hi

I've never read Barbara Charone's Keith book. Amazon.com lists two titles.

One is decidedly more expensive than the other. Both paperback. Both 1979.

Keith Richards by Barbara Charone

Keith Richards: Life As a Rolling Stone by Barbara Charone

Maybe different editions? Does anyone know offhand whether the two titles are exactly the same text? If not, what differences?

thanks
-swiss



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2016-12-14 22:39 by bv.

The original book was titled «Keith Richards».

I guess the other one is merely a newer (and cheaper?) edition.

The one I have is Life As a Rolling Stone - could it be one of those US/UK title differences?
Now I want to see the other one to check :E

Essential buy(s)!

I bought Kieth Richards, Life as a Rolling Stone back around '83 or '84 when I was in high school.i remember it being a pretty good read, nothing really to ground breaking in it as far as information about Kieth and the Stones are concerned but I thought the way she reported and wrote about the whole Canadian situation in '77 was really good.

I agree about Canada '77 - she was on hand for that. Also, she spent some time living with Keith and Anita,
as well as having access to some people who hadn't been interviewed much in those days.
But her writing style is mind-numbing, and she's so besotted with Keith that that sort of takes over.
I don't blame her for the besottedness, mind you! But it should have stayed outside the book.

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Iggyrichards
I remember it being a pretty good read, nothing really to ground breaking in it

I find you harsh guys. BC was the 1st offer an honest behind-the-mask portrait of the axeman. Plus her bbok contains a bunch of anecdotes I relish readign even today, like the bunch of high-class fans who flew from the US to witness the SG sessions. BC notices they booked at the poshest Paris hotels while the Stones stay at lower-level hotels or live in modest flats they rented.
Same goes for the clothes they wear and the drugs they take : the fans are high-rollers, higher than the band members they idolize.

Kinda ironic, huh?

Nothing meant to harsh about my take at all. I liked the book a lot. I really enjoyed and appreciated her background and I sight about the whole Canadian drama of '77 very much.

Still have the book...read it 32 years ago...yikes!

Thanks, you guys - helpful! Seems to be the same book but different edition.

Treacle, which version do you have?

The anecdotes about the Stones' entourage in the late '70s living a different kind of lifestyle from the Stones sound amusing. I wouldn't imagine that to be the case anymore.

Digression: Last week I came upon and skimmed a fashion spread of Keith's granddaughter, Ella--read about her family provenance...wealthy European art/fashion aristocracy. A far cry from "just some folks," regardless of the image projected by/about Keith. The whole Keith Richards family---the "kids," as I reflected on it, remind me of every other set of wealthy heirs to an important man on the planet (I grew up around and knew some, tho I'm not one). Not good or bad, but it had never struck me what a contrast there is between Keith's ostensibly blue collar "pretensions" and the reality of not only his/Patti's lives, but their heirs. No wonder it's difficult to get an interview with him. There are now generations surrounding him, who have a stake in this man's legacy and estate. It's so hard to get an interview with him, I was thinking, yes, because he's a famous musician, but--pretty much unlike anyone but the other Stones and Paul McCartney--he's now 3-generation deep in serious wealth, and all that entails and implies.

It also struck me looking at his family, of pretty much literally ALL models, except Marlon, that Keith has never "dated" any woman who was not a model. Pretty obvious, but I'd not thought of it that way til now. Far from "some regular bloke." In a sense, he's really sort of a snob, and always has been

-swiss

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dcba

I remember it being a pretty good read, nothing really to ground breaking in it

I find you harsh guys. BC was the 1st offer an honest behind-the-mask portrait of the axeman. Plus her book contains a bunch of anecdotes I relish reading even today, like the bunch of high-class fans who flew from the US to witness the SG sessions. BC notices they booked at the poshest Paris hotels while the Stones stay at lower-level hotels or live in modest flats they rented.
Same goes for the clothes they wear and the drugs they take : the fans are high-rollers, higher than the band members they idolize.

Kinda ironic, huh?

Unfortunately the "irony checkers" left IORR long ago, so I dont know if it it ironic or not...

BUT that is a interesting story about the poshest Paris hotels while the Stones stay at lower-level hotels.

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swiss
Thanks, you guys - helpful! Seems to be the same book but different edition.

Treacle, which version do you have?

The anecdotes about the Stones' entourage in the late '70s living a different kind of lifestyle from the Stones sound amusing. I wouldn't imagine that to be the case anymore.

Digression: Last week I came upon and skimmed a fashion spread of Keith's granddaughter, Ella--read about her family provenance...wealthy European art/fashion aristocracy. A far cry from "just some folks," regardless of the image projected by/about Keith. The whole Keith Richards family---the "kids," as I reflected on it, remind me of every other set of wealthy heirs to an important man on the planet (I grew up around and knew some, tho I'm not one). Not good or bad, but it had never struck me what a contrast there is between Keith's ostensibly blue collar "pretensions" and the reality of not only his/Patti's lives, but their heirs. No wonder it's difficult to get an interview with him. There are now generations surrounding him, who have a stake in this man's legacy and estate. It's so hard to get an interview with him, I was thinking, yes, because he's a famous musician, but--pretty much unlike anyone but the other Stones and Paul McCartney--he's now 3-generation deep in serious wealth, and all that entails and implies.

It also struck me looking at his family, of pretty much literally ALL models, except Marlon, that Keith has never "dated" any woman who was not a model. Pretty obvious, but I'd not thought of it that way til now. Far from "some regular bloke." In a sense, he's really sort of a snob, and always has been

-swiss

I agree, this book is essential reading. Some Stones books really manage to portray the Stones' private world, irrespective of literary value or factual content. An example would be Robert Greenfield's 'A Season in Hell'. Charone conveys the squalor and chaos of Keith and Anita's life at that time. It's true, she was clearly in love with Keith, but she was also Anita's confidante. I'd be surprised if that encounter didn't mess her up for awhile afterward.

Regarding your comment above about Keith's glitzy life, have you seen this article?

Caribbean photoshoot

I recall reading an article years ago about who musicians choose as wives and girlfriends. The list said they often go for fellow performers such as actresses, models and strippers (!). A fair number of actors seem to hook up with makeup artists. L'Wren met Mick when she was the stylist for a photoshoot.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2016-12-14 09:50 by Bliss.

As a teenager I cherished this book for its detailed descriptions of the 'decadent', introverted lifestyle of KR in the late seventies, and brought it with me wherever I went.

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In a sense, he's really sort of a snob, and always has been

Regarding his 'wife's' knighthood, his main complaint seems to have been that it was 'paltry' and that he should have been made a lord instead. Hardly a blue-collar complaint.

Is this a British thing? I recently read a biography of Lucian Freud, and was astonished to find that almost every person he 'associated' with (and the man sure had a healthy libido) was an aristocrat, a Vivian Smith-Smythe-Smith or an Oliver St. John-Mollusc.

Yes, essential; reading. I saw it as the best writing on Keith that I knew of. Yes - today we know so much, and lots of these stories have become common know ledge. Plus Keith has spoke so much more since. But back then I took her '77 material as unrivaled.

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swiss
It also struck me looking at his family, of pretty much literally ALL models, except Marlon,
that Keith has never "dated" any woman who was not a model. Pretty obvious, but I'd not thought of it that way til now.
Far from "some regular bloke." In a sense, he's really sort of a snob, and always has been
-swiss

Keith lived briefly with a non-model type in Australia (she had a line on pharmaceuticals, but still!)
And was Anita ever actually a model, or more like a hottie with a lot of acquaintances with cameras?
In any case I reckon models, actresses and so on might find it easier than many people
to deal with the nonstop attention Stones get without coming unglued. But yes: Spoiled rotten :E

At least, Anita was a fashion design student later on

[www.vogue.com]


that is a very awwwwww, a very nice article about the Richards clan.


“There’re no clocks, there’re no dates; it’s almost like a weird Groundhog Day situation, but a wonderful day to have over and over again.”

I can only wish and dream of having such a life, such a family. Good for Keef.



The last line is kind of funny too... because that is basically the scenario that Bill Murray describes in his movie ground hog as the day he would like to live over and over.

lemmeseeifIcanfindthat




""I was in the Virgin Islands once. I met a girl.

We ate lobster, drank pina coladas.

At sunset, we made love like sea otters.

That was a pretty good day. Why couldn't I get that day over and over and over?""



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-12-14 12:40 by HankM.

Quote
HankM
[www.vogue.com]


that is a very awwwwww, a very nice article about the Richards clan.


“There’re no clocks, there’re no dates; it’s almost like a weird Groundhog Day situation, but a wonderful day to have over and over again.”

I can only wish and dream of having such a life, such a family. Good for Keef.



The last line is kind of funny too... because that is basically the scenario that Bill Murray describes in his movie ground hog as the day he would like to live over and over.

lemmeseeifIcanfindthat




""I was in the Virgin Islands once. I met a girl.

We ate lobster, drank pina coladas.

At sunset, we made love like sea otters.

That was a pretty good day. Why couldn't I get that day over and over and over?""

Mick has this too, on Mustique, with all his children and grandchildren and now a great-grandchild. But he seems never to have found the happiness with any of his wives or girlfriends as Keith apparently has with Patti. In practically every photo, you see them laughing together. You can't fake that for decades. I was a big fan of L'Wren; she seemed like the ideal woman for Mick. Beautiful, talented, hard-working, warm, well-connected, and very devoted to him. But it ended terribly.

Quote
Bliss
I agree, this book is essential reading. Some Stones books really manage to portray the Stones' private world, irrespective of literary value or factual content. An example would be Robert Greenfield's 'A Season in Hell'. Charone conveys the squalor and chaos of Keith and Anita's life at that time. It's true, she was clearly in love with Keith, but she was also Anita's confidante. I'd be surprised if that encounter didn't mess her up for awhile afterward.

Regarding your comment above about Keith's glitzy life, have you seen this article?

I did see that article! It's a great sandy salty chic depiction of the 21st C. healthy wealthy WASP family idyll

As to Barbara Charone...she seems interesting and grounded now, at least. I don't know whether she'd ever speak to her experience publicly other than along the following lines (from a piece about her PR firm):

"For Charone, it is not about celebrity and a rock and roll lifestyle. Even when on the road with the Rolling Stones, one of the most debauched experiences a person can have, Charone says: ‘It was fantastic, but even then what I loved the most was the music. It was not about the lifestyle for me. Being there when they recorded a new song though, that was amazing. That’s still the way I am. When people come into the music business there is a big difference between wanting to work with music and wanting to work with celebrities.’ The latter are shunned by MBC PR, the agency Charone co-founded with Moira Bellas, her former boss at Warner Music.

" ‘She remains, first and foremost, a passionate music fan,’ agrees Music Week talent editor Stuart Clarke. ‘Her enthusiasm, above all else, is infectious. You are always going to hear the positive spin – but what you don’t get from her is the bullshit'." (source)


Barbara Cherone (left) and Moira Bellas (right) of music PR firm MBC, with clients Mark Ronson and Rufus Wainwright. Photograph: Pal Hansen

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Bliss
I recall reading an article years ago about who musicians choose as wives and girlfriends. The list said they often go for fellow performers such as actresses, models and strippers (!). A fair number of actors seem to hook up with makeup artists. L'Wren met Mick when she was the stylist for a photoshoot.

Interesting about actors and make-up people. Had no idea! I'm not at all surprised successful musicians tend to pair up with other performers, or artists or creative and accomplished people. Don't know about strippers, who knows? I was musing on the fact that Keith has exclusively been with models.

Mick has been with (and I mean in a couple/partnership) a broader array of women than models, to be sure...

Quote
with sssoul
Keith lived briefly with a non-model type in Australia (she had a line on pharmaceuticals, but still!)
And was Anita ever actually a model, or more like a hottie with a lot of acquaintances with cameras?
In any case I reckon models, actresses and so on might find it easier than many people
to deal with the nonstop attention Stones get without coming unglued. But yes: Spoiled rotten :E

Interesting -- I looked into that, and here we go -- from LIFE:

"Another was in Melbourne, Australia. She had a baby. Sweet, shy, unassuming, she was on the scuppers; the old man had left her with the kid. She could get me pure cocaine, pharmaceutical. And she kept coming to the hotel to deliver, so I went, hey, why don’t I just move in? … And it felt great, man. I can do this, just a little semidetached. I’d take care of the baby; she went to work. I was husband for the week. Changed the baby’s diapers. There’s somebody in a suburb in Melbourne who doesn’t even know I wiped his ass."

Too funny

I more meant in terms of serious relationships. I'm sure he's "hung out" with all manner of people. But he's chosen to be in long-term relationships solely with models. It doesn't "matter"; it just had never occurred to me 'til last week that from the very first girlfriends, they've been all models.

Anita was a model first, when the Stones met. Then she was a model who was in movies.

I guess partly why I'm bemused is his whole schtick is that Keith Richards is the down-to-earth, least-superficial member of the Rolling Stones. Granted, most of the women who any of them would be with in any serious way would be not only beautiful, but bright, interesting, appealing, accomplished in their own right, etc. But, for KR, they have also all been models.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-12-14 13:30 by swiss.

Quote
HankM
[www.vogue.com]


that is a very awwwwww, a very nice article about the Richards clan.


“There’re no clocks, there’re no dates; it’s almost like a weird Groundhog Day situation, but a wonderful day to have over and over again.”

I can only wish and dream of having such a life, such a family. Good for Keef.



The last line is kind of funny too... because that is basically the scenario that Bill Murray describes in his movie ground hog as the day he would like to live over and over.

lemmeseeifIcanfindthat




""I was in the Virgin Islands once. I met a girl.

We ate lobster, drank pina coladas.

At sunset, we made love like sea otters.

That was a pretty good day. Why couldn't I get that day over and over and over?""

Funny clip/quote.

Yes, they're almost like an Ralph Lauren spread from the New York Times Magazine, they are

Quote
Bliss

Mick has this too, on Mustique, with all his children and grandchildren and now a great-grandchild. But he seems never to have found the happiness with any of his wives or girlfriends as Keith apparently has with Patti. In practically every photo, you see them laughing together. You can't fake that for decades. I was a big fan of L'Wren; she seemed like the ideal woman for Mick. Beautiful, talented, hard-working, warm, well-connected, and very devoted to him. But it ended terribly.

I am sincerely happy for Keith and Patti. It seems like a win win win all around, especially considering how all the yaddas predicted dire things for Keith forever. Staying married to the same person (as everyone inevitably changes over time) is no easy task and I think the people who do it for 30-40-50-60-80 years deserve the highest praise.

And seeing them smile... yeah

Quote
Bliss
Mick has this too, on Mustique, with all his children and grandchildren and now a great-grandchild. But he seems never to have found the happiness with any of his wives or girlfriends as Keith apparently has with Patti. In practically every photo, you see them laughing together. You can't fake that for decades. I was a big fan of L'Wren; she seemed like the ideal woman for Mick. Beautiful, talented, hard-working, warm, well-connected, and very devoted to him. But it ended terribly.

I just think of the nightmare that will be his estate and the squabbling among all the various parties, among these generations as well as the subsequent ones. On the other hand, if anyone has his estate in order, it would be Mick.

Everyone wants to be happy, I suppose. But Mick has always struck me as someone who seeks to be stimulated and challenged just generally, as well as by who he's with. Keith seems like he tends to be gunning for when he can kick back and relax and have a jolly uncomplicated time. Whatever a relationship with Mick might be like, I would doubt that "simple and jolly" has tended to be front and center. Reflecting on all this, I realize I'm respecting Mick than I have in awhile. Mick as a Rolling Stone gathers no moss. Keith enjoys the moss. They are so different...and have become more so as the years roll by.

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swiss
Funny clip/quote. Thx


Yes, they're almost like an Ralph Lauren spread from the New York Times Magazine, they are

They sure are
The glimmertwins and their lovers sure have created some beautiful children.

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HankM
The glimmertwins and their lovers sure have created some beautiful children.

...bringing us full circle back to models

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Swiss
I guess partly why I'm bemused is his whole schtick is that Keith Richards is the down-to-earth, least-superficial member of the Rolling Stones. Granted, most of the women who any of them would be with in any serious way would be not only beautiful, but bright, interesting, appealing, accomplished in their own right, etc. But, for KR, they have also all been models.

There's one difference. Mick likes women who work hard and have their own careers. In an interview with L'Wren, she said she pretty much worked non-stop. With Mick's backing, she started her own design business that was highly regarded. Keith tried to pay Anita to give up acting. Patti had been a top model and she quit to raise her children.

this book made me a keith-fan back in 88

Re an earlier comment.
I've always thought of Charlie as been the most down to earth member....and still do.
When he was having his cancer treatment he walked from his London flat to the nearby hospital.
Can't imagine Keith walking anywhere.....'cab!.....'
Keith seems to live the more insulated lifestyle than the others, if it works fine. Not sure it helps the creative (songwriting) process though.

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swiss

Anita was a model first, when the Stones met. Then she was a model who was in movies.

I know it's always said that she was a model, but are there any pre-Stones photos of her?
Who was she modelling for? Where? And so on.
In that era I suspect "model" may have been a euphemism for "hip hottie with a bunch of acquaintances with cameras"