AMERIQUE:


A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR: It is the unspoken statistic, but it is as real as anything to do with the lingering U.S. war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. According to the military, 1,800 American servicemen have killed themselves since the initial invasion of Baghdad. That is in addition to the more than 4,000 who died in battle. This week, families of the soldiers who committed suicide asked President Barack Obama to change the government policy of not forwarding letters of appreciation to mothers and fathers of these servicemen. By week's end, the White House had reversed the policy and agreed that such letters are needed, as well... - Eduardo Paz-Martinez, Editor of The Tribune

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Rolling Stones Against the World: The Autobiography Of Keith Richards...Life Itself...

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
Editor of The Tribune

AUSTIN, Texas - Most of the time, we don't have time for the rebels of the world. It's easy to brand them outlaws, fools, ornery or simply publicity hounds. There are many in that museum of delight and anger located somewhere in the darker alleys of your brain. Some people see the positives in Charles Manson, in Ted Bundy and in Pancho Villa. But none of them ever brought you great music.

Keith Richards, guitarist for The Rolling Stones, did.

If ever an autobiography had mountains of interesting tidbits and outright confirmations of a host of illegal activity and the debauchery of runaway passion, it was this guy's story. He offers it loud and proud in his book, titled simply: Life.

Richards nears his 70th year on the planet, but his reputation lives as if born yesterday. The Stones always have been tagged as being the ultimate bad boy band. Vocalist Mick Jagger, characterized in the book as a trusted and untrustworthy bandmate, isn't far behind in the ledger filled with strange and bizarre exploits that followed this British band from the moment it first left the slums of London for the adulation of America.

Written in cahoots with rock 'n' roll writer James Fox, Life is an eye-opening cataloguing of booze, drugs and women, enjoyed before, during and after concerts. It is also a looksee into the manner in which the band pushed itself onto the largest stage in the world, and how it resisted a "clean-up" ala The Beatles, instead insisting on being the outlaw band that started as young punks and lived to see old age.

Richards spares few details in the 547-page book, writing openly about an affair involving his mother that broke his heart, the father he abandoned for four decades and later brought back into his life, the many women who played varying parts in his evolving life and even glimpses into such moments when a fall led to cranial surgery friends and family said he'd never survive.

But survive he did. The tale is one big glob of short pieces to do with his life as a kid and with being, in the end, an elder statesman of rock music. Richards runs through his ever-brief relationships with a number of pretty women he says never should have been handled by someone like him, the son of a dirt-poor family who turned himself over to the guitar and exploded a unique sound on the world. He writes viciously about Anita Pallenberg, the mother of his older son, Marlon, as if writing about some girl he met, bedded often and then flitted-on, away into the arms of some other high-society groupie. Indeed, he laughs off the sentence where he says Pallenberg, once a top model and actress in Europe, and also a bedmate of Mick Jagger, saw her beauty fade horribly, describing her as an old grandma in the book's back pages.

He drank and did his share of drugs. Cocaine, heroin, that stuff. He was busted in Arkansas and Canada and in his native country, but the most time he ever spent in jail was a day, thanks to the band's sharp lawyers and a few fans. Even the surgeon who performed that life-saving operation throws him his memory of the episode, openly noting his fondness of the band's music ahead of the surgery.

Where The Beatles are known as the band that started it all in that so-called British Invasion, The Stones have taken pride, writes Richards, in never selling out, never bending for convention, never going on stage with everybody wearing the same clothes. It was an all-out run at freedom, at throwing stuff in the face of what stood for civilized behavior, at what was expected by local authorities in the calmer, early 1960s. It is The Stones that arrived with something to say and said it without giving an inch. There was, according to the book, no interest in writing or singing Penny Lane.

Something good comes out of being a purist. Bending to laws, rules or convention eats at the root of creativity. And in the music business, it is easy to bend. Look at The Monkees, a completely manufactured, made-for-TV band. You'd never see any of The Stones in such scenes. "Here, they come, walking down the street..." Maybe tearing down the street, but not walking. Musicians get a break from society, of course. Willie Nelson, admired by Richards in his book, has more publicized pot busts than any man alive, but he finds a way out of those tight squeezes. Creative license is granted so long as the artist doesn't push it, doesn't take it to the press in a fighting, bitching manner. There are several incidents related to that in this book, times when Richards got a little help from a long list of influential fans.

The book is his memory of his life. A writer working a biography on him, able to seek sources other than one brain, could write a different version of this man's life. This is a memoir, and it stands as such. There are enough details, however, to make it seem believable.

Humor moves through the pages, as well.

The reader learns that Stones bassist Bill Wyman's real name is William Perks, and that drummer Charlie Watts once got so bugged by Jagger calling him "my drummer" that he bolted for Jagger's neck and almost killed him. Brian Jones, the founder of the group and also a guitarist, is characterized as a 5-foot dictator who saved The Stones from internal anarchy by drowning during their early years. In fact, it was Jones who brought Anita Pallenberg onto the scene, loved her and then lost her to Richards and then to Jagger.

One could say with some assurance that the easy-passing of Pallenberg around was similar to the boys passing a joint around the room. In a sentence, that seems to be the assessment Richards gives of his life and times with the world's most dangerous band - one toke for me, and one for you.

It's an okay book, one I recommend for those moments when all the jabbering on TV pisses you off, or when an annoying cold knocks you into bed for a few days...

- 30 -

30 comments:

Cable Guy said...

this is my band. I can't get no SATISFACTION. Danced that song a million times, with a million girls. thnks.

Anonymous said...

I saw the Stones in the mid Sixties during the British Invasion in San Antonio, they were there for 5 days.
They looked and dressed creepy, the music was okay, mostly girls yelling like crazy.
KTSA in SA use to do top 40 music back then, untill F/M took over.

Roy said...

Great dance songs. Those guys were rebelious, but it was part of the scene. FAVORITE SONG: "Miss You." Dada dada dada da

Anonymous said...

Richards never got the credit. It was al Mick jagger. but they say Richards got the chicks, so

Pancho del Rancho Grande Valley said...

...Oh yeah --- How about This;
I LOVE BACON and Nobody can stop me from stuffing myself of it !!!

Anonymous said...

Didn't they publish an albumb called, sticky fingers, or something like that.

Geronimo said...

Stones are better than Beatles. Better tunes. No love songs. Tough love, baby.

Patrick Alcatraz said...

ANON:..."Sticky Fingers" was one of the band's better albums. It also, later, became the name of a restaurant opened by Stones bassist Bill Wyman, described in the book as a musician with an insatiable appetite for sex with female groupies. (2.) Better than The Beatles? Hard to judge that. Stones were unique in that they did it their way. Still do, in fact... - Editor

El De Los Fresnos said...

Without the Stones thdere is no rock n roll. End of story. god post again

Anonymous said...

IF my memory serves me right KTSA hired a disc jockey from England, during the Britished invasion. I don't remember the name. But KTSA was on 550 on AM. I don't know if they are still on the air.
By the way does anyone remembers KRIO 910 McAllen, use to be top dog in the Valley. They did top 40, I think they do religion now.
Those were the good old days.

Anonymous said...

The stones played more Blues/Jass than rock. The beatles were a rock and roll band. There is a place in Hamburgh Germany called the cave the beatles use to play there, until they found out some were minors. The place was there in the early 70's. A real low end dance hall.

Anonymous said...

I didn't think Keith had any brains left after all the juicing. I mean this guy, looks like he is always stoned up. Maybe that is why they call them selves the Rolling Stones. Always stoned up.

Mary Lousie said...

The Best band of all Tex - Mex Border Ejidos " LOS HALCONES DEL VALLE " ... Como les quedo el Ojo ? --- Bola de Nacos !!!

Anonymous said...

I told you, the BLR was moving up from soft porn to informative articles. Look out rrunrrun an mr.tribune.
I didn't think McHale could write like ordinary people. I mean all he writes is profanities.
Him and Mr. Gray need some improvement on writing the stories, pardon the words the articles are to stiff.
I am not a journalist, they just write to serious.

Mr. Brownsville said...

Jerry McHale is only fooling himself. he'll go to porno by next week. It is what it is. The guy cannot be trusted. Sorry, man. Too much history of bullshit.

Anonymous said...

Mr. Brownsville might be correct, this guy will turn on a dime. Besides he has established a long history of decadence.
He should call his new blog, El Nuevo Roscinante.
I give him three months and he will be back to being Jerry McHale. Porno, more porno, name calling, and drinking at the palms and on and on.

Anonymous said...

What is Jerry McHale's profession? He claims to be a teacher, he articles need editing.
He can't be a journalist, that I know, he can't be.

Anonymous said...

Okay, my good friend bloggers, changing the topic. Tonie Chapas blog is down to 0 comments.
Even his two bloggers have walked away.
Mr. 24/7, 365 days a year is down to 0.

Anonymous said...

I have noticed Jerry Deal's blog has quiet a bit of women blogging on his site.
Two of those, newtered Juan Ortega, than Jerry banned him from his blog for being such a hypocrite.
We hear a search at the county records show, Tony C. isn't registered to vote, how about that, and he is endorsing some Masso guy, Brownsville Voice doesn't like that Masso Character to well, oh well Politics Valley style.

Patrick Alcatraz said...

All:...McHale has an artist's feel for writing, and any writer will tell you that trying for material that simply pleases its audience just won't stand. There will be a time when he again rages at that which annoys him. It comes with the territory. You can say I'm writing about the sky, but the sky offers both peace and storm... - Editor

Anonymous said...

Hey The Zetas also have freedom of speech and expression.

kiko del fair park said...

Three months and McHale will be Jerry McHale. Interesting article on Browntown, though.
Paz-Martinez, Jerry has always written good things about you and Montoya and the editor of the Brownsville voice.
That is more than I can say in Harlingen where the chickenbuckets, and myleadernews, despise Chapa's sewer obsecured blog.
And the dwarf, hates anyone who gets more comments than him.

If you were to put these three characters in one room, one of them would end up in the hosptial or the morgue.

Anonymous said...

Anon, freedom of speech is one thing, making terroristic threats is another.
I think the Obama administration ought to put National Guard and Army Reserves and protect the border.

Anonymous said...

I see Nora Garcia and Dora Charles are active again in Jerry Deal's blog, guess who they are going after, yes, the dwarf.
This loser chapa will do anything to revive his dead blog. Pobre Naco.

Anonymous said...

Jim Solis the embattled Harlingen attorney, will begin getting his pension when he turns 50, he is 47, he will be in prison.
$30.000.00 annually and 50% of medical coverage. What a bummer, he is now facing a civil law-suit in Travis County, Solis is facing disbarrment.
Not even his wife's looks can save him. Greedy little prick.

kiko del fair park said...

Thank you Emma Trevino-Perez, for the Jim Solis article in today's front page, Valley Morning Star.
Go girl, tell it like it is, that's what Harlingen needed, a reporter with gumption.

Sal said...

Did anyone see the comments by eddie lucio III about the felon attorney known as Santiago Solis.
Listen you annoying dick, there are a lot of questionable actions by your own father, Sucio, Eddie Lucio, Jerry McHAle of the BLR has written extensively about Eddie Lucio Jr., quit throwing stones in the wind.

sofia said...

Jimmy Solis is toast, Emma Peres-Trevino is exposing the crazy politicians from Northern Cameron county. Who have had it pretty easy. What a good article, in today's valley m. star.
The bloggs in Harlingen aren't as tough on elected officials as the Brownsville bloggs.
The Harlingen blogger's are, but the articles written by the editors are watered down.
Maybe the Star is feeling the crunch.

Anonymous said...

The big Dawg, has challenged windbag, blowhard, Tony Chapa to a boxing match at Lon C. Hill park.
Folks,it had been boiling, chapete no longer visits restaraunts, because he is afraid of two women and one big dawg.
Chapa, you speak a lot b/s time to step up like a real man.
Some woman on Jerrys Deal's blogg has called you a guy with no cajones.

A Fan said...

i have been a fan of The Tribune for many months and I still say it is the best writen blog serving the valley. But I am especialy glad that it is ignoring that hateful, racist Harlingen blogger Tony Chapa. It is way beneath the work of the editor of this blog. Thank you, sir.