Customer Reviews

Ronnie Wood's Smile: and where it led (Writer's Digest Award Winner)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This terrific book is full of revealing, detailed portraits, and the expressive accounts of the concerts themselves are rivaled only by Mullen's insights into the meaning of the highs and lows of rock star obsession. It also made me go back and listen to every Rolling Stones track I own--and helped me achieve new understanding of the dynamic musicianship of this amazing group. You'll love it.

"Wendy Mullen is probably the world's leading expert on Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones.  She writes with humor, intelligence, insight and a cinematic eye for detail.  She brings the knowledge of a scholar and the passion of a rock and roller to her work.  Any fan of the Stones, or anyone with an interest in popular culture, will enjoy this delightful book.
 

Eric Hamburg, author of "JFK, Nixon, Oliver Stone and Me"

A writer and musician, Wendy Ellison Mullen brings a very special expertise to bear in Ronnie Wood's Smile And Where It Led. A rock 'n roll insider, Wendy combines her abilities as a scholar, a writer, and a fan to share with her readers an engaging and informative account of the world of rock music with its roadies, concerts, life on the road, and the recording studios in general, and Ron Woods of the Rolling Stones in particular. Ronnie Wood's Smile And Where It Led is a terrific read from first page to last -- and one that no true Stones fan will want to miss!

I read this book straight through from 1 am til 9 am one night! What a book! As a starry eyed stones fan, how can you not love it?! The way she recreated the concerts is just amazing, I can feel my heart beating faster when she mentions things like 'Moving to the small stage' or 'Oh, she'll like that' (Her backstage pass phone call). The feeling I get at the concerts is like nothing else, and you captured it perfectly. I couldn't reccomend this book any higher, it's a must read for Stones Fans, Ronnie Fans, or Music fans alike. I just couldn't put it down.....

Ronnie Wood's Smile is a compelling story of what it is to be an avid live music fan. I am sure Wendy's experience is similar to fans of most groups today. The descriptions of the complexity of the music, instruments and equipment is also fascinating. Most intriguing is Wendy's excellent commentary on the development of internet functionality including cyber friends. My favorite quote: "So much of who we are has nothing whatever to do with what we say and think but how we interact in the world, and with how we smile." (p. 37)

This book was one of those that you pick up and you dont put it down until you've finished it. I thought it was very interesting, very personal, and I really liked the story, especially the ending. It was well written, and I would highly recommend it to any Stones fan, or any music fan who has had a "fan based" relationship with a musical artist or a band. Of course, the ending was great, and how appropriate that the lyric "You cant always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need", couldnt be more appropriate. Well Done!
John Lewis

Wendy's book was fun to read, as I share her Stones obsession in many ways. Nice to see it all from someone else's point of view. It was often thought provoking, with the questions she raises within herself while trying to stay on the right side of 'sane' and 'reasonable' in her fandom....and wondering sometimes, if she is succeeding. Interesting to see how the Stones and their music can take hold of a life....open new doors of creativity, enjoyment and excitement. Wendy traveled places she never knew she would go, met new people, learned to play the guitar, and played and sang in a band, wrote and recorded music and penned a book....all as a result of the Stones and their music. Ronnie Wood's smile and where it led......indeed!

This is a great book to read. Do you like biographies? Well, great. Do you like rock and roll? Well, great. Do you like The Rolling Stones? Well, great. Do you like Ronnie Wood?, SUPER!!!! This is a great read, funny, full of information, full of great stuff on RW. I started to read it and could not stop. The author is a great fan of RW but it also offers a nice balanced portrait. Please read the book, specially if you are a Rolling Stones/Ronnie Wood fan. Congratulations Wendy!!!!!!!

Ronnie Wood is one of the true rock greats. He has played with frankly everybody of any consequence, been a key figure in the greatest rock bands then extant (Jeff Beck, Faces, Rod Stewart, Rolling Stones), released quirky and touchingly charming solo albums, and guested onstage with talents large and small. While certainly no guitar virtuoso, his playing instead is honest and personal; he plays unlike anyone else I have heard. Throughout one gets the feeling of humor, great charm, and a love of performing. I love him.

Wendy Mullen loves him too; she loves him *a lot*. And this book is really her story, not Ronnie Wood's at all.

At a Stones concert in the mid-90s, Ronnie more or less randomly smiles one of his huge ear-to-ear grins into the crowd, Cupid's arrow strikes Wendy, and a tale of obsession begins. Intrigued and fascinated, she writes a fan letter and eventually a signed photo appears in her mail! Now she's a goner. Pursuing her fascination and new raison d'etre in any way she can, she comes across fan communities on the internet, and meets varied other monomaniancs in her travels. She and some new friends begin criss-crossing the country, and then other countries, following the Stones tours, and finding imaginative and sometimes successful ways of getting decent and even afforable tickets to sold-out shows, as close to the object of their affections as they can. They camp outside of the hotels the Stones are staying at, and make fun of the obviously stalking and dangerous, pathetic fanatics who are doing everything that Wendy et al are doing, but a few feet or inches closer to the hapless band members. They hurl objects like men's briefs or scarves onstage hoping for recognition from Wood for their loyalty and love. They dodge security to get closer to the stage, or even briefly backstage.

On rare occasion, Wendy gets a word or two from one of the Stones, even from Wood (mouthed to her in some huge concert venue from stage), more often from roadies and band employees, and gets backstage more than once. [...] Once home, having been face to face with her obsession and suddenly realized the gulf between them, she decides that there is no point in going on with this type of pursuit and 'releases' poor Woody, and herself, from her love. We are all relieved, including probably Wendy's husband.

The book, which has won actual literary prizes, is well written (Mullen reminds us time and again that she has a PhD in English lit), and the author has a keen eye for detail and there is an honest appreciation of irony (as when she and her friends look down on other stalkers). I did enjoy reading it, snideness above to the contrary. But I came away actually feeling pity for Wood and for all celebrities of his rank (and he doesn't even have to deal with the adulation Jagger gets). I have met Ron Wood at art shows, and must say that he is surprisingly approachable and charming. I have met other rock stars and can say that Wood is in that way quite an exception. But I have never had any illusions that somehow I can get Woody to pick up the phone on a Friday and invite me over for a Guiness or two.

Through the flowering of her obsession, Wendy has become hugely expert on Ron Wood's music and musical career, and her website, slideonron.com is strongly recommended for any Woody fan. But this book, well written and honest and in a way innocently and then not so innocently heartfelt, made me uneasy somehow.

This is a little jewel of a book written by a devoted fan of Ronnie Wood and the Stones. I have been a fan of Ronnie Wood's since his Faces days and regard him as one of Rock's greatest guitar players. Wendy's book is delightful and carries the reader through years of concerts, including the Not for Beginners concerts which resulted in the remarkable Far East Man DVD, one of the best concert DVD's money can buy, to the establishment of a great website and the production of a CD of Ronnie' tunes. A lot of insight into the world of the dedicated fan and the entire amazing subculture that has grown up around these people. I saw the Stones at the Boston Garden in 1969 and managed to park myself on the edge of the stage scant feet from the Stones and was totally blown away and therefore know that Wendy speaks from the heart with her book and her music. I am both envious of Wendy and happy for her amazing adventures that have led to her fine book. A must have for the Wood/Stones fan.