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Re: Sick of Who, Johnny, Lifehouse, Hershey , Backing tracks, TKAA, Mainstream Pete, Quad Fall, I'm One



Hello,

I've been in lurk mode for a few weeks as I can read the archives,
but have been away from email.

Sick of Who:

I've been enjoying the posts about different music likes/dislikes and
the KISS AC/DC thread.     I had a 2 week KISS phase in 7th grade,
then went to ELO for a while.   I heard Who Are You while sitting in
the Philadelphia Spectrum waiting for an ELO concert to begin in 1977.
I remember thinking that it was a cool song.   I also remember my older
sister's boyfriend not wanting to leave until Pinball Wizard finished on
the radio (Elton John version).  I was lead to believe that Tommy was
about drugs.   Seems funny now.    I liked The Knack, Police, Foreigner,
Jethro Tull, Steve Miller, Fleetwood Mac, Boston, Peter Frampton, and
Queen.   I was oblivious to Keith Moon's death, but debated the whole
Cincinnati tragedy in my high school religion class with some old
nun that thought The Who were to blame.    I was part jock and part
motorhead in high school and shifted to a different crowd in my Junior
year.  I was assigned a parking spot next to this guy who drove a Torino
with a loud stereo.  As we would hang out before class, he would pull
in with Magic Bus playing nearly every day.   I remember loving that
song and to this day remember Chris Pettine and his Torino whenever
I hear Magic Bus..

Johnny:

I too am bummed at the loss of Johnny Cash. He was one of our last links
to an important musical link to the 1950s era rock. He toured with Elvis
before Elvis doubled in size. He wore black before it was cool to wear black.
He made sideburns okay. What a unique strumming technique. Big sigh!


We'll miss you Johnny!

Lifehouse:

I was traveling in Iowa this past week and knew I'd be driving about 12 hours total
from Des Moines to Council Bluffs (West) one day, then from Council Bluffs to
Burlington (East), then back to Des Moines. I made sure I rented a car with a CD
player. I brought Lifehouse Chronicles for their compactness and variety, and
the Hershey Encore CDs from 2002. First Lifehouse. I really love the radio play
now that I've listened to it several times. Pete is a genius, period! I wonder how
much of that material he performed on his own. The credits make it appear
it is all him. If it is, he is a double-genius. Even more wonderful is the fact that
he shared these early ideas, daydreams, and thoughts with the world.


I only attended the Camden show in 2002, but felt like I was at Hershey, and
Mansfield II because of the encore series.    I just love Another Tricky Day,
and the Tommy medley (PW, AJ/Sparks, SMFM) on this CD.    Thanks to the
reviews from this list, I was able to select 2 good shows.

Backing Synthesizer tracks:

Mc/Bjorn:   I was recently listening to Lifehouse Chronicles, and there are
several samples of these synth tracks on disk F and E.   With a little
McGyvering and some recording/editing software you should be able to
extract and loop some of these tracks to make something that works.
The first tracks on disk F (Lifehouse Themes and Experiments) seems
to be a double speed version of the BOR synth track.    Anyway, there
you go.

TKAA:
I am really looking forward to the TKAA DVD.   My kids are at a good age to
expose them to this, and extended material is a big plus to the remastered
picture and audio.   It's definitely a Who Fall.

Mainstream Pete:

Scott and Kevin: I agree with both of you on this. I really wish Pete would
have received more solo success if only for his sake. I'm selfishly glad that
he did not get accepted by the mainstream/adult contemporary market even
though he deserves to. Call me a dark pragmatist, but I like my Who
under-appreciated. Most women I know don't consider Pete as a sex symbol
like Sting, or Eric Clapton, and I believe this is a big part of his failure to make
solid progress in this market segment. IMHO, he's better than both combined.


Quad Autumn:

Kevin:    I read your post that you look forward to playing Quad while driving
through the Fall and letting the melancholy bath over you.   I enjoy this too.
It used to be unsettling, but now I actually enjoy opportunity for reflection.

I'm One:

An old friend (83 year old women from my parents neighborhood) was recently
hospitalized and died this past week.  I delivered her newspaper as a kid,
shoveled her driveway, and did odd jobs for her.   Betty
is about 12 years older than my parents, and always took interest in my
little enterprises as I grew up.

I visited her 8 days before her death and
brought in my guitar and 12-year-old daughter in to try and cheer her up.
My daughter has such a warm smile and a wonderful personality that I
knew she could help make Betty's day.   My playing is far from perfect,
but it did help this day.  ;-)

I played some upbeat tunes for her and
a few other visitors sang along to Adelvise, as we all tried to hold back the
tears.   Betty was in a great deal of pain from a severe case of edema, and
I could only touch here face and forehead without aggravating her condition.

I saw that Betty's two daughters
looked tired and needed some lunch and time away from the room, so I insisted
they go out for a bite while my daughter and I stayed with Betty. Betty said
that she wanted to just go (in her words). She was quite lucid, and we always
had a candid rapport, so I asked for clarification. "Do you want to 'go'
out through the door, or the ceiling?", I asked. She looked at me and gave a
little chuckle and said, "The ceiling.", with a big smile. Betty was ready to go
and told me that her daughters wanted her to get better. We had an honest
and open exchange about how she wished her family would not pity her and
wanted to remove the anguish they were feeling.


Anyway, I started strumming the opening chords to I'm One. I planned on
doing only an instrumental, but my daughter started singing the first few lines
(she's heard me play this hundreds of times) and we did the whole song.
I'm sure that I could have just as easily been singing the "Barney Song" (you
know - "I love you, you love me....") and Betty would have dug it, but to me it
was a special moment, and I knew that I was helping Betty through a tough
time with some help from Townshend. On the eve, of her death, the
nurses commented to her daughters, "...we could sure use that guy with
the guitar now.."


Joe in Philly