Sounds like Mick’s trying to pull a neo-con job
THE ROLLING STONES’ upcoming album contains a song seemingly critical of President Bush, but Mick Jagger denies it’s directed at the chief executive.
“It is not really aimed at anyone,” Jagger says. “It’s not aimed, personally aimed, at President Bush. It wouldn’t be called ‘Sweet Neo Con’ if it was.”
The song from “A Bigger Bang,” set for release Sept. 6, does not mention Bush or Iraq by name. But it does refer to military contractor Halliburton (formerly run by Vice President Dick Cheney), which has been awarded key Iraq contracts, and the rising price of gasoline.
“How come you’re so wrong? My sweet neo-con, where’s the money gone, in the Pentagon,” goes one refrain.
The song also includes the line: “It’s liberty for all, democracy’s our style, unless you are against us, then it’s prison without trial.”
“It is certainly very critical of certain policies of the administration, but so what. Lots of people are critical,” Jagger says.
Like a bankrolling stone
Speaking of the Stones, if you’ve got a spare $100,000, you can catch their act in the company of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
That’s the price for joining Schwarzenegger in a luxury box at the band’s Aug. 21 show at Boston’s Fenway Park. The event will cap a multistate fund-raising swing for Schwarzenegger’s Nov. 8 special election.
Schwarzenegger also will host a private reception before the show for 40 guests who give $10,000 each.
Having a heavenly body helps
Pharrell Williams of the Grammy-winning production duo The Neptunes tops Esquire’s second annual list of the “Best Dressed Men in the World.”
Esquire credits Williams with “injecting dressed-up luxury into hip-hop style and thereby influencing a new generation of guys to consider more than just a pair of baggy jeans a reflection of their youthful vitality.”
Says Williams: “It’s never about whether I’m the best-dressed guy in the room. … Instead it’s about comfort and the flow.”
Clean and sober? More like dirty liar
Rocker Courtney Love has been ordered to return to court on Friday for a review after she flunked a drug test and violated probation on her latest assault conviction.
At Comedy Central’s roast for Pamela Anderson on Sunday, Love proclaimed herself “clean and sober.” But authorities say she failed a drug test last month when she was hospitalized after fainting at a party.
Everybody must get …
Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone has pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of possession of marijuana while driving.
Stone was arrested at a drunk driving checkpoint on May 27. In 1999, he pleaded guilty to marijuana possession and driving under the influence.
Quoteworthy
Rolling Stone Keith Richards, on the difference between him and Mick Jagger: “Mick has to get up in the morning with a plan – who he’s going to call, what he’s going to eat, where he’s going to go. Me, I wake up, praise the Lord, then make sure all the phones are turned off. If we were a mum-and-pop operation, then he’d be Mum.”
The birthday bunch
Actor Pat Harrington (“One Day at a Time”) is 76. Singer Don Ho is 75. Actor Kevin Tighe (“Emergency,” “Murder One”) is 61. Actress Gretchen Corbett (“The Rockford Files”) is 58. Singer Dan Fogelberg is 54. Radio host Danny Bonaduce is 46. Actress Quinn Cummings (“Family”) is 38. Country singer Andy Griggs is 32.