out a plea bargain that included a benefit show for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, and he was allowed to enter the United States for drug treatment.
Several years ago, Keith Richards made a public service announcement urging the youth of the world to stay off drugs. Jokes abounded, mostly about how the kids couldn't do any more drugs, because Keith had already done them all. But who better to serve as the poster child for the dangers of drug use than a hugely talented, but faintly crumbled, middle-aged man who survived a heroin addiction that would have killed the heartiest of men. Richards survived it all — the drugs, the women, the Boy Scouts (he joined at 13 but soon dropped out), Altamont, a 40-some-year friendshiprecord, the critically acclaimed Talk Is Cheap. He went out on the road with his backup band, The X-pensive Winos, and released a live album and video of the tour.
The Stones have had an incredible run, and they obviously are not quite ready to slow down, if their extensive tour in support of their 1997 album, Bridges to Babylon, is any indication. Richards seems indestructible at this point, although he doesn't recommend anyone live life as he has; he chalks up his durability to "sturdy stock." Richards will most likely go the way of the great bluesmen he admires so much, who continued to play the music they loved right into their old age. As Richards says, "To me, the main thing about living on this planet is