Rolling Stones Don't Sell Out, for Once

Rolling Stones  | Bruce Paltrow 

Rolling Stones Don't Sell Out, for Once

So many times the Stones have been accused of selling out. Now, they can't get arrested.

How frightening is this? Last night at 10 p.m. I was still able to reserve a row of 12 $300 tickets for tonight's Stones show in Washington. The seats are Section A4, Row 24, Seats 16 to 27.

It's not just the $300 seats that are available either. I was able to reserve a row of $90 spots too, Section 125, Row 12, Seats 8 to 17. The situation seems to be the same in other cities, where I was able to reserve rows of all denominations.

Of course, then there's the absolutely frightening cover of Rolling Stone that depicts Keith Richards as desiccated, or edgy for the AARP set. Aside from the small club shows, the Stones seem adrift, truly without purpose.

The only bright spot may be a top five finish next week for their Forty Licks greatest hits CD. But at $29.99 retail, it may be that most fans are going for the expensive CD instead of the outrageous live ticket. At least Mick doesn't forget the words.

Bruce Paltrow's Final Episode

What a shame about Bruce Paltrow, who died yesterday in Italy at age 58. He was visiting his daughter, Gwyneth, on the occasion of her 30th birthday.

Presumably, his wife Blythe Danner was in Los Angeles shooting her series, Presidio Med. What a weird irony since the theater- and movie-based Danner has almost never done series TV.

Anyway, I had the pleasure of meeting Paltrow a few times in recent years thanks mostly to Gwyneth's career. He was a sweet guy, completely unaffected and very talented.

He produced a lot of good TV but most importantly he produced St. Elsewhere, the best of all the hour-long dramas that have poured out of NBC since Hill Street Blues. Chicago Hope, ER, the new ones, the other ones, all the hospital shows pale by comparison.

St. Elsewhere was smart, the characters respected each other, the actors were top notch, and the writing was clever. I will never forget the episode in which a mental patient forced the doctors and nurses to pretend they were characters from The Mary Tyler Moore Show. I mean, come on. It was brilliant.

Paltrow battled throat cancer but his worst recent battle was with Disney over his movie Duets. It wasn't a great movie but it wasn't a bad one. Yet Disney decided to dump it before it had a chance.

A bunch of Paltrow's friends and admirers fought for him and Disney claimed they'd reneged. But in the end, they dumped it anyway. Interestingly, the movie produced a hit single on adult contemporary radio of Gwyneth and Huey Lewis singing Smokey Robinson's "Cruising," Paltrow, who'd picked the track, knew what he was doing.

A great guy, gone too soon.

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