June 1, 1964

The Rolling Stones landed at Kennedy Airport on June 1, 1964 – exactly 51 years ago today – to begin their first tour in America.

The Beatles had landed in America nearly four months earlier.

Why were the Stones four months behind the Beatles?

I have an answer. Perhaps it’s correct and perhaps not. Depends on who you believe. But my finger points toward Keith Richards as the holdup. My version is that Keith needed to cleanse a heavy residue of drugs out of his bloodstream before the U.S. issued him a visa.

Rumors that he used a blood transfusion to quit his heroin addiction have circulated for decades. Richards would like you to chalk it up as an Urban Legend that contains no truth.

According to Keith, back in the early 1970s, paparazzi followed him to Heathrow Airport one day while he was on the way to Switzerland. They asked him why he was going to Switzerland and he said he was going to get a blood transfusion.

“I just wanted them off my back. And so I spun them a yarn. I’m still living with it.”

But I say that’s exactly where he was going – to Switzerland – and that’s exactly why he was going – to get a blood transfusion.

The way I heard it, Mick Jagger attended a soirée at the U.S. Embassy in London one night during the early spring of 1964. The Beatles had recently completed their first whirlwind tour of the U.S. The U.S. Ambassador cornered Mick and asked him why the Rolling Stones didn’t want to follow the Beatles to America.

Mick told the ambassador that nothing could be further from the truth. The Stones wanted to tour the U.S.

Then what was the problem?

Mick told the ambassador that the U.S. wouldn’t issue Keith a visa because Keith couldn’t pass the drug test.

The ambassador then assured Mick that if Keith could test clean just once, that he’d issue a visa.

Keith flew to Switzerland. He was packed in ice to lower his core temperature. Pint by pint, his blood was swapped several times until his blood was purified. The procedure took several hours.

Keith returned to England, tested clean, and the Stones came to America.

That’s the way I heard the story.

My source was Roger Glover, the bass player for Deep Purple.

One night in 1986, I was sitting on a sofa in Roger’s living room at his home in Connecticut and we were shooting the bull over a couple of cold ones. The Stones and Keith Richards popped into our conversation and that’s pretty much what Roger told me that night. He said it was a true story and that Keith submitted to the procedure several times over the years. Roger had no axe to grind. He had no reason to make up a story to impress me. As far as I know, the Rolling Stones and Deep Purple have always maintained good relationships.

Why was I at Roger’s house?

My daughter was his girlfriend for two years or so. I was there several times.

In fact, I was there during the summer of 1986 when Deep Purple was adding some vocals to the The House of the Blue Light album. Earlier, they’d recorded the instrumentals in Vermont and were finishing up the vocals at a studio in Roger’s house. They’d contracted a mobile unit owned by a French-Canadian named Guy Charbonneau. They didn’t pay for Guy’s engineering services – just his mobile.

Guy and I spent a few days sitting around the pool and drinking cold ones while some of the mixing was taking place.

And now back to baseball.

After sweeping three games from the Colt 45s to end the month of May, the Phillies were beginning the month of June with a 25-and-15 record, playing at a .625 clip, and holding a ½ game lead over the Giants for first place.

They were also beginning June with a day off.