A Few Thoughts About The Last Couple Of Months

["BW Radley" <bwradley@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

It was, appropriately enough, at about 5:15 PM on June 27 when I got a call
from my girlfriend on my cell phone.

I had been looking forward to that weekend since February, when I bought
literally the last ticket at the box office for The Who at The Joint in Las
Vegas.  To me, $305 (plus the cost of a weekend in Vegas) seemed like a
pretty decent price for what should have been a one in a lifetime
experience.  The greatest live band in rock history playing in a 1400 seat
nightclub.  After the performance at Madison Square Garden at The Concert
for New York City and with the specter of a new studio recording in the
offing, for the first time in God knows how long, it appeared that The Who
were actually approaching top form.

I was driving up the I-5 on the first leg of my 2002 mini-world tour.
Orange County to the Bay Area, and dropping off my son for a couple of weeks
vacation with my sister and parents.  I had just bought a new Mercedes, and
was looking forward to seeing how fast I could get that bad boy going, in
the traffic (and typically Highway Patrol) free environment of the Central
Valley.  After dropping him off and a quick visit with the family, off to
SFO and a short flight to Vegas and then party time!  After 36 or so hours
of the sort of debauchery a newly unmarried person should allow themselves,
then another flight to SFO, then a drive to see my beloved Giants play the
Oakland A's, and then back to LA and another visit with The Who at the
Hollywood Bowl, in the company of the aforementioned girlfriend, playing the
role of, in her words, "Eye Candy."  Hey, who am I to argue!  :-)

Then I got the call.  She told me that one of the members of The Who had
died in Las Vegas.  She didn't know whom.  However, I knew immediately who
died.  While trying to tune to a radio station to confirm what I suspected,
I was hoping, against hope, that I was wrong, and John had not died.
Perhaps Rabbit bit it.  Or even Zak or Simon.  But I knew.  Just as many of
you, I strongly suspect, knew that day was coming.  Not more than a couple
of weeks before it happened; I was reading a discussion about this very
subject.

While I was saddened by what happened, I wasn't surprised or shocked.  The
years of smoking and drinking weight fluctuations, and apparently drug use
had to taken its toll.  I suspected, from the few times that I had spoken to
him over the last five years, that John had heart disease and the early
signs of emphysema (listen to the Left for Live CD--he can barely sing on
that).

As I had already paid for my hotel room and flight, I decided to go ahead
and spend the weekend in Vegas.  My first stop was at the Hard Rock, not
because I had any burning desire to participate in the preverbal wailing and
rending of garments, but for the base reason that I had a ticket for a
concert that apparently was not going to take place, and I could find
another way to spend $305.  (Like a nice present for the girlfriend!)  I was
surprised, to put it somewhat mildly, when I was informed that the Las Vegas
concert was being rescheduled, and that the Hollywood Bowl show was on, with
a replacement bass player!

Having sometime to think about this, and seeing the amount of criticism that
has been heaped on the decision to continue with the tour, I think that the
comments that Pete's and Roger's decision was based solely on money is
grossly unfair.  For those of you who have gone or are planning to catch a
show during this tour, if you watch the JVC video that was taken a couple of
weeks before John's death, it is painfully obvious that he was in very poor
health.  To me, he looked closer to 97 than 57.  In light of how quickly
Pino Palladino was brought in, I would have to agree with the general
opinion that I have seen that John's death was not unexpected by
Pete/Roger/Management.

I have read that John allegedly passed a pre-tour medical examination for
life insurance purposes.  Having just had one of those examinations, I would
not be surprised if John's was little more than a cursory look-see, with the
person (not a doctor) more interested in whether he had HIV/AIDS than any
other problems.  (For the record, I passed that examination with flying
colors, which as I have never engaged in the sort of activities that
commonly lead to HIV/AIDS in the Western World, was no surprise from my
standpoint.)  However, had the tour been cancelled, with the promoters and
their insurers left holding the bag, I am certain inquiries would have been
made regarding what Pete/Roger/Management knew, prior to agreeing to this
tour, with perhaps some very unpleasant answers.

Clearly an economic incentive for the tour to continue existed.

However, I believe Pete when he wrote, "I simply believe we have a duty to
go on, to ourselves, ticket buyers, staff, promoters, big and little
people."

Curiously, less than a week before John's death, Darryl Kile, the St. Louis
Cardinals pitcher, died of a heart attack in a Chicago hotel (an 80-to-90
percent blockage in his arteries was found to be the cause).  The Cardinals,
who learned of Kile's death less than two hours before a game with the
Chicago Cubs, had the game postponed, and played the very next day.  I don't
recall any criticism of the Cardinals for playing less than 36 hours after
learning that a beloved teammate had unexpectently died.  No one said that
the St. Louis Cardinals should no longer play baseball, because Darryl Kile
died.  (Although that may be accomplished if the players go on strike.)

I realize that while Darryl Kile was a fine pitcher, he was not as important
to the Cardinals as John Entwistle was to The Who.  But does that change how
his teammates felt about Darryl Kile?  Did they pack up, or did they decide
to soldier on as best they could?  In fact, commentary on how the Cardinals
handled Darryl Kile's death was uniformly positive.

If you don't care for that analogy, I'll give you one closer to my home.  In
January, I started a new job.  The company I now work for had two of its
employees, including the #2 man killed in the World Trade Center, where we
had an office.  That may not sound like a large number, compared to some
companies that lost hundreds of employees.  But that is two out of a total
of twenty-five who were employed there on September 11, 2001.  My company is
still trying to recover physically and emotionally from that disaster.  My
current co-workers were back to work the next day trying to pick up the
pieces.  No one suggested the company go out of business because of what
happened.  They picked up, and moved on, as best they could, the same that
Pete and Roger are doing.

Notwithstanding all of this, there are still unanswered questions about what
happened.   Having not seen the autopsy report in full, I can't comment on
what it says (if anything) about the events leading up to John's death.
Based upon the publicized results of the autopsy, as well as the Nevada
Gaming Commission fining the Hard Rock $100,000 the same week the autopsy
report was released, for openly allowing prostitution to occur within the
premises, I tend to believe the rumors that a female "entertainer" was with
John in his room prior to his death, and was the one who furnished the coke.
Prostitution and Las Vegas casinos have gone together since before Buggy
Seigel built the Flamingo.  Certainly coke and female "entertainers" are not
an unknown combination in Vegas or anywhere else.

The issue of how much coke John had that night isn't that important.
Perhaps this was the first time he had done it in years; the demons catching
up to him in the end.   Perhaps he was propping up the Colombian economy for
years.  Both are possible, and in the end, not that important.  Just sad and
hopefully educational to those of you who haven't been stupid enough to try
it, and get caught in its web.

Finally, where does this leave The Who, the band?  I have read some
criticism of an article in the (Canadian) NATIONAL POST, comparing The Who
to the fictional Spinal Tap.  The following appears to particularly stuck in
several people's craw:

"The Who has spent the past few years overcharging Baby Boomers for a tired
nostalgia act."

Clearly, if The Who, or more accurately, the promoters, were overcharging
customers, one would expect half-empty arenas and amphitheatres.  As I do
not have access to Billboard, I can't verify this, but from what I
understand, this has not been a problem so far on this tour.  (Except for a
couple of concerts in the Midwest that were apparently cancelled due to
schedule conflicts.)  Billboard.com reported that for the July 18-28, The
Who's concert in Mansfield, Massachusetts on July 26 was the fourth highest
grossing concert for that period.  (A capacity crowd of 19,920 paying a
total of $1,422,592.)  The three concerts which grossed more was:

A four day country music festival in Ohio, which played to an average 2/3
capacity.

Britney Spears in front of 51,261 in Mexico City.

Two Dave Matthews Band shows in Hartford.  (The combined sales for both
shows were $1,798,886.)

Now we come to the issue of The Who being a "tired nostalgia act."  Exactly
how many new songs have The Who recorded, released, and played live in the
20 years, come September 4, since It's Hard was released?  Not counting
cover songs (e.g. Fire) or versions of songs that appeared on solo albums
(e.g. the horrid version of After the Fire on The Blues To The Bush).  I
only can come up with Dig from Iron Giant.

Granted, because of John's death, any new songs, at least for the early part
of this tour would not have been likely.  However, please compare the
following set lists:

Can't Explain, Substitute, Anyway Anyhow Anywhere, Who Are You, Another
Tricky Day, Relay, I Can See for Miles, Baba O'Riley, Eminence Front, Sea
And Sand, 5:15, Love Reign O'er Me, Behind Blue Eyes, You Better You Bet,
The Kids Are Alright, My Generation, Won't Get Fooled Again, Pinball Wizard,
Amazing Journey, Sparks, See Me Feel Me

Substitute, I Can't Explain, Baba O'Riley, My Wife, Sister Disco, Behind
Blue Eyes, Music Must Change, Who Are You, Drowned, 5.15, Pinball Wizard,
See Me Feel Me, Long Live Rock, My Generation, I Can See For Miles, Sparks,
Won't Get Fooled Again, Summertime Blues, Dancing In The Streets, Dance It
Away.

The first list was from the aforementioned July 26, 2002 concert.  The other
was from an April 1980 I saw in Oakland, California.  You will note that 12
songs were played at both shows.  You could compare two set lists from
anytime from 1979 to today and probably see a similar number.

You have a band that has not released a recording of all new songs since the
advent of the Compact Disc.  A band that has kept the same basic list of
songs they play in concert since the Shah was still on the Peacock Throne.
And you don't think the term " tired nostalgia act" might have some merit?

If Pete and Roger want to be a "tired nostalgia act," then so be it.
However, I think they are capable of more.  Within the last month, another
"tired nostalgia act," named Solomon Burke, released a new CD to critical
acclaim and positive sales (for a 60+ year old guy who weighs 350 pounds)--a
release which I have been listening to and fully enjoy and recommend to
anyone interested in old school soul music.

There is this other band, who at its peak, was considered a rival for The
Who's crown as the greatest live rock band ever.  A band that recorded its
share of well-known songs over the years, before they stopped recording and
performing for a number of years, before reuniting recently.  That group of
musicians, better known as Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band,
currently have the #1 CD (and they deserve it, in my opinion).  I know that
Peter and Roger have the talent and abilities to come up with as good a
recording as The Rising, or at least try.

If not, then accept that The Who is a nostalgia act.  Still a great live
act, but one trading on nostalgia nevertheless.


BW Radley
bwradley@earthlink.net