Re: The Who Mailing List Digest V6 #64

[Oshangrl@aol.com]

I'm reposting the Who Travels1-8 for the people who wrote me that said they
missed a few of the episodes.
I think it all started in '65 .  I went to see Herman's Hermits and was in the
6th row..I must have been 11 or 12 at the time.  A band called The Who came
out on stage with their frilly shirts and mod jackets...smoke on the stage..
Roger giving the peace sign to everyone while Keith and Pete were goin
crazy...what a trip that was to see!  I just remember that everyone was in
shock...kinda like the beginning of The Kid's movie.   The next time I saw
them I was a few years older, 71 and I was about 18.  They played at the
college I was going to...about 50,000 people were there (an outdoor festival).
My girlfriend and I were sitting pretty far from the stage and didn't really
get to see the band up close but we we were real determined to get a closer
look at them after the show (as did a couple of hundred other people). An hour
or so later I got my wish and saw them as they got into their limo with their
driver named Joe.   After a few minutes I noticed my friend was not anywhere
in sight...so I headed back to my dorm.  Then suddenly I hear a voice from
near the stage...my friend had hooked up with one of the Who's roadies.  Now,
I know what you are saying to yourself...but my friend was not what you would
call a loose woman, she was the best student of her graduating class and got a
scholarship to Northwestern University.  She was the extrovert and I was
definitely the shy one.
We hung out a little while longer because he told us that he would take us to
meet The Who.  They were staying at a little Holiday Inn just a few miles away
from the college.  Little did I know what I was getting myself into and how it
would effect my life forever.
To Be Continued......
My Travels With The Who..Part 2
The last episode ended with the outdoor concert at my college (where 50,000
people attended) then we were on our way to the Holiday Inn...just a couple of
miles away. As soon as my girlfriend and I arrived we were greeted by Keith,
John and Pete.  They were celebrating the success of the concert and it
reminded them of playing at Woodstock.  I was very intrigued while I watched
their wild antics.  I was 18, an art student,  and being from a rather
conservative, Midwestern town, they had my undivided attention!   I kept
getting flashbacks from the last time I saw them in concert when they played
before Herman's Hermits and totally freaked everyone out.  
Anyway, the next thing I knew Pete and John took a hold of my hands and my
feet and started playing tug of war with me!  (Remember I was only 18, very
shy and still pretty naive).  I ended up spending the night with John and then
about 4 AM Keith called us saying he was on his way down.  Well...he was in
his usual form....the words that came from his mouth was like a script from a
Monty Python sketch.  The translation was that he wanted to know if I would be
interested in going to Chicago with them for three days.  My girlfriend, Linda
had already been invited.  Of course we said yes!  They were playing at a
small theater for three concerts.  The limo was leaving at 7 AM for the
airport so we had to get our stuff together fast!  I was excited and nervous
about going out of town with these loonies but the artist in me couldn't say
no...I couldn't pass up an adventure like this.  Looking back it was like I
was a character in a comic book series.  
To Be Continued
Travels With The Who Part 3
I go back to my dorm after getting just a couple of hours sleep and my
roommates ask.."So where are you going so suddenly"...I answer "The Who just
asked my friend and me to go with them to Chicago for three days".  I could
tell by their expressions that they didn't believe me...the next morning the
whole city was talking about the mini-Woodstock that was held on SIU's campus
and it was on the front page of the newspaper. (It's in my Beatle scrapbook).
I knew  that I needed to leave word with my older sister (which by the way,
Keith kept trying to get me to go to her house and get her Beachboy and Jan
and Dean 45's) that I was going to be gone for a while.  I called her and she
tried to talk me out of going.  I find out when I got back that she called my
father to tell him what I was doing and he tried to call the airport to stop
me....that's one page I'm glad I didn't get!!  
Part 4
I drove my Chevy Nova back to the Holiday Inn and saw my girlfriend, Linda,
Wiggy (one of their managers..they called him Wiggy because he was bald), Bob
Pridden, Peter Rudge ( their road manager) and The Who scattered around the
motel and standing by the limos.  It had been decided that Roger was going to
drive the limo instead of the driver, Joe, because he got pretty loaded the
night before.   My friend and I were pretty excited to see and talk to Roger
for the first time.  We didn't see him the night before because he was with a
tall, thin, red-haired groupie..named Paula. She usually stayed with him when
he came to St. Louis. 
So their managers rode in one limo and my friend and I got to ride with The
Who.  I will never forget the ride to the airport!  Roger at the wheel, the
radio on and the DJs talking about the concert the night before...their witty
sense of humor.  I would have given anything to relive those times I spent
with them and be the age I am now instead of 18 yrs. old.
We arrive at O'hara Airport and I was even more overwhelmed!   Everyone went
into the gift shops and I tagged along..just listening and bewildered.  Then
we get back into the limo and headed towards the Watertower Hotel in downtown
Chicago.  The members were given their iteneraries and everyone went to their
rooms.  I went with John and my friend with Kieth.  That night..was the night
that I really fell in love with The Who.
To be continued....
Travels With The Who...Part 5
One of the things was so great about the concert was that  I knew  when it was
over there would be two more nights!  When the concert ended it took quite a
while for the group to wind down and of course the spectators were blown away!
Seeing The Who from on stage, getting to know them...well I remember thinking
while they were performing how very lucky I was to experience this moment in
time. We partied a little bit afterwards and went back to the hotel.  
Now...by this time...my girlfriend and I were totally in love with Roger!  We
were  so impressed by  how  down to earth he was and he seemed to be the
easiest to talk to and the most"sane" of them all>LOL.  He was really much
smaller than we expected him to be too but that didn't matter to us..he was
awesome!  Well...now both of us being teenagers, we decided that we had to get
to know him better...looking back now I know that it was not the right thing
to do..Kieth and John did bring us with them..but...as the old saying
goes.."girls just want to have fun"!   
To Be Continued...
Travels With The Who....Part6
I ended part five with the first concert at the Auditorium Theater in 71 and
my girlfriend and I went back with Keith and John but we were wishing that we
could spend some time with Roger. (I mentioned that back then Roger was pretty
down to earth and easy to talk to, a fellow Pisces trait..but in the 80's he
seemed more arrogant..I told John that I thought Roger got the big head from
becoming an actor. LOL)  The next day the band went down to Rush street..I
didn't go because was  I wasn't old enough to get in the bars.  When they
returned I noticed that they had bought each other a plaster cast  body part
that related to a personal characteristic...a nose, an ear..etc.  During the
second concert they were more relaxed and to my disbelief it was even more
dynamic than the first night!  I'm not sure which one of the three nights it
was..but one of the nights Pete smashed his guitar.   
After concert2, sometime after midnight or so...the phone rang...it was Keith
asking John if we had seen my girlfriend, Linda.  I think Pete and Keith had
gone out for a while after the concert and Linda, being the assertive one of
us,  had made her way to Roger's room while she had the opportunity to do so.
She ended up calling the room later that night and told me where she had been
and not to say anything (cause she was back with Keith) and that if I wanted
to spend some time with Roger he said that I could come down for a visit.  Not
sure how I managed to sneak out of John's room but I did and all I can
remember now is that I knocked on the door and he said to come on in.  I was
soooo nervous...I walked in and sat on the couch...the next thing I know Roger
walked thru the door.  He had just taken a shower and had just a towel around
his waste and that big cross  was dangling on his muscular chest.  I thought
the feeling I had when I saw them so close performing the first night couldn't
be beat...well you can only imagine how I felt!!!!
To Be Continued.....
Travels With The Who...Part 7
Wow..was I ever nervous..I had such a crush on him!  All I can remember now is
sitting next to Roger on the couch wondering what next? I was pretty naive and
inexperienced and to have this gorgeous rock star next to me with just a hotel
towel wrapped around his waist and that cross (which at that time was his
trademark) dangling down on his chest....I tried to think of something to
say...so I do remember telling him that I saw The Who perform for the first
time as a back up to Herman's Hermits and he told me that they also played
with Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels.  We chatted about some other things
and the well you know what happened next.  Later, I went back to John's room
and he commented on me being a wonderer....he had to know what I was up to.  
The third and last day in Chicago..John said that I would have to be gone for
a while because Joe Walsh and a couple of others from the band were going to
drop by..that one of the member's wives were going to be there and she was
friends with his wife so it wouldn't be good for me to be around.  I might
have been 18 and naive, but couldn't help but think that because of my
disappearing act the night before he might have been a little upset with me
too.  Looking back, I just think how many stupid things I did and if I would
have been older I would have gotten so much more out of the opportunities I
had.
That night we went to the concert and it was awesome as usual.  The band
checked out early the next day and I remember that Pete had to come back
because he had gotten kicked off the plane for being too intoxicated.  They
had gone out after their concert the night before with the James Gang and
partied  all night.
When I flew home the next day there was an urgent message from my father to
call him as soon as I could.  Did I ever dread making that call.
To Be Continued.......
Travels With The Who Part 8
So as soon as I returned home from my three day excursion with The Who in
Chicago I recieved a phone call from my sister telling me to call my father
ASAP. (In Part 3 I told you that he had tried to page me at the airport before
I left upon hearing that I was taking this trip with them.)  Reluctantly, I
called and he asked me to come over to his house for a talk.  He showed me the
frontpage of the newspaper from the concert that they played at my college
(the mini-Woodstock) and said how worried he was about me and that if I ever
do that again he would not help me through college.  (My father was somewhat
of an Archie Bunker back then>LOL). 
Once that ordeal was over I tried to go back to my normal routine life and
there was just no way that could happen.  When I went out to hear a band with
my friends I was so bored...it drastically changed my life.  It didn't take
long for the news to spread on campus that I spent three days and nights with
them.  In fact, a journalism major interviewed me for an article in our
school's  yearbook.  (Which I still have).  All I could think about was when
they were going to go on tour next and to see them again.  Then it finally was
announced that they were coming  back to the States in the Spring .  
To Be Continued........