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Re: Cincinnati



> I wrote:
> >I was quite miffed at Pete's interview on the subject in 80, and 
> >profoundly
> >disappointed that the tragedy never made it into any of his music.  He
> >certainly finds the time to write about his personal struggles, and
> >apparently the Cincinnati tragedy is not among them.
> >
> >My lesson from all of this was that Pete Townshend, The Who and their 
> >music
> >are not worth dying for.  I also learned that Pete can't really care 
> >about
> >us on a personal level, and even if he could he probably wouldn't.


Brian S Cady replies:
> Instead of trying to refute this, I thought I'd just send in Pete's own
> words and let everyone decide for themselves:
> 
> 	"I think what's not apparent to the outside world, in The
> 	 Who, is our bloody-minded brutality.  Our determination.
> 	 Our stamina, and our strength.  It's not apparent, because
> 	 we seem to brood so incessantly on our weaknesses, we seem
> 	 to have so many phobias; like everybody who really cares 
> 	 about rock, we spend time worrying how many more years.
> 	 But the amazing thing, for us, is the fact that when we
> 	 were told, told about what happened at that gig, that
> 	 eleven kids had died, for a second, our guard dropped.
> 	 Just for a second.  Then it was back up again.
> 	
> 	"It was, f*** it!  We're not gonna let a little thing like
> 	 this stop us.  That was the way we had to think.  We had
> 	 to reduce it.  We had to reduce it, because if we'd actually
> 	 admitted to ourselves the true significance of the event,
> 	 the true tragedy of the event, not just in terms of rock,
> 	 but the fact that it happened at one of our concerts, the
> 	 tragedy to us, in particular, if we'd admitted to that,
> 	 we could not have gone on and worked.  And we had a tour
> 	 to do.  We're a rock and roll band.  You know, we don't
> 	 f*** around, worrying about eleven people dying.  We care
> 	 about it, but there is a particular attitude I call the
> 	 "tour armour."  When you go on the road you throw up an
> 	 armour around yourself, you almost go into a trance."
> 
> 	 [large snip]
> 
> 	"I think only time will tell.  If I could dare say it, I'd
> 	 say that Cincinnati was a very, very positive event for
> 	 The Who.  I think it changed the way we feel about people.
> 	 It's changed the way we feel about our audience.
> 
> 	Q: In terms of affection?
> 
> 	"In terms of affection, and also remembering constantly that
> 	 they are human beings and not just people in rows.
> 
> 	[small snip]
> 
> 	"I mean, I watched Roger Daltrey cry his eyes out after that
> 	 show.  I didn't but he did.  But now, whenever a f***ing
> 	 journalist asks you about Cincinnati, they expect you to
> 	 come up with a f***ing theatrical tear in your eye!  You
> 	 know: 'Have you got anything to say about Cincinnati?'  
> 	 'Oh, we were deeply moved, terrible tragedy, the horror,
> 	 the loss of life, arrrghh'  What do you do?  We did all
> 	 the things we thought were right to do at the time: sent
> 	 flowers to the f***ing funerals.  All wasted.  I think
> 	 when people are dead they're dead.
> 
> 	 (Rolling Stone June 26th, 1980 p. 38)
> 
> Well, there's the worst of it.  All I can say is how stupid of Pete to
> try to be honest with people.  Wouldn't we just have so much more respect
> for him if he had given us all the big theatrical tear instead of letting
> us into his head and heart to see how a real human being in a crisis
> reacts!  And since Pete also complained about how the words above meant
> something else if you heard his inflection, let me just say that I'm
> being bitterly sarcastic.

I wanted to trim this, but I thought it would take things out of context.  I DO 
expect Pete to be honest, and in fact I have no problem with his honesty.  But 
no matter how I try to read the last paragraph, it comes across as cold and 
uncaring.  

What would I rather have had, an honest answer or an "pat" answer which says all 
the right things?  In this case, neither one.  I foolishly expected Pete to be 
connected with his fans to the point that he would be profoundly affected by the 
events.  He was not, as demonstrated by not only the interview but his failure 
to even mention this in any of his music (which for 20+ years now has been 
intensely personal).  I learned from this that hero worship of Pete, The Who, or 
any other famous person is a foolish thing.



Dave Elliott