WITH SPECIAL GUEST STAR KEITH RICHARDS

Keith Richards strides through the door wearing a grin and gripping bottles of Rebel Yell in his right hand and a pack of Marlboros with a camouflage-colored lighter in his left.

“What we do here is force alcohol down your throat,” he says through the same toothy grin, “so both of us will be on equal footing.”

Seconds into the interview, and the man many say is the Rolling Stones is already playing the much-celebrated part of rock ’n’ roll’s greatest survivor. This is, after all, the man who’s appeared on more than a few lists of rock stars expected to die young. He’s always been a heavy drinker, a no-charge endorsement for Jack Daniel’s sour mash, with which he’s been frequently photographed. His drug use—including a crippling heroin addiction that was busted up by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police—has been chronicled through a series of arrests and his own candid remarks. In the fast lane of rock ’n’ roll, Richards seemed to be headed in the direction of one of the Stones’ betterknown song titles—“Shattered.”