hi...just saw this article in The Mail: Have The Stones Dumped Ronnie Wood Over His Tawdry Romance?

excerpt first (w/full article below that)

Ronnie no longer speaks to bandmate Keith Richards either, despite the fact the pair were great drink and drug buddies for years. Friends tell me they fell out some time ago.

Even Mick Jagger is steering clear. I have been told he is looking for a new guitarist for the Rolling Stones and, despite the fact the Stones have always denied there will be a tour in 2010, it is now looking like a distinct possibility.

Not speaking: Ronnie Wood and Mick Jagger, pictured on-stage in 1975, have communicated for years via Jo


And if the rumours are true and another money-spinning Stones tour does go ahead, you can bet it will do so without unreliable Ronnie.

'It's one thing to say "Let's have the Stones frightening the grannies, let's all be debauched and wild", but it's just not acceptable to have one seen choking his girlfriend,' said a friend of the band's.

'There are two things you can't be seen to do, which is hit women and get involved with under-age girls. Thanks to Ronnie and Bill Wyman (who seduced and went on to marry 13-year-old Mandy Smith), Mick has had a full house now.'

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Have The Stones dumped Ronnie Wood over his tawdry romance?

By Alison Boshoff
Last updated at 9:26 PM on 18th December 2009

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Doesn't she look dewy and radiant? With her blonde hair stylishly backcombed and a pile of Topshop bracelets adorning her slender arms, Ekaterina Ivanova could be someone's daughter celebrating her A-levels - rather than a Russian 'artist' announcing her separation from Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood in this week's Hello! magazine.

Her interview is presented in a very 'Hello!' style. In fact, the reality of the 21-year-old's liaison with alcoholic Wood - who left his wife of 23 years for Ekaterina, then fell off the wagon in spectacular style, only to be observed dragging her along the street in Claygate, Surrey, and threatening her with a lighted cigarette - is sordid and unpleasant.

But Ekaterina, also known as Katya, manages to coat the whole tawdry story in sugar. 'We used to draw together, dance, joke,' she says. 'The whole thing started off like a fairy tale, but then it felt like an evil fairy tale. I'd be trapped there with an evil goblin king.'
Split: Ekaterina has told of long drinking sessions with ex Ronnie Wood

Split: Ekaterina has told of long drinking sessions with ex Ronnie Wood

In the interview, Katya reveals not very much about life with Ronnie - who is 41 years her senior - and doesn't seem to waste a shred of sympathy on him or feel a twinge of guilt about her part in ending his happy and supportive marriage with Jo, 54.

Their one pastime, says Katya, was watching rubbish satellite TV together - but Ronnie was often 'very drunk', especially towards the end of the romance. He used to have violent tantrums and do silly impressions of her voice.

'In the end I think he needed to be mothered. I think that's the kind of person he needs to be with. I tried and tried but it didn't make me happy,' she says - with the selfishness often displayed by the very young.

That Jo Wood had selflessly been performing precisely that function for Ronnie - and that it had made both of them happy - seems not to occur to her.
Their one pastime, says Katya, was watching rubbish satellite TV together - but Ronnie was often 'very drunk', especially towards the end of the romance. He used to have violent tantrums and do silly impressions of her voice.


And so, after 18 months, she's off. Katya was this week trying to sell her story, once again, for more money.

Her PR adviser, Phil Hall, hints there is plenty which she hasn't been able to tell, for legal reasons - presumably because it touches on allegations of domestic violence. 'She has a lot more to say, if she chooses to,' he tells me.

But, as Katya exits, what of Ronnie? He doesn't, it transpires, have any great dispute

with her version of their disastrous romance. But it is a liaison which has had severe consequences for him.

Not only has it cost him his marriage but, as we shall see, Ronnie's dalliance with Katya will probably end up costing him his place in the Rolling Stones.

David Rigg, Ronnie's spokesman, told me: 'We are not going to comment (on Katya's interview). Ronnie will not be making any statements or giving any interviews.'

Rigg confirms Ronnie has no professional engagements of any sort lined up. In fact, his diary seems to be entirely blank.

Considering this, it is perhaps surprising that he has turned down Jo's generous offer to come back to the old marital home for a Christmas lunch.

He could have joined his wife, children and their extended family around the table at their home, Holmwood, a hunting lodge which backs onto Richmond Park in South-West London.
Enlarge Happier times: Ekaterina and Ronnie on a holiday in Hawaii

Happier times: Ekaterina and Ronnie on a holiday in Hawaii

But I'm told that last Sunday, when Jo offered him the chance to come back for lunch, Ronnie asked her: 'What about the other 364 days of the year?' He quite clearly wants his wife back - but the answer to that, at least for now, is no. It seems Ronnie is truly on his own.

The trendy friends he used to have, such as model Kate Moss and party organiser Fran Cutler, stopped seeing him when he was with Katya because she complained they looked down on her. She used to say they made her feel like the Soho waitress she once was.

Ronnie no longer speaks to bandmate Keith Richards either, despite the fact the pair were great drink and drug buddies for years. Friends tell me they fell out some time ago.

Even Mick Jagger is steering clear. I have been told he is looking for a new guitarist for the Rolling Stones and, despite the fact the Stones have always denied there will be a tour in 2010, it is now looking like a distinct possibility.

Not speaking: Ronnie Wood and Mick Jagger, pictured on-stage in 1975, have communicated for years via Jo

And if the rumours are true and another money-spinning Stones tour does go ahead, you can bet it will do so without unreliable Ronnie.

'It's one thing to say "Let's have the Stones frightening the grannies, let's all be debauched and wild", but it's just not acceptable to have one seen choking his girlfriend,' said a friend of the band's.

'There are two things you can't be seen to do, which is hit women and get involved with under-age girls. Thanks to Ronnie and Bill Wyman (who seduced and went on to marry 13-year-old Mandy Smith), Mick has had a full house now.'

It's all such a contrast to the calm days when Jo was Ronnie's loyal linchpin.

She used to be on the Stones' payroll as Ronnie's 'dresser' and would come along on every tour, cooking him organic beans on toast and free-range poached eggs on a little Primus stove. You could argue that she was almost as much a member of the band as he was.

Jagger had sided with Jo from the beginning. 'Mick tried to intervene right at the start of the relationship with Katya,' says the friend.

'There was a plan to set up Katya in a flat in Tottenham Court Road, get Ronnie to rehab and then lead him back to Jo.

'Mick has always relied on Jo to be his conduit through to Ronnie - he has relied on her to get Ronnie to work, to keep him well enough to pass a medical for the tour.

'Without Jo, Ronnie would never have managed to go on tour, you can't do it unless you have insurance, and you won't get insurance without the medical. It's always been up to Jo to get him through all that.

'All communication has gone through Jo for years, so now Mick has really washed his hands of Ronnie. The feeling is that he can't come back after this one. Ronnie's always been a bit lost and, without Jo, nobody can reach him.' Ronnie is, though, in the grip of a downward spiral which is familiar to his loved ones, who have seen him on this path before.

After the violent incident with Katya, police bailed Ronnie until January 10 on suspicion of assault. Who knows whether he will face charges.

He is said to be 'in a bad way', drinking heavily on his own, with no one to stop him. He is a lifelong alcoholic, has been to rehab at least seven times and has been told often that if he does not stop drinking, it will kill him.

Ronnie is, though, in the grip of a downward spiral which is familiar to his loved ones, who have seen him on this path before.

He does not answer his telephone and he does not respond to emails, not even from Jo. The only person he sees, I'm told, is Jamie, Jo's son from a previous relationship.

This is quite a surprise because Jamie used to manage Ronnie, but he was sacked earlier this year when Ronnie was under Katya's influence.

But Jamie still loves Ronnie and must be a forgiving sort because he visits Ronnie in his rented Surrey home to see how he is getting on. Ronnie also sees one friend - an artist named Bruce - and his chauffeur. Beyond that, there seems to be no one at all.

'Katya has had a really damaging effect on Ronnie,' says one of Jo's friends.

'Jo had helped to keep him integrated socially and to keep him in with the Stones and in with his friends and in with his family.

'The view from here is that with Katya it was all just booze and sex - and he ditched everything for that.'

The Wood family blame Ekaterina for 'isolating' Ronnie and are desperately worried about his health. Jo keeps on telling friends she just wants to get Ronnie to see a doctor. She has asked him to, but he has slipped beyond her control.
Undecided: Friends say Jo has not decided whether she will take Ronnie back, but the fact she has not sold the family home indicates a reunion could be on the cards

Undecided: Friends say Jo has not decided whether she will take Ronnie back, but the fact she has not sold the family home indicates a reunion could be on the cards

Although Jo says she is happy - liberated and reborn now she does not have to take care of Ronnie's every need, put up with his moods or take responsibility for moderating his drinking - people who know her think she may yet take him back.

One close friend of Jo's put the chances of that at 50-50 this week.

The fact Jo has not found a man since they split last July is significant. Jo has always loved Ronnie deeply and is now having to ask herself whether she can make the sacrifice necessary to save him again.

'Jo has always treated Ronnie like one of her children and you don't ever stop loving a child, no matter what they do,' said a friend.

Officially, Jo will not say anything. Her spokeswoman Gemma Waters says she 'wouldn't know at all' if a reunion is on the cards. 'Jo is just busy planning for Christmas, she says. 'I know that Ronnie isn't going for Christmas dinner,' she told me.

'He was asked, but he definitely isn't going.'

That Jo seems to be having cold feet over her plans to sell their family home and move into a bachelor-girl flat does, however, appear suggestive.

'I don't know whether she is really going to put the house on the market after New Year. It has been a happy home and she has loved living in it,' says Gemma.

Selling up would be a definitive way of moving on, and although Jo talks a lot about doing just that, the people close to her think she doesn't quite have the ruthless edge necessary to cut her ties in this way. Especially as it is so clear that Ronnie is in a crisis.

Ronnie isn't in rehab, but it is obvious he needs to go. He has been told he has emphysema, but continues to smoke. He has been told another few months of drinking will kill him, and yet he continues with that, too.

Ronnie has made and lost a fortune at least twice over but remains helplessly naive about money. And now he is drinking again, there is little prospect of him earning more. His family suspect Katya did pretty well out of him - he is a generous man.

As she herself said in Hello!: 'He's generous with everybody. He'll buy stuff for people he's just met.'

There is a theory that Katya's mother Irina prodded Ronnie into making generous gifts to her daughter - such as buying a car, setting up a bank account for her, giving her constant gifts and so on.

They think Irina used to encourage this generosity by telling Ronnie: 'If it wasn't for you, Katya would be at university - look at what she has given up for you.'

That said, Katya does not seem to have exited the liaison with much more than she had when she went into it. Her effect, though, on Ronnie has been immense and, beyond any doubt, destructive.

After going through rehab last summer, he fairly quickly started to drink wine again and some months ago moved back on to vodka and brandy.

He knows it is bad for him - as he told an interviewer a couple of months ago: 'Mr Hyde comes out, and the older I get the worse I get.'

Katya certainly never seems to have tried very hard to keep Ronnie sober.

They would start off on a binge by drinking a lot together, then she would decide she'd had enough and Ronnie would just want to keep on going. Inevitably they would argue. She was, in the early days, a heavy boozer like him.

'We would have the best nights out, then I would know how to stop and he wouldn't,' she told Hello! - demonstrating an ignorance about alcoholism which almost takes your breath away.

Ronnie is reckless about his health. He's been told so often he's about to die that he doesn't take any notice of the doctors. He calls himself a 'permanent teenager' but his family think, at 62, he's heading for the grave.

Is there anyone, you wonder, who can save him?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009-12-19 01:00 by swiss.

This does not sound good.

More British tabloid BS ?

The Stones wont dump Ronnie unless they can get Mick Taylor back. Ronnie will go to rehab, clear his medical exam, and play. After the tour stops, it is anyones guess. My gut feeling about Woody making it to 70, is not so good. His liver has got to be in bad shape at this point in time.

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Edith Grove
More British tabloid BS ?

Edith Grove, gosh, I know...I considered not posting it, but figured we'd all take it with grains of salt -- and maybe there's something useful within.

If nothing else, it feeds my/our prurient fascination with this topic. I'm both embarrassed that I read this stuff and yet unable...to...turn...away

I found it a little bit interesting parts of this article parts are written in the first person. More like a blog posting or email than an article, e.g., [emphases below are mine]:

"Even Mick Jagger is steering clear. I have been told he is looking for a new guitarist for the Rolling Stones"

"But I'm told that last Sunday, when Jo offered him the chance to come back for lunch, Ronnie asked her: 'What about the other 364 days of the year?'"

"Friends tell me they fell out some time ago."

etc.
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Doesn't necessarily mean this is credible, but it's maybe notable author Alison Boshhoff is going on record directly claiming to have firsthand knowledge -- while often these tabloid articles make less straightforward assertions, relying more on innuendo.

Imo, "IF" the Stones tour again Ronnie will not be with them, a Stones tour is big business, is not five guys getting in a van and playing small joints,hundreds of people are employed for the tour,Insurance companies,lawyers,accountants,etc and l doubt that Mick and Cohl will risk it by having a band member that is totally unreliable like Ronnie has become,ok you may say how about Keith? well Jagger and Cohl know that they have to put with whatever Keith does,cause without him there are no Rolling Stones,but Ronnie is expendable,and please don't expect them to call Mick Taylor he is in worse shape than Ronnie..

"No dope smoking no beer sold after 12 o'clock"

Hey, it's a known fact that Ronnie's a big-time drunk. Drunks are usually not very predictable nor responsible. If she still hooked up with him, then she's partly to blame. Yes, she's young and probably naive, so couldn't see past that a famous musician wanted her. Lastly, occasionally, and ONLY very rarely, knocking a woman around could be justified. I don't know if that's the case w/ this little tart.

Damn, I wish he'd get his act together. He's a talented guy.

....violence is never justified.

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atip
Lastly, occasionally, and ONLY very rarely, knocking a woman around could be justified. I don't know if that's the case w/ this little tart.

Incredible statement. Who are you, some neanderthal?

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Svartmer

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atip
Lastly, occasionally, and ONLY very rarely, knocking a woman around could be justified. I don't know if that's the case w/ this little tart.

Incredible statement. Who are you, some neanderthal?

I'll second that, Svartmer.

Waddy Wachtel or Blondie Chaplin will be the 2nd lead guitar for next tour.

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Edith Grove
More British tabloid BS ?

Sadly no. It's more realistically based on fact, but just dramatised in that good old tabloid way. But it doesn't alter the fact that is nevertheless likely to be based to some considerable degree on fact. So even allowing for the embellishments and dramatisations, given that this is the Daily Mail we're talking about, it's still f***ing depressing reading. Ronnie, wake up wake up will ya ? But he won't, you just know he won't. It's heading for tragedy, and we all know it.

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atip
Lastly, occasionally, and ONLY very rarely, knocking a woman around could be justified. I don't know if that's the case w/ this little tart.

]


What a load of crap!

>> it's still f***ing depressing reading <<

Very very. It's the looming disaster scenario most of us have shoved to the back of our minds in the hope it'll never happen.

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atip
Hey, it's a known fact that Ronnie's a big-time drunk. Drunks are usually not very predictable nor responsible. If she still hooked up with him, then she's partly to blame. Yes, she's young and probably naive, so couldn't see past that a famous musician wanted her. Lastly, occasionally, and ONLY very rarely, knocking a woman around could be justified. I don't know if that's the case w/ this little tart.

Damn, I wish he'd get his act together. He's a talented guy.

Please feel free to fill us all in as to when its 'justified'....

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ROPENI
and please don't expect them to call Mick Taylor he is in worse shape than Ronnie..

How do you know this?

I wouldn't mind a bit if they get a new guitarist. It might add some new fire to the core. Wood was so great with the Faces but for whatever reason, his greatness never materialized with the Stones.

I like Ronnie, but he does not drive the ticket sales.

Oh my God, they're not gunna fire ron because of this.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009-12-19 04:29 by ryanpow.

If Woody was going to be fired, it would have been a long time ago. They will stick by him after being in the band for 35 years. This would be a huge negative and not a good way to start a tour off if Woody got his walking papers.

Waddy Wachtel replacing Woody? Wachtel is a good guitar player and a Wino but he has his own baggage. I recall seeing him and his wife led out of their LA home in handcuffs on TV several years ago. I won't go into the specifics, but it is well documented. Huge negative.

Jeff Beck? I do not see this. Clapton? No way. Blondie? No way and no stage presence. Who else? Mick Taylor. And yes, if Woody got canned, I can see a hard up Jagger and or Richards calling him up asking him to tour and maybe record. I think he would do it. I could be wrong.

Ferret- You are right on target. Keith's solos on SFD and Little T & A just to name a few, are a far cry from what used to be. Woody has saved the day more than once and he is pretty darn good as a pedal steel and slide guitarist.

Personally, I think Woody is bored stiff playing the same basic chords on the same songs over and over and over for 35 years and being turned down in the mix wherein he is barely audible both live and in the studio.

Heck, I am bored silly playing some of their songs on guitar and I won't play 'Satisfaction" if someone comes over to my home and asks me to play it for them. Well maybe I would if it is a hot female and she is feeling frisky at the time.

.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009-12-19 07:19 by swiss.

Hard to know what really goes on within the dynamic of the group. I would be surprised if Woody's relationship with the band is as bad as is indicated here. Maybe the affection between him and Keith is a facade at this point. But it seems if they were going to fire him they would have done so by now. My guess is they are playing for time, hoping he will somehow straighten himself out and that the latest "incident" will blow over by the time they need to do anything public as a group, reckoning that that's easier than getting a new guitarist at this point in their career. But I do emphasize that I am guessing. I have no idea.

>>'In the end I think he needed to be mothered. I think that's the kind of person he needs to be with. I tried and tried but it didn't make me happy,' she says - with the selfishness often displayed by the very young.

Since when is it selfish for the average 21 year old to dislike mothering her 60+ alcoholic boyfriend? Strikes me as a normal response.

Some real revelations in that article, if they are true:

That Mick only communicates to Ronnie through Jo
That Ronnie and Keith are no longer on speaking terms.

Things are looking up for Mick Taylor!

ronnie is cool, plays better and has the better sound than keith,
they can´t go on tour without him. there are thousands of nice session guitarist that they could hire but it would change the sound dramatically.
ronnie is an integral part to the sound.

...

ronnie is a stone, more so than taylor ever was, although taylor had his moments in the studio, live i don´t like his sound.

woody will be there on tour 2010, i truly believe this, mick will have his pre tour talk with him and he will be on the tour

oh well when you put it that way how can one argue?

If they are going to replace Ronnie, what will be the band's new name?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009-12-19 10:18 by Harm.

They can replace Ronnie and still be Rolling Stones - they were RS before Ronnie was anywhere near the bad.
But I don't think they will change the band - Ronnie will be told to be sober. he wil have xx months to get in shape. Who is going to watch him this time - a good question. There is no Jo, but I am sure they have a solution.

"The Stones wont dump Ronnie unless they can get Mick Taylor back"

imho you don't understand how MJ thinks : he'll NEVER call MT back. Nostalgia acts are what he despises most. So I think mailexile67 is right...