Las Vegas Weekly

September 24, 2008 · 9:45 AM

Did Stones artist Mazur get licked by band in bitter logo battle?

By Robin Leach

The single "Tumbling Dice."

One of the most famous logos in the world is the subject of a bitter feud between its Vegas pop-artist creator and the Rolling Stones.

Ruby Mazur created the widely recognized screaming mouth and extended tongue back in 1971, and he was paid $10,000 for the artwork to go solely on the group’s Tumbling Dice album.

However, Ruby’s artwork took on an entire life of its own. It has been featured on T-shirts, coffee cups and anything else fans would buy. It even wound up on blimps flying around stadiums during Rolling Stone concerts!

At one point, it was estimated that the tongue and lips so worthy of Mick Jagger were featured on merchandize that racked up a staggering $200 million fortune. Ruby decided to take legal advice and he was told he could claim half of that money in a lawsuit -– but unfortunately the statue of limitations had passed.

To further irritate Ruby, he learned that a friend of Jagger’s by the name of John Pasche first claimed he did the separate tongue and lips logo for the merchandize. He ’fessed up that he was not paid $100 as he reported, and a promise to join the band as additional compensation was another falsehood. But Pasche stuck by his story about the logo design. Jagger never said anything to correct his claim or defend Ruby.

Now Ruby, who lives in Las Vegas and in Hawaii, wants it sorted out legally for once and for all so he gets the credit –- and a fee -- for what he’s rightfully entitled to!!! He told me: “I’ve had it with them. I was the ‘real’ creator and both Jagger and Pasche are full of it when it comes to giving the true credit, recognition and compensation.”

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