Sorry For The Delay But Here It Is 'The Convention'

[Beau McCrury <Beau.McCrury@ucop.edu>]

Hello all,

WARNING: THIS POST IS LONG.  IF YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT THE CONVENTION ANYMORE
         PLEASE JUST SKIP OVER THIS.

I've been chaffing at the bit to get this out, believe me, but I am surprised
how I can get so far behind in such a short time at being away but I am now
finally finding myself far enough ahead to give 'the convention' the time I 
think it deserves.

First off, I'm sure this will be boring to many of you that is more inclined
to travel
and who are more oriented to Who related activities as the reports of the
convention have been, at least on the 'other list', somewhat
derogatory, but for me overall, it was a pilgrimage.

I think the premise that I view my trip to London is made up of a few
significant things:

- I've never been across the pond, have never really picked up a traveling
  Jones and the very thought of being 'abroad' was exhilarating

- To have actually spent the cash to do the convention, thus I have already
made the 
  investment to make this trip worthwhile.  (I sure hope The Who
  don't do anything significant, monetary wise, until spring.)

- I designed a trip that was non-obligatory, that is not having the vacation
  to see the relatives and making sure that my girlfriends plane fair was
  paid for so I got to do my Who stuff and make sure 'I' had my agenda
  uninterrupted.  

- Bottom line, I had my ducks lined up and my own outlook lined up to have
  a good ole Who time!

Through these blue eyes this is what I saw (in semi-chronological order as
best
as I can get it):

First off, traveling from the left coast, a ten plus hour trip, once you
arrive
try to stay up until a normal bedtime hour local time, you wind up biting the
jet-lag bullet first off and getting that out of the way.

I am incapable at even crossing the street!  Having traffic on the other side
of the road, when making a left turn they turn to the inboard lane.  I'm
sorry,
but if Hazel wasn't holding my hand I would not have survived.  Suffice to
say 
that I eventually was resigned to whenever I left the sidewalk I was simply
left with looking as many ways as possible and should have been yelling
'incoming' in hopes that the citizenry would have once again saved another
tourist dweeb from being run over!

The underground is exemplary.  In S.F. Bay Area standards, the London
underground is fast, clean,
efficient, safe, friendly, affordable and anything else that I could say 
nice about it.  Basically, from anywhere in the city, you have a maximum of a
seven or 8 minute walk to an underground station, at which point it only 
takes you a maximum of 40 minutes to get anywhere in the city.  Locals will 
tell you that it has gone downhill in the last 15 or so years but still a
big plus to what we have out here.

London feels like a safe town to be in.  Mind you there are places that I know
of in London that I wouldn't be caught dead in by myself in the day time, but
for all intents and purposes, for the traveled touristy places, safe.  For
example, I found women, stylishly and attractively dressed, walking by 
themselves (and not street walkers mind you) down streets at 10pm, using
the underground etc.  Certainly unusual for my neck of the woods.

London is pricey.  However I put myself in the mind-set that I was going to 
this theme park called London and was issued this funny, multi-colored money,
and I just went around, spending way too much.  All I can say now is, I'm
broke until spring.

Oh, by the way, Lela Buis:  

Thanx so much for spending so much of your vacation with Hazel and I.  We
first
met up with Lela at St. Paul's for 'evensong', not so much for the religious
significance but for the musical acoustical experience of hearing the devoted
sing there evening prayers in such a cavernous and truly splendid place.  A
truly musical experience if not for the clamoring of tourists interrupting
the sheer beauty of the acoustic.

We found ourselves with Lela on much of our non-Who touristy excursions, which
was a big plus for Hazel and I in that we were able to find ourselves in
places
that we would not have particularly have chosen, but when finding ourselves at
these particular places found ourselves surrounded by what in part is the
culture of
London that we would not otherwise have seen.  Thanx Lela for your insight and
your patience, most particularly with me.  Bottom line, if you should ever
travel
with Lela, eat your Wheaties, cause she's on the go, is going to seek out the
best of things and is just going to have a damn good time at it.  

You've probably already have gone to bed by now but here it is, The Who
related
portion of this nonsense.

The Who films (day before the convention):

Lela, Hazel and I got there early enough to cool our heels and have a pint 
way before the others arrived (only to find out much later in the evening
that I was staring directly at and during his dinner, 'Brian In Atlanta'!
(And let me tell you how lovely it was to finally meet Mr. Atlanta!)  As the
time wore on to the actual meeting time, 'sho nuf, hey come the listers!  Of
course these are mostly contributors of the 'big list', many of which I was
not very familiar with but the few that I had met conveyed me to such great
chroniclers of our band that I better not mention any names here since
there are
some I will miss.

The films were notably introduced by Richard Barnes and Dougal Butler.  Being
that I have now had personal conversation with Mr. Barnes (that I can now piss
him off by calling him Barney) spoke much of the significance of Keith in 
particular, The Who as a popular cultural force and gave some insight as to
what it was at being part of the inside track that was The Who of that Keith
Moon era.  Now I'm sure that Dougal made some significant remarks before the
films were shown but being that Guinness on tap is not available in my parts,
that I indulged, and my thoughts get clouded when my eyes begin to float, I'm
going to have to defer to someone elses post as to what Dougal actually said.

The first part of the film showing can be seen through bootlegs that many of
use have collected over the years, but these boys were clean.  What was shown
was BBC, first generation Who broadcasts.  A real treat to see in a movie
theater venue.  After intermission was 'The Kids Are Alright' which was for me
at least nostalgic from seeing it on the big screen when it was first
released.

A big part of this evening was not only having conversation and meeting
a great many of you listers but to have some exchanges with Barney and
Dougal.  At one point, having Barney on one side of me and Dougal on the other
I asked Dougal 'If Keith could have had a better relationship with Kim, would
he still be alive?', he differed to Barney who said 'If Keith was alive today,
he would be dead'.  Make of it as you will, I certainly found the response
glib
but also telling of the self destructive force that eventually overcame Keith.

Come the next day, they be a convention!

As we were strolling towards the Astoria one day... we came across good ole
Brian
and Max, whom we had met the last evening and in turn invited us to a fabulous
authentic Hong Kong style dim-sum lunch, Max picking up the tab!  What can
I say
except, once again, thank you Max, absolutely brilliant!  After which we
found our way to the Tom
Wright exhibit at the Frevd's Gallery.  Lovely photos, but at 225 pounds
each of
previously published photos that were not particularly well produced (out
of focus
and not on good paper) found ourselves quickly finding our way to the Astoria.

Oh yea, the convention:

We were queued along side of the Astoria a good 30 to 45 minutes after the
announced
opening.  The only fortunate thing was seeing good ole 'Daltrey Dave' and
meeting
a couple of German speaking women, one of which gave me her e-mail that
bounced back.
What can I say except par for the course.  Send a note if your still
interested in
what little I know of Roger's Fishery...yea right!

The convention itself I will not say was poorly produced.  What I will say
is that
it was produced by Matt & Mark of Naked Eye, that is grass roots and
community organized.  Hey, I've been there.  It
basically
reminded me of a locally produced, voluntary effort, void of big production
money
and largely based on personal contributions of effort and hard work!  There
was no
evidence of Trinifold or 'big money' production and certainly was not a Who
produced
evening.  This was us, the fans, coming together worldwide in celebration
of our
own mutual interest at a most significant time.

Dear Boy: The Life of Keith Moon - the book was there first ever to be
released to the public.

Dear Ms. Moon, Kit, who was so gracious as to autograph my copy of the book
and who
I now have a photo of her and I standing together, who I had the chance to
tell how
much her son meant to me was there.  She told me that only a few days
before that
Mandy, Keith's daughter gave birth, which of course now makes Keith a
grandfather.

I believe her name is Fran, Keith's sister, her lovely two children and
husband were
there, in celebration of a life.

Joe McMichael, Irish Jack, Doug Sandom and so many notables, some of which
there are
auto and photo graphs to remember the exchanges I had with them.  Dougal,
Barney,
others many of which seen with there epidermal layer of their own agenda,
perhaps
selling a book or selling themselves or whatever, but there was always that
glimmer
of being there to celebrate Keith's life and of course The Who.

John, Roger and Pete weren't there.  But Keith was.  In all the exchanges, the
sociability, the good times, I'm sure he was there. 

After a couple of Scotch's, Simon's band 'Animal Soup' played a fantastic
set.  The
set was intermixed with STB favorites with several new songs that I have
not heard.
Ben's playing continues to be more confident and capable.  He's just
turning into
a damn good drummer!  Simon is consistently his consummate self.  Notably
there bass
player is doing his very best to keep the stage presence alive and
extremely energetic, soon I hope he will have his stage presence mastered:)

And then I saw an apparition:

The Who parody band 'Who's Who' performed next.  Mind you, these guys are
not The
Who.  They are musician devotees to the extent of carrying the persona of
our boys.
They really had the capability of acting and SOUNDING as much like The Who as 
anyone could be without actually being THE WHO.  I never got to see Keith
perform
live but this will be the closest that I will ever get.  The drummer was
absolutely
exceptional at not only drumming like Keith but have the mannerisms and even
vocalizations of Keith.  The other three were truly splendid but for me
this was a
Keith night and my sights were on him.  Many said that it was eerie seeing
and hearing
this band perform.  (I heard that Mrs. Moon left after only a couple of
songs.)  Not me tho, these kids were alright!

That pretty much concluded the convention.  Many of us found each other,
walked outside, met up with Simon and Ben after which saying our goodbyes
for the evening.

Brian's walking tour of Who related sights in London:

The next day proved very interesting for Lela, Hazel and I in that good
ole 'Mr. Atlanta' conveyed us around town to find some note worthy Who
sights.  This was an all day afair and we were absolutely exhausted by 
the end but we say some great sights.  To name just a few, we stopped
by the house Roger was raised, where Simon and Paul now reside and where
Pete grew up, Ealing Art School and last but not least where Keith past
away.  There was a bouquet of flowers there for Keith with a few notes
attached from some of us.  We got there just about 4pm, just about the
time when ambulance would have probably arrived twenty years ago that day.
Thanx Brian, that tour was just great, up to your usual high standards!

Ok, that's enough from me.  Bottom line, I hope we get another convention,
maybe here in the states.  I'm glad I didn't miss this one!

And sorry for making this so damn long!

Beau (due to monetary constraints, this space for rent) McCrury