Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards brought a rock-star edge to the 3rd annual Norman Mailer Center Gala, held at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York City, on November 8, 2011.
As previously reported, Richards was honored with the Distinguished Biography award for "Life," his best-selling, critically acclaimed 2010 memoir. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton made an introductory speech before Richards received his award. James Fox, who co-wrote the book, also attended the gala
Richard's wife, Patti Hansen, accompanied him at the event. The couple's daughter Theodora was also there.
Other celebrities at the literary gala ( hich was presented by the Norman Mailer Center and the Norman Mailer Writers Colony) included singer Tony Bennett, fashion mogul Tommy Hilfiger, filmmaker Jonathan Demme, writer Gay Talese, media executive Tina Brown and author Elie Weisel, who was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award.
The Associated Press reports:
"This is one for the books, if you get my drift — you hacks," the 67-year-old Rolling Stones guitarist joked Tuesday as he accepted the Mailer Prize for Distinguished Biography, a prize earned by his million-selling memoir "Life."
Wearing tinted glasses, a long scarf around his neck and a wide red band around his sprawl of salt and pepper hair, Richards stood before hundreds dressed in suits and gowns at the Mandarin Hotel in Manhattan and loosened up as if presiding over a celebrity roast. He chuckled. He swore. He reasoned that since he had been writing — songs — since age 16, his appearance at a literary event was not a total "intrusion."
It had been an evening of earnest speeches about the importance of writing and education, about the disparity of wealth and the lasting lessons of the Holocaust, the latter point articulated by Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel, winner of the Mailer prize for lifetime achievement.
"You've heard from some incredible people about some serious stuff," Richards acknowledged, before bringing the subject to his own demons, his longtime heroin addiction. "The only serious stuff I'm interested in I've given up” ….
Bill Clinton, who introduced Richards, was for once a supporting star. The former president called Richards "my friend" and "a good guy," and repeatedly plugged "Life," which was originally titled "My Life," the same as Clinton's memoir, until Richards decided it was best to get to the point and dispense with "My." Clinton noted that his late mother-in-law, Dorothy Rodham, was an avid fan.
"Do you have any idea what it's like to have a 92-year-old groupie living in your home, a woman who lived and breathed for the Rolling Stones?" Clinton said of Rodham, who died Nov. 1. He remembered attending a Stones concert a few years ago at the Beacon Theater in Manhattan, a show filmed for Martin Scorsese's documentary "Shine a Light." Rodham arrived early and stood on line just for the chance to see Richards, "to faint."
Not long ago, Richards came to visit with Clinton and family in the Caribbean. He charmed Rodham, who changed her clothes just for the occasion, and made a point of kissing her hello and kissing her goodbye.
"What am I, chopped liver?" Clinton wondered as he recalled the star-struck mother of his wife, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. "It was beautiful. He gives her an autographed copy of the book; she had already bought one on her own; she had already read it. I said, 'Dorothy, what did you think?' And she said, 'I always did like those bad boys.'"
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