Little Richard and Me

Eons ago, some friends and I caught Little Richard at the old York Theatre in Montreal before it met with the wrecker's ball. I can't remember much about the actual show, but I'm pretty sure he played Tutti Frutti and the rest of his standards.

After the show let out, we were hanging around the front door of the theatre on Ste. Catherine Street, thinking about packing it in when a huge stretch limo hove into view and parked itself right in front of us. Right on cue, Little Richard himself came out of the theatre towards the open door of the black Lincoln Continental.

"Do you mind giving us a lift?" one of us said just for the hell of it.

"Sure, hop on in" he replied.

We were stunned for a moment since none of us actually needed a ride. But being teenagers it took only a few nanoseconds before images of wild rock'n'roll parties emboldened us to jump on in.

"So where are you kids going?" he enquired. Having not thought it that far ahead, we replied "Wherever you're going".

"Driver, pull over please and let them out", he said, though not with too much rancour, and we got out of the limo.

Some people measure their brushes with fame in terms of time. I measure mine in distance - approximately 75 feet down Ste-Catherine Street.