I was reading this story about how George W. Bush’s people are trying to book a hotel room in Austria for a summit meeting in June, but Mick Jagger’s already taken the room (because the Stones are playing there in June) and he won’t give it up. Of course I chuckled a bit, enjoying whatever frustration this might have cause The Decider in Chief.
But then I got to thinking, this room costs $5,000 per day! It’s reputed to be among the 100 best hotel rooms in the world, whatever that might mean. It has chandeliers and oil paintings. So what’s the President doing staying in a place like that? Is that right? I won’t even say how long I would have to work at my crummy job to make the amount of money Bush would spend on that room in one night (if he could book it, heh, heh…), but it seems to me that the head of a pluralistic democracy ought to be a little more careful with the taxpayers’ money. I mean, don’t you think?
And as long as I was thinking deep thoughts, this is what I pondered next: Mick Jagger staying in a $5,000 hotel room. Huh. Seems pretty cool at first. But work with me here. Mick’s been in the band for over forty years. They had it rough for maybe two years before what we now call The British Invasion. After that he was rich beyond any possible dream of a postwar working class Brit, and the party has never stopped.
For a few years there must have been a sense of unreality as the fame and money flowed in. Like any young guy with sudden unbelievable good fortune, he (and his bandmates) no doubt committed some excesses, although I’m not sure I ever 
believed that story about Keith Richard detoxing by having all his blood drained and replaced at a secret Swiss clinic in the seventies. I won’t go into all my suspicions. Let’s just say they probably tried everything at least once during those early years.
But it must have gotten progressively more difficult to be thrilled as time went on. How much blow can you do, how many groupies can you have, how many pairs of handmade Italian boots can you wear, how many Maseratis can you trash? And now here’s Mick, 40-plus years on, routinely staying at the Imperial Hotel in Vienna for $5,000 a day.
I’ve always thought I’d like to know how it feels to have more money than I’d know what to do with, and don’t get me wrong here: I think Jagger is smart enough to keep himself amused, but I wonder if sometimes, after everyone’s left and he’s alone sipping cognac in that room by the flickering light of a crystal chandelier, he doesn’t think back to the hardscrabble days, going to art school, buying imported American R&B 45’s, smoking cigarettes, drinking coffee and talking the night away with his friends about blues and babes.
Do you ever think about stuff like that?
Sure, I think about stuff like that. But I can relate to it this way.
When my best friend and I were roommates back in the early 80s, we didn’t have two nickels to rub together. And we would actually stop to get gas and put a quarter’s worth in the tank. (Of course we only had a quarter left because we had spent the rest of our money at the bars over the weekend.)
And while we had a *blast* back then — and I’m not at the $5,000 a day hotel level either — I hope not to go back to the quarter-in-the-tank days.
Funny thing though. My best friend is now one of the Super Rich. Stayed on their yacht with 7 bathrooms last year…doubt she’d go back either.
I’d stay with Mick in that choice location if he asked me, but the chances of him asking anybody who isn’t famous or isn’t stacked and gorgeous is infinitely small. He’s a user, whether we like him or not. Like Elton John once said: “It’s my money; I’ll spend it!”
Blue – You can never go home again. But as life piles on layer after layer of responsibility, like scratchy wool blankets, I get wistful for a simpler time. Did you ever see the Twilight Zone episode “Next Stop, Willoughby”? Today I would totally get off at that station.
Ron – I wonder if such an insane level of luxury is something you only want if you don’t have it. And I’m sure that when they started, The Rolling Stones weren’t expecting it, but Life made love to them. Others just got fucked.
Not really, but now that you bring it up, it’s interesting to think about. I’m sure he looks back on his salad days with fondness, but would he go back to them? I doubt it. He’s a guy who can afford to spend $5,000 a night on a hotel room and continues to impregnate ever-younger models, so what’s he got to complain about?
Steph – It’s all about the impregnation and the babies and the motherhood with you, isn’t it? Have you ever considered that maybe poor Mick feels lost in a world that doesn’t understand him? I didn’t think so.
I just thought about how funny it was that Jagger wouldn’t give up the room for Dubya. Go Jagger!
Between not giving up his room and his song “Neocon,” Mick rocks! But it’s sad that a Brit can see George W more clearly than many Americans.
L – Yeah, Mick is garnering new fans at age 80. And now he’s gonna be in a sitcom!
Anna – Around the world, everybody sees the truth.
I like the idea that Bush should stay at Motel 8. Hell, maybe he should just stay on AirForce One. It’s there being guarded anyways.
Go Mick!
He’s probably never even heard of Motel 8 (didn’t it used to be Motel 6?).