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Roger Last Saturday At Konocti Harbor



I wanted to report a bit on Roger and The British Rock Symphony show this
last Saturday up at Clear Lake (Konocti Harbor).

Briefly the venue itself is very nice.  Konocti Harbor is along one shore of
Clear Lake, a beautiful location and there is much to do for the entire family.
It has very nice indoor and outdoor accommodations for seeing all forms or rock
and roll entertainment, apparently this is what they mainly cater to.  As a
musician friend of mine once said, 'this is where all the old rockers go to end
there careers'.  I don't know about that but there are what seems a lot of older
acts coming to the place.  Hazel, my girlfriend and I even took in there spa
which was pricey but worth it.

Met a bunch of people from the lists for cocktails.  This is a very fun time
since at least for me Who fans are far between.  FYI, the first time I ever met
a real die in the wool Who fan in the flesh was last November and I've been at
this fanaticism for over 20 years!  I guess I should get out more:)

The show itself used the outdoor amphitheater.  As reported earlier the first
half of the show is without Roger and considering this I thought the BRS did a
very nice job on there own.  It truly was an absolute thrill to see Roger come
out and do his thing in the second half.  As always he gives the audience all he has.
Unfortunately, and this may be due to this being the last show in the tour, I
found him not in good voice.  He had difficulty with the high notes and his
voice seemed overall tired.  At one point he strapped his acoustic guitar
around his neck and proceeded in about a five minute monologue before playing.  One point
that he touched on was to the effect that when your twenty five you sing that
way because you can which becomes more difficult for him now at an older age.  IMO
all this being said I found Roger very entertaining and still a very capable
singer.

After the show some of us listers found out where the after concert party was.
Eventually the ones who stayed long enough
all got in.  At a couple of points I was standing only about six feet from
Roger and was able to make a couple of comments in his direction, but being
that he was busy with the rest of the listers with autographs and answering
other questions, my remarks were largely ignored.  (I was feeling a bit beside
myself at this point in my evening consequently I wasn't as perhaps aggressive enough for him
to take notice of me or anything that I did or might say.)  I was served the best
screwdriver I ever had in my life there (vodka and orange juice), much of this drink being around since
this is what Roger apparently drinks.  After being given my drink I maneuvered myself near him again at which point
I said 'Thank you very much for the drink Roger'.  He said nothing to me but he did
glance up at me and in that moment of eye contact what I felt he conveyed to me was
'Why the hell did I buy YOU a drink' immediately following hise glance seemed to say
'what the
hell, it's too late now.'  Oh well.

Actually once he saw me come in to the party I had to get help from a couple of people
in keeping him off of me.  I mean, these Who members just can't seem to keep there hands
off there fans:)

After a while longer the fortunate few listers who were allowed in left the party, (actually we were told
it was time for us to leave).
A few of us walked back to the public bar and had a
nightcap and basically just went WOW.  For many of us this was the most exhilarating Who
experience to date.  Unfortunately my own personal story is nothing but many were able to
have very nice exchanges with Roger, having autographs signed and pictures taken.

Everyone, I do apologize for the length of this post but I had a real good time and I'm sure
this opportunity that I had won't happen to me again for a very long time if at ever.

Okay enough annoyance and harassment for one sitting.

Beau (I thought he would never end) McCrury