Today, legendary Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards celebrates his 71st birthday.  It is a medical miracle that defies any scientific explanation.

While mere mortals like you and I are bombarded with ads for prescription drugs and warned to watch what we eat and exercise regularly, Keith can fall, head first, off of a coconut tree and still recover in plenty of time for the next Stones tour.

Do you think Keith Richards is concerned about his cholesterol?  I doubt it.  In fact, if Keith's doctors prescribed Lipitor, he'd probably chop it up and snort it.

Years ago, I met an old man who shared his philosophy on life with a group of my degenerate party buddies.  "The secret", the man said with a cigarette dangling from his lip, "is to drink a quart of whiskey every week."

He encouraged us to eat all the burgers and french fries we could, and chase them down with an extra large soda.  "Just make sure to drink a quart of whiskey every week.  It's like an oil change for your body, it'll flush all of those impurities right out of your system".

Clearly, that man was not a medical expert, and I'm not sure how long he lived.  But if Keith Richards' 71st birthday teaches us anything, it's that the best way to grow old might involve chain smoking, binge drinking and ingesting copious amounts of narcotics.

Then again, I know some folks who are convinced that Keith's actually been dead since 1983.  He's just so pickled that nobody can tell the difference.

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