The Rolling Stones want everyone to know that Keith Richards hasn't suffered any brain damage--at least not stemming from his latest misadventure.
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A rep for the rock band has emphatically denied a report in the New Zealand Herald that the hard-living, accident-prone guitarist has undergone two surgeries for his head injury earlier this month and that his condition is much more serious than first thought. The spokeswoman claims that the coconut- (or Jet Ski-) induced incident--has been grossly overblown.
"Keith Richards did not undergo a second operation," Fran Curtis said in a statement Wednesday. "The first and only operation was done on Monday, May 8, and was 100 percent successful. There was no brain damage. He continues to improve as expected."
The statement was issued in response to a widely circulated report in the Herald Monday that the aging wild man had undergone an unreported surgery on Apr. 28, shortly after his initial injury, to stop bleeding in his skull.
The paper claimed that the 62-year-old received a craniotomy for a subdural hematoma, a blood clot that forms on the outer membranes of the brain, a major operation which requires drilling through and removing a portion of the skull.
The Herald also reported that although Richards was released after the first operation, he was readmitted Monday for a second surgery to release more pressure after passing out and suffering "major headaches." The Reuters news agency picked up the story and played up the possible brain damage angle.
Auckland's Ascot Hospital, where Richards was admitted, has declined to comment on any reports.
But Curtis insists Richards' surgery was minor, "a small operation to relieve the pressure" from a mild concussion, and that he was already on the road to recovery, having been "up and chatting, and phoning New York" since being released from the hospital.
Curtis continued to work damage control Wednesday, denying a second front-page report in Britain's Sun tabloid that the Rolling Stone's family had mounted a bedside vigil.
The paper claimed that the rocker's two daughters, 21-year-old Theodora and 19-year-old Alexandra, along with his missus, Patti Hansen, had flown to New Zealand to nurse their ailing patriarch back to health.
According to Mick Jagger's ex Jerry Hall, the Richards' family was indeed in New Zealand, but not because the guitarist was in any real danger.
"I hear that he is doing very well," she told reporters at a London charity event Wednesday, adding that she was in email contact with the family. "We are very upset about it. Mick is on holiday at the moment so he is hearing the same news we are."
Meanwhile, there's still no definitive answer on how Richards injured his head. The most persistent report is that the rocker fell while climbing a palm tree to pick coconuts at a Fiji resort on Apr. 27, while others have claimed he suffered the injury in a watercraft crash. (Richards has a history of odd mishaps, most notably a 1998 rib-cracking tumble from a ladder at his home library in Connecticut.)
Whatever the cause, Richards' latest injury has put a crimp in the Rolling Stones' touring schedule. The band had been set to kick off a 35-gig European run on May 27. The band's spokeswoman confirmed that the tour is still set to go on as planned with Richards some time in June.
Rearranged dates for the A Bigger Bang tour are expected to be announced later this month.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/eo/20060510/en_music_eo/18994
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