December 9, 2012
TOUR DIARY – December 9th, 2012
The Clown who plays Ukelele.
It occurs to me that Roger’s first TCA ‘ambassador’ Sarah Sterner, who tells a funny story about being entertained by a clown playing ukelele when she was recovering from cancer treatment, might not be so funny for the clown in question. She did not sneer at this clown. She used him as an example to make a distinction between what little kids enjoy in hospital, and what teenagers prefer.
I have repeated the story a few times, playing it for laughs. Then I suddenly remembered that once or twice in my life I have portrayed myself as that very clown, pounding stages.
The volunteer, dressing up and going to paediatric wards to entertain children, does so out of love and duty, and I must be careful to make very sure here that I do not sneer at what this clown, who volunteers to entertain and nurture young people in hospital, is doing. It is a high calling.
Roger’s pitch is that Sarah says she needed something different, more grown up, more TEENAGED. Sarah agrees, so we must accept their mission.
A young woman recovering from cancer might prefer the clown to go in without the costume, dressed in his street clothes, with a guitar rather than a ukelele, reveal himself as a bit of handsome dude, gaze in her eyes, and sing her some of his coolest love songs……..Sarah is certainly beautiful enough to merit the music.
You know what I mean. But if you’re a little kid, a clown with uke is very cool. If you’re a teenager God only knows what you’ll think is cool.
- Pete Townshend. December 9th, 2012
For www.thewho.com
53 Responses to TOUR DIARY – December 9th, 2012
I am looking forward to the Oakland Show on Febr 1.
Looking back. I first saw the Who at the Marquee Club in London 1965.
InEngland the first time with a Choir from Västerås Sweden..
It was the first time my ears were buzzing after a show. Wow … at show at the small intimate Marquee Club on Wadour Street in London.
I grew up in Sweden. Got my first Sonor drum set about 1965 … that I still have and use. …
Anyway .. see you at the Coliseum in Oakland on Febr 1, 48 years after that first show … hope my ears will be “buzzing” again after this show.
Talkin´bout my Generation … for sure !
-Svante
The Philly show was unbelievable. The crowd was loud and into it, I saw Neil Young at WFC the week before and it was no where’s near as crazy despite also being a great show. The band was tight, and Pete and Roger really seememd to be enjoying themselves. What a night, what a show, what a band. Better than 82 or 89 in my book….”Sea and Sand” just gorgeous.
YES PETE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In 1968 my friends and I attended a who concert in Tanglewood Mass in July shortly before Woodstock. We were guests of BB King and the Jefferson Airplane also opened for the Who. We sat right behind the curtains at the side of the stage, behind the speakers. Some of this show is featured in the Kid’s are Alright video. And for a fleeting moment you can actually see us sitting on the floor.
The most incredible show I every experience, where the Who previewed Tommy. Roger was a blur of fringe, Keith a madman, John a monster and Pete, well Pete in his white jumpsuit was in his dangerous if disturbed “zone”. After all these years, Bravo!!!!
Sometime in the mid 70’s I was at a party, talking to a group of friends. A beer in my hand, innocently discussing some innocuous topic, when suddenly I became aware of the faint opening cords of Baba O’Reilly emanating from some marginally functional source of music. For several seconds I attempted to maintain my focus on the conversation I was having with my friends. However by the time I heard “out here in the fields…” I found it impossible to continue. I ungracefully excused myself and proceeded to find the nearest wall that I could lean against whilst I clenched my teeth and attempted to restrain my overwhelming desire to gyrate around the room. My group of friends seemed uncaring of my predicament. As I reeled within my uncontrollable musical fantasy, I worried that perhaps I was afflicted with some sort of horrific infection. Thankfully, as I glanced across the room, I noticed another poor bastard, similarly hunched against a wall, obviously suppressing a windmill arm swing. This gave me great comfort, knowing that there was at least one other poor sap like me around. I suspect there might be others?
This was not the first such incident, and most definitely not the last. It has been, I confess, a lifelong issue. Even since I was lucky enough to see these individuals perform in the Seattle Coliseum in December of 1971, and many times since, I have been unable to maintain any degree of rational control over my actions when hearing the music written by this fellow… Mr. Townshend.
This music has been exceedingly motivational and inspirational to me over the years, to a degree that I can’t explain. I however can give one small example. Winter in Seattle lasts 11 months. During that time, the morning temperature is a consistent 45 degrees with incessant drizzle. I have worked in the same job for 34 years. There have been several times when I have arrived for work in the morning and been unable to bring myself to step out of my car and drag myself into my cube. Not working is a bad option when you have kids to support. It is at these times when I reflect: “…the news is written in eyes of all, one is sinner, the next is a saint, most of us worry about showing up late.”…”I was digging in the yard today when a letter came from South Hampton way…”.
These songs contain power. They change lives. They are more that windmills. More than the sum of their parts. More than can be explained.
Now we find ourselves in 2013. How in the world that happened, I cannot imagine. But here we are. So I shall travel to Las Vegas with my wife of 27 years to see The Who play, yet again, on Feb 8th. As near as I can tell, this will be my 27th pilgrimage to the church. We booked a four night package, so of course now that a second show has been added, I shall be obliged to snag a ticket for that as well. (Blue Man Crew or the ‘oo…I think I know what I will do.) My wife fails to understand any of this. She regards my problem with the same amused distain as my friends at the party that I abandoned for the comfort of the wall. She will be at the slot machine while I sit in the Joint at the Hard Rock, clench my teeth and try not to annoy my fellow inmates as I reel in the ecstatic embrace.
Part of me wants to to call ‘sexist!’ for thinking that’s what a girl would wish for. The teenage girl in me would have died and gone to heaven , had a young Pete Townshed come to serenade me
I’m almost finished with your autobiography, Pete. You started it in 1996! I’ll have to send a full review when I get a chance, but I must say that I really enjoyed your honesty.
I have a question, though: you footnoted this site a few times. What are you and Roger (great name, that) doing about keeping the site going after you two are unable to care for it?