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A couple of excerpts:
(A few comments are compressed for the sake of brevity and don't compromise meaning.)
1962, London
"The place where we lived - Mick, Brian and I - at 102 Edith Grove, in Fulham was truly disgusting. Our flatmate was James Phelge. He turned out to be the only person on the planet who could have lived in that terrible place with us - and even outflank us in gross and unacceptable behavior. We'd get back from a gig and Phelge would be standing at the top of the stairs saying "Welcome home," stark naked with his shitty underpants on his head, or pissing on you."
"The band was very fragile; no one was looking for this thing to fly. I mean, we're anti-pop, we're anti-ballroom, all we want to do is be the best blues band in London and show the fuckers what's what because we know we can do it. We didn't think we were ever going to do anything much except turn other people on to Muddy Waters and Bo Diddley and Jimmy Reid. We had no intention of being anything ourselves. We were unpaid promoters for Chicago blues."
1972 U.S. tour
"It's not only the high quality of drugs I had that I attribute my survival to. I was very meticulous about how much I took. I'd
never put more in to get a little higher. That's where most people fuck up on drugs. It's the greed involved that never really affected me. People think once they've got this high, if they take some more they're going to get a little higher. There's no such thing. Maybe that's a measure of control, and maybe I'm rare in that respect. Maybe there I have an advantage."
Playboy Mansion
"Bobby and I were just sitting in the john, comfortable, nice john, sitting on the floor, and we're going through the doc's bag
("Dr. Bill, physician to the Rolling Stones") and we're just smorgasboarding. "I wonder what these do?" Bong. And at a certain point...talk about hazy, or foggy, Bobby says "It's smoky in here." And the drapes are smoldering away; everything was just about to go off big time. To the point where I can't see him, he's disappeared in the fog. "Yes, I guess it is a bit smoky in here." It was a really delayed reaction. And then suddenly a flurry at the door and the fire alarms start going beep beep beep. "What's that noise, Bob?" "I don't know. Should we open the window?" Someone shouts through the door "Are you all right?" "Oh, yeah, we're fucking great, man." So he just turns away, and we don't know exactly what to do. Maybe if we're just quiet and walk out and we pay for the reconstruction? And then a little later there was a thumping on the door and waiters and guys in black suits bringing buckets of water. They get the door open and we're sitting on the floor, our pupils very pinned. I said "We could have done that ourselves. How dare you burst in on our private affair?"
1967, Tangier
"It was obvious that Brian and Anita had come to the end of their tether. They'd beaten the shit out of each other. There was no point in it. I never really knew what the beef was. If I were Brian, I would have been a little sweeter and kept the bitch. But she was one tough girl. She certainly made a man out of me."
Mick
"I've no doubt, in retrospect, that Mick was very jealous of me having other male friends. And I've no doubt that was more of a difficulty than women or anything else. It took me a long time to realize that any male friend I had would automatically get the cold shoulder, or at least a suspicious reception, from Mick. Any guys I got close to would tell me, sooner or later, "I don't think Mick likes me." Mick and I were very tight friends and we'd been through a lot. But there is a weird possessiveness about him. Mick doesn't want me to have any friends except him. Maybe his exclusivity is bound up with his own siege mentality. Or maybe he thinks he's trying to protect me: "What does that asshole want with Keith?" But quite honestly, I can't put my finger on it. People he thought were getting close to me, he would rather pre-empt them, or try to act as if they were girlfriends rather than just friends. Mick doesn't like to trust anybody. I'll trust you until you prove you're not trustworthy. And maybe that's the major difference between us. I can't really think of another way to put it. I think it's just something to do with being Mick Jagger, and the way he's had to deal with being Mick Jagger. He can't stop being Mick Jagger all the time. Maybe it's his mother in him."
Drugs
"When I was taking dope, I was fully convinced that my body is my temple. I can do anything I want with it, and nobody can tell me yea or nay." But Richards also counts the damage from his choices: the loss of cosmic cowboy and fellow user Gram Parsons; the hellish descent of Richard's lover Anita Pallenberg; and the death of his infant son, Tara, in 1976 while Richards was on tour. "Leaving a newborn is something I can't forgive myself for."
- Life, by Keith Richards, 2010
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This shit show was free.
~Anthony Allman
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