Friday, March 10, 2017

Because Sometimes I Just Need To Remember


I'm feeling Keithy this evening. Sometimes when life just gets overwhelming and I begin to feel too old to matter I think about my spirit totem animal and it's all right. Somehow, it's all right.

I've got "Crosseyed Heart" on the box and I'm home alone and the sun has dipped below the trees and I really don't have much to say. Luckily, there are at least a billion, if not more, pictures of Keith Richards online, so many of them so familiar as to be...well, totemic.
Just google Keith Richards, Annie Leibovitz and you'll find a treasure trove of them. Annie actually got her start as a photographer when the newly fledged magazine Rolling Stone needed someone to shoot the Rolling Stones international tour in 1975 and she, because she had a credit card and could get a plane ticket, got the gig.


She got some amazing shots and also picked up a nasty little drug habit on the tour which she had to overcome but hey- history is what it is. 


Times were simply different then.
Mostly.


But yeah, different. 


And of course, there are so many shots of Keith with his kids, with his women (a far fewer number of those than you'd think), with his wife. With his grandchildren. 






I don't know why I love that old man so much. 
I guess because he lived. 
So far, he's lived. 
He's lived a thousand lives, he's still here. He's still playing music, he's still loving his wife, his family. 
He's broken every rule there is to break and he's done it all with style and with, dare I say it? 
Joy. 

Thank you for indulging this old woman tonight. We shall now return to our regularly scheduled program where I am the old grandma who has baby chickens in her bathtub.

But let us not forget that Keith Richards, with his bandmates, has been part of my life since I was old enough to realize that music could save me. 



They did then, and sometimes, they still do.

And Keith can still make me happy.



Gold rings on ya, Keith.
Thank you.

Love...Ms. Moon

9 comments:

  1. HTF did he survive? Man, I had a profession, but did a lot of things back in the day, as they say, that were not the best for my cardiovascular system. A mirror and a hundred dollar bill was among the accouterments, as I remember. But that was then, and it didn't last long.
    Amazing we're all still here, eh?
    Cheers,
    Mike

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    1. Well, genes have a lot to do with it. And yes, I am completely shocked every day that I am still here.

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  2. The day that man finally leaves the planet, the world will be shocked...I know too many who did not survive...He is still rocking and still amazing. His music lifts my spirits. Thanks for putting it here.

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    1. I hope he outlives me. I'm not sure I'd be able to handle that one.

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  3. You will always have Keith. I actually worked with Annie Leibovitz back in the day. She was a true artist. Her photos, thought often highly staged, captured the truth of a person or circumstance. She did a lot of reportage with the Stones tho, and those shots are fascinating. I'm always amazed at how stoned people could be and still make inspired art. And still survive. Keith was meant to survive don't you think? I think his secret is joy. And love. (Don't mind me. I've been drinking margaritas as smooth as lemonade with my husband tonight).

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    1. In vino veritas, my love.
      Whatever his secret is (and I think you're right- joy, love, and let us not forget the music) he was meant to survive.

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    2. Annie Leibovitz is still alive and kicking and working and amazing. She has plenty of years ahead of her still.

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  4. Keith Richards seems like the personification of energy and resilience. I could use a little energy today, so thanks.

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  5. That photo of Keith slouched (passed out?) in the chair is amazing. Partly because of his clothes, but also the composition and general atmosphere of dissolution. Fab shot.

    I can't help but envy someone who has lived so much and yet done so well for so long. I think the guy has just the right balance of good sense and crazy.

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.