During
rare nights-off from the Rolling Stones’ constant tour, their
saxophonist-sideman, Tim Ries is allowed to book gigs for his “Rolling Stone
Project” at nearby jazz clubs. When I saw him play Dazzle in Denver, Ronnie
Wood was also there, checking out the show incognito in the back. It was nice
to see him digging the music. As the last full official band-member, Wood has
an interesting place in rock & roll history, but he wasn’t plucked out of
obscurity. Wood reflects on his career in music and chaos that came with it in
Mike Figgis’s documentary profile Somebody Up There Likes Me, which would
have screened at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, had the CCP and their loyal
stooges at WHO not lied to the world regarding human-to-human transmission of
the coronavirus.
Figgis
has always been very hands-on composing music for his films. He is probably
best-known for Leaving Las Vegas, but his subsequent career has been
very up-and-down. Fortunately, his approach with Wood is quite similar to Red,
White, and Blues, his laidback contribution to Martin Scorsese’s PBS
anthology, The Blues. Figgis’s musical background also presumably helped
build rapport with Wood, who discusses health and addiction issues with great
frankness.
Figgis
does not interview a lot of talking heads, but the ones he does are pretty impressive,
including fellow Stones Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Charlie Watts. He also
talks to fellow Faces member Rod Stewart, Imelda May (who played with Wood
early in her career), and Wood’s wife, Sally. We also get to hear Wood
rehearsing informally in the studio.
