In 1972 the author Truman Capote was send on the 'Exile on Main st.' tour with The Rolling Stones throughout America by the music magazine
Rolling Stone. His assignment was to do a feature on the British band. Several months passed however, and the Rolling Stone editors still hadn't received the promised article by the famous writer.
With their great instinct for entertaining journalism, the editors armed now-iconic popartist Andy Warhol with a tape recorder and six questions, and send him to met Capote in New York. The result was a very informal and revealing interview, where (among many other things) Capote expresses his opinion about the phenomenon of The Rolling Stone.
The article was an almost word-for-word transcription of Warhol's tape recording, brought in the magazine as the cover story, and recently collected in the anthology
The Rolling Stone Interviews1.
Walking through the New York City Zoo, Capote starts of by expressing his opinion about lead singer Mick Jagger: "A) Jagger can't sing B) he can't dance C) he doesn't know shit about music" What he does know, according to Capote, is how to act and perform "he (Jagger) has this extraordinary talent for being totally extrovert (...) but he don't know how to do any of the things he's supposed to do".
Andy is not really paying attention to Capote's opinions, and two times suggest that they go to a bar, so he can ask his questions and get a Grand Marnier, Capote agrees and orders a a J&B on the rocks, with water on the side.
Andy opens up with the first question "What was the problem with writing the article?". Capote states that for him to do a reportage, there has to be a certain element of mystery in it for him, something for him to uncover, and the tour didn't have that, it was very staged - psychologically, and all the people surrounding the band (record company people, managers etc.) were pathetic. All of them fighting each other about who were closest to the band.
Andy asks Capote about the "Airplane screw". Capote tells about a young doctor - Dr. Feelgood he calls him - from San Fransisco, who would go around the plane offering from a big tray of drugs, and who had something of a lolita-complex. He would pick up 13-14 year old young girls at concerts and get them back on the plane. He did that with a high school girl, looking for an interview for her school paper, and while he had sex with her the swiss photographer Robert Frank - filming for his documentary
Cocksucker Blues - filmed the whole scene.
This was in no way a rarity either, Capote elaborates, both boys and girls would get with anyone who had the slightest connection to the tour.
Capote finishes of the interview by saying that there wasn't anything positive about the tour, except for the kids who would stand in line for days, and keep applauding long after the band had boarded their plane and left for the next city, but who where always thought of as "nothing". He did enjoy himself though, and feels no remorse for not having written the article.
The article ends with a strange conversation between Truman Capote and a woman in the bar:
Woman "Excuse me Mr. Capote. Next time your having a party, make your friends wear these"
Capote "Oh you'r so sweet..."
Andy "What is it?"
Capote "Who knows?"
1. I unfortunately only have access to a Danish translation, so all quotations will be my translation back to English.
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