The Rolling Stones legend is a big fan of incense, a “nice cup of tea” and hitting people over the head with his guitar. Just don’t make him listen to Mick Jagger’s last solo album. Or eat any cheese …
28. BEING BUSTED FOR DRUG POSSESSION CAN BE A POSITIVE THING.Toronto,
1977: Richards is in court on a heroin charge, with a long prison sentence
looming. The bleakest time of his life? Not so. “You could say it was lucky,” he
counters. “I’d been on the dope for so long, I’d have probably just gone on and
on. I was at the end of my tether. But Toronto made me stop. So ouch, but
hallelujah! I got the message, pal.”
27. FACT: ONCE, WHILE ONSTAGE IN FRANKFURT, GERMANY, HE SLIPPED ON A
FRANKFURTER.“Even more ridiculously,” he notes, “two days later in
Hamburg, I slipped on a hamburger. It’s absolutely true. I’ve always got the
shower of dope thrown at me onstage, but you’ve got to be even more wary of
German foodstuffs.”
26. RICHARDS, BRIAN JONES, ANITA PALLENBERG AND A BLUE BENTLEY IN
MARRAKECH.It was the perfect late-’60s trip, until Richards decided to
appropriate Jones’s girlfriend. “Ah, moonlight, deserts, Bedouins, souks,” he
recalls. “I’ve always had a thing about beautiful women. Thankfully, some of
them have had a thing about me.”
25. THIS USELESS INFORMATION, S’POSED TO FIRE MY IMAGINATION.If you
want to call Richards, it’s probably not a good idea to try him on his cell
phone. “Can’t stand the things,” he frowns. “I mean, they get hot — what’s that
all about? You might as well stick your head in a microwave.”
24. BUT HE BELIEVES CHEESE TO BE THE FOOD OF SATAN.“I’m not allergic;
I just don’t like it. There’s something about curdled milk that turns me off.
Probably something to do with being force-fed milk at school. But then, my dad
hated cheese, so it might be in the genes. All other dairy products, we’re fine
with: We love the butter, we love the milk and we don’t mind the clotted cream,
either!”