No Subject

It's about 0850, the most beautiful day. The hotel looks over the water
which is completely calm, with gentle ripples like frosting on glass. I
look out of my window down onto the street and I see a boy of about 12,
in a red sweat shirt. He is manfully making his way with crutches, one
leg swinging wide, encumbered by some kind of complex cast I can't
properly make out. He looks pretty brave to me at a distance. Plucky.
Game. All that stuff.
It reminds me how lucky I am, how important it is to accept what I have,
and to be grateful that I love what I do.
Yesterday I completed the diary of the first show. That was at an
outdoor venue called the NEW WORLD MUSIC THEATRE just out of Chicago.
The clip closes with some footage of me that I took immediately I came
off stage. My ears were screaming, my head throbbing (with high blood
pressure), my limbs aching and the appreciative sound of the audience
somehow lost down the short corridor to my dressing room.
Everyone else in the band had done a runner to avoid the traffic home to
the city, but I wanted to unwind and take a shower. I felt alone, and to
be honest - pretty awful. I alway feel bad about subjecting my body
(mainly my ears of course) to such an assault as it gets on stage with
The Who. In the video diary I express that. But a few minutes later, I
was fresh from a shower, Bobby Pridden came in and we chatted about
problems with the show and within minutes I was happy again. We'd all
done our best. 
Some people have said to me that the show was 'awesome'. Some, who maybe
I trust a little better, said it was awesome despite being ragged and
out of control. So for a first show we did OK. But looking at myself oj
video after the show, my heart breaks a little for two reasons.
One because I do love what I do so much, and I am grateful to be doing
it. But two, because it is so sad that this music I helped to refine
seems to demand so much human food - like the Space-Bat-Angel-Dragon in
Ted Hughes' IRON MAN story, it seems insatiable. While I seem unable to
come up with great new songs, I suppose it is enough to feed the Dragon
more little pieces of the tips of my fingers, or the edge of my hearing.
I can walk without crutches. Sounds melodramatic doesn't it? But that's
how it feels you know.
I am sending the video diary to London today at around 1200. That means
it will arrive early enough to be ready to go up tomorrow - Wednesday.
The delay has simply been because I'm getting the equipment and software
sorted out, things may move a little more quickly in future.
Tonight we play in Detroit at THE PALACE OF AUBURN HILLS. Detroit was
where we got our first local hit in the USA (with HAPPY JACK) so it
always means a lot to us.
Love to everyone who has made the effort to sign on here and read this.

Pete

        -Brian in Atlanta
         The Who This Month!
         http://members.home.net/cadyb/who.htm