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| glencar |
It is odd that Keith is still shocking people! |
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| gypsy |
I wouldn't worry about Keith's health. The men on my dad's side of the family drink hard liquor like that, and live beyond their 80's. It's all in the genes, just like Ronnie always says.
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| Ten Thousand Motels |
STONE COLD GUY: Stone-age Rolling Stones rocker Keith Richards is happy to chat with fans -- but don't call him on any music-trivia mistakes.
While vacationing at the ultra-exclusive Parrot Cay resort in Turks and Caicos, where Richards owns a home, "He spent every day at the bar drinking like a fish," a spy for the gossip column Page Six reports. "He looks like something washed up from the ocean, but he was charming and chatted with everybody."
But when a lifelong fan who "talked music with him for an hour" corrected him on a piece of reggae trivia, a red-faced Richards blurted (slurred?) out, "Well, who the (expletive) are you?" and ended the conversation abruptly. The fan apologized the next day.
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| gotdablouse |
huh!...drinking like a fish, eh...why doesn't that lazy mofo try to write a song for a change, with 4 released songs in 10 years, he might as well be dead...
Even uber-groupie Sheryl Crow couldn't make anything out of his "High or Low" B2B outtake...that about says it all, the man is a spent force.
Sad, sad, sad... |
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| Gazza |
>He's probably just letting his hair down. He's just come off a long tour and what better way to relax than being in the bar.
A long tour where he's been pissed as a fart the whole time probably. If he spent the vacation sober, THAT would be letting his hair (or fishhooks) down and relaxing - as its not his usual "state".
Anyone who thinks Keith is gonna be able to keep this up year in year out is delusional. He's done remarkably well to stick that lifestyle out so long but its aging him horrifically and it'll catch up with him sooner rather than later IMO. If you look at him every year in the last two decades, hes physically looking at least two years older for every one year he lives. Someday I fear we'll all get a rude awakening.
Personally, I get the impression he's trapped in his own image and IMO it strikes me he seems obliged to live up to it. Being surrounded by people who indulge him and fawn over his "Mr rock n roll" image doesn't help. Fortunately we got one member of the band cleaning his act up for the last tour. Boring as it may sound, I wish Keith would do something similar instead of pushing himself to the limit year-in year-out.
Its affecting his creativity, almost certainly his playing and will end up threatening the longevity of both the band and more importantly himself.
[Edited by Gazza] |
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| Angiegirl |
Thanx for saving me the time to write a similar response Gary, I totally agree with you. Amen to the last sentence specially. |
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| Saint Sway |
the "drinking like a fish" certainly helps to explain how the fishing lures got caught in his hair
Keef will be fine. Excessive drinking has little known side effects. Same with drugs.
At least he isnt a heavy smoker. Its the cigs that will kill ya! As long as he doesnt take up smoking he'll be fine... |
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| Angiegirl |
With the risk of biting the bate:
EXCUSE ME??? Did you leave your brain somewhere else? Then go get it, quickly!
Alcohol has little side effect? What about the main effects? What about al;cohol being the hardest harddrug there is? Read a book, jeez!
Take up smoking? No words...
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| Saint Sway |
just a little sarcasm AngieGirl
chill out, smoke a bowl and laugh a little.
taking things too seriously is dangerous to all our health
[Edited by Saint Sway] |
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| Angiegirl |
O, nevermind  .
[Edited by Angiegirl] |
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| gotdablouse |
This does remind me of this comment by a journalist (read here I believe) who was at the Q awards a few years back and was sittng at Keith's table. Apparently, Keih was sharp as a blade and perfectly sober the whole time, but when he went on stage he started mumbling and bopping around and everyone was like "hehe Keith's had one too many already" and he then came back to the table and was sober again...
Not sure if he's "drinking like a fish" or "looking like he's been drinking like a fish"...Regardless, he doesn't have much to show for the past 10 years in terms of musical ideas of interest and that's still very sad. |
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| Gazza |
>Excessive drinking has little known side effects. Same with drugs.
LOL..yeah theres not too many, I guess. Just death.
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| Martha |
Keith is an alcoholic. There is no other way to say it. And there is no none cure for that disease. He would have to choose recovery, which must include total abstinance, if he wants to regain whatever he has left of his health.
It is not uncommon for alcoholics to live long lives, but their lives are totally consummed with their drinking and all the activities and behaviors (like his getting so angry over the "facts issue") that go with it. He is behaving just like the drunks do in my little home town. However, he just happens to be Keith Richards, but that doesn't exclude or save him from the dreadful effects (Gary, you pointed some of them out beautifully) of alcoholism. I fear too, but will not be totally shocked if it comes to pass, that he is really pushing it way too far. And didn't Keith's Father die an alcoholic as well?
Many people believe the disease is hereditary. I don't know. I just know I have a brother who is an alcoholic and his life is a complete mess. I also have other family members like Aunt's and Uncles with the disease and my Dad is a dry drunk. It is not very enjoyable for me to spend much of my time with some of them. They get angry over nothing within an instant, not to mention they are often times abusive, particularly to the ones they love the most. I am choosing to not place myself in their abusive presence in order to presevere my sanity and my serenity thanks to the help I've received in the Al-Anon program.
Alcoholism is no laughing matter. It is a devastating illness and it affects the entire family...(forever) and is passed from generation to generation in terms of those profound effects. I am in the Al-Anon 12-Step program of recovery to deal with the way it has (and continues to) affected my life. That is where I've learned more about the disease and the effects it has on all the people involved with the alcoholic. Al-Anon is a 12-Step recovery program for family members and friends of the alcoholic. Alcoholism absolutely destroys people's lives and health, on both sides of that street. It takes no prisoners.
I feel very sad when I see Keith so lit up in the FF documentary footage. He is though, there is no denying that. Yet, it is how he chooses to go about his life....today.
I would love to see him embrace sobriety as well, but in the meantime, I just send prayers that he be blessed. All the money in the world cannot save him from this illness. It is up to him and him alone to choose another direction. He would not recover alone.
Blessings to everyone on a sad but unfortunately true topic.
love,
Martha |
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| Gazza |
>And didn't Keith's Father die an alcoholic as well?
Not to my knowledge,Martha (I could be wrong,however, although if he was,I've never read it!)- although he did live to something like 85, so if he WAS, he had some constitution!
No arguments with the rest of what you said, though..!
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| Martha |
Gary, I am under the impression that Keiths' Dad drank all the time. He may never have been referred to as an alcoholic, but if the shoe fits...or as they say in AA, if it quacks like a duck it's a duck. Didn't he drink all the time or very heavily? I know I read this somewhere??? |
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| Steel Wheels |
All this talk about health is making me thirsty for beer and hungry for a rock and roll show.
I'm sending Keith my positive energy and love.
That's all I can do. |
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| TheSavageYoungXyzzy |
I'm actually going down there this March, so if he's still there, I'll put in a hello from us all.
In re his drinking problem:
The Queen Mother drank what, a bottle of scotch a day? How old was she, 101? Some people drink and smoke all their lives and wind up living ridiculously longer than most other people. They've isolated the gene for it and are trying to figure out what it does, but I wouldn't so much as blink an eye if they wound up finding it in Keith when he dies at 115.
That being said, life or no life, those old folks lead lifestyles that don't tax them. Keith goes on tour for years at a time. It's not even that it wears him down, 'cause I'm sure it does - even this tour, better than 89, 94, 97 and 99 - the boots start great and start slipping because as Ronnie wears out (and there's no question he did this tour), Keith just doesn't pick up the slack often enough. At Olympia, you bet your ass he did and we had a fantastic show when Ronnie pulled himself together during the second half, at Vredenburg it was like a gift from heaven, but at some of the shows they were downright disappointing, especially knowing that they were capable of playing as well as they used to - hell, some nights were ghosts of 75. Others, sadly, were ghosts of 76 - sloppy, drunken, and just not well-thought out.
Keith's health isn't an issue. It's Keith's playing that's the issue for me. We used to foist the blame on Ronnie because - hey, let's go after the guy who really can't handle it, because he's not our rock idol. Now Ronnie's clean, and there's still a problem. Part of it is that Ronnie's still rolling eighty billion joints a tour, but who do you think supplies him? It's now obvious that with Ronnie present in a lot of shows that Keith has a problem as well - we just can't accept it, because he's Keith Fucking I Fall Asleep During Fool To Cry Richards and is supposed to be able to handle this. We believe that bad-boy image as much as he does. Let's be honest - who didn't go "You are fucking incredible" when we read that story about Keith just taking drugs from the fans and smoking them with the roadies? If he could handle it, I'd be bowing down in reverance - but some nights he just didn't know what the fuck he was doing and it showed.
Of course, none of the Stones can tell him that - Charlie has his own booze issues, Ronnie is Keith's proberbial bitch and Mick doesn't want to get Keith mad at him because Keith throws temper tantrums in the press. Hell, not even his wife'll tell him - he spends as much time away from her as he does from Mick. Maybe one of his kids'll realize that he's just not playing like he's capable of playing and tell him that.
I hope so...
...God knows I'm not gonna if I find him down there. I'm going to buy him a fucking drink, because damnit, he's Keith Richards, and he fell asleep during "Fool To Cry".
-tSYX --- Ooooohhh, daddy, you're a fool to cry... |
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| LadyJane |
TSYX...you nailed it. Completely.
Sad but true!
LJ.
PS....PLEASE consider writing as a future profession.  |
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| Martha |
Did you know it takes smoking 900 joints in one sitting to get a lethal dose? Read this in Time magazine a year or so ago.
Now....who can tell me..how long would it take to smoke 900 joints in one sitting? Joey!? Please tell us.
Ronnie had HOW many joints rolled for him during the Licks tour?!?
Charlie has a booze problem? Tell me more. |
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| Steel Wheels |
I don't buy this story at all.
It's a little too dramatic. |
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| stonedinaustralia |
let's face it with the tour over and his 60th birthday having been celebrated he's entitled to consider "semi-retirement" at least - i know keith has said he'll keep playing til he drops and he probably will but the amount of work that they take on will decrease the more time passes
as for new material, well given what was said in the recent "uncut" i/views i wouldn't be surprised if we don't see any more new material at all (sadly)'tho i hope i'm wrong - there's no motivation and i suspect that keith and mick probably have little, if anything, to say these days (other than reworking the same old themes that they already near exhausted)- again, give them a break - i mean they've already defined "rock and roll" in the work that they have produced
as far as his health/habits goes, once more the recent "uncut" magazine is informative - see the article by the doctor on how keith's managed to survivie all the booze and pills and powders - it's a lot to with your attitude |
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| sammy davis jr. |
Somebody mentioned "at least Keith doesn't smoke ciggies" What?!! Only for 40plus years now. Yes the alcohol is responsible for his sloppier than usual playing, but you know what? If he wants to drink himself to death, so be it. I mean, he's already lived six or seven "normal person" lives. |
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| kahoosier |
Martha, you have such courage. I remember taking my ex to Narc-anon because of her adult son. She just could not accept what she needed to hear. Now we live 10,000 miles apart and he is still a problem in her life.
Gazza, you have sense. I have seen alcohol catch up with way too many people both in my personal life and as a physician. It is horrible to watch a person you love disappear and be replaced by an alcoholic. But as we know in the profession, alcoholism is the most insideous of the addictions. It is legal, acceptable, and takes so long to bring a person down that many do not recognize the problems in themselves or others until it is too late. And kudos to you and the other poster who recognized the possibility of Keith being trapped by his image. When I mentioned this before in a post for Keith's birthday (the best present we could give him is to release him from his image) I was soundly boo'ed.
If Keith is drinking this much, and you want him to keep his image as a reality, then do not complain when he does not produce. Such is the endpoint of alcoholsim. It certainly explains many of his recent childish statements in the press, though I still hope this is more sober PR manipulation. The angry outburst mentioned here is scary. If it is not just image, but real, it certainly explains why Jagger has a solo album out (Goddess)and Keith has given us nada. |
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| gypsy |
I like all of your posts, Martha, Gazza, and TSXY. Very interesting. It's hard to say how alcoholism is affecting Keith's health. Martha is right...Keith is an alcoholic...he has always been anesthetizing himself since the late 60's. Guilty feelings about Brian? Feelings as though he wasn't 'tough' enough for Anita? Who knows? I anesthetize myself sometimes from the horrors of work. Maybe we all do to a certain point. But, I think Keith has a lot of emotions he doesn't want to deal with. My dad is an alcoholic and is not good a dealing with emotions at all...like my sister's miscarriage, for instance--he went out drinking with his lawyer buddies instead of visiting her at the hospital.
I see how it has affected my dad's health lately...bloated face...liver spots...shaky hands...and he is a very handsome Richard Gere-ish looking man. But, when he hasn't drank in a week, he looks very handsome again. His entire family is made up of heavy drinkers who lived long lives, and didn't suffer from any diseases.
On the other hand, there are so many people who live very healthy lives...and die so young. I see it at work every day, and it is heartbreaking...to see a man in his 40's come in for chest pain and die right there in the ER room...or a 16-year-old girl overdose on meth or crack. |
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| Moonisup |
quote:
Gazza wrote:
Its affecting his creativity, almost certainly his playing and will end up threatening the longevity of both the band and more importantly himself.
[Edited by Gazza]
well it already effected his playing!
Rik |
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| Moonisup |
and for the new material:
If I was mick, and I'd had to work with an alcoholic who's stoned too, well that's a tough job!! Mick cares about his health, but could also drop death anytime, that's life you never know, gypsy is right on that point!
Rik |
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| FotiniD |
I agree with Gazza and Tsyx.
Keith thinks he's immortal. The people who like him and his music also seem to believe that. I consider him a medical miracle with regards to all the abuse done and the fact he's still around, but I don't think cutting down a bit on the booze would hurt.
Then again, he's been through worse and his name was always top on the list of people who wouldn't make 30. Thirty years later and still here. Strong constitution, probably! Totally contrary to logic and medicine, I DO think he can handle it either way. He's a strong one. |
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| MarthaMyDear |
Too much of anything isn't good (be it alcohol, drugs, smoking cigarettes, smoking pot, etc.), IMHO... I don't know about sex, though!!! ROTFLOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's just damn good exercise... lol.......... lol....... :P  Well, I very much admire Ronnie for his strength, etc.!!! I definitely know where he's coming from and can relate to the fact that the road he's on is not gonna be easy and most definitely more difficult than alot of recovering people, etc.... He's not totally sober, though, but I have a feeling that MIGHT be because the recovery program, Moderation Management, is more popular in Europe than AA is (and it's definitely the reverse here, of course)... But, whatever works for you is great, IMO!!!
*** Martha *** |
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| Pattie |
Ronnie is atleast trying, can't say the same for Spliff Drukards |
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| Honky Tonk Man |
As usual, great posts from Gazza and tsyz.
I don't think its Keith’s drinking which is affecting his playing. I think it has more to do with the arthritis he has in his fingers. Ronnie plays bad a lot of the time purely because he's drunk. I still think Keith sounds great and I like the Chuck Berry licks he seems to have incorporated into every song. My only guess is that he's done this because maybe he finds it difficult to hold down bar chords.
Alex |
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