coolishly lounging on. An impossible dream for a teenager from Appalachia but it was one that I never let go.

Now some amazing things were developed to assist foolish Fangirls between the years of 1974 and 2024. One was the internet. Then came search sites like Google and DuckDuckGo.

And since my search for the infamous Rolling Stone ruins continued decade after decade, it was only a matter of time till I stumbled across a bit of intel that gave me a name and location of my beloved ruins.

Oh what a happy day it was when I stumbled across an online documentary featuring Chris Jagger (Mick's younger brother) visiting the iconic site.

I probably don't need to tell you that it wasn't long before my bags were packed and I was THERE!

And yeah—the visit was LIFECHANGING!

NEWSFLASH:

In 2025 I will release my online eZine that gives you all the intel on what my fantastic visit was like and how you can visit (and stay there!) too.

It wasn't until I found the Rolling Stone ruins that it dawned on me that I had been chasing ruins for years. And staging photoshoots in them. I was forever choreographing dance presentations in monumental-type sites without realizing that the seed of my endeavors had sprouted that Christmas morning in 1974.

Behold. These are photos of my dance company during my dormant Fangirl years when the Stones were nary a thought in my mind! A single photograph from an album cover had situated itself into my creative process and I didn't even realize it!

State of Grace Dance Company at Fountains Abbey and Whitby Abbey in North Yorkshire, UK.

And today my Rolling Stone Christmas destiny still continues . . .

Last Christmas my hubby gave me a complimentary rock-n-roll gift—the limited edition book Men of Wealth and Taste: The Beggars Banquet Photographs of the Rolling Stones by Michael Joseph (and a 10,000 word original essay by Robert Greenfield) which features many of the photos taken by Joseph at the Swarkestone Pavilion along with the equally famous images of the Stones at Sarum Chase, one of which would grace the interior gatefold cover of Beggar's Banquet.

Beggar's Banquet Gatefold by Michael Joseph

The suedeluxe cover has a very "velvet Elvis" look & feel.

So nearly 50 years later, I'm still fantasizing about visiting a Rolling Stone site. This time it's Sarum Chase which, unfortunately, is a gated and walled private residence.

So for Christmas this year I'm asking Santa for rope & a grappling hook . . . It won't be my first time scaling a wall!

Stay tuned.

And don't forget to sign up for my FanZfied eZine!