Rolling Stones Mine Hackney Diamonds

Is That A Good Thing? It's Okay

There are traditions when the Rolling Stones that must be honored, even as the band is in its 61st year.

There is the glamorous announcement event. This year's featured the core of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, singer and guitarist, and guitarist Ron Wood, formerly of the Faces and formally a Rolling Stone since 1976.

In the old days, they might have donned pith helmets and safari gear, riding elephants through the jewelry department of Harrods, the upper crust London department store.

This year's fanfare was more restrained: A red carpet outside the Hackney Empire theater in London, where inside Jagger, Richards, and Wood sat for an interview for Jimmy Fallon and played the video for the first single, "Angry," according to a Setember 6, 2023 report by Katie Spencer of Sky News, who referred to the titled lead singer as "Sir Mick."

"Hackney Diamonds" is London slang for broken glass, Hackney being a rough East London area, once belonging to Cockney-accented crooks. Hackney diamonds are …