Jagger "Let me clear some things up" On Keith's book

[Bennyboy]

I am, I see here, marginally endowed, if I read Keith's sniggering aright. I do not sing well, either. I am not polite to employees; indeed, I have even been known to say, "Oh, shut up, Keith," in band meetings. I do not appreciate the authenticity of the music or the importance of what we do. I want to "lord it over" the band, like James Brown. I am "insufferable." I slept with Anita.
Most of that is in just the first quarter of this overlong book, but a tattoo of my failings sounds all through it and culminates in almost 20 full pages of rambling invective near the end.
I don't mind this, really, for reasons I hope are understandable and will get into later. This is all from a guy pushing 70 for whom gays are still "poofters" and women "bitches." I think so many things about Keith. We were close, the two of us, for many years. We had known each other in grade school, if you can believe it, in the same undistinguished eastern suburb. Then we bumped into each other in a train station at 18 or so and started talking about the blues. We were different; I'd already been on TV with my father, who was a fairly notable expert on physical education at the time. Keith was … rougher, let's say. For the next nearly 10 years, we were rarely apart. Even after we were famous, we lived at each others' flats or houses. We were still very young, and, like puppies, we'd cluster together.

READ A LOT MORE:http://www.slate.com/id/2273611/pagenum/all/

[Bennyboy]

1. Satire...a good one that got me good. but satire..

Let me wipe that egg off of my face....

[tigereye]

2. frankly the one who comes off as really cool in the Booth book is Charlie

"the politest man in England" as I recall.


Curious what Keith has to say about that - I"ll hae to get Keith's book soon. I guess if you've been in a band with people for 45 plus years? you might get more than a bit sick of each other! :rofl:



on edit after reading more, wow. That's quite intense and generally, not that surprising. And I didn't know that Charlie was a heroin addict, as well. :(

[old mark]

3. I am a fan of Keith's as a guitar player, but as a person, he is a nasty asshole

who is very hard to be around. I have read a few things by former band members and people who did work with Keith, and were not very flattering in their description of him.

I do like his love of the blues and R&B, but in that he has a lot of company in people of our age bracket. I do admire the fact that he was in a position to acknowledge and credit the work of many old and mostly forgotten American blues artists and he did so,and in several cases rescued them from obscurity and their families from poverty. He is honest about his sources and gave them publishing credit on many albums, unlke several other bands (Led Zep comes to mind) who had to be sued for the real writers of some of their songs to be acknowleged and paid.


mark

[abq e streeter]

8. I have heard the same negative things, however,

the one person I know who does know him (and is therefore anything but an unbiased observer) says he's actually a real nice guy. If someone's your friend, I guess you're gonna say that about them, but on the other hand, this is directly from someone who has spent a hell of a lot of time around Keith... I also agree with you about his not forgetting the artists on whose musical foundations the Stones are built. That is admirable; as you said, not everyone acts on that responsibility.

[hippywife]

4. I'm hold number 42 of 49 at our library for this book.

His Fresh Air interview was awesome. :hi:

[Gabi Hayes]

6. I got the first hold at mine....audiobook. know who's reading it?

[A-Schwarzenegger]

5. Jesus, what a great fucking article/review or whatever it is.

Whoever wrote it.

Some kinda deromanticization goin' on there....

(Saw the Stones first US concert in San Berdoo, Swing Auditorium, '64.)

[bikebloke]

7. I'm 44 out of 6 in the library reserve queue.

Keef will have written his second autobiography of the next 70 years by the time I get it. However, if there's a big demand, the library will order more copies.