Poll

["Tim Herrlinger" <herrling@lifesci.lscf.ucsb.edu>]

     I think the first record I ever purchased was a 45 of Please Please Me
by The Beatles.  Not long after that I bought "I Can See for Miles" as a 45.
I remember well the first album I purchased.  I was about 14 years old and
had been bagging groceries for tips for several weekends.  I finally got
enough money saved up and went to a discount store where I plunked down two
pocketsful of change in front of the cash register.  The salesperson was an
older woman, and when she saw my selection said, "Are you sure you want to
spend all your money on this?"  It was the triple album Woodstock.
I remember really loving the See Me, Feel Me part of that album.
     Not long after that I remember being in music class in 9th grade.  It
was a strictly classical music class with the exception of Fridays.  Our
quiet, little, mousy teacher let us bring in whatever we wanted to listen to
that day.  Perhaps because of the Overture, he chose to play Tommy and I
couldn't believe my ears.  I thought, "This is fantastic and grown-ups like
it too!"  I went right out and bought that and was forever hooked.
     My father was in the military and we moved about every 3 years.  I
lived on Okinawa, Japan during my junior and senior years of high school and
missed out on a lot of American culture during that time.  My first concert
was as a freshman in college back in the U.S. and I'm embarassed to say it
was Seals and Croft.  They played at our university and I just wanted to go
to any old concert.  My first Who concert was in Cincinnati in 1975 and I
drove a few hours each way to see them.  The only problem was that I had a
big Human Physiology final the next morning and I flunked it.  Even though
I got an F in the course, I would have made the same decision today.  I
think few people on this list would disagree with me.  It was my only black
mark and really didn't hurt that much since I finally finished my Ph.D. in
marine ecology at the University of California, Santa Barbara last June.
     I've seen The Who (and John and Pete solo) many times all over
California and my last concert was Daltrey Sings Townshend at the Greek
Theatre in L.A.
     My one regret (as naive as it sounds) is that I never really knew much
about Who bootlegs until I found this list about two years ago.  Now that
I'm stuck in South Carolina, I doubt that I'll ever have a chance to buy
any.  If anyone has any mail order sources or other avenues, I'd love to
know about them.  My only consolation is that with the remastering of the
catalog, we're getting a lot of the rare material that is now officially
released.
     One final note.  I don't have any personal friends that are into The
Who the way I am.  Although I think I have every officially released
album/CD, I consider that just being a big Who fan.  Some people jokingly
call me a Who-freak, but that's O.K.  Although I don't post much here, I
just wanted to say how thrilled I am to have been part of this list.  As
with Pete's music, your comments have always been informative, insightful,
therapeutic, and enjoyable.

***********************************************************************
* Tim Herrlinger                EMail  herrling@lifesci.lscf.ucsb.edu *
* Grice Marine Biological Laboratory   Office Phone (803) 762-5415    *
* University of Charleston             FAX          (803) 762-5110    *
* 205 Fort Johnson Road                Home Phone   (803) 884-8304    *
* Charleston, SC 29422                                                *
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