Keith Richards

Happy Birthday, Keith Richards.

80 years old today.

I believe the magic comes from being in sync with who you are at all times and acting accordingly. The man has lived his life his way, and continues to do so. Imagine the reduction in stress in your life if you could just be who you are in every waking moment without second guessing yourself or compromising or putting on an act.

Most of us cannot do that, strange as that may sound. Most of us pay a price.

We watched Willie Nelson's 90th birthday concert last night. Another man who knows exactly who he is and puts it out there every day. Precious moment - Keith Richards sang a duet with Willie on a song titled Live Forever, written by Billie Joe Shaver. Spectacular.

The concert was great. Kris Kristofferson was there, a man that I love. 87 years old. Broke my heart, though - he has been through some health shit. Wore him down. His eyes were vacant - it was like he wasn't even there.

Another aside: December 8 - belatedly:

Happy birthday, Gregg Allman. RIP.

Happy birthday, Jim Morrison. RIP

FUCK YOU Mark David Chapman. Rot in your cell, and rot in hell when you get there, fucking scumbag.

Anyway, Keith Richards is 80 years old today. I love the man. Always have. There is a joy about him, as there is with Willie, because he lives his life beautifully. When you figure out early on why you have been put on this earth, and you live your life in harmony with your heart and your soul and your mind all along the way, you become a walking talking beacon of light and hope.

And when you break all the rules getting there, your persona carries even more weight.

Keith used heroin for 10 years. He kicked the habit. He used every drug available to him at one time or another, which is essentially every drug available on planet earth. He drank oceans of whiskey.

Willie drank oceans of whiskey. When he quit that, he smoked megatons of pot.

What does all that prove? There are no fucking rules. Do whatever works for you as long as you know where your personal line in the sand lies. What you can handle and what you cannot.

But what makes Willie and Keith who they are, is that they transcend all that. That's all anybody wants to talk about - Willie's pot smoking and Keith's decadence. But they are about a lot more than that - a whole hell of a lot more.

That's why we love them.

Happy 80th Birthday, Keith Richards.

I know you are having a hell of a great day.