Nick Cowan was hired on as manager for Rolling Stones guitarist Ron Wood in 1981 following an informal “interview” where Wood reportedly hired Cowan after shaking his hand during their first meeting and announcing: ““Hello mate, so you’re going to be my new manager?”

Cowan’s new book, Fifty Tea Bags And A Bottle of Rum, will be released this week, and beyond the various tales of affairs and substance abuse that one might expect in the life of a rock star, there are a few surprises as well. Not the least of which is Cowan’s revelation that Wood was on the brink of financial collapse when he was hired on.

One does not normally associate the words rock star and financial collapse, but even very large sums of money can be mismanaged badly, similar to the stories we’ve all heard about the lottery winners who suddenly find themselves with more money than they had ever imagined, only to end up flat broke a few years down the road.

One of the more amusing passages in the book involved a drug-fueled party — apparently the norm when the Stones were on tour– where an unsuspecting participant wandered into the bedroom of the suite where Wood was staying and spotted a pile of white powder on the table beside the bed.

Only after he had snorted it with a $20 bill did the would-be cocaine thief discover that he had actually snorted dead skin from the bottom of Wood’s feet that had resulted from the pedicure Wood had given himself earlier that night.

Ron Wood has certainly been making more than his share of news these days, and it appears that the timing for this book could not be much better for the author.

Fifty Tea Bags And A Bottle of Rum is not yet available but you can sign up on Amazon.com to be notified when it is released.

For more details check out The Sun.