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Re: Understanding Lifehouse



I wonder if that was what bummed him out about playing with THE WHO in the
mid seventies?


----- Original Message -----
From: "Schrade, Scott" <sschrade@ascpl.lib.oh.us>
To: <thewho@igtc.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 15, 2003 9:16 AM
Subject: Re: Understanding Lifehouse


> > To say that Pete was just an over ambitious thinker or a nut is a cop
> > out.  He was onto something and it shows up in the music.  There was
> > the fantasy vs. reality thing, but what was it that he saw so clearly
> > that no one else seemed to be able to see? (Rhetorical Question.)
>
>
> Gosh, that's a toughie.  You're right.  Pete must've saw something.  Or
> else why would he put so much time & effort into it, right?
>
> But, for the life of me, I haven't been able to figure it out either.
> I mean, we all know the basic storyline of LIFEHOUSE (uninteresting as
> it may be).  That's not the problem.
>
> And the problem isn't the confusing part of the story dealing with the
> band & audience in some sort of vibrational mind/music-meld, with groups
> of people disappearing, etc.  It's fiction.  OK.  We accept that.
>
> The problem is that somewhere along the line Pete decided that the con-
> cept of the audience/artist meld was somehow *feasible* & could be carried
> out in real life.  Or at least some aspects of it could.
>
> God bless him for trying, I guess.  Nothing wrong with experimentation.
> But Pete's experiment failed miserably, I'm afraid (I'm strictly talking
> about the Young Vic audience/artist meld thingy here - I don't need to
> be reminded that plenty of good tunes came out of the project, etc.,
etc.).
>
> A big reason for the failure was what Jon pointed out; Pete saw something
> but wasn't able to communicate that something to anyone else.  He was
> putting his faith in something, but what?
>
> But I must disagree, Jon.  I think "over ambitious" is the perfect
adjective
> to describe the whole deal.  He tried to overstep the bounds of a rock
> concert.  Really, he tried to turn it into something more than it already
> was.
>
> Noble, yes.  Realistic, no.  Maybe Pete's mistake was taking the naturally
> occurring magic (!) of a rock show & trying to push into a higher
something.
> Call it spiritual, call it mystical, call it energy, call it having a
blast,
> call it anything.  Pete tried to push for more, something bigger.  <insert
> "Here For More" & "Faith In Something Bigger" joke here>
>
> So, what did we, & Pete, learn?  Perhaps that some things are just what
> they are.  And no more.  A rock concert is just that.  A rock concert.
> Hugely entertaining, both physically & spiritually, but nothing more. Per-
> haps it's because of the inescapable nagging realization that all concerts
> end, all bands quit playing, & we all have to eventually go home that
> nothing more can become of it.
>
> Hard to escape *that* little dose of reality.  Even with a buzz on.
>
>
> - SCHRADE in Akron