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tatters

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stonesnow

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tatters
Good 'ol Pete. He'd never fleece us. The price range for Who tickets at my local arena next month is $39.50 to $129.50. And they're playing Quadrophenia, which is arguably superior to anything the Stones have ever done with the possible exception of EOMS.

I was able to afford my Who ticket, so no complaining from me on that front. But since the Stones are such royalty and only the upper echelons of financial society are entitled to see them, maybe their stage design should resemble Buckingham Palace, or something.

Are you reading Pete's book? What do you think of it? I'm about halfway through it. It's not quite the page-turner I thought it would be. Not quite sure why. Maybe it's the seriousness of it all. I find myself having to re-read some paragraphs just because I'm afraid of missing something profound, and this book is loaded with profundity. I have to put it down at the end of every chapter. It's like, "Okay, Pete. Enough already. Let's just watch the ballgame for awhile."

Yes, I'm reading it, and I'm taking it slowly. I'm at the point now where Pete has decided to drop art school and throw his lot in with the Who full time. I don't mind the seriousness because it's literature, and in that regard I'm sure Pete is not concerned with being entertaining, but rather illuminating. He was entertaining in person when I caught his live book interview appearance in Boston last week. He was funny, witty, and engaging on the level of keeping a live audience listening to him speak in an auditorium entertained and interested. But when you're sitting down one-to-one with pages and pages of words, there is room for more nuances, more poetic passages, and he is condensing days, weeks, months, years of his life with all its attendant anxieties and triumphs into just dozens of pages at a time. If you're looking to be entertained and amused by an autobiography, George Carlin's Last Words: A Memoir will have you rolling in tears you'll be laughing so hard, but not from the man who wrote such tunes as Behind Blue Eyes and However Much I Booze.

I like this book because things are being revealed which only make me appreciate him more as an artist--what the rivers and seas mean to him and how they led to his first trance-like musical inspiration, a place he has continually been inspired to revisit ever since. And that "bird man" pose with the guitar was really him becoming an airplane, a bomber, with all the droning fury his deep-seated post-war nuclear-age anxiety could propel him with....

Yeah, I think maybe it's a book that should be read slowly, savored, you might even say, like a fine glass of Pete's (formerly) beloved Remy Martin.

Not as top heavy as KR's book. It took Keef almost 200 pages just to get to (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction. 200 pages into Pete's book and you're already past Tommy and Woodstock, both of which are discussed in great detail. There's a lot about Tommy in this book, actually. Even the making of the Tommy movie takes up the better part of two chapters.

I'm in 1965 right now, they've just recorded My Generation, Roger has replaced the van with the moving truck, Pete has just met Karen Astley, poor Mike Shaw has just been paralyzed.... Then the part of how when they got Jane 'Who' as secretary for their fan club she would always hand them their mail unopened, and Pete, knowing he would one day write this book, left one fan letter envelope sealed until the day he finished the book.... jump ahead to the Appendix, page 505, and Pete reads from a fan letter dating from January 1967 that was left sealed these 45 years, a female fan who loves Pete but is not in love with him, she finds him attractive though not beautiful and wonders in the letter if he or even Karen actually finds him beautiful and ends the letter with 22 laughs ('ha ha's strung together 22 times) at the thought of how a female correspondent from the previous week's edition of Disc had written that she thought he was beautiful. Then he recalls another letter from another female fan from that same month who writes to thank him for taking her and a friend home after a concert the previous November, signing off her letter with 20 kisses. Pete finds insightful irony in that the 20 kisses were 2 less than the number of laughs from the other letter of the same month, like the title of the Samuel Beckett novel, More Pricks Than Kicks....

I just finished the discussion of A Quick One. Interesting comments on one of my favorite Who songs. This one, despite its rather "campy feel" is actually one of the Who's darkest songs. The way Pete talks about it, one really takes a different look at the song and realizes how personal of a song it is for Townshend.
Pete has an ability that only one other songwriter I know has. He can disguise himself in characters, like A Quick One where he is actually the "Girl Guide" who gets abandon, molested and eventually reunited with her lover (or is it a parent?) Ray Davies was the only other songwriter that I feel has this same ability, although he does it much better. Whether Davies is decrying a popular schoolmate, as in David Watts, or lambasting the British tax system (as in Sunny Afternoon, which as a sidebar IMO is a much better critique of the British tax system then Taxman and much more subtle and mocking) one can find Davies' real person in his songs, much like Townshend.

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tatters
Not as top heavy as KR's book. It took Keef almost 200 pages just to get to (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction. 200 pages into Pete's book and you're already past Tommy and Woodstock, both of which are discussed in great detail. There's a lot about Tommy in this book, actually. Even the making of the Tommy movie takes up the better part of two chapters.

But when has Pete not overtalked about Tommy ><. Its probably what he considers his greatest creation and critics and fans have not led him to believe otherwise. I'm not up to that section yet, but it doesn't surprise me that its mentioned alot. I'd actually be very curious about what he says regarding the movie, as I've seen Tommy, Quad, and The Wall, and all of them make me wish I hadn't. Don't know why, but I've never been able to get into "album films". The stories on the albums do just fine, and I find that the films end up usually being overindulgent, cheesy, and the music is always re-recorded, and usually featuring different singers from the actual songs. Sorry, but give me the albums anyday. I'd be interested to see what Pete says about it though, as I loathe Tommy the film and have not sought out to read into the production process about it.

Saw Pete in London last night for a Q and A, and he was fantastic. He really told some amazing stories and shared some very deep thoughts. He did a Q and A, but I wasn't chosen! Bummer, but he did sign his book and I got to shake hands with him and thank him for his gift of music. It was a great night!

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stonesnow
I'm in 1965 right now, they've just recorded My Generation, Roger has replaced the van with the moving truck, Pete has just met Karen Astley, poor Mike Shaw has just been paralyzed.... Then the part of how when they got Jane 'Who' as secretary for their fan club she would always hand them their mail unopened, and Pete, knowing he would one day write this book, left one fan letter envelope sealed until the day he finished the book.... jump ahead to the Appendix, page 505, and Pete reads from a fan letter dating from January 1967 that was left sealed these 45 years, a female fan who loves Pete but is not in love with him, she finds him attractive though not beautiful and wonders in the letter if he or even Karen actually finds him beautiful and ends the letter with 22 laughs ('ha ha's strung together 22 times) at the thought of how a female correspondent from the previous week's edition of Disc had written that she thought he was beautiful. Then he recalls another letter from another female fan from that same month who writes to thank him for taking her and a friend home after a concert the previous November, signing off her letter with 20 kisses. Pete finds insightful irony in that the 20 kisses were 2 less than the number of laughs from the other letter of the same month, like the title of the Samuel Beckett novel, More Pricks Than Kicks....

I get lots of mail I never open. Bills mostly ....

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whitem8
Saw Pete in London last night for a Q and A, and he was fantastic. He really told some amazing stories and shared some very deep thoughts. He did a Q and A, but I wasn't chosen! Bummer, but he did sign his book and I got to shake hands with him and thank him for his gift of music. It was a great night!

What were you going to ask him?

I wanted to ask him about how he started his journey of therapy, and how did the band, and other rock and roll friends react to him being in therapy.

Also, he said how much he enjoyed working on the Director's Cut for Quadrophenia, and I wanted to ask him if he considered making a "Who" album of Lifehouse compiling alternate takes of Who songs that were slated for Lifehouse, demos and maybe even new material with Roger.

But alas the last question asked was by some putz who asked, "you asked Timothy Leery, Dylan, and the Beatles, what did you ask them?" LAME! But good old Pete had a great answer (after rolling his eyes a bit).

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whitem8

But alas the last question asked was by some putz who asked, "you asked Timothy Leery, Dylan, and the Beatles, what did you ask them?" LAME! But good old Pete had a great answer (after rolling his eyes a bit).

That's actually a great question! LOL

I remember an interview Pete did around 1980 where he said "I want to be able to drink a beer with every rock and roll fan." In a way, reading his book is kinda like that. It's like Pete is talking directly to you, saying stuff he would only ever say to a close friend.

Really? I thought is was lame, because it is a metaphor saying no one has the answer, you have to find it yourself. But it did lead to him giving a great story about when he was talking about spiritualism with George Harrison, and he imitated George perfectly, when he said after asking George how he could reconcile being a rich and famous star with his beliefs, George answered, "well Pete, its all an illusion anyways..." And he started laughing say how right Harrison was. He also did a great imitation of Dylan hitting on his girlfriend. Pete is very well spoken and engaging. He also remarked perhaps sometime in the future he would make available on line all the stuff that was edited from the autobiography, about another 1000 pages! Stuff he said only real hard core fanboys would want to read... But he said he is done writing for a while now and that he is very proud of his book. And he is really looking forward to meeting up with Roger soon to start rehearsing for the Quadrophenia tour.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-10-18 17:47 by whitem8.

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whitem8
I wanted to ask him about how he started his journey of therapy, and how did the band, and other rock and roll friends react to him being in therapy.

Also, he said how much he enjoyed working on the Director's Cut for Quadrophenia, and I wanted to ask him if he considered making a "Who" album of Lifehouse compiling alternate takes of Who songs that were slated for Lifehouse, demos and maybe even new material with Roger.

But alas the last question asked was by some putz who asked, "you asked Timothy Leery, Dylan, and the Beatles, what did you ask them?" LAME! But good old Pete had a great answer (after rolling his eyes a bit).

Did anyone ask him why he is/was charging over a $1000 (possible $1200) for the 6 CD set of Lifehouse Chronicles?

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tatters

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stonesnow
I'm in 1965 right now, they've just recorded My Generation, Roger has replaced the van with the moving truck, Pete has just met Karen Astley, poor Mike Shaw has just been paralyzed.... Then the part of how when they got Jane 'Who' as secretary for their fan club she would always hand them their mail unopened, and Pete, knowing he would one day write this book, left one fan letter envelope sealed until the day he finished the book.... jump ahead to the Appendix, page 505, and Pete reads from a fan letter dating from January 1967 that was left sealed these 45 years, a female fan who loves Pete but is not in love with him, she finds him attractive though not beautiful and wonders in the letter if he or even Karen actually finds him beautiful and ends the letter with 22 laughs ('ha ha's strung together 22 times) at the thought of how a female correspondent from the previous week's edition of Disc had written that she thought he was beautiful. Then he recalls another letter from another female fan from that same month who writes to thank him for taking her and a friend home after a concert the previous November, signing off her letter with 20 kisses. Pete finds insightful irony in that the 20 kisses were 2 less than the number of laughs from the other letter of the same month, like the title of the Samuel Beckett novel, More Pricks Than Kicks....

I get lots of mail I never open. Bills mostly ....

Just think of what they'll be worth in 45 years....

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whitem8
he is really looking forward to meeting up with Roger soon to start rehearsing for the Quadrophenia tour.

The tour starts in just two weeks, but I guess they don't need much rehearsing.

Hey there,

Here's a recording of the Boston interview/acoustic performance Pete did last week if anyone is interested. Haven't gotten a chance to listen yet but I'm sure it sounds pretty decent. And if not, at least its a memento of the night for those that were there.

[www.dimeadozen.org]

Did anybody mention that Pete incorrectly recalls Jagger/Richards played Wild Horses at The Concert for New York in 2001?

And I saw Quadrophenia misspelled at least once.

Otherwise I am struck by how frail and insecure Pete has been his whole life...particularly with respect to women and his musical talent. He always seemed really self-confident and powerful on stage and on talk shows.

Funny I just read that on the flight back to Jakarta. Finished the book. That was a major error, unless they did it during a sound check. But Pete is full of love for The Stones. Great book, still processing it. Seemed to be a bit too rushed near the end. But all in all a very good book.

Here's a 10-minute clip of Pete Townshend's post-interview acoustic guitar set at Berklee Performance Center, Boston, October 12, 2012.

[www.youtube.com]

There are several different angles of the performance clips of this set on YouTube, so obviously several people were able to sneak in camera/audio equipment to the show.

[www.youtube.com]

Here's a clip from the interview:

[www.youtube.com]

I'm at the part where Pete is passed out in a pool of his own feces after having been rejected by the B-list movie actress Theresa Russell. Strange, strange book. Absolutely fearless, as well. Pete is unafraid to show himself at his most pathetic. "This is Who I Am," he seems to say with a shrug. "Deal with it."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-10-26 06:29 by tatters.

What has struck me while reading this book is how candid Pete is with expressing his insecurities, mistakes in life. He pulls no punches. What has surprised me thus far, and I'm about 300 pages in, is that their is a brevity to Pete's prose, that is absent when he speaks. He is very descriptive about everything when he speaks. Never short on words. We have all read that the editors cut over 1,000 pages from the original. This to me was a big mistake. Perhaps it was done to make the book more appealing to the casual interest readers at the expense of what the fans would have wanted. Maybe there is another book in here somewhere, but I would have preferred to hear more from Pete in the manner that he speaks. I liked KR's book because it it always seemd like Keith was talking to us. Anyway I like the book thus far and look forward to finishing this week. Certainly worth seeking out and reading for sure.

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filstan
What has struck me while reading this book is how candid Pete is with expressing his insecurities, mistakes in life. He pulls no punches. What has surprised me thus far, and I'm about 300 pages in, is that their is a brevity to Pete's prose, that is absent when he speaks. He is very descriptive about everything when he speaks. Never short on words. We have all read that the editors cut over 1,000 pages from the original. This to me was a big mistake. Perhaps it was done to make the book more appealing to the casual interest readers at the expense of what the fans would have wanted. Maybe there is another book in here somewhere, but I would have preferred to hear more from Pete in the manner that he speaks. I liked KR's book because it it always seemd like Keith was talking to us. Anyway I like the book thus far and look forward to finishing this week. Certainly worth seeking out and reading for sure.

I agree. I was surprised how brief his remarks were concerning the death of Keith Moon and the tragedy in Cincinnati. I'm sure he had more to say on those subjects. Much, much more. I'd just like to be able to read it.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-10-22 17:10 by tatters.

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tatters

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filstan
What has struck me while reading this book is how candid Pete is with expressing his insecurities, mistakes in life. He pulls no punches. What has surprised me thus far, and I'm about 300 pages in, is that their is a brevity to Pete's prose, that is absent when he speaks. He is very descriptive about everything when he speaks. Never short on words. We have all read that the editors cut over 1,000 pages from the original. This to me was a big mistake. Perhaps it was done to make the book more appealing to the casual interest readers at the expense of what the fans would have wanted. Maybe there is another book in here somewhere, but I would have preferred to hear more from Pete in the manner that he speaks. I liked KR's book because it it always seemd like Keith was talking to us. Anyway I like the book thus far and look forward to finishing this week. Certainly worth seeking out and reading for sure.

I agree. I was surprised how brief his remarks were concerning the death of Keith Moon and the tragedy in Cincinnati. I'm sure he had more to say on those subjects. Much, much more. I'd just like to be able to read it.

He has mentioned the possibility of his publishing the full unabridged version online at some point. He mentioned this editing issue at his live interview appearance a couple of weeks ago when talking about the origin of the song Rael, saying that there was a long-winded exposition about what inspired him to write the song and that it was probably better that these were edited out, as such long and heavily detailed passages would mainly only be of interest for the serious hardcore fan.

I expect to finish it today. As with KR's book, the last 25 years are condensed into 100 pages, during which Pete talks more about his girlfriends than about his diminishing creativity.

Bought it yesterday, great read so far!

I have been on an audio/video Who binge the past few weeks since I bought the book and finished reading it. They were really a terrific band back in the old days.