Nov 21, 1976

Eric opens a bottle of Dom Perignon (a gift from Dark Horse Records for writing and directing a couple of promo films for George’s album 33 1/3 in the summer) . . .

He describes Stones business meetings — they have even more than Python — with Keith Richards, who sounds very eccentric, lying prostrate and apparently dead for much of the meeting, apart from the occasional devastating one-liner. Charlie Watts remains very silent until suddenly, out of the blue, coming up with an idea about plastic record covers.

His position as a relatively new member of the Stones is considered differently by the Stones and their ‘businessmen.’ As he puts it, the band are all very democratic, split everything equally, ‘but as soon as the businessmen come in it all changes.’

— Michael Palin, Diaries 1969 – 1979: The Python Years