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| Monkey Woman |
Just found this interesting piece in today's Sticky Fingers Journal newsletter. Enjoy!
The Daily Telegraph(Sydney) February 6, 2003, Thursday
Hip-hopping man, by Dino Scatena
Rock and the blues are the tools of his trade but when Mick Jagger is at home relaxing, the 59-year-old prefers the soothing sounds of jazz. That's to be expected from a gentlemen of his vintage.
"If I want to go out dancing, that's another matter," the legendary singer quickly chirps in. "I like dancing to hip hop when I go out." It doesn't take much effort to paint a mental picture of the wily, loose-jointed Jagger grooving away in a club, arms in the air chanting: "It's getting hot
in herre..." Indeed, you'd guess that if Sir Michael Philip Jagger were to have his time again he'd be just as likely to take the rap route over rock as his preferred mode of artistic expression. Just like, say, that young Marshall Mathers III fellow.
Jagger accepts there are some parallels between what Em's out there doing in the 21st century and the cultural change his Rolling Stones brought on back in the days when they were summoning Sympathy For the Devil: white boys playing black boys' music; shoving it up the establishment; becoming the biggest musical act in the world.
"I think there's definitely that and I think he started off with that intent," says Jagger from New York, where his band is preparing for another two-night stand at Madison Square Gardens. The second show will to be beamed live across America on the HBO television network. "And he [Eminem] has really succeeded, even though America likes to absorb everyone into the mainstream, which I think is going to happen. It almost has happened. He's totally accepted.
"Whereas he was so left-field in the beginning, now he's a mainstream entertainer. The cuddly version of Eminem is just around the corner. But that's what America is. America doesn't condone outlandishness. Everyone seems to come to the centre, whether it's politics or music, because
everyone wants the same thing. "But I think he's certainly had huge success. The last couple of years it's been just massive. He's the only guy really selling a lot of records at the moment and the box office is great on the movie. So good luck to him, as far as I'm concerned."
Not that Jagger and his Rolling Stones are doing too badly for themselves either. Their current Licks world tour -- their 40th anniversary tour -- was the second highest grossing music event across America last year (behind, ironically enough, Sir Paul McCartney), earning Rolling Stones Inc $210 million. Add that to the $1.3 billion they turned over for their tours through the 1990s.
When the Licks world tour hits Australia in a little over a week it will be 50 shows old. These will be the first shows outside North America on the tour which runs through Asia and Europe to the end of 2003.
Jagger says he's particularly looking forward to the opening date here in Australia at Sydney's 1,800-seat Enmore Theatre on February 18. The Rolling Stones have already performed eight of these intimate theatre shows so far on the tour, but after this one, it's back to the more familiar surrounds of arenas and stadiums.
"The thing about them [the theatre shows] is they're really good fun, really different," says Jagger. "You can really get to relate to the audience, get a lot of audience participation.
"And you also get to play a lot of songs that don't really work in bigger places. We do a few old favourites but we more or less do a completely different set.
"I've enjoyed doing all these bizarre set-lists. It's quite a lot of work because you have to go in and rehearse them because these are not songs you do every night. So it's more work for yourself but I think it pays off in the end."
Throughout the tour so far, the Stones have invited young local acts from wherever they find themselves to open the shows. Here in Australia for the first few dates, it's the virtual unknown -- but much-hyped -- Jet from Melbourne. (You Am I will be supporting when the tour hits Brisbane.)
Jagger says he hasn't heard of Jet yet, but he and the rest of the band have taken a keen interest in catching their opening acts' shows from side stage.
"We've had lots of young bands on with us in the United States -- some have been great and some have been not-so-great," says Jagger. "But we've seen a lot of them. I like watching them, see if I can steal some moves."
Legendary as a hands-on perfectionist, Jagger still likes to keep an eye on everything in the setting-up stage of something like the two-year Licks world tour. Once the band is on the road, he likes to be free to concentrate on other matters at hand.
"When we're on tour, we do work pretty hard. I think most bands on tour work hard, to be honest," he says. "But yeah, over the years, we've worked hard and we always really try to keep the standard up -- we don't flag and we don't coast and we don't mess about. Once we get into it, we're in there.
"It's just getting into the rhythm of it, really. When you get going, you don't really want to stop. Once you get going, what happens is if you have a few days off, some times you feel even worse.
"At the beginning of a tour, I like to keep note of more or less everything that I can. I'm not a maniac -- I don't try to do everything. Because we've got a lot of good people and I delegate a lot of responsibility to them because I trust a lot of people around us to do the right thing.
"But I have to keep my eye on it because otherwise they'd end up working us to death, to be honest. We'd be doing five shows a week if I didn't keep my eye on it. I try to let it go once I've got the thing rolling because I don't want to obsess with it. I just want to do what I do best."
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What can I say... Thank you Mick! Thank you Stones!  |
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| LadyJane |
Thanks for posting MW!
We are counting on our Aussie and European friends to keep us updated on the Tour!
LadyJ.
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