And so “Crossfire Hurricane,” the documentary about the early days of the Rolling Stones, had its premiere last night at the Ziegfeld Theater. The Stones appeared– Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood, Charlie Watts. Their combined ages are 405. Anyway, they looked pretty good. Interestingly, as they were exiting up the aisle at the Ziegfeld, someone started yelling, “Ronnie Wood!” Keith Richards, the most amiable of the group, chuckled right back: “Hey Ronnie, you’ve been recognized!”
Standing before the crowd, Jagger spoke for the group–natch. He joked about the low price HBO paid for the film, directed by Brett Morgen. The film is an editing triumph that starts very strong and kind of tails off at the end. It finishes really in 1972 with “Exile on Main Street,” then lurches forward to “Miss You” in 1978 and shows a bit of Martin Scorsese’s “Shine a Light” from 2008. What happened to all the other years since ’72? No one knows. It just ends. But Stones fans will see a lot of great lost footage creatively combined to make for an entertaining film. “Crossfire Hurricane” debuts on HBO on Thursday.
Afterwards, the Stones had a strictly no press party at the Top of the Standard. That doesn’t bode well for the three dates they’re playing in the New York area. It’s hard to say who exactly attended the party since there were no celebs at the screening.
The Stones may not have known they were being skunked, celebrity wise, about 14 blocks south. Paul McCartney’s son-in-law, Simon Aboud (married to successful photographer Mary), was screening a feature film he directed at the Bryant Park Hotel. So it was really a Stones vs. Beatles night in New York, although no one knew it.
I would tell you about the film but the incompetent weasels handling it, called Hook PR ( as in ‘get the hook’) botched the whole deal. These weasels even lied about having screeners. I’m sure the film is good, whatever it is, since Aboud is said to be an advertising whiz from London. He’s made a couple of interesting short films, too. I do know that McCartney, wife Nancy, Elvis Costello, and Steve and Jo Buscemi were all supposedly there. I hope they enjoyed it. If Aboud wants someone to distribute his film and buy tickets to it, he’d better hire PMK or 42 West or Falco, pronto.
