What's the drug of the day?

October 7, 2007 7:08 AM

More fun from the Daily Mail. Apparently Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones has decided to post bits from his upcoming autobiography. 1| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

Here he is with his guitars.
And hey! He's having an artwork sale! (More of his art here)

posted by miss lynnster (29 comments total)

"My parents were water gypsies"
boat people feel deeply insulted if described as 'water gypsies'.
posted by tellurian at 8:03 AM on October 7, 2007

Please ignore my first comment, it was a reaction (on a perfunctory scan) to what I thought was going to be another celebrity "tell all". As I read more of this, I'm blown away by the candid, warts and all, up-front, and honest nature of his autobiography
posted by tellurian at 8:27 AM on October 7, 2007

What's with all the asterisks though? eg "Spot The T***" - tart, tits?
posted by tellurian at 8:35 AM on October 7, 2007

Twat?
posted by the cuban at 8:48 AM on October 7, 2007

I wonder if it was Wood or the Daily Mail who enforced the one-sentence-per-paragraph rule. Whoever was responsible, it's horribly hard to read.
posted by argybarg at 8:49 AM on October 7, 2007

Fun post! Cool to get a glimpse into an über rocker's life.

What a wizened face. I know it's not as pruny as Keith's but wow, it's pickled. What incredible and abundant anecdotes he has from your links. He's a way better artist than I thought he'd be.

It took him 40 years to perform sober. What a liver this guy must have.
posted by nickyskye at 8:50 AM on October 7, 2007

I met him in 1992 at a solo gig at a TINY, GRUNGY place in Dallas called the Agora Ballroom. The club was a real shithole behind a strip shopping center. The place was packed and he put on a fantastic raunchy show, but I just couldn't believe that one of THE STONES was playing in this dump. Surely he could have booked a place in Deep Ellum or Dallas' West End. Maybe they had a liberal freebasing policy.
posted by punkfloyd at 9:03 AM on October 7, 2007 [1 favorite]

>I had never met Charlie before although I once saw him in Oxford Street in his chauffeur-driven Mini.

I say!
posted by philfromhavelock at 9:21 AM on October 7, 2007

That 'last updated' is rubbish. When were the articles first published? F*****d Daily Mail
posted by tellurian at 9:21 AM on October 7, 2007

Everybody was angry with me around this time and after a row with Keith one day, he stormed off to get his gun .... He used to threaten people with his piece, which was pretty scary, but he rarely fired it.

Oh, that Keith Richards. What a kidder.
posted by blucevalo at 9:21 AM on October 7, 2007

The New York years involved lots of alcohol, lots of pills and lots of smoking, including a few "dirty cigarettes" laced with heroin. Jo and I were always having people over to party with us. On one occasion, our son Jamie came downstairs in the morning and noticed someone on the sofa who was completely out of it. When Jamie eventually realised it was Christopher Reeve, he ran into our room crying: "You've destroyed Superman."
posted by miss lynnster at 9:29 AM on October 7, 2007

Let's make this easier: Anybody who didn't have an affair with George Harrison's wife please raise your hand.
posted by hal9k at 9:58 AM on October 7, 2007 [3 favorites]

Ron Wood was spectacular in the Jeff Beck group. I saw him play live with them a bunch of times in the 60's. Really excellent.

"his family were Romany Gypsies who from the 1700s lived on barges."

huh, Didn't know that before. He has that dark, intense gypsy look.

"You've destroyed Superman."

Yeah, I've really wondered how his kids turned out with what they had to survive. Had to have been really tough for them in many ways. Leah. Jesse. Tyrone.

/derail

I have original copies of three of the Rolling Stones' birth certificates (original copies from the registrar's offices in England, made in the 1970's, one used to be able to get them) : Brian Jones, Keith Richards and Bill Wyman. Anyone know where I could sell them?
posted by nickyskye at 10:24 AM on October 7, 2007 [1 favorite]

Anybody who didn't have an affair with George Harrison's wife please raise your hand.
Raises hand. Pattie Boyd? I wish - as would have most red-blooded boys of my generation. What are you saying? She was a total slut and slept with anyone? 'Raise your hand' - give me a break, you sound like the sort of person that judges people with a gender bias, bordering on slander.
On preview: I have original copies of three of the Rolling Stones' birth certificates
You never cease to amaze me.
posted by tellurian at 10:47 AM on October 7, 2007

I met him in 1992 at a solo gig at a TINY, GRUNGY place in Dallas called the Agora Ballroom.

For the record, I saw Sonic Youth and Pavement play at the Agora in 1992. It wasn't really all that grungy. I now live about a mile from there in Lake Highlands and the place is a Tejano club calles 'New West'.

This excerpt is great:

While in Amsterdam Keith took Mick out for a drink and when they eventually returned to Keith's room at 5am, Mick decided to call Charlie, who had been fast asleep.

"Is that my drummer? Why don't you get your a*** down here?"

Charlie got up, shaved and put on a beautiful Savile Row suit.

He entered Keith's room, walked over to Mick and punched him into a plate of smoked salmon.

He then pulled him up and nearly punched him out the window.

Keith managed to grab Mick's leg and saved him from falling 20 storeys into the canal below.

"Don't ever call me your drummer again," said Charlie. "You're my f****** singer."
posted by item at 10:48 AM on October 7, 2007 [3 favorites]

My favorite part :

He smashed a bottle and cut me with it. I stormed out and went to find Mick and Charlie, who were working on a song in a room along the corridor. While I stood there bleeding all over the carpet, Mick looked up and asked: "Have you got any ideas for the middle eight?"
posted by Afroblanco at 10:51 AM on October 7, 2007

On one occasion, our son Jamie came downstairs in the morning and noticed someone on the sofa who was completely out of it.

When Jamie eventually realised it was Christopher Reeve, he ran into our room crying: "You've destroyed Superman."

Was it Smacktonite or Cracktonite?
posted by Anything at 11:02 AM on October 7, 2007

Those stories make me think it was damn hard work being a Stone. Grueling fights, near homicidal rage on a routine basis, endless dramaramas, violence, betrayal, severe addictions to industrial strength substances of all kinds for decades, non-stop narcissist hissy fits. And then the work on top of that. Must have been exhausting! No wonder they look the way they do!
posted by nickyskye at 11:14 AM on October 7, 2007

For the record, I saw Sonic Youth and Pavement play at the Agora in 1992. It wasn't really all that grungy.

I was at that show, as well - great show!

Yeah, the Agora wasn't super fantastic, but it wasn't a dump. If I recall correctly, I believe that they had the booking power they did because the club had some history. It had been around a long time, and closed/re-opened a few times.
posted by kaseijin at 11:15 AM on October 7, 2007

I've been tempted to stop in there to see if the mural of bands that played there's logos is still intact - giant Talking Heads & Devo paintings come to mind.
posted by item at 11:20 AM on October 7, 2007

Look! A photo of part of the mural (scroll down to 'Chapter Two'... I knew I wasn't imagining it!
posted by item at 11:23 AM on October 7, 2007

"I was using the freebase pipe a lot and Keith had turned into Mr Drug Enforcement Administration"

You know things are bad when Keith Richards is hounding you about your drug use.
posted by 2sheets at 11:23 AM on October 7, 2007 [2 favorites]

2sheets, you made me laugh out loud.

So true, so true.
posted by Afroblanco at 2:14 PM on October 7, 2007

Charlie doesn't drive because he suffers from some bizarre fear of engines
posted by sgt.serenity at 2:32 PM on October 7, 2007

This has made me get out my Faces box. I wish he'd use that greasy grungy tone he had with the Faces on a few Stones songs.
posted by Ber at 3:16 PM on October 7, 2007

Sorry, but some of it seems a bit...ummm.. contrived to me.
posted by BillsR100 at 6:51 PM on October 7, 2007

Back to this asterisk thing. When John tells Yoko, "B*******, get on with your knitting", what did he call her? I have been working on various possibilities and none seem like they would have issued from the mouth of a great poet.

Charlie Watt is the greatest Rolling Stone ever! Even better than Brian Jones.

And, Jamie might have seen his dad destroy Superman, but he grew up to help his father through all his problems! Yes, no matter how dysfunctional you may be, your kids can be persuaded into becoming your parents. And that's what you needed all along, right Ron?
posted by CCBC at 2:22 AM on October 8, 2007

Bogflush
posted by cell divide at 5:17 AM on October 8, 2007

Bollocks? Might be a term of endearment in Liverpool ("Get on wit' yer knitting, you old Bollocks.")
posted by CCBC at 5:43 PM on October 8, 2007