Legends of the Stones
Posted 5/15/2010 12:00:00 PM
Over the course of five decades, a lot can happen to you.
When you're a member of the world's greatest rock & roll band, multiply "a lot" by a factor of a thousand.
The Rolling Stones have produced hit songs and albums that have helped define rock and roll for a half-century. Along the way, they've lived a life of rock excess that few could aspire to.
Think about the stories you've heard about the Stones at one time or another. Keith's Toronto drug bust. Mick sleeping with David Bowie. Charlie punching out Mick for calling him "his drummer". Ron Wood leaving his wife for a barely-legal Russian cocktail waitress. Keith's other drug bust (in 1960s England), where Mick's then-galpal Marianne Faithfull was found by police wearing only a fur rug.
Oh, and Keith falling out of a lot of stuff. Can't forget that.
Yep, there are a lot of stories out there. Even so, there's one tale that sums up the Stones, and specifically Mick Jagger, perfectly.
It was early 2006. Then-President of the United States George W. Bush had authorized his people to secure rooms at Vienna's five-star Imperial Hotel in anticipation of a summit meeting in Austria. Specifically, the President's aides were hoping to secure the luxurious Royal Suite, where past presidents like Ronald Reagan, John F. Kennedy and George Bush Senior had stayed at a cost of $5400 a night (the room looks like this:
http://www.aluxurytravelblog.com/images/suites/hotelimperialroyalsuite1.jpg)
There was just one problem: The Stones were in town for a gig at the same time. They had already booked it.
Presidential aides being what they are, the assumption was made that the Rolling Stones would allow the "leader of the free world" to have the suite instead.
Mick, being Mick, would have no part of it.
In fact, he made sure that the Rolling Stones secured every room on the entire floor. Just because.
President Bush, and his people, had to find somewhere else to stay.
What's it mean to be a Rolling Stone?
Doing whatever you want & taking crap from no one.
Jason Ward is a Toronto-based writer and on-air host on Classic Rock Q107, heard on Q Saturday Afternoons from 12 to 6 and Psychedelic Psunday Evenings from 6 to 9, and is easily followed via Facebook or Twitter. WTF?! with Jason Ward is updated every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
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Stones vs. George Bush (Read 1,870 times)
