Re: Observation

["L. Bird" <pkeets@hotmail.com>]

>I realize, the more I see them lately, that PT is a tad nutz!!! On one 
>level it's sad. But on another, being a prick, helps him play better. He 
>writes in one state of mind, then plays at another.

I think this shift is one of the reasons Pete listed as wanting to leave The 
Who back in the early Eighties.  But it's really more than this one 
transformation--as I said a few posts back, he's definitely Quadrophrenic.

It's interesting to go back through photographs over the years and identify 
the varying moods, or even to watch him shift within one video.  There's 
sensitive, reflective Pete, and playful, creative Pete, and cynical, annoyed 
Pete, and then there's the animal that performs on stage with The Who.

All these moods are expressed in the music, of course.  Creative people are 
often very changable, and Pete looks to be a very feeling person--he's got 
very little in the way of defenses against hurtful things, so he tends to 
turn mean when he feels attacked or under pressure.  For a while around 
1980, he turned self-destructive instead, but mostly he's coped over the 
years by writing music.  I suppose that once it's down on tape, he feels 
quite a bit better.

It seems standard for him to be sucked into The Who's performance.  If the 
noise affects fans in the audience, think how it affects Pete on stage, 
controling the sound with a live, vibrating electric phallus.  As he's said, 
he becomes so affected that he loses track of what he's doing--he hurts his 
hands and attacks people--and once he's channeling all that feeling, he's 
prone to say what he feels.

The CFNYC was interesting to watch--we got to see at least three of Pete's 
multiple personalities.  It looked like he was very organized and prepared 
for this show, as he knew it would be widely televised and he wanted the 
music to be well-represented.  This is Pete the composer with his suit on, 
under control and playing something he's rehearsed beforehand.  At the end 
of The Who's set we get a glimpse of another Pete, the one everybody made 
fun of in elementary school.  When he takes his bows as the composer, 
there's a nasty glint in his eyes (ha, showed you, didn't I?).  Then at the 
finale, we get the creative, playful Pete.  He's all relaxed by now, and he 
hops around on stage and plays with the mike and yells at the fans in the 
front row.

This is a tough personality to deal with, both for Pete and the people he 
works with (who have their own personality problems, of course).  We're very 
lucky that they managed to get together and form a relationship that is so 
productive.

keets

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