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HankM

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Bliss
You can't even imagine the sensation this book created when it came out! People relied on the rock press for information about bands and musicians and this book blew the lid off the Stones, even following Altamont. Of course, it was soon to be followed by the scurrilous details of the accidental suicide of Scott Cantrell in Anita's bed.

Bliss was this book ever available in hard cover?
I have looked around and only see paper backs available.



I did take jp.M's advice...

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jp.M
... Search the US edition ( Morrow quill paperbacks) which contains many photos BY Tony .

...and I bought the Morrow quill version, which took some looking, but I would rather have my books be hard covers... and be first editions... with dust covers... in mint condition... but I cant always get what I want.

This one is hardcover, but it is a 2003 edition.
Tony Sanchez



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2017-01-21 10:15 by Bliss.

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swiss

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HankM

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35love
HankM, I can't believe you haven't read the book yet, you're such a Stones fan!

I read it the summer in Utah when I was 14 yrs old, long time ago, it was thrilling to me.

It is kind of a long story... but yeah...
So like Gone with the Wind and Casablanca I will read this book... and after I see/read them 30-60 years later than anyone else... and I am pretty sure they will be as good as everyone has said they were forever... and they usually are

I wouldn't say it's a "good" book, per se, but it's "important," and a must-read

-swiss

You are correct swiss, of course.
What you said seems to accurately sum up the various opinions about this book, which I perused yesterday as I was pondering which exact version I should buy.

It was interesting and somewhat entertaining just to read all of the many reviews of this book. So many different opinions about Tony and what he wrote. They run the gamut from angry to amused to sad to thrilling to "a real page turner" to "I stopped half way through, could not finish it" to "he is a liar" to "he was there it must be true" to "how could a junky remember all that?"... and more like... "I wish I had been there, but wasn't, so instead I read this book often" to "boring, dont waste your time" to "it made me love the Stones even more" to "It turned me off so much I stopped listening to Stones for a while". It is interesting.

Usually many strong varying opinions add up to something well worth reading/seeing.

fwiw- I used "quotes" but those are from memory reading on various sites.

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Bliss

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HankM

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Bliss
You can't even imagine the sensation this book created when it came out! People relied on the rock press for information about bands and musicians and this book blew the lid off the Stones, even following Altamont. Of course, it was soon to be followed by the scurrilous details of the accidental suicide of Scott Cantrell in Anita's bed.

Bliss was this book ever available in hard cover?
I have looked around and only see paper backs available.



I did take jp.M's advice...

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jp.M
... Search the US edition ( Morrow quill paperbacks) which contains many photos BY Tony .

...and I bought the Morrow quill version, which took some looking, but I would rather have my books be hard covers... and be first editions... with dust covers... in mint condition... but I cant always get what I want.

This one is hardcover, but it is a 2003 edition.
Tony Sanchez

Thank You Bliss, I saw that one but didn't know if it was the same book with a different name.

Plus the title/concept seemed odd. I mean, based on what I read about Tony going broke and feeling compelled to ask Keith for some help (and being turned down) maybe Tony should have been charging Keith twice as much, so Tony's would have been free, or something. I thought that was the way that stuff works... but I am not sure.

Then again Tony didn't have a chance to see and learn Scarface Lessons "Don't get high on your own supply"

I haven't seen the 2003 edition and do not know if it was edited or changed, but it is the same book.

His book is a good and entertaining read for sure, though I find some of the stories a bit questionable.

I read the book, Up and Down with Rolling Stones, just came out, if I remember well around 1981/2, and then I found him over the top but then reading the biography of Keith, I changed my mind ... at least partially. "Strange" coincidence that the book came out a second time in 2003 with a different title, I was a Keith Richards Drug Dealer published by Blake Publishing.
In 2010 came out a third printing of the book that echoes the original title, but changing it a bit: Up and Down with The Rolling Stones - My Rollercoaster Ride with Keith Richards, This time published by John Blake Publishing.
John Blake is considered the ghost writer of the book.

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Bliss
I haven't seen the 2003 edition and do not know if it was edited or changed, but it is the same book.

Thank you Bliss

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Stone601
I read the book, Up and Down with Rolling Stones, just came out, if I remember well around 1981/2, and then I found him over the top but then reading the biography of Keith, I changed my mind ... at least partially. "Strange" coincidence that the book came out a second time in 2003 with a different title, I was a Keith Richards Drug Dealer published by Blake Publishing.
In 2010 came out a third printing of the book that echoes the original title, but changing it a bit: Up and Down with The Rolling Stones - My Rollercoaster Ride with Keith Richards, This time published by John Blake Publishing.
John Blake is considered the ghost writer of the book.

One good thing about sticking around is sooner or later more and more of the facts/tales/myths start coming out from other sources and we can piece them together with earlier hints/guffaws/stories. The more we hear/read the more we something or other. It it doesn't prove anything as fact but it does indicate... something.

For instance I guess the 1979 book did not credit a ghost writer, but beings the material was re-re-released by Mr Blake without a bunch of law suits kind of indicates what really (might have) gone on with the writing.



Thanks for confirming Stones601 and Bliss that there are several version of this same material and again thanks to jp.M who earlier said "Search the US edition ( Morrow quill paperbacks) which contains many photos BY Tony "



So I guess the original book was always (and ONLY) a paperback.... I wonder if that fulfilled a goal of Tony's... maybe he wanted to be a.... I wonder if it made a million for him over night?



At any rate I suppose my copy of the original is on its way and I will have it by next week and 40 years later I can will have the opportunity to catch up.


PS
And now I wonder what parts and bits and pieces of this tale made their way into movies about rock and roll and the lifestyle without having to credit Tony... because there have been a lot of fictional movies about the rock life style and they got the ideas somewhere and thet title alone "I was Keiths Drug dealer" seems to tbe to tantilizing for someone to not have borrowed from... if not made an entire movie or TV series about.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2017-01-21 20:51 by HankM.

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Bliss
I haven't seen the 2003 edition and do not know if it was edited or changed, but it is the same book.

I suspect Tony's book is amongst Keith's favourites in Stones literature.
It raised his profile after all.It's a rock 'n roll yarn, not academia.

.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 2022-07-23 07:37 by Plink.

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Plink
I bought the book upon its release in 1979. I never saw a hardcover version back then. It looked exactly like this:

[i.imgur.com][/img].....

....

Great post Plink

That is a picture of the book I bought.
I paid a lil more ($6.00 versus $4.00) to get what was claimed to be a "good condition" version.
It was an offer bargain I could not refuse.

.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2022-07-23 07:36 by Plink.

Have owned my copy since 79 (first edition) and there is no mention of any other writers except Tony. And he took almost all the photos except a few by Michael Cooper and others. I believe these photos are all by Tony:

Tony in the backeat

I bought the book when it was brand-new (having read a piece about it in Playboy) and it was paperback. It was my first bio on the Stones and I remember sitting on the back porch at the age of 16 eating Reese's Cups and drinking Mr. Pibb, wondering why I had acne, and being entranced by this book. It was my introduction to the Stones (pretty much) and my introduction to drugs and what some of them felt like written by somebody who would know. Yeah, some of it may be BS, I wasn't there so I don't know, but it was a riveting read and I still have it. You would think with Google and such in our modern world that there would be more info about Spanish Tony than there is, related to his death and his life after the Stones. It's like he was taken up in a spaceship in 1981 and never returned.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2017-01-22 22:39 by From4tilLate.

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Plink
Keith spoke about the book in a 1981 Rolling Stone interview

Keith: "Spanish Tony's book? Let's put it like this: I couldn't plow through it all because my eyes were watering from laughter. But the basic laying out of the story — "He did this, he did that" — is true. Tony didn't really write it. He had some hack from Fleet Street write it; obviously, Tony can hardly write his own name, you know? He was a great guy. I always considered him a friend of mine. I mean, not anymore. But I understand his position: he got into dope, his girlfriend ODed, he went on the skids and . . . it's all this shit, you know? As far as that book's concerned, as far as, like, a particular episode, just the bare facts — yeah, they all happened. But by the time you got to the end, it was like Grimm's Fairy Tales — with emphasis on the grim. It's really all old stuff. You know, there are certain showbiz cliches that always seem to hold true. One is that there's no such thing as bad publicity, and the other is that the show must go on, right?"

I finished the book a little while ago...

Thanks to everyone who made great suggestions about this one



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2017-01-29 11:56 by HankM.

Hilarious the guy actually thought he might join the band

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Moonshine
Hilarious the guy actually thought he might join the band

... but... but... Keith said.... you know.... that one time... He told him...

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HankM

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Moonshine
Hilarious the guy actually thought he might join the band

... but... but... Keith said.... you know.... that one time... He told him...

Ha! Probably as he handed him a bag of stuff

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Moonshine

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HankM

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Moonshine
Hilarious the guy actually thought he might join the band

... but... but... Keith said.... you know.... that one time... He told him...

Ha! Probably as he handed him a bag of stuff

eggzachary


This book still is banging around in my head... a book hangover...


It (one of many things) occurred to me....
it's a happy thought that both Anita and Marianne are still alive

Cheers lovely ladies
http://alainelkanninterviews.com/anita-pallenberg/



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2017-01-31 01:47 by HankM.

Call it creative writing, alternative facts, the missing chapter, facts fiction fantasy or what ever... but I stumbled across this last night... I had no idea people thought about some of this so much. And a couple of the comments are interesting too, looking at who posted there (too).

Spanish Tony: The Missing Chapter It is a little known (alternative)fact that when Spanish Tony Sanchez, Rolling Stone Keith Richards former drug dealer, was writing his memoirs for his book, Up and down with the Rolling Stones, certain stories had to be omitted due to the downright explosive nature of the material...... more here

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Moonshine
Hilarious the guy actually thought he might join the band

That's just so sad and pathetic.

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mattleeuk
I am Matt Lee :-) I live in London Bridge, so very close! Just email me on mattleeuk@gmail.com and I would be happy to advise what is of interest / value.

Any updates?

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HankM
Call it creative writing, alternative facts, the missing chapter, facts fiction fantasy or what ever... but I stumbled across this last night... I had no idea people thought about some of this so much. And a couple of the comments are interesting too, looking at who posted there (too).

Spanish Tony: The Missing Chapter It is a little known (alternative)fact that when Spanish Tony Sanchez, Rolling Stone Keith Richards former drug dealer, was writing his memoirs for his book, Up and down with the Rolling Stones, certain stories had to be omitted due to the downright explosive nature of the material...... more here

I think this is genuine. I wonder how it surfaced. Very distasteful how he wrote about sleeping with Marianne. In her autobiography, she recalled the episode with shame.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2017-02-01 16:29 by Bliss.

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Bliss

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HankM
Call it creative writing, alternative facts, the missing chapter, facts fiction fantasy or what ever... but I stumbled across this last night... I had no idea people thought about some of this so much. And a couple of the comments are interesting too, looking at who posted there (too).

Spanish Tony: The Missing Chapter It is a little known (alternative)fact that when Spanish Tony Sanchez, Rolling Stone Keith Richards former drug dealer, was writing his memoirs for his book, Up and down with the Rolling Stones, certain stories had to be omitted due to the downright explosive nature of the material...... more here

I think this is genuine. I wonder how it surfaced. Very distasteful how he wrote about sleeping with Marianne. In her autobiography, she recalled the episode with shame.

In my book review I wrote that I thought/felt some parts of the book were 100% true (which I) base on how Tony would explain the logic which tied the people and events together, while other parts of the book were more a skimming over of the events. I thought that probably indicates which parts of the book are Tony talking/writing/telling facts and which parts of the book are the ghost writer writing his feelings.

I thought I spotted some other parts of the book where it seemed some editing of the events was made to maybe make the book palatable... and now with this "missing chapter"... it seems some parts of the book were cut out all together.

There were a many mentions of death and threats of death in Tony's book... sometimes tossed in with little explanation... but they are there for a reason. I guess he felt the mention should be there. I still kind of wonder what he was trying to say by including several "suspicious" death... and then not referring to those deaths again.

I know little about the Krays but I thought it seemed strange how Tony seemingly snapped his fingers and made (part of the) mob debt go away. That is not usually how that type of thing goes. The mob is usually all business, but I don't know and I am unworthy to guess, so I didn't think too much of it as I read.


Tony says in the book it was that debt deal which put him in with the circle of people which led to his lifestyle and eventually his book... and what is explained in the missing chapter is told with his style of logic about the people and events which tie it all together. And this explanation makes more sense about why the mob would give away make a trade for part of the debt.

Does that make it true? I am the last person to know that, but it makes sense (in a conspiracy theory kind of way), and frankly I find it kind of (whatever the proper word is- scary freaky sad weird horrible manipulating- are not properly "big enough" words to describe) that this debt deal is maybe what brought Yoko and John together and maybe set off many events (like maybe the death of Tara. He blew his mind out in a car, he didn't notice that the light had changed.... yesh... I will never hear that song the same again).



Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 2017-02-01 20:43 by HankM.

Yeah, the idea of Tony Sanchez, a strictly low level, borderline hoodlum, making deals with the Kray Twins is probably what made Keith laugh so hard.

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wonderboy
Yeah, the idea of Tony Sanchez, a strictly low level, borderline hoodlum, making deals with the Kray Twins is probably what made Keith laugh so hard.

You feel that when Kieth wrote about it in LIFE he was trying to be funny? Laughing about this part?


""...So there was this weird mixture of aristos and gangsters, the fascination that the higher end of society has with the more brutish end. That was particularly the case with Robert Fraser.

Robert liked to mix with the underworld. Maybe it was his rebellion against the suffocation of his background, the repression of homosexuality. He gravitated towards people like David Litvinoff, who was on the borders of art and villainy, a friend of the Kray brothers, the East End gangsters. There were villains in the story as well. That's how Tony Sanchez came into it, because Tony Sanchez helped Robert out of a tight spot when he had gambling debts. That's how Robert met Tony. So Tony became Robert's conduit, sort of helper-out with villains, and his dealer.

Tony ran a gambling casino for Spanish waiters in London, after-hours. He was a dope dealer and a gangster with a Mark 10 Jaguar, two-tone, all done up pimp-style. His father ran a famous Italian restaurant in Mayfair. Spanish Tony was a hard man. Biff bang. One of those. He was a great guy until he became a bad one. His trouble, just like many others', was that you can't be like that and also become a junkie....""

It doesn't seem likely that Sanchez was much more than a runner, or somebody who could talk to respectable people and hoodlums who otherwise could not be seen together. I doubt he did much more than run errands for Fraser. Maybe he worked out a payment schedule.
I could be wrong, of course.
But my point of reference is that Mick and Keith were not the bohemians outlaws they want us to believe -- for goodness sakes they were living in English country home and summering in the south of France. Both of them are bright men with interests in arts and culture. Keith likes to play the cowboy, of course.

If I understand correctly, and I maybe misreading it...
The case being made by the "missing chapter" is that the Krays wanted a piece of the action from the music business, especially from the Beatles, and the way they tried to go about getting it was putting people in place that would "have the ear" of the players. I guess they were trying to use tactics and manipulation versus blunt force

It seems that a person who was a "low level runner, somebody who could talk to respectable people and hoodlums" alike would be perfect for that job. I would assume no high level mob guy would want to do it (or be trusted by the artists) and no entry level mob guy could be trusted (by the mob) to do it effectively . So it seems like Tony was the perfect fit.

Of course I have no idea what really happened under the surface, but there are some facts, things that really did happen, and some of those things (and results of those things) are very odd.

Hank, yes I can envision that.