Where To Begin

WARNING:  This went on for a long time before I stopped writing.  Hopefully,
you'll find it all interesting, but it may be a bit disjointed/stream of
delirious consciousness.

I'm finally surfacing back home in Colorado.  Actually landed 48 hours ago,
but I've yet to recapture my sleep or my equilibrium.  Right now, I'm
teetering on the brink of collapse, and reading some of today's Who Digest
(after managing over the past 24 hours to wade through around eight of the
thirty or so back-digests awaiting my attention).  

At the same moment, I am listening to MSG tapes for the first time.  Pete
singing a spine-tingling version of "Cut My Hair" from the first night.  

Last week was the best thing I've ever done in my life.  IMHO, The Who on
stage, creating music in my space-time reality, just feet away from where I
stand is the height of human experience.  

First verse of "The Punk Meets the Godfather" - spectacular Roger and Pete
vocals.  All the way to my soul.  

But then, Gary Glitter.  IMO, the only truly undesirable, unsatisfying part
of the six shows.  Every time he was singing during "The Punk Meets The
Godfather" and "I've Had Enough"  instead of either Roger or Pete, I was
cringing, almost tortured.  If they feel a need for another character to sing
those lines in a full theater staging, fine, but with The Who performing, I'm
capable of making the conceptual leap of allowing Roger and Pete those
additional roles.  I hope they correct that for the road shows.  (Other
lowpoints of the show include much too short a second set/encore.  Lack of
encore variation.  John absent for "Won't Get Fooled Again."  John feeling so
removed, not singing, turned down in the mix.  Pete playing only acoustic
guitar - no electric guitar, no piano.)  

Anyway, back to my original post.  I was kist reading Bernd's many posts.  On
the one hand, it's much too much.  And yet, I find all of his commentary
thoughtful and of interest.  So thanks, Bernd.  

More specifically, fellow listers, I absolutely love participating in this
community when the commentary is thoughtful and Who related.  Even Janice's
commentary on Pete's hairstyles tickled my fancy.  But the extensive
discourse about religion, Howard Stern, and personal assaults, I could do
without.  (One round on a given topic is fine, but then I vote for continuing
off-list.)

OK, enough on that rubbish.  Back to The Who.

Now it's Simon on "The Dirty Jobs."  I dig him being on-stage.  I genuinely
enjoyed starting a relationship with him in real life.  I thought he was
truly excellent at his club show (with son Ben).  And, I thought his "Dirty
Jobs" costume was pretty cool.  Uniform, hat, shades.  Stylin'.  But, I want
Roger singing this song, not Simon.  Period.  End of story.  At least Roger
still sang "My Karma Tells Me...." and had strong vocal presence from then on
out.  

Now that I think about it, the only guest vocalist I wasn't bumming on was
Billy Idol.  That's somewhat ironic in light of the fact that I've never been
a fan of his.  Don't think he's much of a singer.  And yet, I thought he
perfectly cast as the Ace Face and The Bellboy.  He looked mighty fine in all
of his costumes.  He had the look.  He had the attitude.  He was the one.  

Someone told me he's 43.  Amazing.

Now, "Helpless Dancer."  Only a moderate favorite of mine on the record
(Roger's theme and all), it was probably the highpoint of the show for me.

Roger and Pete trading off lines.  Lots and lots to think, feel, and reflect
upon.  Moved some of the deepest parts in me.  Every night, and even now.  

"Is It In My Head?"  I like a few of the lines a whole lot, but overall, it
was probably the musical lowpoint of the show for me.  ("Dr. Jimmy " was the
personal lowpoint, but that's in a whole different way.)

Well, now that I'm thinking of that, let me respond to Bernd's comments that
I just read before I started writing.

My Original Comments From NYC Post:
> Always loved "Is It Me?" segment, but "Dr. J" turns my stomach.  For those
of you men at the show, try looking around at the pain in the women's eyes as
men sing, "Who is she?  I'll rape it."

Bernd's Response
>>I did look around and I felt somehow guilty as a man and I expected to see
pain in the women's eyes - but there was none.  Instead, most female fans
around me enthusiastically sang along with these verses.  I was quite
surprised...

>>See my perhaps-soon-to-come-or-never-to-appear MSG report for further
discussion of that subject.

>>For now, I apologize to you in the name of all male Who fans.  We don't
want to hurt your feelings.  Hey, during this part of `Doctor Jimmy' I always
sang along with Pete, not with Roger... :-)

My Now Response:
Clearly we were sitting in different parts of the crowd.  The women I saw
were for the most part quiet and uncomfortable.  I guess both of our
experiences were real.  As for your apologies...  Thank you, but I don't feel
an apology is appropriate or necessary.  It's not that I think anyone is
"trying to hurt my feelings," Bernd.  

Rather, it's that the song is assaultive and violating.  It hurts everytime
that The Who sing it. It is a too close to home example of the many
assaultive/violating expressions towards women that are tacitly and
explicitly endorsed in our culture and immediate surrounding every day. I
have even sometimes observed it in this Who forum.  I guess it hurts in every
single one of those places, and it especially hurts when it comes through The
Who.  Without going into a long discourse that has no business on a Who list
(IMO), I guess all that I am saying is that I would ask for acknowledgement,
respect, and compassion around all of these issues.

Back to the show...

"I've Had Enough"  The band rocks out royally.  Yee haw!  Gary Glitter's
vocals kill the momentum.  The trading off of lines between everybody is
pretty cool.  Zak kicks ass.

"5.15"  John's only true showcase.  Unbelievable as always.  Whole band rocks
out here.  

IMO, the whole show really suffered from a lack of John.  While he never had
any conceptual input into the album, I always considered Quadrophenia to
musically be a great John album.  These shows, however, he felt really
checked out to me.  Best bass I saw him play all week was the four or five
songs at his Le Bar Bat solo shows.  

Before I left NYC, I was over at a new friend's apartment in the Village.  He
had the Laserdisc of '89 LA Tommy on.  Seeing John tearing it up there put
everything at MSG to shame.  Being a huge John fan (as anyone who knows me is
well aware), I was seriously bumming.

"Sea and Sand"  Pete's vocals were stunning.  Was kind of a bummer to have
Billy singing the refrain, but he was fully in character and pretty damn
cool.

"Drowned"  Just like Pete's club shows.  Five of the six MSG shows I was in
the ideal place for this and "I'm One."  Right in front of Pete in either the
first (twice), second (twice), or third (once) row.  It was almost if I was
back at House of Blues and The Fillmore.  Only there, I was leaning on the
stage instead of 6-12 feet back.  What a spectacular year it's been!

Anyway, I've never met a version of "Drowned" I didn't like.  This version,
especially Pete's guitar playing was totally awesome every night.  But even
so, it's hard to not miss the band rocking out.  John, Zak, Roger.  

Haven't mentioned Phil Daniels yet.  Thought he was marvelous.  I think the
narrator format is excellent for Quadrophenia.  IMO, it effectively blends
elements of the Theater Tommy, Psychoderelict, and Roger's original stage
show explanations.  In terms of casting, I couldn't be happier with Phil.

Some people have asked about other things he's been in.  I caught him on TV
one night a few years ago starring in a movie that I seem to remember being
called "Breaking Glass."  (I ended up watching just 'cause he was in it.)

"Bellboy."  It was ripe for disappointment, yet it turned out to be fully
satisfying.  Idol was great.  Fully inhabited the character and looked
perfect.  The bit where John, Roger, Geoff, Roger, Simon, and Pete surrounded
Billy, chanting "Bellboy" was truly priceless.  Very cool.

"Dr. Jimmy."  You've already heard my personal comments on this one.  That
aside, I thought it was one of the hottest numbers of the night.  Pete's "He
only comes out when I drink my gin" refrain was powerfully profound.  The
band rocked out in a major way.  Also, Roger really embodied it all.
 Consistently one of his strongest vocal performances.  Both extremes - the
explosive, aggressive "Dr. Jimmy" as well as the intimate and vulnerable "Is
It Me?"  What a spectacularly beautiful man he is.

"The Rock"  Best damn rock and roll band in the world, even with Pete on
acoustic and Keith long dead.

"Love Reign O'er Me"  Near and dear to my heart.  Seeing Roger sing this up
close has never ceased to be a breathtaking experience.  Never a
disappointment, even on the hard nights.

Missed Pete's electric guitar most on "Quadrophenia," "The Rock," and "Love
Reign O'er Me."  Otherwise, I was pretty pleased with Geoff.  Much prefer him
on-stage to Steve Bolton.

As for Zak, I thought he was outstanding.  Accepting that Keith is dead, and
it will never be the same without him, I think Zak is the one.  He hears the
internal rhythm.  He surfs the Keith wave.  I've now seen him 10 times, Simon
Phillips 16 times, and Steve Luongo 8 times.  I'd give them all extremely
high marks.  All of them are great drummers and do a highly credible job
filling in for the world's greatest rock drummer in the world's greatest
band.  But without hesitation, my pick is Zak.    

Rest of the band is way cool.  Don't have much else to say about them other
than I think they're all great, and if Roger, Pete, and John are happy
working with them, it's A-OK by me.

I'm sure there's lots I didn't say, but I've been writing for we;l; over an
hour, and I feel ready to keel over.  Time for sleep.  It may be several more
days before I begin to catch up.  Maybe I'll touch on that half of my
adventure in my next installment.  Hope you've enjoyed it all.  Thanks for
listening...

Lauren