Donald Trump and Keith Richards
In December of 1989, the Rolling Stones were near the end of a US tour, and the idea of their adding a pay-per-view concert to the end of the tour was floated. I might add that this was exactly twenty years after the disastrous concert at Altamont, when the Stones faced similar problems arranging that free concert at the end of their 1969 tour. The main problem in each case was finding a venue on very short notice. The 1989 tour manager Michael Cole tried Las Vegas without result and turned to Atlantic City where he found a venue available. But the deal would have to include Donald Trump as one of the producers. When Cohl told the Stones of Trump’s involvement, their reaction Cohl said was, “We’re not going to be affiliated with Donald Trump. At all. Screw you.”
Possibly the Stones were thinking back to the violence at Altamont which culminated with one of the Hells Angels stabbing to death a man waving a gun in front of the stage while the Stones were playing. Whatever. Kohl told them he would “manage” Trump, and finally the Stones relented and agreed to a deal under three conditions: Trump could do no news conferences. He could not attend the concert. And he could not even be on the premises.
The night of the show began inauspiciously–as events had at Altamont. Trump gave himself top billing: “Donald Trump Presents The Rolling Stones.” Keith Richards was livid. It got worse. Just as in so many other situations in his life, something bad on his account he proceeded to make worse. As someone said of him, the only time he stops shooting himself in the foot is when he stops to reload.
After the billing became known, Kohl was told that Trump was giving a press conference in the room where the Stones were to give their pre-concert press conference. Kohl went to Trump and reminded him of the conditions he had agreed to. Trump protested, “But Michael, they begged me…they begged me.” Kohl stood firm and Trump left. A short time later while Kohl was with the Stones, a crew member came and said that Trump was back at it.
At that point Keith Richards pulled out a large stainless-steel pocket knife, stuck it in the table and said to Kohl, “What the hell do I have you for? Do I have to go over there and fire him myself? One of us is leaving the building. Either him or us.”
Kohl went back to Trump whose response was a predictable escalation. He was furious. He said, “You don’t know anything! Your guys suck!”
Trump had with him according to Kohl “three shtarkers.” Thugs, that is. Two of them put on gloves, the third a set of brass knuckles. Kohl called the head of Stones security on his walkie-talkie and said he had a problem and needed some help. The head of security must have previously had dealings with Trump and anticipated accordingly. He told Kohl to look behind himself. Kohl saw forty members of the security crew walking in with tire irons, hockey sticks and screw drivers in hand. Kohn turned back to Trump and said, “Now are you gonna go, Donald?”
Trump and his thugs slouched out. This time for good.
In May of 2016 when Trump was winning primaries and looking like the certain Republican nominee, the Atlantic City episode was mentioned to Keith Richards in a BBC interview. Richards’ reply was, “Now America has to get rid of him. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
https://web.archive.org/web/20150825111054/http://www.pollstar.com/news_article.aspx?ID=819781
Last edited by: tungsten on June 20, 2020, 1:14 a.m., edited 1 time in total.
