ROCK ‘N’ ROLL ARCHETYPE: KEITH RICHARDS

Keith Richards might very well be the most obnoxious likeable musician around. Now, my main gripe with the guy is that he keeps dropping and adding the “s” to his surname. Happily, this is a minor point and I figure his good points outweigh this inexplicable eccentricity.

I can see where others might not be so hot on ol’ Keef, though. (Come to think of it, 1 always thought “Keef’ was pretty stupid, just a notch above “Glimmer Twins.”) If any seven consecutive words lifted at random from Up And Down With The Rolling Stones are on speaking terms with the truth, then the erstwhile hepcat is a bit of a drooler in private life.

Richards’ private life is his own biz, though...what he can keep private, that is. The Stones have had as much difficulty generating press as World War II had on a slow day. Either you’re Billy Wyman or Charlie Watts or you take your chances. In any case, it’s a cinch that Richards, Jagger, and (fill in the third Stone of your choice) have scarcely been living at. 12 rpm all these years, so they’ll just have to take it like men.