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Re: John & cocaine & Who fandom at an ebb



Ya know, I wanted to feel this same way. But, if someone dies from lung 
cancer from smoking or an alcoholic dies from an alcohol related illness, 
does that make all that they have accomplished in their life irrelevent or 
less than it was when they were alive?

Johanna:

All you say is true. I'm not undermining or trying to make irrelevent the work JAE did, or the effect it had on myself and others through the years. I was only voicing my own feelings about the unnecessary death of a person who helped make me the person I am today. We get what we get from artists, and more often than not an artist's life is full of strife (and it's a popular theory this makes them the artist they are). But like what Jason posted about Pete onstage comment, I'd rather see John LIVE for Rock music. The opportunity was there for more, and I selfishly would like these guys to make more great music because they have the capacity AND wasted (in my mind) so many years being broken up...that seemed finally to be behind them, as they've been a functioning unit from 1996 till the present. Very hopeful indeed.

For I think Who fans have had it rough. For one thing, the band has never gotten the respect and recognition they deserve. Other bands, from The Beatles to Pearl Jam, have taken from and gotten more famous using thing The Who literally invented. I have never heard a RnR pre-Entwistle bassest, for instance, who did much more than hit a note at the "change." Other bands have gone on endless reunion tours, yet it's The Who that take the "hit" for doing so. Townshend is trashed for years about comments concerning homosexuality, while people like Robert Plant get a pass. And so on, and so forth.

Now, finally, The Who were getting the level of respect they have deserved all along. They were alive and active, while bands from their time all seem old and tired. They were even taking a chance to make new music thirty years after their "time." That is quite a risk, and one I wasn't completely comfortable with (although hopeful). And what happens? Entwistle kills himself with a drug a man (or woman) 30 years their junior would hesitate to use...and the band, instead of bowing out with heads held high and universal praise, goes on tour within a few weeks. Oh, I don't hold their reasons for doing so against them, but it has brought out the naysayers again. Some performances, as Kevin cites for instance, were less than great. And this is where their legacy will be left. They won't be remembered for the great shows of this tour...but the least of them. They won't be remembered for going on through adversity...but instead the "disregard" for a 40 year partner.

So, you see, I'm not completely thrilled with the situation. It's just where I am right now. As commented earlier, the package from Irish Jack perked me up a bit. I managed to listen to By Numbers last night, because I wanted to hear Success Story. I'm trying.
   
          "To announce that there must be no criticism of the 
               president, or that we are to stand by the president 
                 right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, 
                    but is morally treasonable to the American public." 
                             President Theodore Roosevelt, Republican                                              Cheers             ML  
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