July 18, 2005
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Associated Press file photo
Mick Jagger and the rest of the Rolling Stones have been rehearsing at Greenwood College School in Toronto
They’re back. The Rolling Stones are in Toronto, preparing for their 2005 World Tour at the Greenwood College School.
The location was confirmed Wednesday by entertainment industry impresario Gino Empry.
When asked whether Greenwood, near Mount Pleasant Road and Davisville Avenue, would be a locale for the Stones, he replied: “As far as I know. They have a couple of spots they’re practicing at.”
Jerry Stone, who knows Keith Richards and Mick Jagger and owns Stone’s Place, a Queen Street West bar, confirmed the band would rehearse at Greenwood and said roadies and backup crew are expected in town soon.
“You starting to bug them already?” he asked.
Music pulsed from behind the school’s blacked-out windows this week and a handful of people dressed in black who loitered outside the exits would allow only that a “private event” was being held inside.
The neighborhood has been buzzing with news of the Stones’ arrival for days.
“It’s the most exciting thing that’s happened on Davisville,” said Lorne Hogan, a contractor who lives beside the school. “There are famous people at the end of our street.”
Hogan said he could hear the bass Wednesday night, but he wasn’t distracted by it.
The band has rehearsed at Maple Leaf Gardens, Crescent School, the Masonic Temple and Downsview Park before other world tours, Empry said. The band’s tour promoter, Michael Cohl, lives in Toronto.
“They like Canadians. We’re very polite and we don’t demand they do certain things and bother them,” Empry said.
Hosting an internationally renowned band has been a little off-putting for Greenwood staff members who confirm they have had limited access to the premises this month.
But fans hoping to catch a glimpse of the legendary rockers won’t “get no satisfaction” because the entrance to the school’s property is sealed off by gates very similar to the mesh fencing used to control crowds at concerts.
