Am I the only one who found the excerpt of the Keith Richards book in "Rolling Stone" unreadable?<\/p>\n
Have you ever seen such a scorched earth publicity campaign?\u00c2\u00a0 The mainstream media is fawning over this like Keef knows the location of Bin Laden, when all we really get is he did drugs and is pissed at Mick Jagger.\u00c2\u00a0 Who doesn’t know that?\u00c2\u00a0 Do they really expect casual Stones fans to pick up this book?\u00c2\u00a0 No, this is for the hard core.\u00c2\u00a0 And how big is that core?\u00c2\u00a0 How many people want to hear the ancient exploits of a soon to be septuagenarian?\u00c2\u00a0 It would be one thing if he’d written the book in the seventies, but to hear these stories now is like watching another video of the Jets’ triumph over the Colts in Super Bowl III.\u00c2\u00a0 We get it, the AFL was underrated.\u00c2\u00a0 NEXT!<\/p>\n
Then again, people still care about football.\u00c2\u00a0 Music?\u00c2\u00a0 Not as much.\u00c2\u00a0 Or should we say we don’t have culture unifying bands that we follow from year to year.\u00c2\u00a0 And if you think GaGa impacts the culture I’m waiting for the explanation.\u00c2\u00a0 What did she do other than wear a zillion outfits and preach that she was beholden to her Little Monsters?\u00c2\u00a0 Did the music really say anything?<\/p>\n
Or should I say I can’t get no satisfaction?<\/p>\n
But I got tons of satisfaction reading the Millennium Trilogy, which got a fraction of the hype of Richards’ book but built via word of mouth.<\/p>\n
In other words, six months from now will anybody really give a shit about Keef’s tome?<\/p>\n
No.<\/p>\n
It will be forgotten.\u00c2\u00a0 Like every other rock biography.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, there was a definitive baseball book, Jim Bouton’s "Ball Four"<\/a>, but has there ever been a definitive rock autobiography?\u00c2\u00a0 Or is it that artists speak through their music and the written word is superfluous, done better by people who write for a living as opposed to those given cash by money-hungry publishers who stick them with a cowriter to reveal an inside truth that is usually told with one hand behind the back and ultimately leaves one as unsatisfied as after a one night stand.\u00c2\u00a0 Really, reading these rock books is like being in the arena after the lights have gone up and everybody’s left.\u00c2\u00a0 And if you’ve ever been in a venue when this occurs you know the creepy feeling.<\/p>\n Now if everybody involved just wants to make a quick buck, and the media covered the story that way, maybe I’d give these highly-hyped books a pass.\u00c2\u00a0 But they make them seem so important, tablets handed down from the mountaintop. We want something great, not high concept.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, the movies were ruined by high concept.<\/p>\n You see that’s all there is.\u00c2\u00a0 Concept.\u00c2\u00a0 Who wouldn’t want to read the tale of the world’s number one vampire from the world’s greatest rock and roll band?\u00c2\u00a0 Well, shouldn’t the first criterion of a book be that it’s well-written?<\/p>\n Kind of like all star musical projects.\u00c2\u00a0 The credits are stellar, the music slides right off of you.<\/p>\n We’re in a completely new era.\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t be distracted by the endless hype for Keef’s book.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s just the death throes of baby boomer mainstream media pissed that it no longer has control of the public’s hearts and minds.<\/p>\n We’re bombarded with information 24\/7.\u00c2\u00a0 We even take our screens with us.\u00c2\u00a0 If you can even get us to pay attention to your message, don’t think it’s gonna stick with us.\u00c2\u00a0 Life is one big wreck on the freeway.\u00c2\u00a0 You rubberneck and then drive on, instantly forgetting what you’ve seen.<\/p>\n If you want to triumph in the new world, you’ve got to have sticking power.<\/p>\n You’ve got to be good.<\/p>\n You’ve got to continue to satiate fans.<\/p>\n You’ve got to know it’s about igniting word of mouth, and you can’t do that via a publicity campaign manufactured and masterminded by a high-priced publicist working his old school relationships.<\/p>\n No one owns consumer relationships anymore.\u00c2\u00a0 Each and every one of us has his own Web of contacts.\u00c2\u00a0 Did you see that Facebook has a new feature where you can create subgroups?\u00c2\u00a0 You don’t want to be burdened with the information from everybody who’s your friend, just your close buddies.\u00c2\u00a0 Do you expect us to pay attention to the blowhards in the mainstream who feel entitled to their perch and speak down to us?<\/p>\n These know-it-alls know nothing.<\/p>\n They call it Inside The Beltway Syndrome in politics.\u00c2\u00a0 The people in D.C. are out of touch.\u00c2\u00a0 And the media just loves a horse race.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not interesting if a race isn’t close.<\/p>\n But there’s no race in art.\u00c2\u00a0 Just crap and excellence.\u00c2\u00a0 We haven’t even got time for mediocre.<\/p>\n I couldn’t stop reading "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo<\/a>".\u00c2\u00a0 I had a friend mail me a copy of the third book from the U.K. before it was available here.\u00c2\u00a0 And whenever I’d run into somebody reading the green-jacketed novel I’d speak with them, we were buddies, like the fans of the Stones who saw them back in ’69 and ’72, never mind earlier, before it became more about money than music.<\/p>\n I don’t care if you read Keef’s book and enjoy it.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s not the point.\u00c2\u00a0 The point is Keef’s book just doesn’t matter, just doesn’t count.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not going to infect the populace, it’s not going to stir up debate, it’s not going to have a shelf-life, it’s a marketing exercise.<\/p>\n Whereas great art is never about marketing.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, there’s a concept, oftentimes formed in a moment of brilliant insight, but execution is key.\u00c2\u00a0 Otherwise, it’s just facts, just news.\u00c2\u00a0 Imagine if your conversation was limited to that, if your friends couldn’t embellish, couldn’t add nuance to their stories.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s how you tell your story that’s important.<\/p>\n It’s not important that you wear skinny jeans and look good.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s all about your message.\u00c2\u00a0 And how you deliver it.<\/p>\n Concentrate on getting it right.\u00c2\u00a0 If you do, word will spread, because so few people get it right.\u00c2\u00a0 People are looking for greatness 24\/7, but almost never find it.\u00c2\u00a0 When they do, they tell everybody they know about it, not because they’re being paid, but because it’s one of the thrills of life, turning another human being on to something inspiring, oftentimes life-changing.<\/p>\n I’d be more interested in Keef’s book if Tom Wolfe or the dearly departed David Foster Wallace reported their conversations with him, unfiltered.\u00c2\u00a0 That’d be interesting, a great writer giving his insight.\u00c2\u00a0 But to read endless pages of strung together facts…<\/p>\n Hell, Keef could have at least employed J.R. Moehringer, who did such a good job with Andre Agassi’s book, since he’d written his own great work "Tender Bar<\/a>".<\/p>\n But still…\u00c2\u00a0 Who will care about Agassi’s book five years from now?\u00c2\u00a0 ONE YEAR FROM NOW!\u00c2\u00a0 What we love most is fiction, written by people locked up in a room forever, alone, working to get it right.\u00c2\u00a0 Just like we want to see musicians on stage who’ve sweated for years, worked on their craft to get their performance right.<\/p>\n And aren’t you always most enamored of bands you discover via your friends?<\/p>\n To quote the unfortunately deceased Jim Carroll, I’m just a constant warning to take the other direction.\u00c2\u00a0 Everybody hyping this Keith Richards book was afraid to go to a Rolling Stones show when the band was still scary and edgy and alive.\u00c2\u00a0 They’ve come to the party too late.\u00c2\u00a0 Why does their opinion matter?<\/p>\n I’m gonna clue you in…\u00c2\u00a0 Only your opinion matters.\u00c2\u00a0 And only people you know respect your opinion.\u00c2\u00a0 You’re unhypeable.\u00c2\u00a0 Thank fucking God.<\/p>\n\n