Bill Wyman says he was 'disappointed' by Rolling Stones 50th anniversay concerts

Former Rolling Stones bass player Bill Wyman says that the Rolling Stones' 50th anniversary concerts that he participated in at London's O2 Arena in November 2012 were "great" except he's "disappointed" that he wasn't given enough songs and rehearsal time for the shows.
As previously reported, the Rolling Stones performed five arena concerts in 2012 to celebrate the band's 50th anniversary: November 25 and November 29 at the O2 Arena in London; December 8 at Barclays Center in New York City's Brooklyn borough; and December 13 and December 15, at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
The concerts featured several guest performers, including Wyman (in London), former Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor (in London and Newark), Bruce Springsteen (in Newark), Jeff Beck (in London), Eric Clapton (in London), John Mayer (in Newark), Lady Gaga (in Newark), Mary J. Blige (in London and Brooklyn), Florence Welch (in London), the Black Keys (in Newark) and Gary Clark Jr. (in Brooklyn and Newark).
Because of his fear of flying, Wyman did not participate in the Rolling Stones' 50th anniversary concerts in the United States. He hasn't performed in the U.S. since 2001.
Wyman told the London Times in a February 2013 interview: "In December 2011, Keith Richards called and said, 'Come on mate, why don't you have a jam with us?' Then they asked if I'd be interested in getting involved in the band for a special occasion. I thought I would get quite heavily involved, so when they said they only wanted me to do two songs I was a bit disappointed. I only had one rehearsal and no sound-check so I just winged it. It was great, but I didn't want to go to America for two songs. I think they understood. Well, Charlie Watts did."
In addition to the 50th anniversary concerts, Wyman and Taylor attended the London premiere of the Rolling Stones documentary "Crossfire Hurricane" in October 2012 and the London opening of the photo exhibit "Rolling Stones: 50" in July 2012.
Wyman was the Rolling Stones' bass player from 1962 until he quit the band about 30 years later. Darryl Jones became the Rolling Stones' bass player in 1993, but he is a salaried employee, not a full-fledged member of the band.
Taylor was in the Rolling Stones from 1969 to 1974, when he quit shortly before the band was about to start a tour. Taylor was replaced by Ronnie Wood in 1975.
In many interviews, Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards would criticize Wyman and Taylor for leaving the Rolling Stones. However, he patched up his differences with Wyman and Taylor in the months leading up to the 50th anniversary concerts.
But with Wyman's very public complaints about the Rolling Stones' 50th anniversary concerts, it could be a very long time before he's invited to share the stage again with the Rolling Stones. Or it could never happen again.
As previously reported, Rolling Stones lead singer Mick Jagger has confirmed that the band will do a tour in 2013, and multiple offers are being considered. The tour dates are to be announ

Jo Wood's tell-all memoir portrays Ronnie Wood as a lying, cheating husband

Jo Wood, the second ex-wife of Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood, goes into bitter details about Ronnie's infidelities as well as their cocaine-fueled lifestyle in her memoir, "Hey Jo," which goes on sale in the U.K. on Feb. 28, 2013 and in the U.S. on May 21, 2013. (The U.S. release date is subject to change.)
It's no secret that Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood is a recovering drug addict and alcoholic, since he's talked about it in many interviews. He also confessed a lot of his bad behavior in his 2007 memoir "Ronnie." However, when he wrote the book, he was still married to Jo, so the description of their marriage was very loving.
As previously reported, Jo is now telling her side of the story about their marriage in her memoir. In the book, she blames Ronnie for the end of their marriage, which she said was ruined by his lies, cheating and addictions.
Jo and Ronnie became romantically involved soon after they met in 1977, when he was still married to his first wife, Krissie. (Ronnie and Krissie divorced in 1978.) Jo and Ronnie got married in 1985, they separated in 2008, she filed for in divorce in 2009, and the divorce was finalized in 2011.
Ronnie and Jo have two biological kids together: Leah (born in 1978) and Tyrone (born in 1984). Ronnie's eldest child, Jesse (who was born in 1977), is from his first marriage. Jo's eldest child is a son named Jamie (born in 1974) from a previous relationship.
The Daily Mail published excerpts from Jo's book. The excerpts include her description of how she and Ronnie became addicted to freebasing cocaine.
Jo writes: "I don’t regret doing freebase. But I do regret wasting 18 months in the bathroom when I should have been spending more time with my kids. A few months after I gave up, I was in New York with Ronnie, and Bobby Womack came over to freebase with him. They were badgering me to join them. I gave in. Some 12 hours later I was scrabbling around the floor looking for stray crumbs. And at that moment I decided: "I will never, ever do freebase again." And I never did."
But even at the height of her freebasing frenzy in the early 1980s, Jo claims that she was still a good mother: "It was a crazy time, but I know I was always a good mum. We never did drugs in front of the kids, but sometimes we’d still be high when they woke up, and I would try to sneak off to bed so they didn’t see me."
Ronnie has been to rehab multiple times, and he has said in many interviews that he's been clean and sober since 2010.
Jo also details what she went through in 2008, when Ronnie left her for Ekatarina "Katia" Ivanova, who was an 18-year-old waitress at the time. In the excerpts published by the Daily Mail, she also talks about finding out that Ronnie cheated on her with several other women. She suspects that actress Kelly LeBrock was one of his flings, although Jo says Ronnie always denied it.

Jade Jagger living in home for 'needy'...

Jade Jagger - Jade Jagger living in home for 'needy'

Sir Mick Jagger's jewellery designer daughter Jade Jagger is living in a housing association flat which is meant for the needy with husband Adrian Fillary.
Jade Jagger is living in a flat meant for the needy.
The jewellery designer - whose father is Rolling Stones legend Sir Mick Jagger - is residing in her DJ husband Adrian Fillary's housing association flat beneath the Oxo Tower in central London, but the homes are intended to situate those from low incomes with a ''housing need''.
The flats are leased to people who can ''satisfy criteria of being in housing need'', and it's thought Jade's husband met this criteria when he moved in to the home in 2000, before he met and wed the wealthy socialite in June 2012.
A representative for Coin Street Housing Co-operative, which owns the flats, said marrying a rich person would not affect Andrew's tenancy rights as long as the property was still his ''principal residence''.
The spokesperson told the Daily Mirror newspaper: ''You can imagine it would be difficult to base tenancy rights upon whether a tenant had a rich partner.''
However, Jade - who earned £133,924 from her jewellery business last year, according to records from Companies House - and her husband are looking for a new home as a ''matter of courtesy'' due to his change in circumstance.
The 41-year-old beauty's spokesman said: ''While Adrian had lived at the Oxo Tower as a single man for over 10 years, now he is recently married, he is currently actively looking to buy a house in the area and move out.
''Although he is not contravening any rules or regulations, he has informed both the Co-operative's independent managing agent and the Co-operative's own management committee of his intentions to move out in the near future as a matter of courtesy and in the spirit of co-operative living.''

Stereophonics - The Things They Say...

"There was (sic) only 35 people there, and it was quite an unusual event. I've known Ronnie for 12 years, and Sally a long time, too, but the oddest moment was when a woman said, 'Can Rod and Paul now bring up the rings?' I just started laughing out loud, as it seemed bizarre to be at a wedding with Rod Stewart and Paul MCCartney." Stereophonics frontman Kelly Jones felt lucky to be a guest at Ronnie Wood's pre-Christmas (12) wedding to theatre producer Sally Humphreys.

This day the Stones are presented in the Super Bowlshow detroit 05/02/06

'The Rolling Stones: Fifty Years' is a solid and conventional biography

"Rolling Stones: Fifty Years" by Christopher Sandford

Credits: 

Simon & Schuster

This review is part of a series of reviews of Rolling Stones books that have a 50th anniversary theme.
Any Rolling Stones biography that is published after Keith Richards' 2010 memoir "Life" will have the benefit of "Life" as a valuable resource. That certainly seems to be the case with "Rolling Stones: Fifty Years" (written by Christopher Sandford and published in April 2012), because the book includes a lot of facts and anecdotes that were in Richards' highly acclaimed, best-selling memoir "Life." (Sandford gives proper attribution of the quotes and anecdotes.) Richards' memoir is the only one written by an original member of the Rolling Stones that covers the band's entire history up to the year of the book's publication, so it's a treasure trove of information that wasn't in previous Rolling Stones biographies. (Bill Wyman's 1990 autobiography "Stone Alone" tells his version of the Stones' history until the year 1969.)
"Rolling Stones: Fifty Years" tells the band's story in chronological order and has a helpful index at the back. Sandford has a dry and sarcastic sense of humor in his writing that makes it clear that "Rolling Stones: Fifty Years" is not a biography that goes overboard on hero worshipping.
The author also makes some arguable statements in the book, such as his opinion that Mick Jagger's 1987 solo album "Primitive Cool" is "the best album featuring Jagger since 'Exile on Main Street.'" Many fans and critics would strongly disagree with that assertion.
And curiously, even though Sandford often quotes and uses anecdotes from Richards' "Life," he chose to ignore Richards' own account of how he wrote the Rolling Stones' 1973 classic "Angie." In "Life," Richards clearly said that he did not write the song about anyone in particular, and the song's title was a name that he randomly chose.
Over the years, books and articles written about the Rolling Stones have given contradictory stories about the song, by saying that "Angie" was written about Angela Bowie (David Bowie's first wife), Anita Pallenberg (the mother of Richards' eldest children) or Angela Richards (Keith Richards' eldest daughter whose birth name was Dandelion). In "Rolling Stones: Fifty Years," Sandford say that Keith Richards "came up with the words and music of 'Angie' in his daughter's honor."
The 1969 death of Rolling Stones founder Brian Jones (who was found dead in his swimming pool) is another part of Rolling Stones history that has had many contradictory stories about it. A Rolling Stones biography will say that the cause of death was by one of of these four things: (1) an accident, which was the official coroner's ruling; (2) pre-meditated murder; (3) manslaughter; or (4) something that will never been known.
Sandford adamantly states that Jones' death was an accident, and that it's a myth that Jones' house renovator Frank Thorogood confessed on his death bed that he killed Jones. For most people who believe that Jones was killed, Thorogood has been named as the most likely one to have done it. Sandford believes that Thorogood was completely innocent and that any suspicion about Thorogood's role in Jones' death is completely incorrect. According to Sandford, even though Jones was known to be an excellent swimmer, Jones was in failing health due to his drug/alcohol abuse, and that's why he accidentally drowned. In "Life," Richards says he doesn't know what caused Jones' death, and he doubts that he'll ever know for sure.
As with most Stones biographies, most of the content of "Rolling Stones: Fifty Years" is about the band's history in the 1960s and 1970s. The 1980s and 1990s are written almost like less-interesting footnotes, except when chronicling the Mick Jagger/Keith Richards feud in the 1980s. And the 21st century is quickly breezed through in a relatively small number of pages.
People who have read most if not all the Rolling Stones biographies that have come along over the years won't find out anything new in reading "Rolling Stones: Fifty Years." But for anyone who wants to read a more updated Rolling Stones biography than Stephen Davis' 2001 book "Old Gods Almost Dead," then "Rolling Stones: Fifty Years" is a good place to start. However, Richards' "Life" is a more entertaining and more definitive book that chronicles the Rolling Stones' history through the 21st century. Any Rolling Stones biography that's published after "Life" has a hard act to follow.

'Mick Jagger' biography by Philip Norman is a sympathetic portrayal of Jagger

"Mick Jagger" by Philip Norman

There are two kinds of books about Rolling Stones lead singer Mick Jagger: (1) the kind that takes a tabloid approach which is mostly interested in telling scandalous stories about his sex life and (2) the kind that takes a historical approach which attempts to have a well-rounded description of who Jagger is and his influence on pop culture.
In 2012, two unauthorized biographies about Jagger were published that had these two very different approaches: Christopher Andersen's: "Jagger: The Wild Life and Mad Genius of Jagger" (published in July 2012) took the tabloid approach. Philip Norman's "Mick Jagger" (published in October 2012) took the historical approach.
Overall, Norman's book isn't fawning toward Jagger but there is the sense that Norman held back on a lot of criticism of and information about Jagger's worst behavior. Overall, it portrays Jagger in a mostly sympathetic light, since Norman describes Jagger as having almost saint-like patience with Keith Richards when Richards' drug problems were seriously affecting the Rolling Stones' career.
That's not to say that Norman's book glosses over Jagger's flaws and life mistakes. It just doesn't do so in the unforgiving manner of a hardcore investigative journalist. However, the book doesn't take the other extreme, which would be to portray Jagger as the unrelentingly cold and cruel taskmaster that he's described as by writers who clearly more of a fan of Richards than of Jagger.
It's basically a requirement for any Jagger biography to discuss his infidelities and womanizing, but Norman does so with a certain amount of tactful restraint. For example, unlike Jagger biographer Andersen, Norman is not concerned with the estimated number of Jagger's sexual conquests or what Jagger did during his sexual encounters. Rather, Norman is more concerned with how Jagger's most important lovers affected Jagger and the Rolling Stones, and how Jagger showed a side of himself in those relationships that he rarely showed to the public.
There are some descriptions of Jagger's role as a Rolling Stones songwriter, but Norman believes Jagger's greater role in the band has been as a business planner. Like many people, Norman doubts that the Stones would be the giant moneymakers they are today if it were not for Jagger's shrewd business decisions over the years.
Norman is best known for his Beatles and Rolling Stones biographies. In "Mick Jagger," the author goes into greater detail about some aspects of Jagger's life than other previous biographers have done. Here are some examples:

• There are extensive interviews with Cleo Sylvestre and Chrissie Shrimpton, who both dated Jagger in the 1960s during the earliest years of his career as a singer. (Sylvestre says that although she dated Jagger, they never had sex.) Norman describes the "explosive, sometimes physically violent quarrels that [Shrimpton] and Mick always have." However, Shrimpton denies former Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham's account that she would use her fists in fighting Jagger.
• Speaking of Oldham, Norman doesn't come right out and say it, but he implies that he believes the rumors that Oldham and Jagger used to be lovers when Oldham was the Rolling Stones' manager. The author recounts stories of people seeing Oldham and Jagger sleeping in bed together and holding each other's hands like lovers.
• More details are revealed about Jagger's attempts to become a movie star in 1970s. Norman says that Maggie Abbott, who was Jagger's film agent at the time, brought Jagger opportunities to work with directors such as Steven Spielberg, John Boorman and Franco Zeferelli. "Yet thanks to indecision, conflicting obligations with the Stones, or — most frequently — last-minute attacks of cold feet, he ended up doing not a single one."
• Chris O'Dell, who was Jagger's occasional lover and a Rolling Stones assistant during the early 1970s, is clearly a source for this book. O'Dell had her own tell-all book ("Miss O'Dell," published in 2009) that described her personal experiences with the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton and more.
• The painful attempt to get Jagger to write his memoir in the early 1980s is also detailed. The way Norman describes it, it was a frustrating waste of time for everyone involved. According to Norman, Adam Mars-Jones was interviewed for the job of being the book's ghostwriter, but didn't get the job because when he smoked a joint with Jagger during the interview, Jagger disapproved of Mars-Jones not savoring the joint long enough. (This sounds like Mars-Jones' interpretation of what happened.) John Ryle, a London Sunday Times literary editor with no background in covering the music industry, was chosen instead as the ghostwriter. It's now common knowledge that the book project was discontinued and the advance money was returned to the publisher because Jagger couldn't or wouldn't remember a lot of important details about his life. Norman doesn't directly quote any of his sources about the Jagger memoir project, but his descriptions of closed-door meetings during this project sound like he got this information from people who were at these meetings.
• There is a new interview with an unnamed woman who claims that she had a torrid affair with Jagger that started in the late 1970s when she was in her late teens and ended in the early 1980s, but Jagger would still keep in touch with her years later. The other Rolling Stones knew about her, and Jagger would openly take her out on dates. Jerry Hall, who was Jagger's main lady love at the time, knew about this mistress and was very jealous of her, according to Norman. Even though he doesn't name the mistress, Norman gives hints about her identity. He describes her as "beautiful," "intelligent," "belonging to a distinguished aristocratic and literary family" and having a grandfather who was a "high-profile member of the House of Lords."

Norman has a term called "the Tyranny of Cool" that he constantly uses in this book. The essential meaning of the Tyranny of Cool is anything that has to do with Jagger maintaining an image that he's too cool to care about things that make him look too old, too boring or too insecure — whether those things are old-fashioned society conventions in the 1960s, a monogamous marriage in the 1970s or Keith Richards' insults in the 1980s and beyond.
This "Tyranny of Cool" has led to Jagger being charming but aloof in his interviews. Indeed, even though there's been so much written and said over the years about Jagger's sex life and about Jagger being a sex symbol, Jagger himself has almost never talked about his sex life in interviews. It's a big contrast to the numerous celebrities who have a "let it all hang out" attitude about what they reveal to the public.
However, Norman says that Jagger has never been "too cool" to be a social climber, which is why even during the Rolling Stones' most rebellious years, Jagger loved hanging out with titled socialites. And it's why Jagger readily accepted the honor of being knighted in 2003, in spite of his band mate Richards being enraged that Jagger accepted the knighthood.
Jagger's attitude toward money is also described in the book as that of someone who can be generous with gifts to the trusted people in his life, but he can be a notoriously cheap skinflint who will nitpick over tiny costs that would be affordable to even poor people. It's not uncommon for multimillionaires to be this way. Essentially, Jagger's generosity and willingness to spend money depend on whether he considers what he's buying an investment, a means to an end, or a total waste.
Like most books about the Rolling Stones or any of the band's original members, the 1960s is the decade that gets the most pages in the book. Norman's "Mick Jagger" book is no exception. And, as with most unauthorized biographies, some of the facts in Norman's "Mick Jagger" could be called into question because the sources are not named. However, the book is indexed and in chronological order, which is very helpful for anyone wanting to find certain points in Jagger's history.
"Mick Jagger" is a book that comes to the same conclusion arrived at by many other books about Jagger or the Rolling Stones. And that conclusion is that Jagger is complex, brilliant at business, sexually voracious, obsessed with being current and youthful, and someone who's been able to be one of the most famous rock stars of all time without revealing too much about himself to the public.