Re: The Who Mailing List Digest V6 #76

[Alan McKendree <amck@thenetdr.com>]

>Date: Wed, 24 Mar 1999 14:14:56 -0000
>From: "Sanderson, Jay" <JSanderson@london.att.com>
>Subject: Whofest
>
>Why not have it in london?
>
>With the cheap airfares at the moment its crazy not to!

1) There have already been 2 Who conventions in London in the last 4 years.

2) Cheap airfares are during the off season, when the weather is usually
freezing, snowy, sleeting, etc.  When the weather's better airfares can
double or more.

3) The "london" in your address wouldn't have anything to do with your
preference, would it? ;-).


>Date: Wed, 24 Mar 1999 15:54:50 -0000
>From: "Sanderson, Jay" <JSanderson@london.att.com>
>Subject: Live at Leeds (Vinyl)
>
>Anyone have any idea on the value of Live at Leeds vinyl with all 13
>inserts?

$20, if in pristine condition.

>I only have seven inserts but I would like to know it is worthwhile
>getting them all........

Of course it is :-).


>Date: Wed, 24 Mar 1999 12:32:15 -0500
>From: "Mark R. Leaman" <mleaman@sccoast.net>
>Subject: Goodbye Sister Techno, Whofest mudwrestling, & Conceptual mayhem
>
>Alan:
>
>Those cities are hardly "central" to someone in the southern part of the
>country, be it California or Florida. Try Kansas City if you REALLY want to
>be central.

Oh, I know.  I'm sure you know that The Who's following has always been in
the industrial Midwest (plus the coasts, of course), not the southern
central US.  If you're trying to maximize attendance it should be in one of
the band's strongholds.  It doesn't matter to me, I'm almost equally
distant from NY, CA, and IL, I'll be travelling anyway.  One argument for
Detroit is that the site of Tommy's U.S premiere, the Grande Ballroom, is
there, But of course there are persuasive points for other locations.

>I'm on the east coast, you're in the middle of the country, and someone
>here is in California...any reason we can't have three Whofests? Or ten?

No...but I have helped organize conferences before, and it's a lot of work.
If you want to have a meeting in Los Angeles in someone's living room for
snax and music it's no problem (although not many people may come).  If you
want something that will be worth travelling 1,500 miles for, you've got to
consider renting a club or conference room, selling booth space, attracting
vendors, preferably arranging discounted rates at 2-4 nearby hotels,
publicity, special programs (interesting speakers, rare film/photos/music),
collecting and printing up info on nearby food facilities, etc., and paying
for all the above.   If a tribute band is involved that's another set of
logistics.  I'd be happy to have three or 10 of these to choose from but I
just think it's unlikely that three or 10 such groups of fans exist to put
them together.  FWIW, the organizers of BOTH WhoCons in London, successful
as they were, swore after each one that they would never do it again.

>Myrtle Beach is a place for
>people to vacation, which is after all what we're talking about here...and
>it DOES have the Baba Center, the first ever in the US and one PT comes to
>every time they tour. There are people here who know him personally, and I
>have spoken with the Baba Followers about a tour and found them more than
>happy to have us. That is one very good reason to have an east coast
>gathering here, as opposed to say NYC.

This all sounds great.  If it happens I would love to attend.

>You have yours, in Chicago if you wish (althugh that means I'll owe you the
>beers still), and we'll have one here. There can be another in LA or SF or
>wherever. No problem!

I don't _have_ a convention :-)...I'm just recapping points raised on the
list previously re: this topic.  I seriously doubt that I will be able to
take a hand in organizing any convention no matter where held.

>Couldn't have said it better myself, even if I had given Paul a bit and
>said Ebony And Ivory was his ultimate statement...

John once said to me that every songwriter searching for ideas sometime in
their career looks at the keys on a keyboard and thinks,
"Black...white...ebony, ivory...nah, too stupid." :-D.  Only McCartney, had
the balls to cash in on the cheap slamdunk.

Alan
Be sure to read _McKendree: A Burning Novel of Murder and Revenge_
by Douglas Hirt, ISBN 0-8439-4184-7  (available at www.amazon.com)