What would Keith Richards do_ - Jessica Pallington West [75]
September 23, 1997 – Bridges to Babylon is released,
includes Keith’s reggae-inspired “You Don’t Have to Mean It,” “Low Down,” and “Thief in the Night.” Plus: the accidentally stolen “Anybody Seen My Baby?” (from k.d. lang’s “Constant Craving” ).
October 1997 – Wingless Angels is released.
Keith’s recording of Justin Hinds’s drumming collective at his Jamaica home; it was produced through Keith’s newly formed Mindless Records.
April 1998 – Keith Jr., aka Ron Wood,
doing his part for the disaster routine, inadvertently has his boat explode off the coast of Brazil.
May 18, 1998 – Broken ribs and a punctured lung.
Keith falls off a ladder at his home library in Connecticut when he reaches for a book on Leonardo da Vinci and ends up under a pile of encyclopedias.
August 1998 – Daughter Angela marries.
She works with horses and marries a carpenter. Keith performs at the wedding.
1999 – The man known as being on the permanent night shift now gets up at seven A.M.
“After a few months, I was allowed to drive the kids to school. Then I was allowed to take the garbage out."
2000s – MORE TROUBLE AHEAD, AND THIS TIME IT’S PERSONAL.
August 30, 2000 – Father, Bert, dies at age eighty-five.
In his final moments, he gives Keith a wink. After having been estranged for twenty years, they developed a strong bond, with regular games of dominoes, meals of bangers and mash, and Bert coming to concerts.
Summer 2000 – Keith’s grandson Orson Richards is born to son Marlon.
2001 – Assists on religious recording of Lutheran singer (and sister-in-law) Marsha Hansen; records with Sheryl Crow; performs at the Beacon Theatre for the Rainforest Alliance.
October 20, 2001 – Performs with Mick at the Concert for New York City at Madison Square Garden in honor of 9/11’s firemen and police.
“Cops and firemen, they’re some of our biggest fans. If I’m walking in New York City and it’s [raining], they say, ‘Hey, Keith, wanna lift?’ ”
December 2001 – “Dogshit” in the Doorway is released
(Keith’s name for Mick’s new solo album, Goddess in the Doorway).
December 7, 2001 – At Gosford Park movie premiere in New York, Keith’s limo is surrounded by armed guards, as it is believed to be a stolen vehicle.
September 3, 2002 – Forty Licks World Tour opens in Boston.
October 2002 – Johnny Depp channels Keith as pirate Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean, which begins filming.
At first, Disney executives freak out—they can’t figure out who or what Depp’s trying to be. Worries are later dispelled when film breaks box-office records, reviews are enthusiastic, and Jack Sparrow finds stardom in pop culture. Word gets around just who Depp is imitating.
March 2003 – Keith has a tantrum onstage in Osaka, Japan,
and charges at Mick twice in a full rage in what looks like an attempt to push him off the stage.
June 2003 – Pirates of the Caribbean premieres.
Roger Ebert writes: “There has never been a pirate, or for that matter a human being, like this."
December 12, 2003 – Brenda becomes Her Majesty.
Brenda (née Mick) Jagger is knighted “for Services to Music in the Queen’s Birthday Honours.” Keith is not amused. He now refers to Mick as “Her Majesty.” “I don’t want to step out onstage with someone wearing a fucking coronet and sporting the old ermine … It’s a fucking paltry honor. If you’re into this shit, hang on for the peerage. Don’t settle for a little badge.” Her Majesty’s response: “He’s like a bawling child who hasn’t got an ice cream. It’s nothing new. Keith likes to make a fuss."
May 2004 – Duet with Willie Nelson, “We Had It All,” in Los Angeles.
A few weeks later, Keith performs at a neighborhood club in his adopted hometown in Connecticut.
June 2004 – First mortality scare in the Rolling Stones that doesn’t involve Keith.
Charlie Watts is diagnosed with throat cancer.
February 2005 – The Stones play Super Bowl halftime.
Keith says he’ll use offstage time to watch tennis.
September 5–6, 2005 – ABigger Bang is released.
Songs include anti-Bush