Chronicle 2012

THE ROLLING STONES CHRONICLE

2012

Go ahead, bite the Big Apple

   January 19, 2012: Mick Jagger attends a party for photographer Ben Watts at the Double Seven night
        club in New York City.

   January 20, 2012: Death of legendary blues and R&B singer Etta James, who opened for the Rolling Stones
        in 1981 and who jammed on several occasions with Keith Richards in the 1980s.

    January 25, 2012: Mick Jagger is in Davos, Switzerland, site of the World Economic Forum. He attends a
        Newsweek/Credit Suisse party and another party thrown by the Young Global Leaders. Meanwhile he
        announces he's pulled out of an invitation to attend a party to help British prime minister David Cameron
        promote foreign investment in the U.K.

Mick Jagger's statement (January 25, 2012): Said my name is called Disturbance...

During my career I have always eschewed party politics and came to Davos as a guest, as I thought it would be stimulating. I have always been interested in economics and world events. I now find myself being used as a political football and there has been a lot of comment about my political allegiances, which are inaccurate. I think it's best I decline the invitation to the key event and curtail my visit.

January 26, 2012: Ron Wood has dinner at the Ivy Club in London, using a crutch.

January 31, 2012: The second official classic Rolling Stones bootleg is
released, Hampton Coliseum (Live 1981).

Keith Richards (September 2011): Remembering hitting a stage-rusher with his Telecaster at Hampton '81 to "save" Mick

I saw nobody between him and Mick: Oh God, here we go, I'm not gonna get any more money for this (laughs)... I have no idea what this guy's gonna do. I don't know if he's gonna stab Mick, hug him, kiss him, roll over and screw him. I don't know! All I know is that he's trying to get his hands on Mick and this I have to prevent. And I do have a weapon in my hands (laughs).... I was playing Satisfaction at the time. This is gonna sound terrible but the damn thing stayed in tune. And this is the greatest advert for Fender! (laughs)

February 10, 2012: A spokesperson for the Rolling Stones announces the band will not be performing at the
Olympics in London this summer.

February 13, 2012: Ron Wood attends the Elle Style Awards at the Savoy in London, England.

Ron Wood (February 2012): The Rolling Stones touring soon and being asked to play at the Olympics

We've got more meetings, everyone wants to do it. I've been asked to do the opening ceremony with the Stones and close the Games with The Faces. I've got to be the first bi-athlete musician.

February 16, 2012: Mick Jagger attends L'Wren Scott's show at Fashion Week at the Desmond Tutu Center
in New York City.

Mick Jagger (February 2012): No Fashion Week groupie

(Fashion Week) was great! And one thing I've got to say is it was so great to see the First Lady wearing L'Wren Scott clothes when we were at the White House the other day. So that was really good. And I didn't see much of Fashion Week because I only came up for the last day. I'm not really that much of a Fashion Week groupie, but I went to L'Wren's show and that was great.

February 20, 2012: Mick Jagger rehearses at the White House in Washington D.C. for the next day's show.

Ron Wood (February 2012): On the verge

(Touring?) Be lovely, wouldn't it? That's what we're on the verge of. I don't know what the hell is gonna happen yet but we all feel we owe it to ourselves and to the people to do something. Well, they're still in the talking mode. And I don't know, each week brings a new development. Basically, get the boys feeling comfortable with each other, 'cause we're all ready to go individually. It's just a matter of tying up loose ends and coming together as a unit.

   February 21, 2012: Mick Jagger takes part in the blues celebration concert Red, White and Blues at the White
        House in front of U.S. President Barack Obama, filmed for public television, performing alongside Jeff
        Beck, Buddy Guy, B. B. King and others. Mick Jagger also hands the microphone over to the President so
        he can sing a chorus of Sweet Home Chicago.

Mick Jagger (February 2012): Please Mr. President

I wasn't really nervous. I don't know why I wasn't nervous. I don't really get nervous. The only thing that makes me nervous is live television, and I didn't even know it was going to be live streamed! Because live television is live television and you get slightly worried. But the actual gig, when you've done the rehearsal on the stage the day before and you've gone through everything and everything seems to be fine, you don't really get nervous. I don't anyway. But everyone seemed to be very relaxed.

(Handing the microphone to the President) wasn’t on the list of things I expected to do. It was just a moment. And I was the only one with a spare mike!... (Obama) was so reluctant, but that reluctance — you've got to do it.

I want to energize the room. If they’re energized, fantastic. I loved it. They seemed to be very enthusiastic and it was a really great show. I hope they enjoyed it and I’m very honored to have played the White House.

I saw them (the President and the First Lady) tbefore. I saw him at the rehearsal and the First Lady was very kind to wear L’Wren Scott, so that was a very nice added extra.

Mick Jagger (February 2012): Rocking at 68

The thing was, way back in the '60s we used to go and see performers that were the same age I am now. So I suppose in the back of my mind I hadn't ruled that out. Now we're still doing great things. You've got to have a high energy level. You can't have a low energy level in this kind of music. That's the thing, you've got to keep going. Obviously, you're not going to be the same energy level as when you were 20, but you've still got to put it out there, and that's what I always try and do.

Mick Jagger (February 2012): Lovely things to come

We have lots of special things planned (for the Rolling Stones' 50th anniversary), but I'm not telling you what they are!... I don't know what's been announced and what hasn't been announced, but everyone asks me about the shows. We haven't announced any shows yet, but I do hope that something happens, even though nothing's booked. There will be lots of lovely things.

I've written a lot of songs, but I don't have any concrete plans (to record a new album).

   February 22, 2012: Ron Wood attends the Topman show at London's Fashion Week.

   February 23, 2012: Keith Richards rehearses at the Apollo Theatre in New York for the next day's concert.

   February 24, 2012: Keith Richards performs at the Howlin' for Hubert tribute concert for Hubert Sumlin at the
        Apollo Theatre in New York, along with Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, Billy Gibbons, Elvis Costello and others.

   February 25, 2012: Mick Jagger attends the Vanity Fair Academy Awards party in Los Angeles.

   February 26, 2012: Keith Richards performs an impromptu version of Chuck Berry's The Promised Land with
        Elvis Costello at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston in tribute to the 85-year-old Chuck Berry, who
        receives PEN New England's Song Lyrics of Literary Excellence award.

   February 27, 2012: Mick Jagger uses Twitter to answer fans' questions during the U.S. public television
        broadcast of the White House Red White and Blues concert.

   February 29, 2012: Ron Wood performs along with players like James Cotton and Maceo Parker at the
        charity event Save The Children's A Night of Blues at the Roundhouse in London, and is accompanied by
        his date, 34-year-old theatre producer Sally Humphreys.

March 2, 2012: The Rolling Stones announce they will publish a 50th anniversary book on July 12, the day of their
    50th anniversary as a performing group.

   March 2012: Keith Richards holds recording sessions at Electric Lady Studios in New York City.

Keith Richards (March 2012): Slowly bringing along the third solo album

We're not rushing it, 'cause there's no need to. But I'm quite surprised how much stuff is coming out of it.

   March 7, 2012: Mick Jagger has dinner with Dave Stewart at the Lambs Club in New York City, after which
        they go out dancing at the Double Seven night club.

Keith Richards (March 2012): Which two guitars he'd keep if he could only keep two

I'd take a Martin, acoustic, early '30s, you know, '30s job for an acoustic. Gibsons I love and everything but if you've got to say one on one, I'd take a Martin. And I've got to say, for myself, I take a Fender. I take a Telecaster, he's just so sturdy. It's a working man's guitar, you know. Nothing goes wrong with that thing. You can hit people over the head with it and it'll still stay in tune (laughs).

March 10, 2012: Mick Jagger and Keith Richards hold a meeting in New York City.

   March 10, 2012: Charlie Watts and the ABC & D of Boogie Woogie undertake a short tour of Europe, mostly
        Germany and Austria, with a show in Lübeck, Germany.

Charlie Watts (March 2012): The Queen's Diamond Jubilee

I don’t think (the Stones will play the Olympics). I didn’t want to do it for a start. I’d love to have done the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, because that’s a great thing, I think, but I don’t think we’d have the time to do it. It’ll be a night of the Sirs won’t it, with Paul McCartney and Elton.

   March 11-12, 2012: The ABC & D of Boogie Woogie perform in Rostock, Germany.

March 14, 2012: The Rolling Stones announce the release of a career-spanning documentary on the group later
    in the year. In a Rolling Stone interview, Keith Richards discloses the band will not tour this year but are aiming
    for possible new music and concerts in 2013.

Keith Richards & Mick Jagger (March 2012): Conception in 2012, birth in 2013

Keith: Basically, we're just not ready. I have a feeling (2013 is) more realistic... I saw Mick on Saturday (March 10). He's going to be living in New York too for a while, so we're planning to get things going with the Stones again... We'll just get the boys back together again then and maybe cut a side. I've got plenty in the locker here, but it's not on tape.

The Stones always really considered '63 to be 50 years, because Charlie didn't actually join until January. We look upon 2012 as sort of the year conception, but the birth is next year.

Mick: I've been playing guitar and singing and getting myself back together. You can't just walk up there and do it. If you're playing a football tournament, you've got to practice. I feel very confident. I don't want to sound cocky, but it's just part of what you do. If you prepare, then you can be cocky.

Keith Richards and Mick Jagger (March 2012): Mending the Glimmer Twins after Life

Keith: (Mick) and I have had conversations over the last year of a kind we have not had for an extremely long time and that has been incredibly important to me. As far as the book (Life) goes, it was my story and it was very raw, as I meant it to be, but I know that some parts of it and some of the publicity really offended Mick and I regret that.

Mick: Looking back at any career you are bound to recall both the highs and the lows. In the 1980s for instance Keith and I were not communicating very well. I got very involved with the business side of the Stones, mainly because I felt no one else was interested, but i's plain now from (Life) that Keith felt excluded, which is a pity. Time I reckon to move on.

Keith Richards (March 2012): Bill Wyman next year?

We're back in touch, which is great, because I hadn't really spoken to him for years... I think he's up for (a Stones tour in 2013). We talked about it. I'll let you know when I can.

Keith Richards (March 2012): The documentary

(Director Brett Morgen) told me 80% of the footage has never been seen before, which amazes me. I didn't know there was that much around.

   March 17, 2012: The ABC & D of Boogie Woogie perform at the Pizza Express in London, England. Charlie
        Watts also attends the unveiling of a plaque at the Ealing Club (now the Red Room), where Blues Inc.
       and the Rolling Stones played in its earliest days, to commemorate its 50th anniversary.

Charlie Watts (March 2012): Ring me up

I don’t know (what the Rolling Stones' plans are). Nothing’s been decided. I mean, I hope they’ll ring me up if we do anything and let me know.

   March 19-20, 2012: The ABC & D of Boogie Woogie perform in Dresden and Leipzig, Germany.

   March 22, 2012: The ABC & D of Boogie Woogie play the first of two concerts in Bad Ischl, Austria. Ron
        Wood and his new girlfriend Sally Humphreys attend the opening night of Beyond Ballets Russes at
        the London Coliseum.

March 23, 2012: Ron Wood meets with Mick Jagger at the latter's London home to discuss the Rolling Stones.

   March 24, 2012: The ABC & D of Boogie Woogie perform a second show in Bad Ischl.

   March 25-26, 2012: The ABC & D of Boogie Woogie perform in Rosenheim, Germany and Feldkirchen,
        Austria.

   March 28, 2012: Ron Wood joins Kelly Jones and Roger Daltrey onstage during their performances for the
        Teenage Cancer Trust at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The ABC & D of Boogie Woogie performs in
       Vienna, Austria.

   March 29, 2012: Ron Wood plays with Paul McCartney onstage at his own Teenage Cancer Trust show at
        the Royal Albert Hall, then hangs out at The Arts Club. The ABC & D of Boogie Woogie perform a
       second night in Vienna.

   March 30, 2012: The ABC & D of Boogie Woogie perform a third show in Vienna, Austria.

April 2, 2012: The third official classic Rolling Stones bootleg is released,
L.A. Friday from 1975.

Mick Jagger (2012): Opening up the live archives

They've always been out as bootlegs. We just decided to make whole-lot-better versions of them available.

   April 3, 2012: Ron Wood and Sally Humphreys attend a Damien Hirst exhibition at the Tate Modern art
        gallery in London.

   April 8, 2012: U.S. TV's CSI: Miami features a new song, Coming Together, Ron Wood recorded for the
        show.

   April 9, 2012: Ron Wood attends the opening of his new art exhibition Faces, Times and Places at the
        Symbolic Connection in New York City.

April 9, 2012: Ron Wood says to the press the Rolling Stones will meet in a recording studio later in the
    month.

Ron Wood (April 9, 2012): The Stones to meet up again

(It's just) to throw some ideas around. It's like working out for the Olympics or something. You've got to go into training. So we're going to go into training.

President Obama (April 9, 2012): Respect for Mick Jagger

What was really fun was the rehearsal the day before. And part of what I really enjoy watching anytime I see these rehearsals is how generous the big name guys are with all the musicians involved. I saw that when McCartney was here, I saw that when Stevie (Wonder) was here, Herbie Hancock, and Mick was the same way... And it was really nice to watch (Mick) just trying to work through these numbers with the house band and a couple of guys who were with him who were obviously far less famous, about half his age or maybe even less than half his age. But treating them with respect and caring about the music.

And what was interesting was the next day, in the evening, in the performance, when Mick gets up there he says, you know, Part of what makes this night special is I remember when me and the rest of the Stones travelled to Chess Records and how - they're in the middle of the south side of Chicago and probably the first Englishmen that most of these folks have ever met, like Howlin' Wolf, the rest of the crew at Chess... - and he says how much he appreciated their generosity, teaching them what they knew about music, even though these kids they're like arriving from another planet. And the sense of him wanting to kind of do that same thing and then it all comes full circle.

And he had unbelievable energy. I tell you, that guy, when he performed the next night, he was as energized as he's ever been.

   April 10, 2012: Ron Wood hangs out with Kenney Jones, Graham Nash and Debbie Harry at the Core Club
        in New York.

   April 11, 2012: Ron Wood and Kenney Jones attend a Faces book signing at the Bowery Boutique in New
        York City and are interviewed for the group's upcoming Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction. Ron also
        hangs out with ex-official Rolling Stones fanzine author Bill German and reportedly backtracks on his
        statement that the Stones will meet this month (it might take place a little later).

   April 13, 2012: Ron Wood and Kenney Jones are interviewed again in New York City.

   April 14, 2012: Ron Wood performs onstage with the Faces at the Public Auditorium in Cleveland, Ohio -
        minus Rod Stewart who has cancelled because he's ill - as the group (along with its predecessor, the
        Small Faces) is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Ron Wood (April 2012): A second inductionphone call from Mick

I heard from Mick Jagger; he's going, What the hell?! We don't know anything yet!' And I said, You know what the media are like. I just expressed my personal view; I would love to go into the studio. Then they took it all wrong.... So I have to make a personal apology to the rest of the band. I didn't mean to say things out of line.

We do have a 50th anniversary. Whatever is going to be done, we will know in the next few months.

April 16, 2012: Ron Wood corrects the statements he made concerning the Rolling Stones heading to the
studio soon.

Ron Wood (April 16, 2012): A phone call from Mick

I heard from Mick Jagger; he's going, What the hell?! We don't know anything yet!' And I said, You know what the media are like. I just expressed my personal view; I would love to go into the studio. Then they took it all wrong.... So I have to make a personal apology to the rest of the band. I didn't mean to say things out of line.

We do have a 50th anniversary. Whatever is going to be done, we will know in the next few months.

April 17, 2012: Ron Wood is interviewed on U.S. TV's Live! With Kelly, promoting the new Faces book.

Ron Wood (April 17, 2012): The hand of fate

I just believed... When I was at school and I'd run home and I'd watch the Rolling Stones, I would say I'm gonna be in that band. I had ambition and I had drive and I was in the right place at the right time. And I just believe in fate - and if you have faith in enough in something, you can make it happen.

   April 21, 2012: Ron Wood performs a concert at The Golden Nugget in Atlantic City, New Jersey, with a
        band composed of Bernard Fowler, Chuck Leavell, Willie Weeks, Steve Jordan and Andy Wallace.

   April 24, 2012: Ron Wood eats out at E&E Grill House in Manhattan, during the intermission of the Broadway
        musical The Book of Mormon, and according to the New York Post is overheard saying he, Mick Jagger
        and Keith Richards will work on ideas in a recording studio the following week.

   April 27, 2012: Mick Jagger is caught by photographers outside in London, England during an extremely
        windy day.

May 1-2, 2012: The Rolling Stones hold rehearsals in a studio in New York City, possibly started on April 29.

   May 2, 2012: Keith Richards lunches with actor Andy Garcia at Harry Cipriani in New York City.

May 3-5, 2012: The Rolling Stones continue rehearsals - which are filmed - in a studio in Weehawken, New
    Jersey, with Chuck Leavell on piano and Don Was on bass.

   May 3, 2012: It's announced Mick Jagger will host and perform on the season finale of U.S. TV's Saturday
        Night Live on May 19.

   May 7, 2012: Mick Jagger and Ron Wood attend the Costume Institute Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of
        Art in New York City.

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