Keith Richards' Roach Clip

 Keith Richards' Roach Clip


this is the style with Onk at top

                                                                 Keef


     Once again we return to the wonderful walk-up apartment Zeke and I lived in around 1973. My good buddy and roomate carried me a bit until I got a job at the Central Ticket Office and began to pull my weight finally. College man Greg visited often and clouds of pot smoke wafted through the rooms in the evenings as we relaxed in front of the tube or peeked out the windows to see our naked neighbors behave like they were still on a farm in  Missouri. Never, one to let grass grow between his long toes Zeke had gone out and got a job pumping gas at a very busy service station near Third and Beverly back in the Midvale habitation. The kind that had a hose that would ding loudly when a car entered the premises since it was a service station. This Knowlton was never shy about hard work and he had already fulfilled his military service and was well on his way to a B.S. in Engineering at UCLA. He had time to get stoned and sip some suds at fine establishments like the Bratskeller in Westwood or the Orbit where comely Bruin co-eds filled our glasses and pretended to find our conversation fascinating. The great part of Zeke's job was that many chauffeurs used to gas up their limos at that convenient location and he got to be friends with drivers of all kinds of vehicles. One of these coach-men happened to be the Rolling Stones favorite driver and he pulled in for gas right after dropping them at  their swank hotel. As young hipsters we all had spent many hours digging the Stones records and even attending several of their amazing concerts. This included the most incredible evening in 1972 at the Long Beach Arena that cemented the bad boys of rock as greats  in our stoned minds. So it was that Zeke scrambled into the back of the limo to feel the spirit of the Stones and spied something glitter in an open ash tray. There was a very nice Egyptian Onk roach clip sitting in plain sight with a healthy roach attached. Zeke bagged the sacred clip and brought it home to Midvale. You never had to worry about Tall Boy bullshitting or making up stories so you knew he was telling the truth when he laid the famous roach down on the dining room table. Three young roomies smoked the roach and got gloriously high but the relic roach clip was still in  our possession. For months we looked at this piece of actual jewelry and left it alone, fearing the use of it might lead to some misplacing of this precious find. It came with us to Veteran and Ohio as a sacred relic. Remember, the entire front room there was full of large, overstuffed vintage furniture including a very cool, curved couch that already had been a place of historical significance. These old dears had deep crevices where many a coin, clip or set of keys could slide into obscurity. When Zeke moved to his new job with Hughes he left the Keith Richards' Roach clip behind and one terrible day it just vanished. We dug our hands into the funky furniture to no avail. It was there one golden moment and gone forever the next.



“I don't have a problem with drugs, I have a problem with policemen.”
― Keith Richards

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