Page, "I Really Want To Know"

["Leo O'Sullivan" <Leo.O'Sullivan@globalone.net>]

JB-2-The Who, 
You can pick up your check Friday at the office- er, um, I mean, thanks
for freely choosing to agree with my statements.  Your my second biggest
fan (next to myself).  Regarding Jimmy Page, he seems to have the worst
reputation in Rock according to peer bands of the Sixties.  I've heard
that story before about Page being a session man on those two Who
singles.  I've also read that he was a session man on the Kinks "You
Really Got Me" which led to years of controversy when some alleged that
he played the solo in that song (Ray Davies and most Rock historians
have dismissed this as baloney).  In fact, Ray Davies hated Page for
years afterwards because Page mocked the band so bad during that
session.  Supposedly Page laughed at the solo that Dave Davies did play
and the Davies never forgot it.  I read in another magazine interview
with Jeff Beck years ago (late '80s) where Beck was supposed to bike
over to a certain studio to cut a track, but when he got there Page was
there and Beck turned around and left.  Beck made some comment to the
effect, "Leave my bike there with him!  That prat would probably steal
it!".  Later when Townshend was slammed by the music press for blowing
off that Ronnie Lane tribute concert where Page, Beck and Clapton all
played together I always wondered why Pete did that.  He said he refused
to play on the same stage as Page.  That didn't sound like the laid back
Townshend I'd come to love.  Now I know better.  Page may be a great
guitarist (or was before his ability was stripped away by years of drug
abuse), but he apparently wasn't the nicest human being that ever lived.

Rob LaTerra wrote:
>>Comment from Pete that night (HOB) - "I have big genitals"
>Was this comment directed towards the males or females in the audience?

Okay.  I've only been on this list a few months, and at the risk of
being redundant, silly and downright petty, I have to ask this:
Like every other Who fan, I heard the news snippets and rumours years
ago that Pete was "bi".  I'll admit, although I consider myself a
moderate-to-liberal, I was stunned.  I later felt guilty for feeling
down about this; after all I've known about Bowie, Elton, and Freddie
Mercury for years and I still loved their old stuff.  Why is it that
Pete's "coming out" to any degree would upset me?  I finally concluded
that because my feelings about the Who and especially Pete are so strong
that it was like finding out the same thing about your dad or
something.  As Seinfeld would say, 'Not that there's anything wrong with
that'.  I think it threw me more because I had a certain long standing
image of Pete that had now suddenly changed, like knowing your father as
a certain person and then suddenly finding out he wasn't who you thought
he was, at least not exactly.  There's nothing wrong with it, it just
caught me off guard and unsettled me a bit.  I soon came to my senses
and remembered that whatever 'orientation' Pete has doesn't change what
he's written, or how he plays guitar, or how cool he is.  It's just a
new bit of information.  That said, I later heard that Roger made some
comments to the effect that Pete wasn't "bi" at all and in fact had just
been misinterpreted in some statements he made.  Later at the Pete solo
show at Jones Beach in '93, Pete said something like, "It's wonderful to
see all these young beautiful women in the audience," then he laughed
and said, "and all these young men as well." The audience laughed.  I
didn't know if he was poking fun at his bisexuality or if he was making
fun of the controversy which after all wasn't true.  So, can someone
humor me and tell me once and for all what the final word on Pete's
'preferences' was.  I know it's stupid to even want to know.  I love
Pete anyway, I wouldn't care if he was a transvestite hermophrodite from
Mars!  But part of me would like to know.  It won't change what I feel
about him or The Who.  It's just another piece of Townshend trivia I'd
like to know.  If I've offended anyone by asking something so petty,
please forgive me.  If I've bored anyone by asking something already
discussed to death in the past, please humor me.  Anyone with this info
can post their answer directly to me.  I'm not trying to tie up the list
with something everyone else has discussed ad nauseam.  Anyway, thanks
for letting me ask.
- --Leo