Most were vintage Fender Telecasters. “They look alike, they sound alike, but they play different.”
Richards named his Keith Richards Micawber to make it easy for his tech to give him the one he wanted. “Stupid names,” he said with a throaty laugh. “Malcolm. Micawber. You know, ‘Get me Micawber!’”
The Stones were at Nellcôte, the 16-room mansion Richards had rented in a Côte d’Azur villa to record what would become “Exile on Main Street,” a remastered version of which, with 10 previously unavailable tracks, will be released on May 18. Nellcôte was filthy with drug users, drug dealers, hangers-on and minor celebrities. Local criminals in the south of France were aware of the all-but-open-door policy at the compound.
