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Brian Cady's TKAA Adventure



A Brian Cady repost from O&S:

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My TKAA adventure

Well, I'm back so I'll give you a few moments from my
Kids Are Alright weekend.

On Saturday I met John Albarian and his lovely wife at
their hotel where we also met up with Matt Friedman
and several of John's friends. After a few drinks, we
walked over to the Waldorf-Astoria for the reception.

It was the big, elegant room you'd expect for the
Waldorf and a major New York bash. TKAA was running on
TV projectors at either end of the room but the sound
was off and the music was being performed by a
pianist. As I later learned, he was a specialist in
Gershwin who had never heard a second of The Who in
his life and had learned some pieces from a Tommy
songbook he'd been handed the day before!

Jeff Stein was there and I got to meet him. I'm sorry
not everyone is going to get this reference but
imagine if Gary Oldham had played the Johnny Depp role
in Pirates Of The Caribbean and you've got Stein dead
on. I was going to ask Stein if he'd ever given any
thought about writing a book about the making of TKAA
but, seeing as how he and Roger have made up and
supposedly Roger and Bill Curbishley threatened to
actually murder him at one point, perhaps he feels
that's not a past he wants to dig up.

I did discover that Pioneer had to pay a
not-insubstantial licensing fee to use the songs that
were already in The Kids Are Alright which goes
towards explaining why there isn't tons of additional
music on disc two. Owners of the original clips used
in TKAA also wanted a fortune for their re-use as I
suspect. Kilburn exists mostly as still-unprocessed
film or negatives in cans without markings telling
what songs they are. Stein and The Who agree that that
show should never see the light of day.

Then Roger came in. You could tell because all the
flashbulbs started going off and all the women bolted
in his direction. He was nattily and almost
conservatively attired in denim with hair somewhat but
not too short and still curly. Someone should record
Roger's throaty guffaw to play back when you need to
hear a good laugh. After lots of pictures and
autographs and a short interview with Michael Musto,
Roger is introduced to me. I think I've blown it when,
after shaking hands, I say to him, "Good luck on your
upcoming project with Pete." Roger gives me a very
sour look but follows it by saying, "I've just about
given up on him!" Trouble in new album land?

Roger ducks out soon. I recognize Clem Burke among the
regulars, then a bald man in a cap strikes up a
conversation with me. I had heard Moby was there and
this guy really looks like Moby but why would he be
talking to me? He keeps mentioning he's a musician and
a composer and "when I performed there..." Then
Lorraine Bracco, who's much better looking in person
than on The Sopranos, comes up and enthuses a hello to
this guy so, maybe it was Moby. In any case we talk
about the pianist and Moby(?) says he's recorded a
version of "Boris The Spider" and sits down at the
recently-vacated piano to bang out the chorus to the
song. Martin Lewis interrupts him because the sound is
interfering with an interview with Stein they are
recording so that all that came of that.

After Albarian leads us all on a merry chase through
New York high life while we're waiting for the
midnight show to start, we finally arrive at the
Walter Reade Theatre. Roger is in the green room. He
has no interest in seeing the movie ("Would you want
to watch your home movies again?") but has agreed to
say a few words. While we wait, I talk to Jacqueline
from Relayers. Sorry, Jacqueline, if I seemed a bit
out of it, but I was lucky not to be incoherent by
that point, as some of my compatriots were already
becoming.

In any case, Roger gets up before the audience and
gives a rather depressing speech about how Keith Moon
broke down in tears after seeing the movie The Kids
Are Alright. The vision of himself turning from a
beautiful 18-year old to the prematurely aged, bloated
figure he had become was too much for him. "Don't
worry, we'll get you back in shape," Roger told him
but then he died right after that. Fortunately, Jeff
Stein was brought up to liven the event up. Stein and
Daltrey hugged, then took the microphones off the
stand and both showed off their best mic twirling.

The movie that followed is not from a print but from a
DVD projector so it's a little fuzzier than you'd get
from a 35mm print. Albarian got the sound turned up
but I think it was really pushing the theater's sound
system. Walter Reade might want to think about a
better sound system if they're going into the rock
show business.

Well, that's all for now. I'm sure more of the things
I heard and learned will come up through grilling. I
hope you enjoyed this little story of my Who
adventure.


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-Brian in Atlanta
The Who This Month!
http://www.thewhothismonth.com
http://www.thewho.net/News
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