Re: A different bomb

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

>This is a very provocative piece.  The dark side of The Lifehouse.  No, it 
>is not all good.

I don't know that Pete ever represented the grid as "safe."  That always 
sounded like (ironic) propaganda to me, brought to you by the show's 
sponsors.  Of course it's dangerous, from the relatively benign possibility 
of losing your life to couch-potatoism to the worse liklihood that a real 
person was exploited to bring entertainment into your home--or the 
possiblilty that you'll be exploited yourself.


>After reading that 1974 Penthouse interview I've been wondering if
The Lifehouse Experiment that Pete has talked about over the years *is* his 
*current* artistic life.  The machine or programs referred to in Lifehouse 
is The Who, aspiring to make that one perfect note.

That does seem to be where the idea came from.  Back in 1970 he'd stand up 
there on the stage and watch the audience respond to The Who and think about 
rock and roll as the new religion that could rescue the masses from 
isolation and TV and bring them together at a real spiritual event.  His 
mistake, as he says in the interview, was in trying to *make* it happen.  
It's a sort of magic when people come together, and if it could be bottled 
and sold, then lots more folks would be rich.

I think it's making contact with his fans through the Internet that has 
recently resurrected Pete's old idea of somehow incorporating the audience 
into the music.  That would be interesting, and fun to have a bit of music 
that Pete Townshend (and his computer) composed especially for you.  But 
again, it's trying to codify something that already happens inside Pete's 
head.  Pete feels the feedback from the audience, and his subconscious 
processes it and sends it back as song lyrics.  Computers have made 
tremendous advances, but I doubt if they'll ever quite reproduce Pete's 
head.

The ironic thing is that we've "come together" on the grid.  This is where 
Who fans find one another, and where we can have contact with Pete through 
his website.  Are we in error here?  Should we be out seeking for real life 
experiences instead?


>The old men have come out of retirement to communicate with people
and lift them up.  He's sharing what he remembers from rock.  This is the 
Greatest Hits/nostalgia tour, right?  Isn't that what happened in 2000?  
Can't we expect that to happen again this year?

Maybe Pete's feeling guilty about being a guru of the grid, and thinks he 
needs real life experience with the fans to be true to his ideals.

I don't think these are nostalgia tours.  It's necessary for Pete to really 
feel the audience in order to produce music which expresses the cultural 
consciousness.  Just listening to us hum around on the grid doesn't quite 
provide the inspiration that real life contact does.  Pete may be doing the 
tours to feel out his audience again and try to decide if he and we still 
have anything in common.  He can rely on The Who's magic; it still works to 
bring fans together in a grand assembly so he can meet them face to face.

Was it mostly an older crowd in 2000?  Is that what brought out the lyrics 
on worrying about your kids and about mortality?  And a mixed crowd that 
brought out the different voices in the Texas TKAA?  If they do a tour of 
university towns this time, Pete may well come up with some lyrics that 
express the concerns of younger fans.


keets

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