Room 1009

Some families are Muslim. Some families are Jewish or Catholic. Our family is Rolling Stonish. We have followed the goings on of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, (Bill Wyman, Brian Jones, Mick Taylor, and Ronnie Wood) the way normal people watch their favorite baseball team or coolest uncles' antics. From an early age I can remember setting up a war fort or space scene in the basement while I created my own unfilmed videos to "Paint It Black" and "2000 Light Years From Home".

My brothers and I each have a favorite Stone, mine and Matt's being Charlie, the silent drummer who looks like he's putting up with the stage shows more than living them up. He's the anchor of the band, literally and figuratively. His drum set establishes the center of the stage around which the other players orbit like drunken comets, while his stable demeanor has helped see his band mates through cracked marriages and almost admirable, if it weren't so copious and destructive, drug and alcohol abuse. If bodies are temples, this group is a rain soaked, smoldering tent city.



So it was with great anticipation that I finally watched "Shine A Light", the Rolling Stones and Martin Scorsese collaborative rockumentary released in early April '08. I hadn't seen it in the theater when it came out because I was saving for a trip back to Michigan. When I came back, the Pixie was in town and it wasn't a movie she felt the urge to see. By the time September rolled around, the movie was out of the theaters, even the second runs, and I would have to wait for the DVD. I told J I wanted it for Christmas and he delivered the goods with glee last week.

When I first heard of the project, I was ecstatic that Martin Scorsese was the director. Not only because he rules as a director, but because he has a great history with the band and wouldn't treat them as just some rock oddity who's managed to struggle their old bones through a performance. He relishes and uses their music to form a girder on which he builds the often harsh stories he tells about the underworld. Next time you're watching "Casino" or "The Departed" or "Goodfellas", have a listen. He's subtle about it, but their gritty tunes are what he wipes the used knives on after the gruesome mob retributions explode. This movie was going to be that of a friend's perspective, rather than a snuff exploitation of an aging rock band.

I did have a bone to pick with Marty, though. I was disappointed with the title "Shine A Light" for completely selfish reasons. That is in my top 3 favorite Stones songs and I didn't want to share. It killed my soul a little to think about some ignorant college freshman dumbass grooving to my song without understanding the full scope of its awesomeness. That it was conceived from the pain of two broken souls losing their dear doomed friend in the throes of addiction and it was birthed on, in my opinion, the greatest rock album of all time, Exile on Main St. three years after said friend's death. But then I took a step back. Maybe this song would be sacrificed on the altar of rock education and teach that kid something about what real music should sound like. Maybe that song would move her to set aside (or better yet smash under a bulldozer) her Ashlee Simpson CD and delve into the history of the song and the band. And I could live with that.

As I watched the movie last night, two moments stood out. During a fantastic rendition of "Far Away Eyes", a song with a fun country twist, Mick and Keith come together to sing a bar of the chorus and Keith casually, and seemingly instinctively puts both arms loosely around Mick's shoulders, as if that's where they were meant to be. It was made more beautiful by the pure incidental nature of the gesture. Keith may have been just trying to hold himself upright, but to me, it was an easy comradery reserved for musical spouses celebrating their union in the only way they know how.

The second, and most moving moment was in the Behind the Scenes featurette which showcased both Martin Scorsese's mastery of images, and the essence of the band. It was before the show, after sound check and the meet and greet of the VIPs (that included President and Senator Clinton). Mick is glad handing some guests off to the side, Charlie is off the scene, and Keith is sitting on the farthest stool from the Mick crowd, alone with his guitar and working through a song that sounds nothing like the Stones genre of music. He's content and playing, his fingers gnarled from overuse are plucking at the strings of an acoustic guitar. He looks up for a moment to smile at the camera man, and then looks down to lose himself in the music.

Fade to black, but not fade away....