2006
I'm not so green but I'm feeling so fresh
2006
I'm not so green but I'm feeling so fresh
January 8, 2006: As they did exactly
three years earlier for the Licks tour, the Rolling Stones
reassemble
in Montreal, Canada, for rehearsals.
January 10, 2006: The Rolling
Stones resume their Bigger Bang North American tour, focusing
exclusively
on arenas, at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada. Jumpin' Jack Flash
becomes the set
opener, while
Keith Richards switches his numbers to This Place Is Empty and Happy.
January 13-15, 2006: The Rolling
Stones return to Boston, Massachusetts to perform two concerts at
the TD Banknorth
Garden. Let's Spend the Night Together, Respectable, Gimmie
Shelter and Memory
Motel are
all new to the tour's setlist.
January 18-20, 2006: The Rolling
Stones return to New York City for their second and third concerts of
the tour at
Madison Square Garden. Love Is Strong and Worried About You
are performed.
January 23-25, 2006: The Rolling
Stones are back in Chicago where they perform two shows at the
United Center.
January 27-29, 2006: The Rolling
Stones perform arena concerts in St. Louis, Missouri and Omaha,
Nebraska.
February 1, 2006: The Rolling
Stones perform at the 1st Mariner Arena in Baltimore, Maryland.
February 2, 2006: The Rolling
Stones hold a press conference in Detroit, Michigan to promote their
upcoming Superbowl
appearance.
February 3, 2006: The Rolling
Stones rehearse at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan for their special, live
televised
performance.
February 5, 2006: The Rolling
Stones perform the half-time show at Superbowl XL at Ford Field in
Detroit.
| Keith Richards
(2005) & Mick Jagger (2006): Playing the Superbowl
Keith: Quite honestly, I don't like (football). I think it's a spectacle, not a sport. When you've got the team on the run, you don't give 'em timeout for a bloody ad. But the NFL is sort of that icon thing. It's fun. I don't consider it to be any sort of major highlight of my career. Mick: It is hilarious to think about these very serious men sitting around and discussing whether the word cocks could be broadcast or not... It was fantastically mad. You had to be so on immediately. Then as soon as you're on, you're off. |
February 8, 2006: The Rolling
Stones perform at the Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.
February 11, 2006: The Rolling
Stones interrupt their North American tour for a detour through Latin
America, starting
with their first ever concert in Puerto Rico,
at San Juan's Coliseo de Puerto Rico.
February 17, 2006: The Rolling Stones fly in to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
February 18, 2006: The Rolling
Stones perform to the biggest crowd of their career, 1.3 million (dwarfing
their previous
record at Toronto's Downsview Park in 2003), at the Praia de Copacabana
in Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil.
The concert is telecast live.
| Mick Jagger
(April 2006), Darryl Jones & Charlie Watts (2006): Playing to a million
in Rio
Mick: You have to sort of pinch yourself. You couldn't really see the crowd at Rio - it was too big. But the sound of them was like hundreds of hives of bees; the buzz was really loud. Darryl: (T)here was a bridge built so we could go from the hotel to the stage on the beach across the street... The hotel is across the street. That's the reason for the bridge. Trying to get through a crowd that big is nearly impossible.... The energy from the crowd was obviously the most intense I've ever felt. What occurred next was pure physics and metaphysics working hand in hand. When Keith started Jumpin' Jack it was as if the energy coming to the stage went into him and back out to the audience. It was like he was riding a hurricane. When I heard him I felt this spirit shoot up my spine and I jumped in for a breathtaking ride. Charlie: It was fun. To be honest, it doesn't matter if there's 2 million or what, as you only see a certain area. For Mick it's different, working an audience. But I could see the boats in the sea, it was a wonderful setting, and the whole day was fantastic. It was like the Cup Final, but it went on all day. |
February 20, 2006: Mick Jagger visits his son Lucas in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
February 21-23, 2006: The Rolling
Stones perform two concerts at the River Plate Stadium in Buenos
Aires in Argentina.
Fans riot outside during the second concert.
February 26, 2006: The Rolling
Stones are back in Mexico for the third time of their career, performing
at Mexico
City's Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
March 1, 2006: The Rolling Stones
perform for the first time ever in Monterrey, Mexico, at a university
stadium.
March 4-6, 2006: The Rolling Stones
are back in the United States, playing a second show at the MGM
Grand Garden
in Las Vegas, followed by a concert at the Los Angeles Forum. In Los Angeles,
the
Stones add
Faraway
Eyes to the tour material.
March 9, 2006: The Rolling Stones
perform in Little Rock, Arkansas.
March 12, 2006: The Rolling Stones
play the Bank Atlantic Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
March 14, 2006: The Rolling Stones
officially end their North American tour with an intimate concert at
New York City's
Radio City Music Hall.
March 16, 2006: The Rolling Stones fly in to Tokyo, Japan.
March 20, 2006: The Rolling Stones
hold a press conference in Tokyo, Japan, to promote their Pacific
tour.
| Mick Jagger
(March 20, 2006): A million in Japan
I can't believe we are playing to the millionth person in Japan this week. |
March 22-24, 2006: The Rolling
Stones kick off their 2006 Bigger Bang tour of Australasia with
two
concerts at
the Tokyo Dome in Japan.
March 29, 2006: The Rolling Stones
perform their first ever concert in north Japan, in Sapporo.
April 2-5, 2006: The Rolling Stones
perform for the first time in the cities of Saitama and Nagoya in
Japan.
| Keith Richards
(April 2006): Playing to young girls
(Y)ou're dealing now with a generation raised on MTV, which delivered a different incentive to young people about being in a band and playing music. It's more about what music looks like. So when these kids see rock & roll up close, it affects them. Or maybe we're just late bloomers when it comes to attracting 20-year-old girls. |
April 7, 2006: The Rolling Stones
hold a press conference in Shanghai, China.
| Keith Richards
(April 2006): Getting to Shanghai
I've always wanted to get there. We're very grateful for being allowed in. We'll stick our noses in and see what's happening. I want to buy some of my own bootlegs... |
April 8, 2006: Following 2003's
false starts, the Rolling Stones finally perform for the first time in
mainland China,
at Shanghai's Grand Stage Theatre. The Stones are banned from performing
three
songs (Brown
Sugar, Honky Tonk Women, Rough Justice). Chinese rock
star Cui Jian duets with Mick
Jagger on
Wild
Horses.
April 11-13, 2006: The Rolling
Stones are in Australia, where they perform at Sydney's Telstra Stadium
and Melbourne's
Rod Laver Arena.
April 16, 2006: The Rolling Stones
perform in New Zealand for the first time in eleven years, at
Auckland's
Western Springs Speedway.
April 17, 2006: In Auckland, Mick Jagger shoots scenes in his motel room
for the U.S. TV program The Knights of
Prosperity, aired in January 2007.
April 18, 2006: The Rolling Stones
end their Pacific tour at Wellington, New Zealand's Westpac Stadium.
| Keith Richards
(September 2006): The fall
Everyone imagines it was a fifty-foot-tall palm tree (laughs). It's embarrassing, really: I was sitting on this gnarled shrub about six feet off the ground. I was wet - I'd been swimming. I hit the ground the wrong way, my head hit the trunk and that was that... It's not the first brush with death I've had. I guess what I learned is, don't sit in trees anymore. |
| Keith Richards
(June 2007): The treatment
(A)ll in all, the experience was quite interesting. I can never forget my voice echoing round the room in New Zealand. The doctor that was taking care of me said, Well, I think you're ready to fly to London or Manhattan for your operation. I said, I ain't going nowhere, motherfucker, YOU'RE doing it. And as I said it, I heard the words floating round, like, Did I actually say that? You're gonna break my head open, pal. It's something you don't want to contemplate really. |
| Ron Wood
(August 2006): Pirates of Fiji
In Fiji, Keith dropped right behind me and I thought, What the fuck was that? He thought he was Tarzan for a second and lost his grip... I spun around and there he was, on the ground. He'd cut his gums up on impact, he was very bloody, and clutching his head. It was quite frightening because over the next few days I could see him get bad headaches and begin to feel depressed. That's when I knew he had to have proper medical attention. I knew he'd come though. But you just never know - lots of people have died after simple accidents like that. |
| Mick Jagger
(August 2006): Land on me tonight
Keith should never go up anything without a parachute. It's all very funny and everything. You can't help laughing 'cause it's got this comedy side to it. When he sees people in the audience waving blow-up palm trees at him, he's got take that with a sense of humour. But I was worried about Keith. It's never funny to get a concussion. It can take six months to get over it. It was serious and I'm sure for Keith it wasn't very funny at all. |
| Keith Richards
(June 2007): Clean bill of health
(F)unnily enough, I'd never bothered much about (a health check) until I did the head in. And then, of course, I had to be checked out from head to toe. The doctors come back with this sort of amazed look on their faces, like, (raised eyebrow, looking down list) heart, liver, kidneys, all perfect... Maybe I'm a one-off. But at the same time, I'm working with guys that are the same size as me, never get a cold, work our butts off. Mick, Charlie, Ronnie, you know. |
| Ron Wood
(August 2006): Reality check
I think Keith and Charlie having near-death experiences taught us all a lesson. You only live once and you've got to look after yourself. It's hard not to go out after a great show and celebrate. Now I go back to my hotel and stick on CSI or a movie. I also get coffee-ed out a lot. I'm addicted to the stuff. (I)t was my fifth (visit to rehab). Or maybe my sixth? What can I say, I'm an alcoholic. It's what I do. Obviously normal people don't go out to work drunk, but for an alcoholic it's entirely normal to go to work out of your fucking brain, and that's exactly what I did - for years. But not anymore, hopefully... I just think my body can't handle it anymore. I did try a little drink a while back, and I was actually physically ill. I went into an immediate depression, and felt awful, just dreadful. So that's it. I'm over it now. I am. Keith still has a few, but even he has been watching himself recently. Mostly we're all very well behaved these days. Charlie doesn't touch anything now, and Mick will only have a glass of wine on a night off. But then it's easier for them; alcohol is in my genes. |
| Keith Richards
(July 10, 2006): Ready, willing, able
I feel great. I can't wait to get back on the stage again. Basically everything is cool... Of course they put me out like a light. I was surprised myself... I had total comfort. When you've got to do it, you've got to do it.... I recovered. Six weeks, I mean, not bad for a brain job. |
| Keith Richards
(Life, 2010): Looking back
They said you won't be able to work for six months. I said six weeks. Within six weeks I was back on stage. It was what I needed to do. I was ready to go. Either you become a hypochondriac and listen to other people, or you make up your own mind... Until I got to Milan and played that girst gig, (the Stones) were also holding their breath. I know that because they're all friends of mine. They're thinking, he might be all right, but can he still deliver? |
| Mick Jagger
& Keith Richards (July 25, 2006): Another North American bang
Mick: We're very excited about coming back to the U.S. and Canada. Most of the shows are going to be on the big stadium stage with fans in the balconies behind us. We're going to play many cities we didn't get to before and also return to some of our favorites places. There's plenty of time for rehearsals and to be able to make some set changes - we'll have a variety of material ready so we can keep it fresh. Keith's fine, his head's better, he's playing well and enjoying himself, so we're all looking forward to this leg of the tour. Keith: I thought we left too soon, you know, so that's the reason we're coming back. I'm really happy that we got some more gigs in America and Canada. I'm feeling great and can't wait to get there. |
| Keith Richards
(July 2006): The meaning of success is...
The opportunity to continue. |
July 28, 2006: The Rolling Stones
perform at the Stade de France in Paris.
July 30, 2006: Ron Wood checks out his art exhibition in Amsterdam.
| Ron Wood
(July 30, 2006): New and improved Keith
I think it was kind of a wake-up call for him. His attitude is better now, and you can see it in everything he does. It's like he knows he's lucky to be alive, and is well happy about it. Wait till you see us tomorrow night. You'll have to come backstage afterwards and watch him take the piss out of me. He always does. It's funny as fuck. |
July 31, 2006: The Rolling Stones
give a concert at Amsterdam's ArenA in The Netherlands.
August 3-5, 2006: The Rolling
Stones perform in Stuttgart, Germany, at Gottlieb-Daimler Stadion,
followed by
Zurich in Switzerland, at theDubendorf Airfield.
August 8, 2006: The Rolling Stones
are back in France, performing at Le Palais Nikaia in Nice.
August 11, 2006: Charlie Watts records with saxophonist Tim Ries in Porto,
Portugal.
August 12, 2006: The Rolling Stones
perform their first ever concert in the city of Porto, in Portugal, at
the Estádio
do Dragăo.
August 14-15, 2006: Mick Jagger's
laryngitis forces last-minute cancellations of the Rolling Stones' last
two remaining
concerts in Spain following the original cancellations, in Valladolid and
El Ejido.
August 20-22, 2006: The Rolling
Stones resume the tour and start their British trek, with two concerts
at
London's Twickenham
Rugby Ground.
| Charlie
Watts (August 2006): No Keith, no Stones
I wouldn't have carried on without Keith. I think the Rolling Stones could tour without me but we couldn't do it without Mick or Keith. |
August 25, 2006: The Rolling Stones
perform in Scotland, at Glasgow's Hampden Park.
August 27-29, 2006: The Rolling
Stones play a concert in Sheffield, England, at Don Valley Stadium, then
head to Wales
for a show at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.
August 31, 2006: The Rolling Stones fly into Norway from England.
September 1, 2006: The Rolling
Stones perform their first ever concert in Bergen, Norway, at the
Koengen.
September 3, 2006: The Rolling
Stones play to 85 000 at their first ever show in Horsens, Denmark,
where they
end the 2006 A Bigger Bang European Tour.
| Charlie
Watts (September 2006): Mick the taskmaster
Doing this to a certain standard again and again is very tiring. It's not like we're playing Bach but it's the level of professionalism you put it. With Mick the professionalism is very high. The more successul you are, the more he is on you. We're not allowed to look back, have colds or be grumpy. |
September 11-15, 2006: Three years after the first rumours, Keith Richards
finally films his part for a Pirates of the
Caribbean movie (the third intallment), in Palmdale, California.
| Pirates
director Gore Verbinksi (2007): Keith
He literally had a waltz going on in his head. Johnny (Depp) can turn it on and off, that meandering, sea-legs thing. But that's Keith all the time. |
September 16, 2006: The Rolling
Stones, minus Keith Richards, rehearse at the Orpheum Theatre in
Boston, Massachusetts.
| Ron Wood
& Mick Jagger (September 2006): More Stones in 2007?
Ron: We're going to have a well-needed break over Christmas, and then we'll go back out, probably, next year. We'll probably do some Europe; we owe them some dates... (I'm) loving where (the band) is, musically. Mick: I don't want to spend the whole year doing shows. I've got children and they need looking after, and I need some peace and quiet. |
| Ron Wood
(mid September 2006): Pirate Keith
He said he's going to come to the next rehearsal in character - he's going to come straight off set dressed as a pirate and come to rehearasls. He said to me: I'm not allowed to shave from now on, so they're going to tie little bits on my beard. Whatever bits grow, they're going to dangle bits off of it, and the longer it gets, the more they're going to tie on... |
September 17-19, 2006: The Rolling
Stones, minus Mick Jagger, continue rehearsals in Boston at
Agganis Hall.
September 19, 2006: The Rolling Stones are interviewed on satellite U.S.
radio.
September 20, 2006: Thirteen months
after the start of the world tour, the Rolling Stones are back at
its start,
Boston, where they kick off their Fall 2006 North American Tour at Gillette
Stadium. The
setlist has
undergone an overhaul, as the band starts off unusually with Paint It
Black for this show,
add Monkey
Man, and Keith Richards drags out You Got the Silver and Little
T&A out of the closet for
their second
tours only (1999 and 1981-82 respectively). Streets of Love gets
its North American
debut. The
tour focuses mostly on stadium shows, many of them in markets the Rolling
Stones have
rarely or
never played before.
| Keith Richards
(September 2006): Another endless tour
It seems to be an endless tour. Nobody can quite put a stop to it. We're kind of looking at (this U.S. tour) like we're Lewis and Clark - we're playing the Wyomings and Montanas. |
September 23, 2006: The Rolling
Stones play in the rain, fittingly, as they perform for the first time
in the
maritime Canadian
province of Nova Scotia, at Halifax Commons.
September 26, 2006: Mick Jagger attends the premiere in New York of Martin
Scorcese's The Departed, who is soon
to work with the Rolling Stones.
September 27, 2006: A year later,
the Rolling Stones return at Giants Stadium in New Jersey for another
show, which
kicks off with It's Only Rock 'n Roll and features Just My Imagination.
September 28, 2006: In New York, Ron Wood takes part in the filming of
a U.S. music TV special around Jerry Lee
Lewis .
September 29, 2006: The Rolling
Stones head out for the U.S. midlands, performing another rainy show
at the Churchill
Downs Race Track in Louisville, Kentucky. The show includes, of course,
Dead
Flowers.
October 1, 2006: The band performs
its first ever concert in the state of Kansas, in Wichita, where they
tease the
crowd with a part of Glen Campbell's country favourite, Wichita Lineman.
Let
It Bleed is also
added to the
setlist.
| Mick Jagger
(September 2006): Magic Mick
It's discipline. And keeping myself together, and training a bit before the tour, and a lot of really good luck. |
October 4, 2006: The Rolling Stones
conquer another virgin state, Montana, performing at Missoula's
Grizzly Stadium.
October 6-8, 2006: Another virgin
Canadian province this time. The band's two first ever concerts in
Regina, Saskatchewan,
in cold weather, are Canada's highest ever grossing musical events up to
this
point.
October 7, 2006: Mick Jagger and his son James visit the MacKenzie Art
Gallery in Regina, Saskatchewan.
October 11, 2006: Thirteen months
later, the Rolling Stones perform again at Chicago's Soldier Field, in
brutally freezing
weather, where they premiere for the first time in their career 1983's
She Was Hot,
a perfect
location and time for its debut (...on a cold Chicago night). You
Got Me Rocking gets its
start as a
show opener.
October 17-20, 2006: The Rolling
Stones perform at Qwest Field in Seattle, then head down south for a
show in El
Paso, Texas, at the Sun Bowl, where they play a bit of Marty Robbins'
El Paso. Dave
Matthews duets
on Let It Bleed on both nights.
October 22, 2006: Continuing a
tour leg with considerably more surprises in the setlist, the Rolling
Stones perform
their first ever concert in Austin, Texas, at Zilker Park, where they please
the crowd
with a bit
of Waylon Jennings' Bob Wills Is Still King, and Keith Richards
throws in Buddy Holly's
Learning
the Game. The concert is one of those filmed for a future DVD.
October 24, 2006: Bill Wyman, who is still touring with his Rhythm Kings,
turns 70.
October 27, 2006: The Rolling
Stones' concert in Atlantic City is rescheduled as Mick Jagger is stricken
again with
laryngitis.
October 29, 2006: In the first
of two special concerts filmed by famed director Martin Scorcese for a
future DVD
concert film/documentary, the Rolling Stones perform at the intimate Beacon
Theatre in
New York City.
The concert features rare material, such as the first reappearance of I'm
Free since
1969, and
the tour firsts of Shine a Light, Loving Cup and Undercover
of the Night, as well as guests
Jack White
of the White Stripes (on Shine a Light), Christina Aguilera on
Live with Me, and a special
Champagne
& Reefer with Buddy Guy. Bill and Hillary Clinton are in attendance.
| Mick Jagger,
Keith Richards & Martin Scorcese (2008): The idea for the concert movie
and Martin Scorcese
Mick: At the beginning, I was thinking we would be doing some kind of film for this tour. And because we were doing this big concert in Rio de Janeiro on the beach, I started thinking it was going to be different than the normal concert. It was going to be a big event, a million people on the beach, a huge audience, a big occasion. ... We started to think, if we're going to do this, we might as well start with a really top-flight filmmaker. It's good to start at the top (laughs). Martin Scorcese is perhaps the most talented American film director... Keith: All I heard was that Marty was might be shooting the Stones, and I said, Yeah! Given the opportunity to get a Stones show shot by a master, who's going to say no? Martin Scorcese: We did talk about making an official tour film but at a certain point, I thought making something more intimate would be more suited to me as a filmmaker and would also facilitate a more personal connection between the audience and the band. Mick: (H)e had to convince me. He said, this is kind of my forté, is to shoot these intimate things... So it took me quite a long while to get used to the idea because I was rather fixated on this huge show... I know that Marty had seen our IMAX film and he felt that you don't really see much in the relationships when you see a big movie like that. Also, he wanted to be in a very confined space with a lot of cameras and a lot of different angles, which gives you more control than being in a very large space. |
| Mick Jagger
(2008): Choosing the set list
It was quite a difficult set list to do. It's a film to watch in a movie house or on DVD. So it's got its own aesthetic. You're not going to do the same show you do in a big place. The problem was, we didn't have a theater show on this tour... And then the other thing was that it's always nice in a film like this to have guest artists. So you had to think about them, what kind of numbers were they going to sing and what could they do... And also, I had to balance off the fact that we had some prior commitments to shoot a DVD of the tour as well. so I had to try to make the set list different from the DVD set list. It doesn't really come out in the film, but that was my big headache. I had to work out what shows we were going to play, this one and that one and the other one and so they wouldn't be the same but, nevertheless, be related. |
October 29, 2006: Following the first Beacon concert, Ron Wood flies to
England to visit his ailing brother Art in
the hospital.
October 31, 2006: Because of Mick
Jagger's continuing throat problems, the second New York City
concert is
rescheduled for the next day. Other concerts are rescheduled, and a concert
in Hawaii is
cancelled.
November 1, 2006: The Rolling
Stones perform their second Beacon Theatre concert, which also
features the
tour firsts of Some Girls and Connection.
| Mick Jagger
(2008): More shooting
We did discuss all the cameras and the only problem we had really was that every time you go to a camera that moves, it takes up a lot of room. Marty and I wanted a lot of tracks and cranes and cameras but there wasn't a lot of room in the theater and not a lot of room onstage... But we had a lot of tracks and learned a lot on the first night. We were much more efficient on the second night. |
Early November 2006: Jagged Films acquires the rights for the remake of
the film The Women, which Mick Jagger
will produce.
November 3, 2006: Ron Wood's beloved older brother Art, musician in his
own right, dies of cancer at age 69 in
England.
November 6-8, 2006: The Rolling
Stones start the last, western leg their North American tour with
shows at McAfee
Coliseum in Oakland, California, and Cardinals Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
November 10, 2006: Mick Jagger flies back to England for a day to visit
his father who has fallen ill after a fall.
November 11, 2006: In the next of a series of hard-hitting events, Mick
Jagger's father, Joe Jagger, dies at age 93.
November 11, 2006: In difficult
circumstances, Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones perform their third
show of the
world tour at Las Vegas' MGM Grand Garden.
November 14, 2006: The Rolling
Stones perform for the first time in the state of Idaho, at Boise's Idaho
Center.
November 17, 2006: The Rolling
Stones are back east for a single concert, playing Atlantic City's
Boardwalk
Hall.
November 20, 2006: Charlie Watts, along with Chuck Leavell and Bernard
Fowler on vocals, record a remake of Hey
Negrita for Tim Ries' Rolling Stones project at Capital Studios in
Los Angeles.
November 22, 2006: The Rolling
Stones perform at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Bonnie Raitt guests
on Dead
Flowers.
November 25, 2006: The Rolling
Stones end their Fall 2006 North American tour and, for the moment,
their world
tour, at Vancouver, Canada's BC Place Stadium. Bonnie Raitt guests on Shine
a Light,
while Keith
Richards performs three songs for the first time ever in a Stones concert.
Unconfirmed
rumours at
this time has the band returning to Europe in the spring or summer of 2007,
which would
make the Bigger
Bang World Tour possibly the longest of their career, surpassing the
1997-99 Bridges
to Babylon/No
Security epic. The Bigger Bang World Tour takes its place in
history as rock's highest
grossing tour
ever, taking over the previous record held by the Stones' own 1994-95
Voodoo Lounge
World Tour.
November 28, 2006: Mick Jagger, along with his family, including ex-wives
and all his children, attends the funeral
for his father in England. Charlie Watts and Ron Wood also attend, along
with Bob Geldof.
| Mick Jagger
(October 2007): Joe Jagger
(H)e was 93 when he died. .He was a very good father to me. So, you know, I was really - because of that I think - because of him and my mother, of course - but they gave me really solid grounding in life. And they were very supportive of me even though... There was a few rocky times when they didn't quite understand what I was doing. But that's normal, you know. |
December 1, 2006: Ron Wood jams as he takes part in a wake for his brother
Art near London, England.
December 14, 2006: Death of Ahmet Ertegun, the founder of Atlantic Records,
home to Rolling Stones Records
worldwide between 1971 and 1977, and in North America until 1984. Ertegun
had attended the Stones' concerts at
the Beacon Theater and suffered a head injury.
| Mick Jagger
& Keith Richards (December 2006): Godspeed Ahmet
Mick: Ahmet was very expansive and caring. And he would always make me laugh. We had so many good times together, and I will miss him so much. Keith: Ahmet sort of insidiously crept into our lives (laughs). He was both diplomatic and down home. He was very different from the people who run most record labels... When he came to our sessions, it was usually with a bit of fanfare and some beautiful babe on his arm - he had a bevy. He wouldn't say much about the music. You'd get little grunts: Damn good. That's the shit... He was one of the Stones' father figures. I looked up to Ahmet the way I did Muddy Wates. Until the day he died, his whole thing was to be involved with musicians. His love of the music, his joy from it, stayed with him. Otherwise he wouldn't have been backstage at the Beacon a couple of weeks ago. It was full circle. And that touches me. |
December 25, 2006: Death of R&B legend, and Stones inspiration, James
Brown.