If Mandy is 41, that makes Bill ...

Sundays at the Sanctuary, you never know what you'll get -- or even when you'll get it from our West Coast rock (and usually rock solid) contributor Al Tays, who clearly marches to the beat of a different bass player.

By Al Tays

Today we wish a happy 41st birthday to one Mandy Smith, one of the most interesting figures in rock and roll. Interesting not as a performer, although she has been a singer, but as a supporting character in one of music's great soap operas, the Rolling Stones.

Stones fans may recall Ms. Smith married bassist Bill Wyman in 1989, when she was 19 and he was 53. Nothing unusual there, although the couple did begin dating in 1983 when she was 13 and he was 47. No, it was later developments that took this relationship into News of the Weird territory. Bill and Mandy divorced in 1993, but before the divorce became final, Wyman's son from his first marriage, Stephen, married Smith's mother, Patsy.

Got that? Him: My son is also my father-in-law. Her: My mother is also my daughter-in-law.

I know, it's only rock and roll.

If you only know Wyman from the Stones, check him out here with his own band, the Rhythm Kings, featuring Georgie Fame on vocals, Procol Harum cofounder Gary Brooker on piano and Peter Frampton on guitar:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Nwwd_z6jPk&feature=related