Bringing on the Flood

[Keithjmoon70 at aol.com]

I didn't get a chance to talk to my friend Jim Lundy after seeing The  Who 
with him at the Palace of Auburn Hills when they came last month.
 
He's the guy that I brought that hadn't seen them live in his life before  
that night -even though he knows more about rock and life than I could  shake a 
stick at.
 
He's about Lew's age and is a very deep thinker and compassionate person  
that cares about the meaning of things more than his place in them.  He's  one of 
those lifetime true friends that are bigger than themselves. 
 
Anyhow, sadly, his dad died the day after the show. Of course, I  didn't dare 
ask about how the show was under those circumstances.
 
But today at work he brought it up in a wonderful way.
 
His son is a musician that writes and plays folk music at a coffee house  
that we sometimes go and see him at.  He told me that he told his son to  pick a 
member of the audience and look into their eyes and into their broken  heart 
to heal them with the words of his songs.  One of his songs is called  
"Bringing on the Flood"  about a man who was a farmer during the  depression/dustbowl 
era that lost everything trying to raise his family until  his death 'brought 
on the flood' of his wife's tears of regret for the way she  blamed him under 
those  inescapable circumstances.
 
He teared-up as he explained this to me, coming from his own son, and it  got 
me right in the heart as well.  Then he said "Just like Pete Townshend  did 
to us at the Palace."  Then he went off describing what that did inside  of him 
that night.  He said "Pete decided to take control of that show and  it's as 
if he became some kind of buck in the rut stomping and  spitting out that 
spray with so much power while he just blasted those notes  right into us with a 
vengeance.  He looked at us with a look that just  freaked me out. (we were in 
row 9 right in front of him) Here were the  songs of my life being played 
before me by the very person that wrote them and  he did it with so much passion I 
couldn't believe it.  It was clear that he  meant what he said.  And he said 
it in the moment.  All those little  things he added and the looks on his face 
were something I've never experienced  before.  And you could tell that he 
and Roger had made peace with  one-another because there was no ego present.  
That was long-gone.   These were two war horses that had a history together that 
no one else knows  about but them. It's something that John and Paul didn't 
get done.   They never got to make peace with one-another."  
 
 
Then my mind started going 100 miles an hour.  "They never got to make  peace 
with one-another" 
 
Later, as the subject changed in my mind to this list, I thought about  John. 
 I thought about why it is that I'm not very much affected by him as  I am by 
Pete.  
 
This came up in me...
 
Skills aside, it's the person that makes the difference to me.  
When I think of what John was about and what his songs were about, I see  
someone that is complaining. His songs were about himself.  I see  negative 
feelings and humor that makes it palatable.  I saw him ask  for  answers in a way 
that gave me the impression that he didn't really  want to receive them.  Why 
did he do the drugs he did so late in  life?  Why instead of getting better, 
did it all got worse?   It killed him!! I don't want to go out like that.
 
When I hear Pete, I hear someone asking questions on behalf of us  all.  He 
may use himself as the instrument, but he's dealing with  humanity as a whole.  
And it ain't about identifying that we're lost  like him while partying at a 
bar.  He knows there is something bigger  than his problems.   John never 
touched something so high as the  concept of the losing of the self or of the 
Empty Glass.  Correct me if I'm  wrong, but I never heard him say something like 
"I thank you, my Friend!"
 
To me, the difference between John and Pete are this:  John was a  truly 
*great* musician that made the loudest sound in the loudest band in the  world and 
did it faithfully until his death.  He was a HUGE part of  The Who.  But Pete 
takes on vast problems and gets to the core -to the  root- and gives the 
impression that "he really wants to know"  what  is  going on in this universe we 
call home. Pete is a large part of The  Who.  But why I like him the most is 
that he is an even larger part of  me.
 
 
Jon in Mi.