Re: Pete's Hands

["Schrade, Scott" <sschrade@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> He said "My hands hurt".  I thought my heart would break.


There's something so human about that man.  So authentic.  Strong yet
fragile.  That's something which has always drawn me to Pete Townshend.

Sounds horrible but it *is* like staring at an auto accident.  I look 
at Pete onstage sometimes & I wonder:  What mood is he in?  Is he
standoffish?  Is he tipsy?  Is he angry?  Is he gonna swear?  Does he 
seem sad?  Does he look uncomfortable?  Is he gonna have a nervous break-
down soon?

What's going through that mixed up, complex, beautiful mind of his?

Some might say, "Oh, that's not very professional.  He should give it 
all he's got no matter what his mood.  Do it for the audience.  110%."
Blah, blah, blah.

But that's never been Pete.  He is human in his art.  And that intrigues 
me so much more than plastic mediocrity.  Pete is real.  I am real.

I may not like everything he does.  But his art is human, & somehow
completely devoid of showbiz fakeness.

"My hands hurt."  Makes me teary-eyed thinking about it, too.  My hands
hurt.  Think of all the implications, the subtexts, in that statement.
How tired & trapped he must feel at times.

And yet he goes on.  Something still pushes him forward.  And we watch.
And we stare.  And Pete's poor hands get sorer & sorer.  And we continue
to stare.


- SCHRADE in Akron

The Council For Secular Humanism
http://www.secularhumanism.org/