What Would Keith Richards Do?

Like most die-hard Stones fans, Jessica West has had a fascination with "the World's Greatest Rock n Roll Band" that has taken on near-religious proportions. She is the author of a book on another obsession, "Lipstick" (St Martin's Press USA; Simon and Schuster UK; translated into four languages), and her writing has been featured in magazines, newspapers, radio, TV, and the Web; and has received fellowships from the the Ucross and Ragdale Foundations, among others. Jessica was the sole adult member of an otherwise all-children's rock band, consisting of a bunch of pipsqueak toughs influenced by the Stones. She lives in New York.


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For Keith's bio, you can find some of it via the timeline at the end of the book, as well as through several biographies included in the Keith resource section/​bibliography. There are a few great websites out there devoted entirely to Stones information: Shidoobee, IORR, Rocks Off, and The Keith Shrine. On Facebook there is The Practicioners of the Keith Richards Time Schedule and The Keith Richards Army.

For the past year, there has been much mystery and drama concerning the plans or maybe-not plans of the Stones, particularly regarding upcoming tours, firings of certain not-well-behaved members, rumors of another member quitting, one having seizures, one having problems with the children, and of course, one (ie, Keith) giving up drinking. To this story he recently replied: "The rumors of my sobriety are greatly exaggerated." There is also the upcoming Johnny Depp-directed Keith documentary, the re-release (with not-previously-released songs) of "Exile on Main Street" and another Stones documentary in May. In mid-October of 2010 Keith's autobiography is reportedly being published in the US and UK, with the title "Life."