Those poor bastards.

I’m talking about the Stones, of course. They’ve got problems aplenty these days, and it’s really not their fault, so we should pat ’em on the back and give ’em a helping hand, maybe with a tablet of speed in it to get their next album or at least their current spirits out of the doldrums.

You may think I’m being condescending, but I’m not. The Stones are popstars, light years from where you and I sit in stucco puzzling out whether Goat’s Head Soup is their latest triumph or the epitaph of old men or just. .. the Stones can still put us through those kinds of changes, like when so many people gave months to (the challenge of Exile Ori Main Street, and came up winners because it paid off so monolithically.

The only question remaining in this cozy situation, then, is:

Q: What if the Stones no lotiger pay off?

A. No. 1: You desert ’em. After all, they’re justa buncha old men.

A. No. 2: What kind of friend are you? You grew up with these cats! Christ, are there no values -left in this lousy culchuh?