Ace Frehley’s Wobbly First Meeting with Keith Richards

Kevin Winter, Getty Images

We all have our fantasies about meeting our favorite rockers. They usually involve telling our heroes about how much their music has meant to us and gotten us through hard times. In turn, the rocker is so overwhelmed by the praise and asks us to join the tour as a member of the band’s entourage and you become best buddies forever.
Stop laughing. You all know you’ve had that dream at some point in your life.
However, in reality the meetings are more likely to be anticlimactic, as a handshake, autograph and snapshot are all you’ll have time for before being whisked away by a personal assistant. Sometimes, they don’t even go that well, as Jeremie Ruby-Strauss recently described.
Ruby-Strauss, who has edited several best-selling hard rock memoirs including Motley Crue‘s ‘The Dirt’ and Ace Frehley‘s ‘No Regrets,’ talked about working with Frehley, who told Ruby-Strauss about what happened when the former Kiss guitarist was granted an audience with Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones.
“I’ll never forget our initial meeting,” he told Slushpile. “He told a story of wanting to meet Keith Richards, but neither of them could physically stand up — so they were both propped up by assistants so they could shake hands briefly, before each slumped over.”
If it’s any consolation to the Spaceman, there’s a really good chance Richards doesn’t remember this even happening. Frehley has paid tribute to Richards on wax as well, taking lead vocals on Kiss’ version of the Stones’ ’2000 Man’