Things

["Martin Bailey" <mobailey@cwcom.net>]

It's been a long time since I've written to this list - but I'm still here.
I've now saved up a few topics worth posting about:
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I've just read this, from the liner notes of JAE's Anthology CD:

My Size:

"After deciding not to include Neil Young's 'Cinnamon Girl' on the first
album, we were a song short.  I made this one up in the studio, then went
home and wrote the words.  It ended up as a sequel to 'Boris the Spider' ...
but you can't tell until the ending which is the Boris riff.  Until then it
sounds like I'm singing about a person - not a spider."

I'm shocked!  I've noticed the Boris riff at the end of the song before, but
I never guessed that the whole song is about Boris.  This has totally
changed the meaning of a song I already liked.  Did anyone else get miss
this reference, or is it just me being thick?

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The Channel 4 "Real Keith Moon" documentary last week was fantastic.  So
many good stories, photos and footage that I hadn't seen before, eg: Keith
playing the goldfish-filled drums; playing Magic Bus very badly before
passing out, etc.  The commentator, John Peel, was excellent as always.
There's no (new) comments from TED, but then again, what more could they say
than they haven't said already?  There's new interviews with all the
associated people you'd expect though: Dougal, Stamp, Richard Barnes, Larry
Hagman, and a surprisingly still-good looking Annette Walter-Lax.

The only problem was, although the program was over an hour long, it barely
scrapped the surface of Moon's multi-layered personality. For example,
there's no mention of the nice, generous side of his nature (eg: giving his
drum kit to a young Zak Starkey - in fact, there's little or no mention of
Ringo or Zak).  No mention also of his appearance in Tommy, his role in the
song "Bellboy" or his solo album.  The subject of the infamous fake 21st
birthday was ignored completely - probably best, as there's now so many
conflicting stories about this that it's best left unmentioned.

I guess that's why Tony Fletcher wrote a 500 page book about Keith (Dear
Boy) - there's just so much to say about him that anything less just doesn't
do him justice.  This is my main worry about the proposed Moon movie - can a
2 hour film really portray his uniqueness, his drumming ability, his
drug/alcohol problems, his humour, his dark side, his caring side...

Look out for this program if it's ever shown in your country.

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It's been 6 weeks since I purchased my Who tickets for the 13th November at
the London Arena.  Guess what?  There's still no sign of them.  The website
says the order status is "We are waiting for these tickets to come into
stock".  Has anyone got any more information as to when we can expect these
tickets?

I'm looking forward to the concert of course - I've convinced the wife to
come, booked two days of work, and booked a very posh hotel around the
corner.  But I would certainly look forward to it a great deal more if TED
would rip up the setlist and start again.  As it is, I know that the show
will consists of little more than the Blues to the Bush - it's good, but
I've heard it all before.  Keep maybe 3 or 4 tracks from the current
setlist, and add more tracks from throughout their career (one or two per
album).  This would take a lot of guts for them to do (there's always going
to a percentage of "fans" who will leave feeling disappointed if Pinball
Wizard wasn't played).  But it'll make for a much more exciting experience
for both the group and the fans.
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Out there, somewhere in the big wide world is one last Who CD which I
haven't got: Two's Missing.  This CD has now become my Holy Grail.  If
anyone knows a website where I can buy this (or even download the MP3
files), I'd be very grateful.
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There is also just one Pete solo CD which I don't yet have - White City.  I
know I could buy it anytime I want from
http://www.eelpie.com/products_music.html , but this is still the
un-remastered version.  I really don't want to buy this and then, a week
later, see that the remastered (perhaps with extra tracks) version has just
come out.  If anyone has any information regarding an expected remastered
release date, I'd be very grateful (again).
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Coldplay, the biggest new band in UK at the moment, have a new CD out
(Parachutes).  It has a song called "Sparks" on it, but don't get too
excited - it has nothing to do with the "Sparks" we know and love.  Good
album, though.
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Broken promises; we should be used to them buy now, but we still get fooled,
and it still hurts.  There are three things I can think of that have been
announced on PT's website, that should be available to us by now, but
aren't.  Anyone remember the third Scoop album that we should be able to buy
from eelpie by now?  What about the Pete solo concert that was to be
released ("in weeks, not months" I remember they said).  The site even
mentioned an interview in FHM magazine which never showed up.  (And don't
even get me started on the new Who album originally due for release 5 months
ago.)

Granted, these things may be out of Pete's control.  Any project can have
unforeseen problems which causes delays.  But these "broken promises" are a
recurring theme of being a Who fan, but we shouldn't have to take it.
Please Pete, try to post facts to your news section, not just rumours.

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Excuse my long one,

-MB