Stanley, in my opinion, wrote a book bigger than his subject. It is a book — The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones (Apple/Amazon/B&N) — that I have read many times and never does it fail to impress. It is a monumental effort but not– and this irritates some–simple. So be it. Great requires a little effort sometimes.
It’s structure is like Moby Dick and Grapes of Wrath to give you a clue. It took him fifteen years to write, he told me, not because it should have but because he was a mess, depressed for years about the outcome of the The Rolling Stones 1969 tour, which ended at Altamont. When I asked him about his commitment to it at such a deep level, he answered (about The Stones), “They all have families.”
It is a legacy of the writer’s art. It will last for that reason. It was a time–this is my arena too– when what was happening in music seemed to merit the kind of heroic scope Stanley gave it. Get it.
Above: Stanley interviewing Keith Richards in London in 1968. Bottom: on a beach in Georgia before he met his now wife Diann Blakely, an extraordinary poet.
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my son, Dru Brommer gave me a copy of Rhyme Oil your finely written book, and one you signed for me earlier this month. Dru (actually John Drury Brommer, Jr.) has his own landscape business and is my eldest of three sons. He is not a musician, nor am I, but among other things we share an avid interest in music, particularly Memphis influence and history. I occasionally join Dru on a Wed. evening to hear Elmo & The Shades up at Neil’s Bar & Grill on Quince. I also saw an interview with you on TV here locally, I guess on the library channel, and it enhanced my interest in the book. Your book has nicely passes the past two days and nights, one of which was Christmas. Well, I hope to read your other books, and maybe Dru will get me a copy. I “have” eight years “on” you and am a native Memphian, Blessed, yet missing my late wife, Mary Alice, who passed away three years ago….Best Wishes for this coming year that is upon us….John Brommer