Tell Me :
Talk
Speaking of movies about The Who, whatever happened to that bio-film on Keith Moon, which was supposed to have been entering the production stage as of 5 years ago? Roger Daltrey himself had reportedly been poring over various potential scripts, but perhaps none of them were up to snuff and the project was shelved...
Probably just as well, considering they wanted to cast the now almost 50-year-old Mike Myers in the starring role.
Yes, it was the B&N at the Pru. I didn't know about the Berklee event, but those people working at B&N said he would definitely be appearing in-store for a book signing, but that they just didn't know when exactly. I'm going back to that store tomorrow to purchase a copy, since it should be shipped in at last by then, and I'll ask about the 12th. I'll post what I find out here in this thread tomorrow afternoon when I get back home, around 3 to 4 p.m.
I've just been online to research the promo events, and it looks like the B&N appearance is indeed off. It will be at the Berklee Performance Center on Friday, October 12, at 5:00 p.m. (tickets went on sale today). Tickets are $32.50, and a copy of Who I Am is included with each ticket purchase. Format is interview and short performance of 4 songs on acoustic guitar, so you may not get your copy signed. Still, I guess it's just serendipity that I wasn't able to get a copy of the book today--I'll get it tomorrow with my ticket and look forward to the interview and short performance on Friday. It will be more enjoyable and memorable than standing in line for a book signing.
www.examiner.com/article/pete-townshend-store-appearance-news-london-add-boston-location-changed
www.berklee.edu/events/who-i-am-pete-townshend-interviewperformance
You would have to endure the full episode [with "limited" commercials] from the network link. This appearance is already up on YouTube:
Awesome and I hope you get to ask your questions!!! I am formulating what I am going to ask him as well. And mostly I want to thank him for his music. I can't wait to see him so close and personal.
I went to the school at 1 p.m. today, 27 hours after tickets went on sale, and it sold out. Ray Davies didn't even sell that hall out completely in the weeks and days leading up to his solo concert and PT sells it out in 24 hours for an interview and 4 acoustic songs... At least I have a ticket for the Who show next month, still bumming about it though...
This is the real deal, much like Dylan's first volumn. Pete is an excellent writer, and actually WROTE this book. Not interviews, no ghost writter, just Pete's wonderful prose. He doesn't hold back, and describes himself with candor and honesty, far more than Richards did. While Richards' book was a fun read, it was not very enlightening, other than to paint himself as a spoiled tough guy wanna be. And he didn't write it! They were interviews and ghost written.
I've now gotta pull out my DVD of the Stones Rock And Roll Circus and watch that performance now!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-10-10 15:52 by RollingFreak.
Talk about your favorite band.
For information about how to use this forum please check out forum help and policies.
OT: Pete Townshend- Who I Am book club
Posted by:
whitem8
()
Date: October 8, 2012 16:03
We're playing R and B: "Smokestack Lightning", "I'm a Man", "Roadrunner" and other heavy classics. I scrape the howling Rikenbacker guitar up and down my microphone stand, then flip the special switch I recently fitted so the guitar sputters and sprays the front row with bullets of sound. I violently thrust my guitar into the air-- and feel a terrible shudder as the sound goes from a roar to a rattling growl: I look up to see my guitar's broken head as I pull it away from the hole I've punched in the low ceiling. It is at this moment that I make a split-second decision- and in a mad frenzy I thrust the damaged guitar up into the ceiling over and over again. ... I haven't smashed it: I've sculpted it for them.
Wow! Some incredible imagery, almost as if you were there. This is just the beginning, and I am like a little kid feasting on a caviar morsel of rock fandom.
Wow! Some incredible imagery, almost as if you were there. This is just the beginning, and I am like a little kid feasting on a caviar morsel of rock fandom.
Re: OT: Pete Townshend- Who I Am book club
Posted by:
tatters
()
Date: October 8, 2012 16:16
That's an interesting way for the book to start, with a description of the first time he broke a guitar. It's also not a bad way for a movie about the Who to start, by the way.
Re: OT: Pete Townshend- Who I Am book club
Posted by:
mtaylor
()
Date: October 8, 2012 19:19
The legendary Who guitarist bares his soul in his raw new memoir. From wanting to have sex with Mick Jagger to his devastating child-porn scandal, a look at Who I Am.
In his new 500-page memoir, Pete Townshend, quixotic songwriter/guitarist for The Who, bares his soul. It’s a pulsating, raw, and painful account of a tumultuous rise to musical stardom. From near-deadly trips on LSD to his own sexual abuse as a child, a look at 11 of most shocking secrets in Who I Am.
1. At age 5, he was sent to live with his deranged grandmother.
When Townshend’s mother got word that her own mom, Denny, had begun acting in bizarre ways, she sent 5-year-old Pete to live with his grandmother. So began what Townshend calls the “darkest part of my life.” Hallucinatory, irrational, and demented, grandmother Denny was nice to him only when he was freshly cleaned and perfectly silent—read: never. He describes her as a “perfect wicked witch” who threatened him with gypsy curses, spanked him violently, and punished him by withholding food. Townshend recalls waking up petrified—sweating and shaking with fear. Apart from slapping him and brutally scrubbing his body in the bath, she barely touched him. It was an experience that would lead to years of psychotherapy—and provide a roadmap for his seminal rock opera, Tommy.
2. He suffered sexual abuse as a young boy.
Always drawn to the water, Townshend begged his father to let him attend a “bunkhouse weekend” on the River Thames so he could go through the ceremony of becoming a “Sea Scout.” Even though he’d gotten weird vibes from the two men who led the program, his father reluctantly agreed. Riding on a large boat with the program leaders, Pete was euphoric. The feeling quickly dissipated when—shortly after—he found himself naked in a cold shower, surrounded by the two adult men. “Now you’re a real Sea Scout,” they said. “This is our initiation ceremony.” The only thing ceremonial about it, says Townshend, was the “wanking these two chaps were doing through their trouser pockets.” Shivering and terrified, he begged them to let him leave the shower. They refused until they had “achieved their surreptitious climax.”
3. He broke his first guitar by accident.
Known for demolishing guitars on stage, he recounts the first time it happened—an accident. It was June 1964, The Who’s first show in West London, and a typically reclusive Pete Townshend was uncharacteristically fearless. The feeling was “extraordinary, magical, surreal,” he writes. As the foursome played a cover of “Smokestack Lightning,” the crowd went wild. Thrusting his 12-string guitar above his head, he unintentionally sent it ripping through the ceiling. Rather than stop, he exploded—thrashing the guitar into the ceiling again and again until it was sheer carnage. Some called it a gimmick, but Townshend says he knew it was a turning point. “The old, conventional way of making music would never be the same.” He was right.
‘Who I Am: A Memoir’ by Pete Townshend. 544 pp. Harper. $32.50. (AP Photo)
4. He wanted to have sex with Mick Jagger.
Introduced to the Rolling Stone by his manager in 1963, Townshend found him irresistible, frightening, and sexually provocative. When he witnessed Jagger getting friendly with other members of The Who, a pang of jealousy made it clear his feelings were more than just fascination. “Mick is the only man I’ve ever seriously wanted to f—,” he writes. Specifically, Townshend remembers fixating on Jagger’s body, and how well-endowed he was. The memories are vivid. One night, as the band sat around lounging, Townshend regarded Mick, whose loose pajama-style pants (without underwear) left little to his imagination. “I couldn’t help noticing the lines of his cock, laying against the inside of his leg, long and plump.” Mick’s gutsy sex appeal was contagious. The Who quickly began arranging their “parts” in such a way on stage and in photographs.
Watch Abby Haglage read a few of Pete Townshend’s crazier confessions.
5. He nearly died from an LSD trip while on a plane.
Townshend calls his LSD trip on an airplane “the most disturbing experience I’ve ever had.” When drummer Keith Moon decided to drop acid on a plane, Townshend and his then-wife, Karen, didn’t want him to be alone, and followed suit. The drug took effect quickly, turning the plane into a horrific dreamland. The female flight attendant morphed into a snorting pig while music of every genre—country, classic, rock, and show tunes—somehow played simultaneously. At one point, Townshend says he actually exited his body, floating up to the ceiling and staring at himself in the seat down below.
BTW - tiny todger - PT's comment: "I couldn’t help noticing the lines of his cock, laying against the inside of his leg, long and plump."
In his new 500-page memoir, Pete Townshend, quixotic songwriter/guitarist for The Who, bares his soul. It’s a pulsating, raw, and painful account of a tumultuous rise to musical stardom. From near-deadly trips on LSD to his own sexual abuse as a child, a look at 11 of most shocking secrets in Who I Am.
1. At age 5, he was sent to live with his deranged grandmother.
When Townshend’s mother got word that her own mom, Denny, had begun acting in bizarre ways, she sent 5-year-old Pete to live with his grandmother. So began what Townshend calls the “darkest part of my life.” Hallucinatory, irrational, and demented, grandmother Denny was nice to him only when he was freshly cleaned and perfectly silent—read: never. He describes her as a “perfect wicked witch” who threatened him with gypsy curses, spanked him violently, and punished him by withholding food. Townshend recalls waking up petrified—sweating and shaking with fear. Apart from slapping him and brutally scrubbing his body in the bath, she barely touched him. It was an experience that would lead to years of psychotherapy—and provide a roadmap for his seminal rock opera, Tommy.
2. He suffered sexual abuse as a young boy.
Always drawn to the water, Townshend begged his father to let him attend a “bunkhouse weekend” on the River Thames so he could go through the ceremony of becoming a “Sea Scout.” Even though he’d gotten weird vibes from the two men who led the program, his father reluctantly agreed. Riding on a large boat with the program leaders, Pete was euphoric. The feeling quickly dissipated when—shortly after—he found himself naked in a cold shower, surrounded by the two adult men. “Now you’re a real Sea Scout,” they said. “This is our initiation ceremony.” The only thing ceremonial about it, says Townshend, was the “wanking these two chaps were doing through their trouser pockets.” Shivering and terrified, he begged them to let him leave the shower. They refused until they had “achieved their surreptitious climax.”
3. He broke his first guitar by accident.
Known for demolishing guitars on stage, he recounts the first time it happened—an accident. It was June 1964, The Who’s first show in West London, and a typically reclusive Pete Townshend was uncharacteristically fearless. The feeling was “extraordinary, magical, surreal,” he writes. As the foursome played a cover of “Smokestack Lightning,” the crowd went wild. Thrusting his 12-string guitar above his head, he unintentionally sent it ripping through the ceiling. Rather than stop, he exploded—thrashing the guitar into the ceiling again and again until it was sheer carnage. Some called it a gimmick, but Townshend says he knew it was a turning point. “The old, conventional way of making music would never be the same.” He was right.
‘Who I Am: A Memoir’ by Pete Townshend. 544 pp. Harper. $32.50. (AP Photo)
4. He wanted to have sex with Mick Jagger.
Introduced to the Rolling Stone by his manager in 1963, Townshend found him irresistible, frightening, and sexually provocative. When he witnessed Jagger getting friendly with other members of The Who, a pang of jealousy made it clear his feelings were more than just fascination. “Mick is the only man I’ve ever seriously wanted to f—,” he writes. Specifically, Townshend remembers fixating on Jagger’s body, and how well-endowed he was. The memories are vivid. One night, as the band sat around lounging, Townshend regarded Mick, whose loose pajama-style pants (without underwear) left little to his imagination. “I couldn’t help noticing the lines of his cock, laying against the inside of his leg, long and plump.” Mick’s gutsy sex appeal was contagious. The Who quickly began arranging their “parts” in such a way on stage and in photographs.
Watch Abby Haglage read a few of Pete Townshend’s crazier confessions.
5. He nearly died from an LSD trip while on a plane.
Townshend calls his LSD trip on an airplane “the most disturbing experience I’ve ever had.” When drummer Keith Moon decided to drop acid on a plane, Townshend and his then-wife, Karen, didn’t want him to be alone, and followed suit. The drug took effect quickly, turning the plane into a horrific dreamland. The female flight attendant morphed into a snorting pig while music of every genre—country, classic, rock, and show tunes—somehow played simultaneously. At one point, Townshend says he actually exited his body, floating up to the ceiling and staring at himself in the seat down below.
BTW - tiny todger - PT's comment: "I couldn’t help noticing the lines of his cock, laying against the inside of his leg, long and plump."
Re: OT: Pete Townshend- Who I Am book club
Posted by:
stonesnow
()
Date: October 8, 2012 19:46
Quote
tatters
That's an interesting way for the book to start, with a description of the first time he broke a guitar. It's also not a bad way for a movie about the Who to start, by the way.
Speaking of movies about The Who, whatever happened to that bio-film on Keith Moon, which was supposed to have been entering the production stage as of 5 years ago? Roger Daltrey himself had reportedly been poring over various potential scripts, but perhaps none of them were up to snuff and the project was shelved...
Re: OT: Pete Townshend- Who I Am book club
Posted by:
GravityBoy
()
Date: October 8, 2012 21:16
Christmas present.
77 days 4 hours.
77 days 4 hours.
Re: OT: Pete Townshend- Who I Am book club
Posted by:
stonesrule
()
Date: October 8, 2012 22:02
Pete was quite good as a guest on The View this morning. Showed the audience how to do "the windmill" move.
You can probably catch a video on www.abc.com/theview
You can probably catch a video on www.abc.com/theview
Re: OT: Pete Townshend- Who I Am book club
Posted by:
stonesnow
()
Date: October 8, 2012 23:52
whitem8, I went to get a copy of Who I Am today, but the Barnes & Noble here in Boston didn't have it. It hadn't shipped yet, because the person in charge of shipping is away on vacation, so I'll have to wait until tomorrow. However, while in the store, I found out from a couple of employees who happen to be Who fans that Pete Townshend himself will be appearing in that very store, though at an unspecified date, but probably close to the November 16 Who concert date in Boston--unless he's doing an exclusive book tour ahead of The Who tour. But what it means is that I'll be bringing my copy in to the store and getting it signed by the man himself. I already know the 2 questions I want to ask him I'm totally psyched!
Re: OT: Pete Townshend- Who I Am book club
Posted by:
RollingFreak
()
Date: October 9, 2012 01:14
Thats amazing. I'm seeing them in Boston then and I've heard other things about book stuff. He's doing a book interview at Berklee College of Music this friday on the 12th, and then he was apparently scheduled to be at the B&N at the Prudential I believe later that day. I don't know if thats the one you were at though, and then I heard the Barnes and Noble thing was possibly cancelled since it isn't listed anywhere on the Who's website. Lets figure out when this is actually happening, day and time, because I'd love to get my book signed by the man himself!Quote
stonesnow
whitem8, I went to get a copy of Who I Am today, but the Barnes & Noble here in Boston didn't have it. It hadn't shipped yet, because the person in charge of shipping is away on vacation, so I'll have to wait until tomorrow. However, while in the store, I found out from a couple of employees who happen to be Who fans that Pete Townshend himself will be appearing in that very store, though at an unspecified date, but probably close to the November 16 Who concert date in Boston--unless he's doing an exclusive book tour ahead of The Who tour. But what it means is that I'll be bringing my copy in to the store and getting it signed by the man himself. I already know the 2 questions I want to ask him I'm totally psyched!
Re: OT: Pete Townshend- Who I Am book club
Posted by:
tatters
()
Date: October 9, 2012 01:47
Quote
stonesnowQuote
tatters
That's an interesting way for the book to start, with a description of the first time he broke a guitar. It's also not a bad way for a movie about the Who to start, by the way.
Speaking of movies about The Who, whatever happened to that bio-film on Keith Moon, which was supposed to have been entering the production stage as of 5 years ago? Roger Daltrey himself had reportedly been poring over various potential scripts, but perhaps none of them were up to snuff and the project was shelved...
Probably just as well, considering they wanted to cast the now almost 50-year-old Mike Myers in the starring role.
Re: OT: Pete Townshend- Who I Am book club
Posted by:
stonesnow
()
Date: October 9, 2012 02:53
Quote
RollingFreakThats amazing. I'm seeing them in Boston then and I've heard other things about book stuff. He's doing a book interview at Berklee College of Music this friday on the 12th, and then he was apparently scheduled to be at the B&N at the Prudential I believe later that day. I don't know if thats the one you were at though, and then I heard the Barnes and Noble thing was possibly cancelled since it isn't listed anywhere on the Who's website. Lets figure out when this is actually happening, day and time, because I'd love to get my book signed by the man himself!Quote
stonesnow
whitem8, I went to get a copy of Who I Am today, but the Barnes & Noble here in Boston didn't have it. It hadn't shipped yet, because the person in charge of shipping is away on vacation, so I'll have to wait until tomorrow. However, while in the store, I found out from a couple of employees who happen to be Who fans that Pete Townshend himself will be appearing in that very store, though at an unspecified date, but probably close to the November 16 Who concert date in Boston--unless he's doing an exclusive book tour ahead of The Who tour. But what it means is that I'll be bringing my copy in to the store and getting it signed by the man himself. I already know the 2 questions I want to ask him I'm totally psyched!
Yes, it was the B&N at the Pru. I didn't know about the Berklee event, but those people working at B&N said he would definitely be appearing in-store for a book signing, but that they just didn't know when exactly. I'm going back to that store tomorrow to purchase a copy, since it should be shipped in at last by then, and I'll ask about the 12th. I'll post what I find out here in this thread tomorrow afternoon when I get back home, around 3 to 4 p.m.
Re: OT: Pete Townshend- Who I Am book club
Posted by:
stonesnow
()
Date: October 9, 2012 03:11
Quote
RollingFreakThats amazing. I'm seeing them in Boston then and I've heard other things about book stuff. He's doing a book interview at Berklee College of Music this friday on the 12th, and then he was apparently scheduled to be at the B&N at the Prudential I believe later that day. I don't know if thats the one you were at though, and then I heard the Barnes and Noble thing was possibly cancelled since it isn't listed anywhere on the Who's website. Lets figure out when this is actually happening, day and time, because I'd love to get my book signed by the man himself!Quote
stonesnow
whitem8, I went to get a copy of Who I Am today, but the Barnes & Noble here in Boston didn't have it. It hadn't shipped yet, because the person in charge of shipping is away on vacation, so I'll have to wait until tomorrow. However, while in the store, I found out from a couple of employees who happen to be Who fans that Pete Townshend himself will be appearing in that very store, though at an unspecified date, but probably close to the November 16 Who concert date in Boston--unless he's doing an exclusive book tour ahead of The Who tour. But what it means is that I'll be bringing my copy in to the store and getting it signed by the man himself. I already know the 2 questions I want to ask him I'm totally psyched!
I've just been online to research the promo events, and it looks like the B&N appearance is indeed off. It will be at the Berklee Performance Center on Friday, October 12, at 5:00 p.m. (tickets went on sale today). Tickets are $32.50, and a copy of Who I Am is included with each ticket purchase. Format is interview and short performance of 4 songs on acoustic guitar, so you may not get your copy signed. Still, I guess it's just serendipity that I wasn't able to get a copy of the book today--I'll get it tomorrow with my ticket and look forward to the interview and short performance on Friday. It will be more enjoyable and memorable than standing in line for a book signing.
www.examiner.com/article/pete-townshend-store-appearance-news-london-add-boston-location-changed
www.berklee.edu/events/who-i-am-pete-townshend-interviewperformance
Re: OT: Pete Townshend- Who I Am book club
Posted by:
stonesnow
()
Date: October 9, 2012 05:31
Quote
stonesrule
Pete was quite good as a guest on The View this morning. Showed the audience how to do "the windmill" move.
You can probably catch a video on www.abc.com/theview
You would have to endure the full episode [with "limited" commercials] from the network link. This appearance is already up on YouTube:
Re: OT: Pete Townshend- Who I Am book club
Posted by:
RollingFreak
()
Date: October 9, 2012 09:02
Agreed. Very cool and thanks for the link. Doesn't look like there are any tickets left online so maybe I'll check out the actual school and see if there's anything left. Wouldn't surprise me if it sells out. If I can't get access to this, guess I'll just have to buy the book and then see Pete in a much better venue at TD Garden when the Who play in November which I already have tickets to. Thanks again for the info.Quote
stonesnowQuote
RollingFreakThats amazing. I'm seeing them in Boston then and I've heard other things about book stuff. He's doing a book interview at Berklee College of Music this friday on the 12th, and then he was apparently scheduled to be at the B&N at the Prudential I believe later that day. I don't know if thats the one you were at though, and then I heard the Barnes and Noble thing was possibly cancelled since it isn't listed anywhere on the Who's website. Lets figure out when this is actually happening, day and time, because I'd love to get my book signed by the man himself!Quote
stonesnow
whitem8, I went to get a copy of Who I Am today, but the Barnes & Noble here in Boston didn't have it. It hadn't shipped yet, because the person in charge of shipping is away on vacation, so I'll have to wait until tomorrow. However, while in the store, I found out from a couple of employees who happen to be Who fans that Pete Townshend himself will be appearing in that very store, though at an unspecified date, but probably close to the November 16 Who concert date in Boston--unless he's doing an exclusive book tour ahead of The Who tour. But what it means is that I'll be bringing my copy in to the store and getting it signed by the man himself. I already know the 2 questions I want to ask him I'm totally psyched!
I've just been online to research the promo events, and it looks like the B&N appearance is indeed off. It will be at the Berklee Performance Center on Friday, October 12, at 5:00 p.m. (tickets went on sale today). Tickets are $32.50, and a copy of Who I Am is included with each ticket purchase. Format is interview and short performance of 4 songs on acoustic guitar, so you may not get your copy signed. Still, I guess it's just serendipity that I wasn't able to get a copy of the book today--I'll get it tomorrow with my ticket and look forward to the interview and short performance on Friday. It will be more enjoyable and memorable than standing in line for a book signing.
www.examiner.com/article/pete-townshend-store-appearance-news-london-add-boston-location-changed
www.berklee.edu/events/who-i-am-pete-townshend-interviewperformance
Re: OT: Pete Townshend- Who I Am book club
Posted by:
whitem8
()
Date: October 9, 2012 09:15
Quote
stonesnow
whitem8, I went to get a copy of Who I Am today, but the Barnes & Noble here in Boston didn't have it. It hadn't shipped yet, because the person in charge of shipping is away on vacation, so I'll have to wait until tomorrow. However, while in the store, I found out from a couple of employees who happen to be Who fans that Pete Townshend himself will be appearing in that very store, though at an unspecified date, but probably close to the November 16 Who concert date in Boston--unless he's doing an exclusive book tour ahead of The Who tour. But what it means is that I'll be bringing my copy in to the store and getting it signed by the man himself. I already know the 2 questions I want to ask him I'm totally psyched!
Awesome and I hope you get to ask your questions!!! I am formulating what I am going to ask him as well. And mostly I want to thank him for his music. I can't wait to see him so close and personal.
Re: OT: Pete Townshend- Who I Am book club
Posted by:
Happy Jack
()
Date: October 9, 2012 16:49
I should be getting my copy in the next couple days. I waited and bought it with the Who Houston 75 concert that came out today.
Re: OT: Pete Townshend- Who I Am book club
Posted by:
JuanTCB
()
Date: October 9, 2012 17:48
I binged last night and read the first half (up to Moon's death, pretty much).
It's a pretty amazing book, though very intense (especially parts of his childhood). Pete does not go easy on himself. I can only imagine how self-flagellating he'll be once the cocaine years roll around...
It's a pretty amazing book, though very intense (especially parts of his childhood). Pete does not go easy on himself. I can only imagine how self-flagellating he'll be once the cocaine years roll around...
Re: OT: Pete Townshend- Who I Am book club
Posted by:
RollingFreak
()
Date: October 9, 2012 18:00
How does the book compare to recent memoirs from his peers, i.e. Keith's, etc? Just as good if not better? Worse?
Re: OT: Pete Townshend- Who I Am book club
Posted by:
stonesnow
()
Date: October 9, 2012 22:19
Quote
RollingFreakAgreed. Very cool and thanks for the link. Doesn't look like there are any tickets left online so maybe I'll check out the actual school and see if there's anything left. Wouldn't surprise me if it sells out. If I can't get access to this, guess I'll just have to buy the book and then see Pete in a much better venue at TD Garden when the Who play in November which I already have tickets to. Thanks again for the info.Quote
stonesnowQuote
RollingFreakThats amazing. I'm seeing them in Boston then and I've heard other things about book stuff. He's doing a book interview at Berklee College of Music this friday on the 12th, and then he was apparently scheduled to be at the B&N at the Prudential I believe later that day. I don't know if thats the one you were at though, and then I heard the Barnes and Noble thing was possibly cancelled since it isn't listed anywhere on the Who's website. Lets figure out when this is actually happening, day and time, because I'd love to get my book signed by the man himself!Quote
stonesnow
whitem8, I went to get a copy of Who I Am today, but the Barnes & Noble here in Boston didn't have it. It hadn't shipped yet, because the person in charge of shipping is away on vacation, so I'll have to wait until tomorrow. However, while in the store, I found out from a couple of employees who happen to be Who fans that Pete Townshend himself will be appearing in that very store, though at an unspecified date, but probably close to the November 16 Who concert date in Boston--unless he's doing an exclusive book tour ahead of The Who tour. But what it means is that I'll be bringing my copy in to the store and getting it signed by the man himself. I already know the 2 questions I want to ask him I'm totally psyched!
I've just been online to research the promo events, and it looks like the B&N appearance is indeed off. It will be at the Berklee Performance Center on Friday, October 12, at 5:00 p.m. (tickets went on sale today). Tickets are $32.50, and a copy of Who I Am is included with each ticket purchase. Format is interview and short performance of 4 songs on acoustic guitar, so you may not get your copy signed. Still, I guess it's just serendipity that I wasn't able to get a copy of the book today--I'll get it tomorrow with my ticket and look forward to the interview and short performance on Friday. It will be more enjoyable and memorable than standing in line for a book signing.
www.examiner.com/article/pete-townshend-store-appearance-news-london-add-boston-location-changed
www.berklee.edu/events/who-i-am-pete-townshend-interviewperformance
I went to the school at 1 p.m. today, 27 hours after tickets went on sale, and it sold out. Ray Davies didn't even sell that hall out completely in the weeks and days leading up to his solo concert and PT sells it out in 24 hours for an interview and 4 acoustic songs... At least I have a ticket for the Who show next month, still bumming about it though...
Re: OT: Pete Townshend- Who I Am book club
Posted by:
RollingFreak
()
Date: October 10, 2012 01:10
I may have an extra. Shoot me an email at rollingfreakstones@gmail.com if interested.Quote
stonesnowQuote
RollingFreakAgreed. Very cool and thanks for the link. Doesn't look like there are any tickets left online so maybe I'll check out the actual school and see if there's anything left. Wouldn't surprise me if it sells out. If I can't get access to this, guess I'll just have to buy the book and then see Pete in a much better venue at TD Garden when the Who play in November which I already have tickets to. Thanks again for the info.Quote
stonesnowQuote
RollingFreakThats amazing. I'm seeing them in Boston then and I've heard other things about book stuff. He's doing a book interview at Berklee College of Music this friday on the 12th, and then he was apparently scheduled to be at the B&N at the Prudential I believe later that day. I don't know if thats the one you were at though, and then I heard the Barnes and Noble thing was possibly cancelled since it isn't listed anywhere on the Who's website. Lets figure out when this is actually happening, day and time, because I'd love to get my book signed by the man himself!Quote
stonesnow
whitem8, I went to get a copy of Who I Am today, but the Barnes & Noble here in Boston didn't have it. It hadn't shipped yet, because the person in charge of shipping is away on vacation, so I'll have to wait until tomorrow. However, while in the store, I found out from a couple of employees who happen to be Who fans that Pete Townshend himself will be appearing in that very store, though at an unspecified date, but probably close to the November 16 Who concert date in Boston--unless he's doing an exclusive book tour ahead of The Who tour. But what it means is that I'll be bringing my copy in to the store and getting it signed by the man himself. I already know the 2 questions I want to ask him I'm totally psyched!
I've just been online to research the promo events, and it looks like the B&N appearance is indeed off. It will be at the Berklee Performance Center on Friday, October 12, at 5:00 p.m. (tickets went on sale today). Tickets are $32.50, and a copy of Who I Am is included with each ticket purchase. Format is interview and short performance of 4 songs on acoustic guitar, so you may not get your copy signed. Still, I guess it's just serendipity that I wasn't able to get a copy of the book today--I'll get it tomorrow with my ticket and look forward to the interview and short performance on Friday. It will be more enjoyable and memorable than standing in line for a book signing.
www.examiner.com/article/pete-townshend-store-appearance-news-london-add-boston-location-changed
www.berklee.edu/events/who-i-am-pete-townshend-interviewperformance
I went to the school at 1 p.m. today, 27 hours after tickets went on sale, and it sold out. Ray Davies didn't even sell that hall out completely in the weeks and days leading up to his solo concert and PT sells it out in 24 hours for an interview and 4 acoustic songs... At least I have a ticket for the Who show next month, still bumming about it though...
Re: OT: Pete Townshend- Who I Am book club
Posted by:
tatters
()
Date: October 10, 2012 01:30
Just brought home Pete's book. My Wife is working late tonight. Perfect. Time for a little "me time." Chapter 1. "It's extraordinary, magical, surreal, watching them all dance to my feedback guitar solos .... "
That's not even the entire first sentence, and it's already a better description of what it's like to be onstage in front of an audience than can be found in the entirety of Keith Richards's "Life."
Oh, this is gonna be good ....
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2012-10-10 01:36 by tatters.
That's not even the entire first sentence, and it's already a better description of what it's like to be onstage in front of an audience than can be found in the entirety of Keith Richards's "Life."
Oh, this is gonna be good ....
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2012-10-10 01:36 by tatters.
Re: OT: Pete Townshend- Who I Am book club
Posted by:
whitem8
()
Date: October 10, 2012 03:02
Quote
RollingFreak
How does the book compare to recent memoirs from his peers, i.e. Keith's, etc? Just as good if not better? Worse?
This is the real deal, much like Dylan's first volumn. Pete is an excellent writer, and actually WROTE this book. Not interviews, no ghost writter, just Pete's wonderful prose. He doesn't hold back, and describes himself with candor and honesty, far more than Richards did. While Richards' book was a fun read, it was not very enlightening, other than to paint himself as a spoiled tough guy wanna be. And he didn't write it! They were interviews and ghost written.
Re: OT: Pete Townshend- Who I Am book club
Posted by:
RollingFreak
()
Date: October 10, 2012 06:04
Good to know. Thanks for the info. Can't wait to start reading this week!Quote
whitem8Quote
RollingFreak
How does the book compare to recent memoirs from his peers, i.e. Keith's, etc? Just as good if not better? Worse?
This is the real deal, much like Dylan's first volumn. Pete is an excellent writer, and actually WROTE this book. Not interviews, no ghost writter, just Pete's wonderful prose. He doesn't hold back, and describes himself with candor and honesty, far more than Richards did. While Richards' book was a fun read, it was not very enlightening, other than to paint himself as a spoiled tough guy wanna be. And he didn't write it! They were interviews and ghost written.
Re: OT: Pete Townshend- Who I Am book club
Posted by:
Beast
()
Date: October 10, 2012 13:18
This interview is a good read:
Pete Townshend: 'I can get a bit self-righteous now'
In his new book, Pete Townshend charts his chaotic childhood, guitar-smashing heyday – and his 2003 arrest on child-pornography charges. He talks to Alexis Petridis
Alexis Petridis
The Guardian, Tuesday 9 October 2012 17.58 BST
Pete Townshend arrives in his Richmond office clutching a portion of chips. As befits a former figurehead of the British mod movement, he looks dapper, that late lunch notwithstanding: suit, pocket handkerchief, suede loafers. He also looks knackered, having been on a promotional blitzkrieg for his new autobiography, Who I Am, which he has found somewhat gruelling. He's barely done any interviews in the last 20 years, after decades as the Who's de facto spokesman. "No one else really spoke but me," he explains. "I just talked for 28 years."
Who I Am is occasionally a rather harrowing read, particularly when it comes to his chaotic childhood. Townshend's parents had an unstable marriage, and he was farmed out to his maternal grandmother, who seems to have been mentally ill. Moreover, one of her lovers sexually abused him. Nor does it stint on Townshend's own failings: his alcoholism and cocaine addiction; his infidelities; the collapse of his first marriage. One radio interviewer suggested the Who's guitarist and chief songwriter had performed "a hatchet job on himself".
"When I first started writing it in the mid-90s," says Townshend, "the publishers said they wanted a book about sex and drugs and rock'n'roll, and I said I'm not going to write that book. I think I have now. I've written about as much sex and drugs and rock'n'roll as I'm entitled to, and a lot of people have said to me it's quite sad, really – it's almost like the bits of sex and drugs and rock'n'roll that you pulled off, you felt ashamed about." He chuckles.
Of course, there's more to the book than that. The day before we meet, I'm sent an email via Townshend's publicist that suggests he is weary of discussing the concluding chapters, which deal with his 2003 arrest on child pornography charges and his subsequent decision to accept a caution rather than fight the charges in court. "This is not a subject I can talk about without being triggered," he says. "I get angry. This is too important to chat about on a TV show for a few minutes. Please, if you are really interested to hear my side, read the book. That's where the facts are … Or if you can't afford my book, just take a position based on your heart. I have to accept that."
The book certainly covers Townshend's side of the story in meticulous detail: how the Who had set up a charity in the 70s called Double O, dealing with victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse; how he subsequently became obsessed with the idea that child abuse and pornography involved "a financial chain that ran unimpeded from the Russian mob to our high-street banks"; how he used his credit card on a site he was certain had been set up by the police as a sting (he didn't think it was a genuine child porn site); how he did this to prove that banks were happy to accept the business of websites offering child porn; how he immediately cancelled the payment; how the police who confiscated his computers found nothing on them; how, given half an hour to make a decision whether to accept a caution, he agreed because he didn't feel emotionally capable of going to court.
Today, he seems if not exactly happy, then at least willing to discuss it. The only time he stonewalls is when I mention the allegations against Jimmy Savile: "I don't want to comment on him because I know too much. I know him from the past, and I don't want to comment on him because he's dead." He says the Who's singer Roger Daltrey – who stuck by him throughout, as did his partner Rachel Fuller and his three children – told him not to write the book, worried it would bring it all up again. So why did he? "I had to nail it down – and say, 'Come on, please look at this more closely. Look at the train of events.' If what you're going to say is, 'You accepted a caution and went on the sex offenders list, therefore you must have done it' – I know what I did. I used a credit card. It's whether or not I used a credit card for the reason that most men who logged on to a @#$%& child-porn site would've used a credit card for. My reasons were very, very different."
In the aftermath, he became used to public opprobrium. "Everywhere I went to eat out, sometimes people would put down their plates and walk out of the restaurant. It was tough, and I do feel I'm on the other side of it now. I can get a bit self-righteous now: 'There you are, you owe me an apology.' But that's not appropriate." He recently received a letter from "the guy who ran the case, saying 'none of us ever believed that you were guilty of anything'. He's offered that I can use the letter, but I don't think I will. My sense is that you can read the book, you'll be able to make a decision. And if you don't read the book, you can do what normal @#$%& do, which is to look at my big nose and think, 'He looks like a paedo.'"
He seems gloomy while he says all this, but then Townshend always looked a bit like that, as evidenced by just about any photo of the Who in their mid-60s mod pomp, when Townshend had just singlehandedly invented the notion of art-rock, applying to pop what he'd learnt about Peter Blake and auto-destructive art pioneer Gustav Metzger at Ealing art college in London. The band were in the midst of a remarkable run of singles: the ferocity of their sound rubbed up against lyrics that shoved pop into areas so new that not even the man who wrote them seems entirely aware of what he was doing. "I remember two boys, on different occasions, came up to me and said about I'm a Boy, 'That song really helped me to get to grips with…' And I would say, 'What do you mean?' And they mentioned a word I'd never heard before: 'I'm a transgender individual.' And we're talking about 1966. I had no idea what they were talking about."
A couple of years before, they'd been playing covers in pubs. Now they were at the vanguard of what may have been rock's greatest period of innovation and excitement – and yet, in every photo, Townshend had the baleful expression of a cat that has fallen into a bath. As Who I Am makes clear, there may have been a good reason for this: he doesn't seem to have enjoyed the 60s very much.
There he was, hanging out with Jimi Hendrix and Mick Jagger, taking Eric Clapton to see Syd Barrett's Pink Floyd (alas on a night their errant frontman decided to play the same note over and over again for hours), and delivering a career-defining performance at Woodstock in 1969 despite being spiked with LSD. Yet Townshend appears to have spent the entire decade crippled by self-doubt, mired in business problems, increasingly bored with the Who's destructive stage act, and attempting to deal with living in close proximity to the band's drummer Keith Moon, who seems to have alternately amused Townshend and driven him up the wall. He concludes his retelling of the Who's infamous appearance on America's Smothers Brothers TV show (during which Moon "let off an over-sized theatrical charge of gunpowder" that permanently damaged the guitarist's hearing and set his hair on fire) with the plaintive observation: "Keith could be such a twat sometimes."
It's all the more surprising when you see the 1960s iconography dotted around his office: a gleaming Vespa; a Rickenbacker guitar (smashed); another Rickenbacker guitar (intact); an ancient keyboard; a painting of the late Small Faces guitarist and sometime Townshend collaborator Ronnie Lane; a mirror decorated with targets, union flags and photos of mods. His secretary serves me tea in a mug that looks like something you might pick up in a tourist shop, featuring a cartoon of a scooter and some 1960s buzzwords: Twiggy, Carnaby Street.
Although he admits it wasn't all gloom, Townshend insists he was unhappy a lot (he wonders if he might be a manic depressive). Part of the issue was sheer over-work. "I would be in my home studio with my guitar and my tape machine, possibly with a baby crying in the distance, possibly with my beautiful wife lying in bed wondering where I was, thinking, 'We've got an album to make in three weeks – and between now and then, I've got to write the songs and we've got eight gigs.'" Then there was the way the band members' personalities chafed against each other in what Townshend describes as "an unruly gang". Quite aside from Moon, there was Daltrey: "I wouldn't say Roger has ever been fun to be around. I don't mean that disparagingly – I just don't think he's a fun guy. He's very serious, very committed, very strong. I needed that."
Bassist John Entwistle, meanwhile, seems to have been both deeply odd and completely unknowable. At his funeral in 2002, Townshend was startled to discover the man he'd been in a band with for 40 years was a lifelong freemason. "Perhaps that's why we did so well," laughs Townshend. "He was a very strange fellow. I loved John, obviously, loved him for his eccentricities. He had an extraordinary way of eating. Wouldn't touch anything on his plate until it was all cut up. Then he would eat it not quickly, but methodically, precisely. I think he was a little bit Asperger's."
There was something else: the sense that Townshend didn't feel he belonged in the Who at all. "To be completely honest, I think if I hadn't been bullied into the band, I would have been happier as an art student. I would have been happier in a Brian Eno world. That was the stuff I was trained to do – to think differently, to think outside the box, about installations, the coming of computers, the way that computers would change the language, blah blah @#$%& blah. I've been talking about it all my life as a rock star and people have been going, 'For @#$%&'s sake – shut up and play your guitar.'"
At the height of their 60s fame, he wrote a manifesto, now lost, suggesting the Who should split up. "What I wrote was: 'The Who must destroy themselves.' I tried to find it years later, because I wanted to @#$%& wave it at [Sex Pistols manager] Malcolm McLaren. I think it was my thesis. I thought, 'I'll go and do the band and then I'll come back to art school and be an artist.' I remember being in Sweden, in the back of this little car, smoking a bit of grass. We didn't even have our own instruments with us. I just thought, 'This is @#$%& ridiculous, but I'll be back at Ealing soon.'"
The problem was, he smiles, he was good at it. "I was quite brilliant on stage, and I found it incredibly easy. I could see Keith Moon found it incredibly easy as well. And I couldn't work out why I wasn't fulfilled by it. So there were periods when I was sarcastic. I look back and think, 'Didn't I realise what I had?' I had this fantastic band and I don't think I realised what I had in the guys until we made Quadrophenia in 1973. I thought, 'I'm going to write this thing and it's going to be really challenging and there's no @#$%& hope they're ever going to do it properly.' And they did – they did it brilliantly and quickly."
By then, they'd made 1969's Tommy and 1971's Who's Next, the albums widely considered their masterpieces; but Townshend was haunted by the deaths of friends such as Hendrix and Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones, and concerned that artists had become remote from their fans. At one juncture, he took to wearing a boilersuit on stage in an expression of working-class solidarity: "We're people like you – we don't dress up like Christmas trees." He sighs. "But I was the only one in the band that did it. One day, I decided to wear a gold lamé boilersuit with a crown. I came off stage and said to Mick Jagger, 'How do I look?' He said, 'If you want to know the truth, Pete, you look like a bit of a @#$%&.'"
At another point, he seems to have invented the notion of open journalism 30 years before it was to become so prevalent: he wrote a column in the music press, which he hoped would lead to an exchange of ideas between himself and his fans that he could use to spur his songwriting. "But the editor wouldn't print their comments," he says. "We did get letters back from people. They were mainly, 'What the @#$%& are you talking about?'"
Townshend seems more comfortable with his role today as an elder statesman of rock. He and Daltrey are about to embark on a tour of north America, performing Quadrophenia in its entirety. They last made a new album in 2006; he isn't sure they'll ever make another. "I've felt too old to be doing it since I lost my hair and people started to say, 'Roger Daltrey looks in good shape, but that guy Townshend looks like a bank manager', or more recently 'a vicar', or more recently still 'a paedophile vicar'. And there has been a sense, too, that I can do what I do simply because I'm healthy and I've survived. I can jump about and ape the old stuff. But for me, the job was to write the songs, to do the creative work – and I still feel if there's a brand there … "
His voice tails off. "If it's possible to make a record that echoes what we've done in the past, even if it's 'Let's do something audacious and mad that won't work', then that's OK, too. I would never have wanted Philip Roth or John Updike or Gore Vidal to suddenly go, 'Oh, I'm too old now to write books about masturbation.'" He frowns, as if considering the idea. "Funnily enough, with Roth and Updike, they wrote more books about masturbation as they got older."
[www.guardian.co.uk]
Pete Townshend: 'I can get a bit self-righteous now'
In his new book, Pete Townshend charts his chaotic childhood, guitar-smashing heyday – and his 2003 arrest on child-pornography charges. He talks to Alexis Petridis
Alexis Petridis
The Guardian, Tuesday 9 October 2012 17.58 BST
Pete Townshend arrives in his Richmond office clutching a portion of chips. As befits a former figurehead of the British mod movement, he looks dapper, that late lunch notwithstanding: suit, pocket handkerchief, suede loafers. He also looks knackered, having been on a promotional blitzkrieg for his new autobiography, Who I Am, which he has found somewhat gruelling. He's barely done any interviews in the last 20 years, after decades as the Who's de facto spokesman. "No one else really spoke but me," he explains. "I just talked for 28 years."
Who I Am is occasionally a rather harrowing read, particularly when it comes to his chaotic childhood. Townshend's parents had an unstable marriage, and he was farmed out to his maternal grandmother, who seems to have been mentally ill. Moreover, one of her lovers sexually abused him. Nor does it stint on Townshend's own failings: his alcoholism and cocaine addiction; his infidelities; the collapse of his first marriage. One radio interviewer suggested the Who's guitarist and chief songwriter had performed "a hatchet job on himself".
"When I first started writing it in the mid-90s," says Townshend, "the publishers said they wanted a book about sex and drugs and rock'n'roll, and I said I'm not going to write that book. I think I have now. I've written about as much sex and drugs and rock'n'roll as I'm entitled to, and a lot of people have said to me it's quite sad, really – it's almost like the bits of sex and drugs and rock'n'roll that you pulled off, you felt ashamed about." He chuckles.
Of course, there's more to the book than that. The day before we meet, I'm sent an email via Townshend's publicist that suggests he is weary of discussing the concluding chapters, which deal with his 2003 arrest on child pornography charges and his subsequent decision to accept a caution rather than fight the charges in court. "This is not a subject I can talk about without being triggered," he says. "I get angry. This is too important to chat about on a TV show for a few minutes. Please, if you are really interested to hear my side, read the book. That's where the facts are … Or if you can't afford my book, just take a position based on your heart. I have to accept that."
The book certainly covers Townshend's side of the story in meticulous detail: how the Who had set up a charity in the 70s called Double O, dealing with victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse; how he subsequently became obsessed with the idea that child abuse and pornography involved "a financial chain that ran unimpeded from the Russian mob to our high-street banks"; how he used his credit card on a site he was certain had been set up by the police as a sting (he didn't think it was a genuine child porn site); how he did this to prove that banks were happy to accept the business of websites offering child porn; how he immediately cancelled the payment; how the police who confiscated his computers found nothing on them; how, given half an hour to make a decision whether to accept a caution, he agreed because he didn't feel emotionally capable of going to court.
Today, he seems if not exactly happy, then at least willing to discuss it. The only time he stonewalls is when I mention the allegations against Jimmy Savile: "I don't want to comment on him because I know too much. I know him from the past, and I don't want to comment on him because he's dead." He says the Who's singer Roger Daltrey – who stuck by him throughout, as did his partner Rachel Fuller and his three children – told him not to write the book, worried it would bring it all up again. So why did he? "I had to nail it down – and say, 'Come on, please look at this more closely. Look at the train of events.' If what you're going to say is, 'You accepted a caution and went on the sex offenders list, therefore you must have done it' – I know what I did. I used a credit card. It's whether or not I used a credit card for the reason that most men who logged on to a @#$%& child-porn site would've used a credit card for. My reasons were very, very different."
In the aftermath, he became used to public opprobrium. "Everywhere I went to eat out, sometimes people would put down their plates and walk out of the restaurant. It was tough, and I do feel I'm on the other side of it now. I can get a bit self-righteous now: 'There you are, you owe me an apology.' But that's not appropriate." He recently received a letter from "the guy who ran the case, saying 'none of us ever believed that you were guilty of anything'. He's offered that I can use the letter, but I don't think I will. My sense is that you can read the book, you'll be able to make a decision. And if you don't read the book, you can do what normal @#$%& do, which is to look at my big nose and think, 'He looks like a paedo.'"
He seems gloomy while he says all this, but then Townshend always looked a bit like that, as evidenced by just about any photo of the Who in their mid-60s mod pomp, when Townshend had just singlehandedly invented the notion of art-rock, applying to pop what he'd learnt about Peter Blake and auto-destructive art pioneer Gustav Metzger at Ealing art college in London. The band were in the midst of a remarkable run of singles: the ferocity of their sound rubbed up against lyrics that shoved pop into areas so new that not even the man who wrote them seems entirely aware of what he was doing. "I remember two boys, on different occasions, came up to me and said about I'm a Boy, 'That song really helped me to get to grips with…' And I would say, 'What do you mean?' And they mentioned a word I'd never heard before: 'I'm a transgender individual.' And we're talking about 1966. I had no idea what they were talking about."
A couple of years before, they'd been playing covers in pubs. Now they were at the vanguard of what may have been rock's greatest period of innovation and excitement – and yet, in every photo, Townshend had the baleful expression of a cat that has fallen into a bath. As Who I Am makes clear, there may have been a good reason for this: he doesn't seem to have enjoyed the 60s very much.
There he was, hanging out with Jimi Hendrix and Mick Jagger, taking Eric Clapton to see Syd Barrett's Pink Floyd (alas on a night their errant frontman decided to play the same note over and over again for hours), and delivering a career-defining performance at Woodstock in 1969 despite being spiked with LSD. Yet Townshend appears to have spent the entire decade crippled by self-doubt, mired in business problems, increasingly bored with the Who's destructive stage act, and attempting to deal with living in close proximity to the band's drummer Keith Moon, who seems to have alternately amused Townshend and driven him up the wall. He concludes his retelling of the Who's infamous appearance on America's Smothers Brothers TV show (during which Moon "let off an over-sized theatrical charge of gunpowder" that permanently damaged the guitarist's hearing and set his hair on fire) with the plaintive observation: "Keith could be such a twat sometimes."
It's all the more surprising when you see the 1960s iconography dotted around his office: a gleaming Vespa; a Rickenbacker guitar (smashed); another Rickenbacker guitar (intact); an ancient keyboard; a painting of the late Small Faces guitarist and sometime Townshend collaborator Ronnie Lane; a mirror decorated with targets, union flags and photos of mods. His secretary serves me tea in a mug that looks like something you might pick up in a tourist shop, featuring a cartoon of a scooter and some 1960s buzzwords: Twiggy, Carnaby Street.
Although he admits it wasn't all gloom, Townshend insists he was unhappy a lot (he wonders if he might be a manic depressive). Part of the issue was sheer over-work. "I would be in my home studio with my guitar and my tape machine, possibly with a baby crying in the distance, possibly with my beautiful wife lying in bed wondering where I was, thinking, 'We've got an album to make in three weeks – and between now and then, I've got to write the songs and we've got eight gigs.'" Then there was the way the band members' personalities chafed against each other in what Townshend describes as "an unruly gang". Quite aside from Moon, there was Daltrey: "I wouldn't say Roger has ever been fun to be around. I don't mean that disparagingly – I just don't think he's a fun guy. He's very serious, very committed, very strong. I needed that."
Bassist John Entwistle, meanwhile, seems to have been both deeply odd and completely unknowable. At his funeral in 2002, Townshend was startled to discover the man he'd been in a band with for 40 years was a lifelong freemason. "Perhaps that's why we did so well," laughs Townshend. "He was a very strange fellow. I loved John, obviously, loved him for his eccentricities. He had an extraordinary way of eating. Wouldn't touch anything on his plate until it was all cut up. Then he would eat it not quickly, but methodically, precisely. I think he was a little bit Asperger's."
There was something else: the sense that Townshend didn't feel he belonged in the Who at all. "To be completely honest, I think if I hadn't been bullied into the band, I would have been happier as an art student. I would have been happier in a Brian Eno world. That was the stuff I was trained to do – to think differently, to think outside the box, about installations, the coming of computers, the way that computers would change the language, blah blah @#$%& blah. I've been talking about it all my life as a rock star and people have been going, 'For @#$%&'s sake – shut up and play your guitar.'"
At the height of their 60s fame, he wrote a manifesto, now lost, suggesting the Who should split up. "What I wrote was: 'The Who must destroy themselves.' I tried to find it years later, because I wanted to @#$%& wave it at [Sex Pistols manager] Malcolm McLaren. I think it was my thesis. I thought, 'I'll go and do the band and then I'll come back to art school and be an artist.' I remember being in Sweden, in the back of this little car, smoking a bit of grass. We didn't even have our own instruments with us. I just thought, 'This is @#$%& ridiculous, but I'll be back at Ealing soon.'"
The problem was, he smiles, he was good at it. "I was quite brilliant on stage, and I found it incredibly easy. I could see Keith Moon found it incredibly easy as well. And I couldn't work out why I wasn't fulfilled by it. So there were periods when I was sarcastic. I look back and think, 'Didn't I realise what I had?' I had this fantastic band and I don't think I realised what I had in the guys until we made Quadrophenia in 1973. I thought, 'I'm going to write this thing and it's going to be really challenging and there's no @#$%& hope they're ever going to do it properly.' And they did – they did it brilliantly and quickly."
By then, they'd made 1969's Tommy and 1971's Who's Next, the albums widely considered their masterpieces; but Townshend was haunted by the deaths of friends such as Hendrix and Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones, and concerned that artists had become remote from their fans. At one juncture, he took to wearing a boilersuit on stage in an expression of working-class solidarity: "We're people like you – we don't dress up like Christmas trees." He sighs. "But I was the only one in the band that did it. One day, I decided to wear a gold lamé boilersuit with a crown. I came off stage and said to Mick Jagger, 'How do I look?' He said, 'If you want to know the truth, Pete, you look like a bit of a @#$%&.'"
At another point, he seems to have invented the notion of open journalism 30 years before it was to become so prevalent: he wrote a column in the music press, which he hoped would lead to an exchange of ideas between himself and his fans that he could use to spur his songwriting. "But the editor wouldn't print their comments," he says. "We did get letters back from people. They were mainly, 'What the @#$%& are you talking about?'"
Townshend seems more comfortable with his role today as an elder statesman of rock. He and Daltrey are about to embark on a tour of north America, performing Quadrophenia in its entirety. They last made a new album in 2006; he isn't sure they'll ever make another. "I've felt too old to be doing it since I lost my hair and people started to say, 'Roger Daltrey looks in good shape, but that guy Townshend looks like a bank manager', or more recently 'a vicar', or more recently still 'a paedophile vicar'. And there has been a sense, too, that I can do what I do simply because I'm healthy and I've survived. I can jump about and ape the old stuff. But for me, the job was to write the songs, to do the creative work – and I still feel if there's a brand there … "
His voice tails off. "If it's possible to make a record that echoes what we've done in the past, even if it's 'Let's do something audacious and mad that won't work', then that's OK, too. I would never have wanted Philip Roth or John Updike or Gore Vidal to suddenly go, 'Oh, I'm too old now to write books about masturbation.'" He frowns, as if considering the idea. "Funnily enough, with Roth and Updike, they wrote more books about masturbation as they got older."
[www.guardian.co.uk]
Re: OT: Pete Townshend- Who I Am book club
Posted by:
whitem8
()
Date: October 10, 2012 13:39
Great interview! Thanks so much for posting.
I am home with a bout of amoebic dysentery, one of the many perils of living in Jakarta, and spent the day on the couch reading. I am continually struck by the depth of Townshend's emotions, and the stark struggles he had as a boy. And how he rose, against odds to be one of the most important artists in Rock and Roll. He writes with a haunting vivid angst that is punctuated with pride, regret, and introspection. Townshend is a very brave man to share with the world his soul. I am just at the part where he has written A Quick One (While He's Away) and the link that song had with his own sexual abuse. It is very profound and powerful how he finds a depth of understanding of the refrain "you will be forgiven..." and why he would become maniacal during that refrain, as if to try to will forgiveness on himself. Amazing. And very emotional.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-10-10 14:43 by whitem8.
I am home with a bout of amoebic dysentery, one of the many perils of living in Jakarta, and spent the day on the couch reading. I am continually struck by the depth of Townshend's emotions, and the stark struggles he had as a boy. And how he rose, against odds to be one of the most important artists in Rock and Roll. He writes with a haunting vivid angst that is punctuated with pride, regret, and introspection. Townshend is a very brave man to share with the world his soul. I am just at the part where he has written A Quick One (While He's Away) and the link that song had with his own sexual abuse. It is very profound and powerful how he finds a depth of understanding of the refrain "you will be forgiven..." and why he would become maniacal during that refrain, as if to try to will forgiveness on himself. Amazing. And very emotional.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-10-10 14:43 by whitem8.
Re: OT: Pete Townshend- Who I Am book club
Posted by:
tatters
()
Date: October 10, 2012 13:56
I'm 60 pages into it now, up to the point where the Detours have just changed their name to the Who. The straightforward honesty with which he details the humiliations of his childhood is startling, to say the least, but it's that degree of intimacy (and it's the kind of intimacy that you would only ever expect to hear from a lifelong best friend who's had a little too much to drink), that allows us to comprehend where all the anger came from, the kind of anger that would cause a young man to violently thrust the neck of his guitar again and again into his amplifier, or into the ceiling above the stage where he was performing for an indifferent audience, as described in the book's very first page.
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2012-10-11 02:07 by tatters.
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2012-10-11 02:07 by tatters.
Re: OT: Pete Townshend- Who I Am book club
Posted by:
RollingFreak
()
Date: October 10, 2012 15:49
Wow, that makes a shitload of sense. Sorry that you're home sick, but really enjoying these stories about how you guys are enjoying the book. You and tatters are doing a great job describing it for the rest of us. Again, can't wait to start reading once I get the book later this week.Quote
whitem8
Great interview! Thanks so much for posting.
I am home with a bout of amoebic dysentery, one of the many perils of living in Jakarta, and spent the day on the couch reading. I am continually struck by the depth of Townshend's emotions, and the stark struggles he had as a boy. And how he rose, against odds to be one of the most important artists in Rock and Roll. He writes with a haunting vivid angst that is punctuated with pride, regret, and introspection. Townshend is a very brave man to share with the world his soul. I am just at the part where he has written A Quick One (While He's Away) and the link that song had with his own sexual abuse. It is very profound and powerful how he finds a depth of understanding of the refrain "you will be forgiven..." and why he would become maniacal during that refrain, as if to try to will forgiveness on himself. Amazing. And very emotional.
I've now gotta pull out my DVD of the Stones Rock And Roll Circus and watch that performance now!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-10-10 15:52 by RollingFreak.
Re: OT: Pete Townshend- Who I Am book club
Posted by:
whitem8
()
Date: October 10, 2012 16:22
Thanks Rollingfreak for the good wishes. Yeah, that performance of A Quick One on Rock and Roll Circus is AMAZING! one of my favorite live Who clips (that and Baba 'O Riley on Kids are All Right). THey are in the zone, and stole the show. Too bad they only did one song on it, it would have been great to hear them do Happy Jack or I'm a Boy.
Re: OT: Pete Townshend- Who I Am book club
Posted by:
custom55
()
Date: October 10, 2012 16:26
I just listened to Pete describing The Who at Woodstock... great and will order the book.
[www.guardian.co.uk]
[www.guardian.co.uk]
Re: OT: Pete Townshend- Who I Am book club
Posted by:
RollingFreak
()
Date: October 10, 2012 16:32
Agreed. Sorry for the Stones, because I've always thought they were great there (love that version of Sympathy and early Can't Always Get What You Want and the other Beggars stuff is fantastic), but The Who were just on fire there. Wish they could have played more. And those clips are pretty much their definitive ones, although I would add in Won't Get Fooled Again from The Kids Are Alright. Its alittle staged, but I've always thought if you wanted to know what the Who was all about, that clip explains it all:Quote
whitem8
Thanks Rollingfreak for the good wishes. Yeah, that performance of A Quick One on Rock and Roll Circus is AMAZING! one of my favorite live Who clips (that and Baba 'O Riley on Kids are All Right). THey are in the zone, and stole the show. Too bad they only did one song on it, it would have been great to hear them do Happy Jack or I'm a Boy.
Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.
Online Users
Guests:
1795
Record Number of Users:
206
on June 1, 2022 23:50
Record Number of Guests:
9627
on January 2, 2024 23:10