Voodoo Chile in Wonderland wrote on Nov 8^th, 2011 at 9:21pm:


Agree...LSS, are you the photographer for these and past photographs? Some really nice shots.

A book prize for "distinguished" Keith Richards

NEW YORK (AP) — On a night he was honored for his way with words, Keith Richards was clearly winging it.

"This is one for the books, if you get my drift — you hacks," the 67-year-old Rolling Stones guitarist joked Tuesday as he accepted the Mailer Prize for Distinguished Biography, a prize earned by his million-selling memoir "Life."

Wearing tinted glasses, a long scarf around his neck and a wide red band around his sprawl of salt and pepper hair, Richards stood before hundreds dressed in suits and gowns at the Mandarin Hotel in Manhattan and loosened up as if presiding over a celebrity roast. He chuckled. He swore. He reasoned that since he had been writing — songs — since age 16, his appearance at a literary event was not a total "intrusion."

It had been an evening of earnest speeches about the importance of writing and education, about the disparity of wealth and the lasting lessons of the Holocaust, the latter point articulated by Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel, winner of the Mailer prize for lifetime achievement.

"You've heard from some incredible people about some serious stuff," Richards acknowledged, before bringing the subject to his own demons, his longtime heroin addiction. "The only serious stuff I'm interested in I've given up."

The Mailer awards are named for Norman Mailer, who died in 2007, and are sponsored by the Norman Mailer Center and the Norman Mailer Writers Colony, based in his longtime home of Provincetown, Mass. Previous recipients of Mailer awards, now in their third year, include Nobel laureates Toni Morrison and Orhan Pamuk and Rolling Stone magazine founder Jann Wenner.

Bill Clinton, who introduced Richards, was for once a supporting star. The former president called Richards "my friend" and "a good guy," and repeatedly plugged "Life," which was originally titled "My Life," the same as Clinton's memoir, until Richards decided it was best to get to the point and dispense with "My." Clinton noted that his late mother-in-law, Dorothy Rodham, was an avid fan.

"Do you have any idea what it's like to have a 92-year-old groupie living in your home, a woman who lived and breathed for the Rolling Stones?" Clinton said of Rodham, who died Nov. 1. He remembered attending a Stones concert a few years ago at the Beacon Theater in Manhattan, a show filmed for Martin Scorsese's documentary "Shine a Light." Rodham arrived early and stood on line just for the chance to see Richards, "to faint."

Not long ago, Richards came to visit with Clinton and family in the Caribbean. He charmed Rodham, who changed her clothes just for the occasion, and made a point of kissing her hello and kissing her goodbye.

"What am I, chopped liver?" Clinton wondered as he recalled the star-struck mother of his wife, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. "It was beautiful. He gives her an autographed copy of the book; she had already bought one on her own; she had already read it. I said, 'Dorothy, what did you think?' And she said, 'I always did like those bad boys.'"

No Stones fan in the 1960s, or Richards, could have imagined a former president as his pal or that he would have been associated with the word "distinguished." And few would have believed an encounter between Richards and Tony Bennett shortly before the ceremony. The 85-year-old Bennett, the kind of pop-jazz crooner the Stones displaced on the charts, approached Richards' table and introduced himself. The two embraced, chatted and posed for pictures. Bennett later explained that Richards had sent him a nice note about his new album, "Duets II."

"I just wanted to thank him," Bennett said.

The gap has not entirely closed. Asked if he had any favorite Stones song, Bennett responded that he had never listened to them.
______________________________________________________

Congrats Keith!!!!

What's up with that headscarf-bandana type thingy..? 

Keith is really recording w. the Winos? That will take some time to blossom.

Time is short n' shallow for recording a new Stones album if they tour next year.

I hope I see them together writing for 6 months or longer for the final bang next year.

LOL Keith showing how happy he was with the awards

Gazza wrote on Nov 9^th, 2011 at 6:32am:


I'm not a big fan of Johnny Depp's and I find his Keith mannerisms and way of talking a little annoying but it certainly has nothing to do with wanting to live out a fantasy of being mates with Keith. I'm not going to lie and say I don't want that because anyone on this board would not turn down the chance to be mates with not only the Stones but other members of the band, but it's no "fantasy" of mine. I find it annoying because I find it fake and affected and that's something I just don't like. It might be Johnny Depp or some bloke trying to sell me something, it doesn't matter. There are more sincere forms of flattery that are far more interesting.

Similarly, but for a different reason, I'm not crazy about the Was produced stuff. I like his intentions and don't think he's fake but there is a safety to Don Was's production that I don't care for. I am basing it on some of the work he's done for other people as well as the Stones. Again, it's no fantasy because I am not crazy enough to think I have anywhere near the skills required to do his job. My comments are just as a fan. I also know that in the end, Mick and Keith have the final say and it really doesn't matter who is producing. I'm just always hopeful that maybe for a few moments something different might come out of their work.

As for Chuck Leavell, I'm maybe in the minority but I've always enjoyed his stuff and his playing on Clapton's Unplugged was beautiful.

steel driving hammer wrote on Nov 9^th, 2011 at 8:23am:



I think I read he has about half an album's worth of songs done with the Winos. Whether they're intending to make a fully fledged album is conjecture I suppose.

However, any solo project can and will be put on the long finger if a certain other band is doing anything that's going to be time consuming.

I'm still not overly confident that the Stones will make a full-length studio album in the next few months - but I'm absolutely convinced that they will be on the road in 2012.

Unhappy with the world? -Blame Gazza
Stones don't play close to where I live? -Blame Gazza
Guinness is not served at shows? -Blame Gazza
Hot chicks won't give me the time of day? -Blame Gazza
Sheppard pie taste nasty? -Blame Gazza
No rashers in the morning? -Blame Gazza

Johnny Depp? Super Heavy? 2011 reunion? This is all so confusing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cia0bFuqAos

Keith's angels: Rolling Stone wife Patti Hansen poses with daughters Theodora and Alexandra on Town & Country cover

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 11:50 PM on 11th November 2011
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk

Given that she has fought and recovered from breast cancer over the past few years, one would imagine stress to have taken its toll on Patti Hansen's looks.

But the former supermodel, 55, who is wife of Rolling Stone Keith Richards, looks as stunning as ever pictured alongside her two daughters on the cover of Town & Country magazine.

The trio of blondes posed in cashmere and faux fur on the beach outside their California home.


Blonde beauties: Keith Richard's Wife and Daughters on the cover of Town & Country. They reveal how hard Patti's fight with cancer has been for the family

But though the shoot paints a picture of familial bliss, they reveal in the accompanying interview how Patti's cancer took its toll on every single one of them.

Theodora, 26, who is a model like her mother and sister, admitted: 'It was absolutely terrifying. Really, mum is the glue that holds us all together.'

Patti was more matter-of-fact: 'It was depressing. But it wasn't a shock that I had cancer,' she told the magazine.
'I wasn't like, "Oh woe is me." You know? I just felt "Ok, well that's my number."'


Hellraisers: Despite a party-girl reputation of her own, Patti is credited with bringing stability to Keith's rock'n'roll ways
In fact, Alexandra, 25, revealed, it was her father, 69, who struggled most with the diagnosis.

'Dad did not take it well. We all wanted to stay strong for him.'

The couple met in 1979 at Studio 54, Patti's reputation preceding her.

'She was known for stepping off a plane in transparent shorts with no underwear'

Known for taking acid during a photo shoot, she had infamously 'knock[ed] a photographer senseless after he got too fresh,' and once 'stepp[ed] off a plane in transparent shorts with no underwear.'

They married after fittingly rock'n'roll beginnings and a 'Keef-style courtship' that saw Keith smashing his guitar on a table the first time he met Patti's parents, 'before breaking down in remorseful tears.'

But as much as her past had its wild side, the 'Bible-believing Christian' has brought 'stability' to her erratic husband's life.


Beauties: Theodora and Alexandra with their mother Patti at an Ungaro show in Paris. The sisters say they are the very best of friends

Patti, now fully recovered from her ordeal, has recently launched a range of bags with her best friend, taking them jetsetting around the world.

'Keith's very amused by it,' she said. 'He's like "Oooh, you can be the breadwinner."'

The Richards' daughters, who are nicknamed T&A after the Stones song Tattoo You, told how they are 'best friends'.

Theodora even has Alexandra's initials tattooed on the back of her neck.

Alexandra echoed the sentiment, adding: 'My sister was born to be my best friend.'

Keith Richards has eye operation on failing vision

by Tom Bryant, Daily Mirror
6/01/2012
http://www.mirror.co.uk




He’s the most indestructible man in music having survived decades of drug abuse and even a brain haemorrhage.  

But it seems the ravages of time have finally caught up with Keith Richards who has had eye surgery to correct his failing vision.

The legendary Rolling Stones guitarist had the treatment done at a London clinic before Christmas to celebrate his 68th birthday.

It’s understood it took about 15 minutes and means he doesn’t need specs. The laser surgery uses reshapes the cornea surface.

A source said: “He’s music’s ultimate survivor but not even the seemingly immortal Keith ­Richards can stop the march of time. It was a harmless, quick procedure and he’s very happy with the results.”

A friend said Keef wore an eyepatch after the op, making him look like a ­character from film Pirates of the Caribbean which he starred in.

The rocker is no stranger to surgery. He had an operation for a fractured skull after falling out of a coconut tree on a 2006 holiday in Fiji. Richards gave up heroin in 1978 after being arrested five times but did not stop taking cocaine until the fall.

In his autobiography Life he puts the fact that he’s still alive down to his self-control even in his most hedonistic days.

He said: “I was very meticulous about how much I took. I’d never put more in to get a little higher. Maybe that’s a measure of control and maybe I’m rare in that respect.”

Now this is news. Hey Keith, I hope that's Patti!  

Where is Lefty?