Bridges to Babylon

We did another riotous Winos tour, including to Argentina, where we were greeted with a pandemonium not seen since the early '60s. The Stones had never been there, so we walked into full-scale Beatlemania, frozen in time and released for our arrival. We played the first gig in a stadium with forty thousand people, and the noise, the energy, was unbelievable. I convinced the Stones that this was definitely a market where there were lots of people who really liked us. I took Bert and we lived in Buenos Aires, in this great hotel, one of my favorites in the world, the Mansion, in a fine suite of rooms with lovely proportions. Bert would wake up and chuckle every morning, he'd be hearing "Ole, ole, ole, Richards, Richards..." This was the first time his family name had been beaten out on a drum to wake him up for breakfast. He said, "I thought they were chanting for me."

I still very much like Bridges to Babylon; there's some interesting stuff on it. I still like "Thief in the Night," "You Don't Have to Mean It" and "Flip the Switch".

 K.Richards. Life

Don Was

The new meat in the sandwich, between Mick and me, was Don Was, who became our producer. He was too clever to get eaten.

Keith Richards. Life

Bill W.

I don't know why he's so worried about dying. It's not a matter of avoiding it. It's where and how!

Keith Richards. Life

Морские будни

Сегодня почти спонтанно вышли в море. Кэптэн Б. позвонил 2 дня назад и сообщил о наличие свободной лодки в среду с 8 до 10 утра. Мы ответили единственно возможным “Yes, sir!”.

Учитывая близость часа и места я решил сделать Д. маленький праздник и подбросил его на работу на машине, сэкономив ему еще полчаса сна. Чу выдвинулась из дома на час позже и застряла в утренних пробках. Мы уже вышли в море и подняли паруса, когда она наконец-то прибыла в марину. Вернулись и подняли ее на борт вместе с провизией.

Проходя мимо пляжа Д. связались с ним по телефону и махали ему руками. Расстояние было большое, но учитывая, что от Нетании до Тель Авива наблюдалось не больше 7 лодок, ему удалось нас опознать. Мы не смогли ответить ему взаимностью. (Пляж Д. находится под крайней левой гостиницей).

На обратном пути Чу обыгрывала различные варианты невозвращения на работу, включающие человека за бортом. На роль “человека” она предлагала Капитана, ибо только этот вариант мог серьезно задержать наше возвращение в порт (и вслед за ним, на работу). План так и не был приведен в действие.

X-Pensive Winos

Steve and I thought we ought to make a record and started to put together the core of the X-Pensive Winos--so named later on when I noticed a bottle of Chateau Lafite introduced as light refreshment in the studio. Well, nothing was too good for this amazing band of brothers. Steve asked me who I wanted to play with, and first up, on guitar I said Waddy Wachtel. And Steve said, you took the words, brother. I had known Waddy since the '70s and I'd always wanted to play with him, one of the most tasteful, simpatico players I know. And he's completely musical. Understanding of it, empathetic, nothing ever needing to be explained. He's also got the most uncanny ultrasonic ear, still tuned high after years of bandstands. He was playing with Linda Ronstadt and he was playing with Stevie Nicks-- chick bands--but I knew my man wanted to rock. So I called him and said simply, "I'm putting a band together, and you're in it." Steve agreed that Charley Drayton should be the bass player, and I think it was just a general consensus that Ivan Neville, from Aaron Neville's family from New Orleans, should be the piano player. There was no audition process whatsoever.

K. Richards. Life

One Hit (to the Body)

By the time we gathered in Paris to record Dirty Work in 1985, the atmosphere was bad. The sessions had been delayed because Mick was working on his solo album, and now he was busy promoting it. Mick had come with barely any songs for us to work on. He'd used them up on his own record. And he was often just not there at the studio.

So I began writing a lot more on my own for Dirty Work, different kinds of songs. The horrendous atmosphere in the studio affected everybody. Bill Wyman almost stopped turning up; Charlie flew back home. In retrospect I see that the tracks were full of violence and menace: "Had It with You," "One Hit (to the Body)," "Fight." We made a video of "One Hit (to the Body)" that more or less told the story--we nearly literally came to blows, over and above our acting duties.

K.Richards. Life

Anybody Seen My Baby?

It gave him [Mick] a spongelike mentality when it came to music. He'd hear something in a club and a week later he'd think he wrote it. And I'd say, no, that's actually a total lift. I've had to check him on that. I've played him songs that I've come up with, ideas... He says, that's nice, and we fiddle about for a bit and leave it alone. A week later he'll come back and say, look, I've just written this. And I know it's totally innocent, because he wouldn't be that dumb. The writers' credits under "Anybody Seen My Baby?" include K.D. Lang and a cowriter. My daughter Angela and her friend were at Redlands and I was playing the record and they start singing this totally different song over it. They were hearing K.D. Lang's "Constant Craving." It was Angela and her friend that copped it. And the record was about to come out in a week. Oh shit, he's lifted another one. I don't think he's ever done it deliberately; he's just a sponge. So I had to call up Rupert and all of the heavy-duty lawyers, and I said, have this checked out right now, otherwise we're going to be sued. And within twenty-four hours, I got a phone call: you're right. We had to include K.D. Lang in the writing credits.

K.Richards. Life

They brook no interference from sanity, bless their hearts.

K.Richards. Life

Науку–в массы!

Вчера* Д. поехал в какой-то тельавивский бар набираться знаний в рамках проекта “Мада аль абар” (“Наука на баре”) института Вейцмана в Реховоте. Вернулся поздно. Сегодня делился впечатлениями: была интересная лекция на тему решения жилищной проблемы (столь актуальную в следствии “палаточного протеста”), неплохая публика (с тенденцией в сторону ботаников,  м\ж примерно пополам). Клянется, что поехал исключительно из жажды к новым знаниям.

צילום: משה חסון

Прекрасное сочетание приятного с полезным. Жаль в наше время такого не было. Думаю целые факультеты можно было переводить в большие пивные заведения, решая таким образом проблему посещаемости раз и навсегда.

 

* после ежедневного курса “Мада аль ахоф” (“Наука на пляже”).

Sly and Robbie

One of the great sessions I have played on happened around this time, when Lil and I went to Jamaica and I fell in with Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare, who were making a Black Uhuru album. Sly and Robbie were one of the best rhythm sections in the world. We did seven tracks together in one night, and one of them, called "Shine Eye Gal," became a great big hit and a classic. Another was an instrumental called "Dirty Harry" for Sly's album Sly, Wicked and Slick. And I've still got the rest. All done on four-track at Channel One, Kingston. We played anything anybody felt like playing. Most of it was just made out of riffs, but it was a supreme band: Sly and Robbie; Sticky and Scully, who were Sly's percussion men and did all the little fiddly bits; Ansell Collins on organ and piano; me on guitar; another guitar player, might have been Michael Chung. It was a brilliant night. At the time, we said, let's split the tracks, I'll take three and you take three, but they made a big hit out of "Shine Eye Gal." They came touring with us in the next couple of years.

K.Richards. Life

TBS*

Хороший фильм с необычным финалом.

ШШШ

* Nothing to Lose\ Нечего терять\ אין מה להפסיד

C'est Tout

Алка закрыла свой магазин в Тель Авиве - газета аАрец уже ностальгирует. (ивр.)

 צילום: קלמונט ז'ולן