Keith Richards

Disarmingly candid, charmingly cantankerous and yet not at all impolite, Keith Richards--who, with the rest of the Rolling Stones, last year signed a mammoth deal with Virgin Records--is probably the wealthiest man alive with whom even the lowliest commoner would feel completely at home in a smoke-filled beer bar. Not that commoners or anyone else are likely to spot Richards, 48, hanging out much these days.

"The Stones at the IMAX" it ain't. And that ain't bad. This hourlong video document of a single concert from Richards' only tour as a solo artist, like the Keefer-man's own timeworn visage, isn't much to look at. Ostensibly shot strictly for his personal archives on low-budget 16 millimeter and finally unvaulted by popular demand, it's competently shot and almost inert by today's concert-vid standards.

Lots of musicians would consider it a career highlight to play with a musical legend, but pianist Johnnie Johnson has done it at opposite ends of a 40-plus-year career. In 1952, he hired a local singer-guitarist in St. Louis to fill out his trio for a New Year's Eve show: Chuck Berry. In late 1990, he recorded his first major-label album, "Johnnie B. Bad," for Elektra's American Explorer series, and a couple of rock guitarists pitched in: Keith Richards and Eric Clapton.

If there's anything as certain as a live album after a Rolling Stones tour, it's another round of interviews by Mick and Keith to promote the album. In contrast to the increasingly reclusive nature of such American superstar-class pop and rock stars as Michael (Billion Dollar) Jackson, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Prince, the Stones continue to hit the publicity trail.

The Rolling Stones canceled a concert in Wales tonight because lead guitarist Keith Richards has an infected finger. "The decision to cancel was apparently only made at midnight when Keith consulted doctors. His septic finger was too bad for him to play," said Stones' spokesman Neil Friedman. A crowd of 30,000 was expected at Cardiff Arms Park, the city's national rugby stadium, as part of the band's Urban Jungle tour of Europe.

This beggar's banquet of performances, new and old interviews, newsreels, home movies et al certainly spans the ages. When it starts, Keith looks like Alfalfa, and, at the end (last year), Charlie looks like his own grandfather.

It was easy to tell from the length of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards' answers which one was more interested in talking about the Rolling Stones' past. Jagger, nursing a slight cold in his dressing room before the first of the band's two sold-out concerts at 50,000-capacity R.F.K. Stadium, was good-natured enough to give his reactions to a reporter's list of 10 favorite Rolling Stones songs.

For months, Keith Richards fans have been able to buy compact discs of "Talk Is Cheap"--the Rolling Stones guitarist's solo album debut--for the usual $13 to $15 retail price. But those fans are now being offered the chance to buy the same music on CD for $24.98--and Virgin Records executive Jeff Ayeroff thinks it's a deal that at least 15,000 fans won't be able to resist. The lure is in the packaging.

Attention arena and stadium managers: You can start blocking out some dates. The Stones are talking about rolling again. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, whose widely publicized feud has contributed to keeping the celebrated English rock band from touring since 1981, didn't make a formal tour announcement Wednesday night as the Stones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame--along with Stevie Wonder, Dion, the Temptations and the late Otis Redding.