Do you know Miles Marshall Lewis? He's a really talented writer and music journalist. Originally from the Bronx, he now lives in Paris, France, but still manages to lob a healthy amount of pieces across the water to The Village Voice and a host of other publications. His 33-1/3 book on Sly and The Family Stone's There's a Riot Going On is definitely worth checking out.
Anyway, here's some of what he had to say about being a black Rolling Stones fan:
I wasn’t aware how much of a race-man I’ve been my whole life till I
moved to France, where the blending of black and white is a lot less
self-conscious. Case in point: I like the Rolling Stones – I’m not their
biggest fan or anything, but fuck it, I can name at least 15 great
songs by them – and yet a slew of racial touchstones went through my
head last week watching Martin Scorsese’s Shine a Light concert film of the Stones. Stuff like:
Oh… isn’t it interesting that Mick Jagger doesn’t sing that line
anymore from “Some Girls” about how “black girls just want to get fucked
all night”? The song is in the film, but I guess that lyric is
politically incorrect circa 2008.And yet on “Far Away Eyes,” he still jokes about the “preacher
on the colored radio station” without being embarrassed.
Read the rest of his list here.
