WCCO Archives: Mr. Jimmy's Chance Encounter With Mick Jagger
[EDITOR'S NOTE: This story originally aired as a Dimension piece on May 21, 1994. Jimmy Hutmaker died in 2007.]
By Tom Steward, WCCO-TV
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- In the Excelsior area, you can spot some of the Twin Cities' most high-profile personalties: Harvey Mackay, Prince, Miles Lord, Rick Aguilera. But ask anyone on Water Street and you find out fast another star around here who blows all the others away.
"I don't know who the mayor is but i know who Jimmy is," one resident said.
Jimmy who? Like most celebrities, Jimmy Hutmaker attracts photographers.
"When I display his portrait at the local art fair it draws the biggest reaction, the most comments."
He's so important the local historical society keeps track of his notoriety. The apparent encounter between Excelsior's Hutmaker and England's Mick Jagger is legendary around here.
"Mr. Jimmy" says he ran into Jagger at the fountain in Bacon's Drugstore in 1964, right after the Stones played at the old Excelsior Amusement Park. What Mr. Jimmy evidently said to Jagger still lives on to this day.
So history tells it, the Stones were booed off the stage at that concert in Excelsior, "because he was interfering with Elvis Presley's style," Hutmaker said.
Later on, while Jagger was getting a prescription filled, Hutmaker said he ordered a cherry Coke but had gotten a regular Coke instead. During his now legendary interaction with Jagger, he allegedly mused, "You can't always get what you want."
Years later, the observation turned up as the title of a hit Stones song, one that includes references to the drugstore, the pop, and "Mr. Jimmy."
He might not work in an office, but yet you still see him on the job every day, getting this commuter community going at 5:30 a.m. most mornings. His headquarters: Tony's Barber Shop.
He also makes sure community leaders never forget to take a coffee break. And they make sure he never forgets how much they care about his piece of local history.
"I think it ("you can't always get what you want") describes everybody," Hutmaker said. "None of us can get what we want. We try, and make the best of what we can get."
