Drummer Details

CHARLIE WATTS: Stones Drummer Talks Olympics, the Queen, Boogie Woogie

Charlie Watts spoke on a variety of subjects with London's Telegraph. In an interview posted online yesterday, The Rolling Stones drummer said he didn't think the band would perform for the upcoming Summer Olympics in London. And his comment, "I didn't want to do it for a start," makes it clear he was never interested such a show. But he offered regrets that the Stones won't perform for Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee marking her 60 years on the throne. "Because that's a great thing, I think, but I don't think we'd have the time to do it... It'll be a night of the Sirs won't it, with Paul McCartney and Elton. Lovely guy, Elton. Do you know him?"

Watts gets most exciting discussing his side project The A B C & D of Boogie Woogie. With a show coming up Saturday night at London's Pizza Express jazz club, he muses, "Boogie-woogie piano is the basis of swing piano-playing and rock and roll, actually. They used to call it 'beat-your-daddy-8-to-the-bar'. It's very physical and it's bloody hard to play, but it's wonderful."