xMAs reading part 2 : Exile on Main Street by Robert Greenfield

Very late I know -and there is some more Xmas reading still to report on (really), but Exile on Main Street by Robert Greenfield was one of the book's I read. It reminded me of Tony Sanchez's book a lot - and Greenfield kept rippping into Sanchez saying he was a liar. Whatever. The book was ok, but nothing special. It mainly dealt w/ the fobiles of the Rolling Stones during the Exile on Main Street period, but it left me immensly unsatisfied - I immed. wanted to read a book on the making of Exile on Main Street even though I just had.

However, some parts were great. Escpecially about that cat Jagger. Endless fascination about the way he goes about things. Read these:

"On May 21, 1969, Mick and Marianne were busted at Mick's home at 48 Cheyne Walk for heroin, LSD, and marijuana. Mick, being Mick, claimed that Detective Sergent Robin Constable had framed him by planting the herion in a white Cartier box on a tabletop. According to Mick, Constable then offered to sort the matter out in return for the sum of a thousand pound, a charge Constable denies to this very day while sorrowfully adding, "We shouldn't have arrested him. Anyone else!" (p.41)

'Walking over to Mick, who had always been the soul of kindness to him in the south of France, he introduced himself as "Jakey, from Nellcote." As is his wont when confronted by someone from his past, Mick said "Oh, right ....That was a long time ago, wasn't it?" After a pause, Mick asked if Jake had seen Dominique Tarle's book. Jake said that he had and that the photos were beautiful. "Are you having a good time tonight?" Mick asked. Aware he was being brushed off, Jake excused himself and went back to his table. At some point later in the evening, Mick and his party moved out to the garden. Although Mick found himself sitting beside Jake, the two never exchanged another word, not even when someone with mick began talking to Jake. About an hour later, Mick left without acknowledging him.' (p. 220)

'....Bill Wyman recently noted, Keith used to say Mick's a lovely bunch of guys....I can go into a room and he will be like "Hi Bill, lovely to see you man!", give me a hug and all that. Then I can go in a room three days later when there's some celebs there and he don't even come over to talk because whoever's in the room. It's bizarre.' (p. 221)

' "As a song writer," Keith will later say, "Gram (Parsons) worked very much like I do, which is knock out a couple of chords, start a spiel and see how far it can go. Rather than sitting around with a piece of paper and a pen, trying to make things fit neatly together." Which was precisely how Mick liked to do it.' (p. 120)

I dunno much about Gramm Parsons, excepting Jackon's love of his version of "Wilde Horses", but the crazy atmosphere of the Exile sessions and that whole life there make this story kinda funny:

'Gram and Gretchen Parsons were an integral part of Keith and Anita's entirely self contained traveling group. Unlike Keith, who could ingest a staggering variety of substances without losing control, Gram Parsons seemed so out of it at one show that someone had to be delegated to lead him to the stage so he could watch the Stones. Promptly getting lost, Gram Parsons and his guide climbed endless sets of stairs to a door that they then swung open only to find themselves standing on the balcony of the cinema next door where Mayra Breckridge was playing on an enormous screen in an otherwise empty house.' (p. 118)

And then there's Keith. Keith's car, rigged w/ outdoor speakers jamming the unreleased Sticky Fingers this was in Sanchez, I believe. (p. 42)

and

'(Mick Taylor) has to pass the test that even Brian Jones, who founded the Rolling Stones only to lose his band to Mick, the women he loved to Keith, and then his life as well, failed. Much like Brian, Mick Taylor will in time also come to realise that he cannot survive close and constant contact with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.' (p. 124)