Yesterday's Times says Ronnie will seeking "to confound myths that surround him and the band".

He's promoting How Can it Be "an annotated reproduction of his diary from 1965" and will be answering questions.

[www.cheltenhamfestivals.com]

On Saturday 3rd October.

Its the Cheltenham literature festival.

Its about him revisiting his lost long diary from 1965 and will be sharing his memories from the birds, jeff beck group the faces and the stones.

Tickets go on sale to sunday times members and on general sale the 2nd September.

No details of prices that i can see.

Apologies if mentioned before.

I can't remember where I saw it now, but the tickets are only a couple of quid (under a fiver). It'll probably be similar to the interview he did with Bob Harris at the Ambassadors back in May - which cost £45! (but included a goodie bag).

Yes, it has been posted before, easily found through the search function: [www.iorr.org]

><

It's on the link above for £16 .

I wouldn't mind that if I still lived in that area, but wouldn't bother travelling from London for an hours chat.

Rolling Stones' Ronnie Wood at Cheltenham Literature Festival: I forgot I met Peter Sellers

Posted: October 04, 2015
By Corrie Bond-French



I reckon Ronnie Wood knew he was in for a great evening too: looking back on the good times with a packed out forum of appreciative fans, happy memories, fags in pocket, your lovely wife scratching your dog's tummy in the aisle and you're still buzzing about your latest grandchild: It's all good.

Most of us would dread revealing anything that we wrote in our teenage diaries, but Ronnie Wood's unexpectedly rediscovered scribblings are an achingly cool snapshot of the sixties, that have put a smile on everybody's face - even his peers.

"They all had a nice reaction to it because its harmless, its done, its way back then, they're quite understanding and tender towards it, all my peers, they love the idea"

Ronnie was talking to a full house at The Times Forum at Cheltenham Literature Festival, reminiscing about the days when he was in The Birds before he eventually made his way to becoming the newest Rolling Stones. His diary, published now as 'How Can it Be', gives an account of Ronnie's early days in the Birds. But even at just 17, Ronnie always knew he'd end up with The Stones:

"In the sixties, at that time anybody that was alive then in their teens was really not short of things to do, you were busy all the time. For me it was a case of always being more adventurous and trying to keep up, basically my sights were on the Stones, even then I'd come home from art school and watch them on the TV.

"I knew what was coming next with the music, I knew everything in my head, what they were playing and all the different angles and the actual approach and everything, and I thought I'm on the same wavelength as this band, yeah."

But Ronnie would still tell his teenage self to strive harder: his diary also reveals his rock star past was underpinned by determination and hard work, which he reckons is essential and is what's needed today for rockers young and old.

"Today's bands, instead of suddenly appearing on the X Factor, it's nice to have the groundwork. I don't know how many years we were doing this but for many years it seemed like you were banging our head against a brick wall to try to make an impression, but if you didn't give up and you kept your ambition going and you sort of think you'll make it one day, you keep trying and stick in there.

"That's what we were doing in those days and in a way that's what I'm doing today, I'm always trying to get better, always trying to come up with a new riff, little has changed"

And he reckons the diary is a little piece of social history too, giving an insight into sixties London and the gigging scene, when he would got to the Marquee Club, or when he first met Rod Stewart at the Intrepid Fox in Wardour St when Rod was dressed as Coco the Clown.

"Those days you used to have these programmes that were once a week and it really gave you something to strive for because you had charts, and it really meant something.One mention in the melody maker for instance it meant you could sell a few more records, you'd actually gauge the groups climb up the ladder."

But those early days on the road in the gig wagon in the days when fan belts used to break and bands lugged their equipment around were a learning curve."We'd lumber the stuff out, it was quite backbreaking, then we'd go backstage and change into our stage clothiers and pretend we were different people and then go on and play"

"It was a slog, i used to get back to my house,but I'd get rewards because Keith Moon would come over and see me, and my mum thought he was very polite and he was always really nice to her, and i remember Mitch Mitchell came over one night and he'd just had a gig with Jimi Hendrix, and I said how's it going, what's Jimi like? I knew what he was like because I'd shared a flat with him for a couple of weeks in Holland Park, but I said how's he treating you? He said he's a very fair man; there's three of us in the band and he splits everything down the middle!"

Ronnie's blast from the past has clearly delighted him and helped revive great memories, he did, after all, belong to quite an exclusive club but the haze of time and addiction over the years had dulled those memories for him.

He forgot that he shared a dressing room with Wilson Pickett, "I'd completely forgotten I'd met him, i saw him not long before he died with Bobby Womack, and we went back to the dressing room with him, and he was so rude to a girlfriend of one of these hells angels that they were beating the living daylights out of him, he was going 'you don't do that to The Pickett!' They came in with these big baseball bats and Bobby Womack and I hid in the toilet. They'd already nailed Picket they were just going for anyone."

He forgot that he'd met Sid James and Peter Sellers, but he remembers that Cliff Richard didn't speak to him when they shared a dressing room: "No I didn't forget that, but he didn't speak to me either. They were successful, he was number one, he was our Elvis, you know, or he tried to be!"

And he reckons his Rod Stewart was drawn to him because "He thought we went to the same barber. We both did it ourselves, he doesn't do his anymore but I still do mine myself!". One diary entry tells of his buying outfits for The Birds from a ladies shop: "Well, some things don't change - I still get my jeans from ladies shops!"

But Ronnie wouldn't be drawn on choosing which of his frontmen, Mick Jagger and Rod Stewart, would sing in his fantasy band: "That would have to be a duet!"

As a cameo of the sixties, Ronnie's diary are a fascinating insight. As one lady said as we filed out "Well, its a piece of our social history isn't it, we had to come".

And he's in a good place, is Ronnie. Lovely beagle too.

[www.gloucestershireecho.co.uk]

When @TheBorisBecker met @ronniewood at #cheltlitfest

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[instagram.com]

Did anyone go to this??
jeroen

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corriecas
Did anyone go to this??
jeroen

Ronnie Wood went to it and I guess a few other people were there as well.

Nate

Wow "Wicked" Pickett and some Angels .... OUCH!!!



ROCKMAN

[twitter.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-10-05 02:41 by bye bye johnny.

That has to be the most unflatering photo of Ronnie ever

He looks fantastic in the one with Boris taken the same day

Ronnie Wood on TV talent show contestants: 'I'm amazed more people don't commit suicide'
Rolling Stones guitarist says shows like 'X Factor' and 'The Voice' put too much pressure on new artists



Luke Morgan Britton, 7TH October 2015

The Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood has spoken about the huge amounts of pressure on TV talent show contestants today.

The veteran musician recently appeared at the Cheltenham Literature Festival when he made the comments. Wood previously performed alongside One Direction during last year's X Factor final.

"Apart from being nervous and playing in front of a panel, they play in front of millions and millions of people," Wood said.

"It's bad for their ego if they don't make it, or if they make a mistake, I mean it's magnified so much more."

"I'm amazed more people don't commit suicide, do you know what I mean?" he added.

Wood recently said that his early career was "one long audition to join The Rolling Stones". The guitarist joined the band in 1975 after stints in The Birds, The Creation and the Faces.

"You’d see the Stones around and my ambition was always to be one of them," Wood told Uncut. "I never thought The Birds would be the next Stones. They were just a stepping stone. The limitations were obvious and it was no surprise when it ground to a halt. It was a great learning curve... but I had higher ambitions.

"Sometimes I feel that my whole career with The Birds, Jeff Beck and The Faces was one long audition to join The Rolling Stones. I still think of myself as a fan as much as a band member. When I first heard their stirring music coming from the tent at the Richmond Jazz And Blues festival in 1963 something happened inside me and I knew that was the band I wanted to be in.

"The thought of being in the Stones is what gave me the drive to carry on. It was the atmosphere that lured me as much as the music, the raggedness, the glory, the image – it looked like a good job."

[www.nme.com]

Love Ronnie. Met him in Seattle and he was the nicest guy on the planet.

Maybe this is old news but...........(I haven't read or heard this before....

I just had a letter from a friend of mine who went to the Cheltenham book festival and heard Ron talking....

Ron said......that "the Stones would be back in the studio before the end of the year to start work on a new album but at the moment there no plans to play the UK next year".........



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2015-10-27 13:33 by EddieByword.

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EddieByword
Maybe this is old news but...........(I haven't read or heard this before....

I just had a letter from a friend of mine who went to the Cheltenham book festival and heard Ron talking....

Ron said......that "the Stones would be back in the studio before the end of the year to start work on a new album but at the moment there no plans to play the UK next year".........

This is fantastic.

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pepganzo

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EddieByword
Maybe this is old news but...........(I haven't read or heard this before....

I just had a letter from a friend of mine who went to the Cheltenham book festival and heard Ron talking....

Ron said......that "the Stones would be back in the studio before the end of the year to start work on a new album but at the moment there no plans to play the UK next year".........

This is fantastic.

Good news about the album. I hope they play in the UK. I miss them!

Have you read Ronnie's book? It's full of wonderful fiction!!!

New Album is fine. Please find a new producer! The Don Was era has been a disaster.

this seems entirely plausible. they're doing the South America/Cuba thing next year...at this point a new album would at least give them a new theme, even if they don't actually play any of the songs on the tour.

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StonesNYc
New Album is fine. Please find a new producer! The Don Was era has been a disaster.

Agreed. Horrible choice. As were the mix of producers for B2B.

I think their "working time" is limited to 16 weeks or less per year (a bit like working in France....) so 2 full tours plus finishing-off an album next year seems unlikely

So the SA tour starts Feb 3rd, that gives them only a month to "start work on a new album" (what does that even mean?). They probably need to go back after the SA tour, and then it will be ready after the summer 2016 ?

Let's not forget that Don Was is only one of three producers..

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StonesNYc
New Album is fine. Please find a new producer! The Don Was era has been a disaster.

..Ronnie said "before the end of the year"..hurry up.!..only 2 months left..!

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treaclefingers
this seems entirely plausible. they're doing the South America/Cuba thing next year...at this point a new album would at least give them a new theme, even if they don't actually play any of the songs on the tour.

I'm not sure what you mean.. "Zip Code" has given them lots of potential themes. For example:

2016: "postal code tour"

i see this as having various sub themes for different countries, for example in Brazil it would be the Código de Endereçamento Postal (CEP) Tour

next, we move on to phone numbers:

2017: "area code tour"
2018: "country code tour"

I'm told that they are considering "Brrrr" as the title of the new album, by the way.

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desertblues68

Quote
pepganzo

Quote
EddieByword
Maybe this is old news but...........(I haven't read or heard this before....

I just had a letter from a friend of mine who went to the Cheltenham book festival and heard Ron talking....

Ron said......that "the Stones would be back in the studio before the end of the year to start work on a new album but at the moment there no plans to play the UK next year".........

This is fantastic.

Good news about the album. I hope they play in the UK. I miss them!

Good news indeed! Thanks, EddieByword.