Somebody up there really did like Ronnie Wood
In the last few years, rock documentaries seem to be the in-thing. Most of them have been mediocre or even worse, but at least you get to see and hear music on a big screen with excellent sound. I can think of worse ways to spend two hours.
In 2019. Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood dropped his roc-doc "Somebody Up There Likes Me." I thought this could be interesting. Woody has been a major figure in two bands, the Stones and the Faces, without being the frontman. We've learned quite a bit about him during his more than half-century in the rock and roll limelight, but I figured there would be some good deep info about him.
Although the film made its North American debut at some film festivals, its early release was in Europe. Unless you headed across the pond, you needed to wait to see the film until 2020. But, then came the pandemic. Covid closed most of the art movie houses that would show such a film. It wasn't until two weeks ago that I was able to find a copy of the movie. I put in a request with my local library. They found it at another city's library and voila...."Somebody Up There Likes Me" was mine...well, mine for two weeks.
The plan was to watch it a couple of times and then write a review. Well, plans change.
It turned out that I was very disappointed in the film. It wasn't horrible, but it certainly wasn't great. There wasn't much new information about Wood's music, his art or his life. It was about ninety minutes of self-indulgent boring blah. When it ended, I decided I didn't need to see it again and also that I didn't need to review it. I thought it would be a waste of my time and the reader's.
But this week, something happened that made me change my mind. Ronnie Wood announced that he was diagnosed and had beaten cancer for a second time.
In 2017, Ronnie Wood dealt with lung cancer. He had surgery and didn't need chemo or any further treatment. Remember when he said, maybe somewhat facetiously that he wouldn't take chemotherapy because he didn't want to lose his hair? Luckily for him, he kept his hair and his life.
Now, in a recent interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Wood mentioned that he spent the last year dealing with another form of cancer:
“I’ve had cancer two different ways now. I had lung cancer in 2017 and I had small-cell more recently that I fought in the last lockdown. I came through with the all-clear.”
He didn't give out many details, but did say that his painting and his faith played a part in keeping him calm and helping with his recovery.
It's too bad that Woody's documentary wasn't produced in the last year because his cancer battle would have been a much more compelling story than what we saw in the film. It definitely would have earned the title of "Somebody Up There Likes Me."
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