X is for X-Pensive Winos

If you have never heard of these guys, then maybe you have heard of one of the members, he's quite famous, he's had a few big fights with Rolling Stone Mick Jagger--yup, you may have guessed it right, Keith Richards. The X-Pensive Winos is the band he went on to form when him and the rest of the Stones were taking a break from each other.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-pensive_Winos
This band consisted of guitarist Waddy Wachtel, sax player Bobby Keys, keyboard player Ivan Neville, and Charley Drayton on bass.

There aren't many pics of these guys except maybe of Keith, he was the only real well known person in the band considering the fact he formed it.

Keith Richards

Keith Richards was born on Dec. 18, 1943 in Dartford, Kent, England. His nicknames are Keef, the Human Riff, he is 5'8 1/2'' tall and was voted 10th Greatest Guitarist of All Time by Rolling Stone Magazine
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0724189/bio

Keith in 1965

Keith in the 1970s

Has been married only once and is still married to the same woman. He is currently married to Patti Hansen, he married her on Dec. 18, 1983-present, with 2 children, 2 daughters named Alexandra and Theodora

Alexandra

Theodora

His trademarks are his guitar riffs, his Fender Telecaster guitar and Gibson Les Paul guitar, is frequently seen playing a Gibson ES-335 on stage, jet black hair(not anymore), colorful clothing, bandana

He has about 3 children with former partner Anita Pallenberg- son Marlon, daughter Angela, son Tara(deceased)

Friend Johnny Depp says that the character of Capt. Jack Sparrow is heavily influenced by Keith. From aspects of his appearance to his voice, his mannerisms and personality. Keith would later go on to appear in the 3rd Pirates movie, At World's End, playing Jack's father, Capt. Teague

Was awake for 9 days straight in the 1970s. Fell asleep standing up and when he woke up, he fell face first into an amplifier and broke his nose

Wears a skull ring on the 3rd finger of his right hand since the 1970s to remind us all that we're all the same on the inside

Good friends with Johnny Depp

Former neighbor, classmate and current friend of fellow Stones member Mick Jagger

Avid reader, with interest in history
Lives in Sussex, but owns a house in Weston, Conneticut
Has a granddaughter named Ella Rose Richards (daughter of son Marlon)

Class Assignment, lol

Apparently to graduate college, I have to take a few General Education classes here at Gateway. I have chosen to take a Music 101 class because I have a fond interest in music, whether it be the history of music, all the early musicians, anything directly related to the history of music I take a fond interest in. So our first project is to do a blog post on something that we like, so I did mine on the topic of The Rolling Stones. I'm a very big fan of them, have been since 2008, when I graduated high school and my mom and stepdad married. In face, alot of the music I listen to he introduced to me, so I guess because of him I like alot of older music.

I came across this blog called Beatles Fans, and naturally with me being a Beatles fan, I just had to follow it. And the 1st post I read on there was about this girl who was doing a project on The Beatles, so that sort of inspired me to do a blog on something I'm a fan of. I would do this post on The Beatles, but she already did her post on The Beatles and I don't want to steal her idea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rolling_Stones

The Rolling Stones

• Known as the world's greatest rock and roll band
• Formed in April 1962
• Consisted of Ian Stewart(piano), Brian Jones(guitar, harmonica), Mick Jagger(lead vocals, harmonica), Keith Richards(guitar). Bill Wyman(bass guitar), Charlie Watts(drummer)

• The Stones raised awareness for artists by the company Chess Records. How the band got it's name is Brian Jones took it from an old Muddy Waters song called Rollin' Stone
• Alot of their early stuff was American R&B and blues-rock covers
• On July 12, 1962, The Stones played their first gig at the Marquee Club in downtown London, and their then manager Giorgio Gomelsky had booked a gig for them at the Crawdaddy Club on a Sunday afternoon. Their manager had tied the club's reputation for R&B with the rise of The Beatles, and he thought that is what started the reputation of Swinging London

• During their concert at the Crawdaddy Club, former Beatles publicist Andrew Loog Oldham decided he wanted to be the manager of the Stones, and he signed the band to a management deal. the only problem was that at the time Andrew was only 19, certainly younger than the band, he was not old enough to hold a license for it, so he joined up with show biz master Eric Easton
• On June 7, 1963, the Rolling Stones released their first hit single, Come On, a cover of the Chuck Berry song, and in fact today is the anniversary of that release.
• Oldham had tried dressing the band in matching houndstooth design suits to be a little like The Beatles, but then decided to just letting them wear their own clothes. He also made a few changes within the band, he dressed them in leather jackets, insisted that lead singer Michael Jagger shorten his name to Mick. With this, they would be, for years on, considered to be the Beatles main rivals.

• In May 1963, pianist Ian Stewart was removed from the band by Oldham because he believed Ian was dead weight and that a rock band doesn't need a piano player. Ian went on to become the manager and occasional pianist for the band until his death in 1985
• When they released their first album, England's Newest Hit Makers, they weren't smiling on the front because Oldham had presented them as the almost evil opposites of the Beatles, and in the papers there was the broad headline "Would you let your daughter marry a Rolling Stone?"
• In June 1964, they had their first US tour. Since they didn't have a record there, they thought nothing would go good for them. When they appeared on Dean Martin's show The Hollywood Palace, he mocked their appearance and haircuts.

• On January 15, 1967, the Rolling Stones were due to appear on the Ed Sullivan Show, an American variety show famed with the appearance of the Beatles in the 1960s. They were supposed to play their hit single Let's Spend the Night Together. Whenever the band got to the clean refrain "Let's spend some time together" Mick would roll his eyes up in anger. So in a form on revenge, the band went backstage and changed in to Nazi uniforms with swastikas on them. Ed was furious, he demanded the band go and change into their previous clothes. They promptly left the studio and he said they'd never be let back into the studio again. However, it would raise some questions as to why he didn't say anything about Diana Ross and the Supreme's Hit Love Child, which is about a woman who has a child out of wedlock.
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ed_Sullivan_Show#The_Rolling_Stones
• If you want to hear Mick Jagger singing in his natural London accent, listen to the song Mother's Little Helper

• On June 29, 1967, after the British police found 4 amphetamine pills on him, Mick Jagger was sentenced to 3 months of prison, where as Keith was sentenced to 1 year in prison
• In 1969, Brian Jones was found dead at the bottom of the pool at his house, COD-drowning. The Stones were due to appear in concert in London's Hyde Park, and they had found a replacement named Mick Taylor. So the band had decided to make the Hyde Park concert a tribute concert to Brian. Mick had read the Adonais by Percy Shelley and released hundreds of butterflies in honor or Brian.
• On Dec. 6, 1969, the Stones gave a free concert at the Altamont Speedway in northern California. For security there, the biker gang the Hells Angels were there, and they had stabbed and beaten to death a guy named Meredith Hunter after they realized he was armed.

• During the 1970s, Mick and Keith were often referred to as the Glimmer Twins. 
• Them then, when they were the Glimmer Twins

Them now

Personally, it's looking like Mick is the better looking one.

• Towards the end of 1974, guitarist Mick Taylor quit the band. At this time, there was another band with a future Stones member. The band was called the Faces and it had Jeff Beck, Ian McLaghan, Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood. Everyone in the band agreed that he was perfect. He officially joined up with the Stones in Feb. 1975 as the Faces had broken up.

The El Mocambo Club in Toronto, Canada. This is where a good majority of their Love You Live album was recorded. And as for the cover of the album, it was done by artist Andy Warhol

• The Stones 1981 American Tour was said to be the biggest, longest, most colorful tour ever, with them playing from Sept. 25, thru Dec. 19. The movies Let's Spend the Night Together and Still Life(American Concert 1981) is of footage from both the Brendan Byrne Arena in the Meadowlands, New Jersey and the Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona.

• In the mid 1980s, the fighting between Mick Jagger and Keith Richards kept increasing. In Dec. 1985, their manager and long time friend Ian Stewart was found dead from a heart attack. At London's 100 Club in Feb. 1986. the band paid a private tribute to him, 2 days before they were given a Grammy for Lifetime Acheivement in Music
• In 1985, Mick released his first solo album, She's the Boss, in 1987, he released Primitive Cool, and in 1988, Keith released his solo album Talk is Cheap

• In early 1989, the Stones were inducted into the American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. After that, that's when Mick and Keith started getting along again, and the band started work on their Steel Wheels album. The tour following this would be the last one for Bill and the Stones as in 1993 he would leave the band to pursue other interests. When Bill left, Ronnie became a fully fledged member of the Stones, nearly 20 years after joining up.

• After this tour, the band took a break. Charlie released 2 jazz albums, Ronnie released his 5th solo album, the 1st in 11 years called Slide on This, in late 1992, Keith released his 2nd solo album called Main Offender, Mick released his 3rd solo album called Wandering Spirit. At the 1995 Grammys, The Rolling Stones' Voodoo Lounge album would go on to win the Grammy Award for Best Rock Album

• In 1997, they released their Bridges to Babylon album, with the addition of a new song(Anybody Seen My Baby?). In the video, Angelina Jolie showed up and briefly appears in the video. In late 2001, Mick released his 4th solo album, Goddess in the Doorway

• How the band got it's logo is it was designed by an artist named John Pasche in 1971.

• On July 26, 2005, Mick's b-day, he announced what the name of their new album would be. It would be called A Bigger Bang, and it would be their first album in 8 years. 
• In August 2005, the group went on their A Bigger Bang tour. But it was extended into 2007 and concluded at London's O2 Theatre. During this, Keith was hospitalized for a head injury, Ronnie was in rehab for alcohol abuse, during July-September 2006, 2 of the 21 shows they were scheduled to do had to be cancelled as Mick was suffering severe throat problems. On October 29, and Nov.1 the band did 2 concerts at New York's Beacon Theatre, the subject of Martin Scorcese's movie Shine a Light. On October 27, 2002, Mick released a compilation CD called The Very Best of Mick Jagger.

• On Dec. 12, 2003, Mick Jagger was knighted for his special services to music and as a result of that, is now known as Sir Michael Philip Jagger. He was knighted by the Prince of Wales and apparently Keith was not happy, he thought that was stupid that Mick had done that, he was probably thinking "these were the same people trying to throw us in prison in the 1960s and now you're accepting a knighthood?"
• Also when Mick wasn't touring with the Stones, he was doing acting. Some of the movies he's been in include Freejack, Ned Kelly, Performance, The Man From Elysian Fields, Bent

Plays Turner, a womanizing ex-rock star

Plays the real life outlaw Ned Kelly

Plays a futuristic mercenary named Victor Vacendak

Plays a cross-dressing entertainer named Greta

Plays the owner of a male escort service named Luther Fox

• And most of the Stones' concerts have been turned into movies, like Let's Spend the Night Together, Gimme Shelter, At the Max, Shine a Light

This is about the Altamont Speedway stabbing

The American tour 1981

The Rolling Stones then

 Somehow, Mick looks almost angry in this picture

The Rolling Stones now

Them on stage

From the movie Shine a Light, which was about their A Bigger Bang tour, which ended at the O2 Theatre in London in 2007.

Let's Spend the Night Together

Yeah, the title should be interesting. This name applies to the name of a very early Rolling Stones song and it also applies to a movie made in the 1980s about their 1981-1982 North American tour. This movie was made by Hal Ashby and it is basically the concert they did at the Sun Devil Stadium in Phoenix on December 13, 1981.

If I have 2 constantly keep fixing the stupid pictures on here, I'm going to go out of my mind!

Song listings:

• Under My Thumb
• Let's Spend the Night Together
• Shattered
• Neighbours
• Black Limousine
• Just My Imagination(Running Away with Me)
• Twenty Flight Rock
• Let Me Go
• Time Is On My Side
• Beast of Burden
• Waiting On a Friend
• Going to a Go-Go
• You Can't Always Get What You Want
• Little T&A
• Tumbling Dice
• She's So Cold
• All Down the Line
• Hang Fire
• Miss You
• Let It Bleed
• Start Me Up
• Honky Tonk Women
• Brown Sugar
• Jumpin Jack Flash
• Satisfaction

Now these pictures aren't all from just their Phoenix concert, it's from all the places they visited during this tour!

OOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH, what a hottie, man, look at those muscles!!!!!!!!!!!

The stage they played on

That hat needs 2 go!

Love when he plays guitar, lol!

He looks good in orange and yellow:)

Never knew he liked football?

Keith Richards in Hartford, Conneticut, 1981

Mick Jagger with his famous American and British flag cape around him, ooh, nice 6 pack abs, me likey! And I'm sure tired of having to constantly put the pics back on here because they don't show up, it's ticking me off!

Shine a Light

This name applies to yet another Stones song and a movie of the same name, which chronicled the tour they did in 2006, at the Beacon Theater in New York on October 29 and November 1. Their 2006 tour was titled their A Bigger Bang tour, and during the making of the album of the same name, the band endured alot of trouble, like for starters, Mick Jagger and his then wife Jerry Hall broke up, it was supposed to be a quiet divorce but somehow got made public, Ronnie's first wife Krissy Findlay committed suicide, Charlie was diagnosed with throat cancer, basically alot of trouble.

This movie features interviews with the guys in the band, from different times, like from the mid 80s when Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were acting like big babies and arguing over what type of music the Stones should be doing. What initially caused this fight was the type of music they thought they should be doing, Mick wanted to keep it experimental and always try new things and blend different types of music in with their music, Keith wanted to keep it old school blues rock, R&B, jazz-like stuff they've been doing since the beginning, and that's what caused Mick to fly solo and release a few solo albums, like Goddess in the Doorway, Wandering Spirit, The Very Best of Mick Jagger, She's the Boss, and Primitive Cool.  And man is he hot in some of those pictures, especially the shirt less one on Wandering Spirit. 4 being 67, he sure does have a body that's too gorgeous, lol! These 2 probably still fight from time to time, but probably not as much as they did in the mid 80s.

And as for Keith, he released a few solo albums of his own, like Talk Is Cheap, Vintage Vinos, Main Offender. This film was dedicated to their then manager, Ahmet Ertegun, who'd been with them since the beginning. He was backstage and somehow he'd fallen and struck his head on a concrete step. He was rushed to the hospital and died there. 

It was originally supposed to be October 31 when the concert was to happen, and they were supposed to play at Atlantic City, New Jersey, but front man Mick Jagger had gotten sick with throat problems and they had to push it back to November 1, and were unable to play Atlantic City until he got better.

Song listings:

• Jumpin Jack Flash
• Shattered
• She Was Hot
• All Down the Line
• Loving Cup feat. Jack White
• As Tears Go By
• Some Girls
• Just My Imagination(Running Away with Me)
• Far Away Eyes
• Champagne and Reefer feat. Buddy Guy
• Tumbling Dice
• band introductions
• You Got the Silver- lead vocals: Keith Richards
• Connection- lead vocals: Keith Richards
• Sympathy for the Devil
• Live With Me feat. Christina Aguilera
• Start Me Up
• Brown Sugar
• (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
• Shine a Light 

Is it possible for me 2 switch places with her? Hmmmmmmmmm............

Christina Aguilera and Mick Jagger performing Live With Me

I'm starting to think I'll never be able to see these guys play live, so who am I kidding? I don't have a chance on Earth of ever seeing these guys live or much less meeting them in person, so I might as well just dismiss any hope of seeing these guys live!