I usually take the dogs to a specific park, but today I changed it up. I purposefully went to park closer to my local new agent. As soon as the dog finished doing their dirty work, I had to go check in on someone else's: Keef Richards.

Today is the day the London Times starts running a series of articles, interviews and excerpts from Keith Richards' new autobio, "Life".  I am as excited as can be for this new treasure trove of Keef's tall tales. The folks and lore of rock and roll will be on full display for all to read and revel in. 

John Lennon famously said that if "rock and roll had any other name it would be Chuck Berry". Fine. I love that brilliant quote. That being said, if rock and roll has a gatekeeper, a keeper of the flame, a keep on keepin' on flag waiver...it can be no one else than Keef Richards. No. One.

He is rock and roll. He didn't start it, but he became it. He gave it to it and dedicated his "Life" to it. Keith isn't the stereotype. Keith ins't the contrived caricature. Keith isn't the prototype. No, he is not even the debauched, archetypal rock and roll model that people claim him to be. Nope...he's just Keith Richards, guitar player. 

Ah, but what can a poor boy do, 'cept for play guitar in a rock and roll band. That is what we are going to get from this book: a look at Keef's life as the guitar player in a rock and roll band. It just so happens that this simple guitar player has led one of the most fantastic and fascinating lives of anyone in modern times.

Yes, the book should probably come with advisory warnings and police tape...but that would ruin all of the fun. From what I read in the Times article and "Life" excerpt today, this book is going to be a shit-load of fun. I was grinning from the moment I paid the man his one and a half quid for the paper to when read the last line of the article within it. 

You will too...and in case you aren't in the UK, you shouldn't be denied the opportunity to be happy. I have included here for you both the article in the Times and the "Life" excerpt from the Times magazine. The paper contains a brief overview of the whole Keef thing, but there are a couple other short ones that are cool, too.

One is with Anita Pallenberg. Don't miss it. I love the way she still talks of Keef with such respect and cock-sure confidence. The other about William Rees-Mogg. He wrote wrote, "Who Breaks a Butterfly on a Wheel"...the article that appeared in the London Times in 167 that helped reverse jail sentences for Keef & Mick. I also added a piece written by the current Times editor on Keef called, "Muddy Waters" (inside page 2).

Enjoy...as if I needed to tell you that. Sex, drugs and Keef Richards, indeed...

To top it all off, I through in a quick Keef Five'r of tunes: two live Winos tunes, one live version of Dead Flowers with Keef on vox and Willie, Sheryl Crowe and Ryan Adams playing along, one of the best liver performances of Keef ever and one of smoothes tunes buried on a critical clunker (but, fan fave rave) of aln album.