Rolling Stones ex-manager releases iPhone app

LOS ANGELES, US: A former road manager for both the Rolling Stones and Grateful Dead is claiming a first in the fast-moving world of iPhone applications with his rock 'n' roll memoir.

Sam Cutler released "You Can't Always Get What You Want" and its multimedia iPhone app simultaneously this month, the first time this has been done in North America, said his Toronto-based publisher ECW Press.

The multimedia elements were developed by Expanded Books/Apps. Also on board is Ironic Apps, a firm run by former Rolling Stones business manager Ron Schneider.

The app, available for $9.99, contains the full Cutler-narrated audiobook synchronized with the text, video links to two interviews, and more than 30 photos (some exclusive to the app).

Clips will also be featured from the Stones' disastrous Altamont free concert in 1969, when a fan was stabbed to death by a Hells Angels member near the stage.

Cutler holds a special place in Stones history as the mustachioed roadie in the related concert documentary "Gimme Shelter" who coolly pleads with fans to climb off the scaffolding or get off the stage at the California speedway. His is also the voice heard introducing the band at the start of their 1970 live album "Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out."

His book recounts his life-threatening encounters with the Hells Angels in the aftermath of Altamont, as well as his subsequent duties with the Grateful Dead.

Cutler, a 67-year-old Briton, originally published "You Can't Always Get What You Want" in 2008 through Random House in his adopted homeland of Australia. Beginning April 13 he will begin a promotional tour in Seattle, with stops planned for Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Toronto, New York and London. He will also take part in a Webcast that will be streamed live to iPhones on April 25.