Re: My Generation

[Michael Clark <mcl451@airmail.net>]

Cool story.

Thanks,

M....



At 10:24 PM 3/4/02 -0800, you wrote:
>I'm glad that my treatment of "My Generation" was well received. I've 
>had a long and intimate relationship with that song.
>
>It was first released in 1965, and I still remember the first time I 
>heard it. I was driving down Pacific Coast Highway, somewhere near 
>LAX, when it came on the radio. I was so blown away by it that I had 
>to pull the car over to the shoulder and park until it was over. I 
>was an instant Who fan.
>
>The following year I was in my first "real" band, with paying gigs 
>and all, and two of my bandmates had some folk musician friends name 
>Sandy and Jeannie Darlington, who had been buskers in London and got 
>to know Pete Townshend. Pete would sometimes send these folks dubs of 
>his home demo tapes, and I got to hear versions of his new material 
>before it was released. Imagine the thrill of hearing "I Can See for 
>Miles" as recorded by Pete Townshend alone in his livingroom!
>
>In 1968 I had a particular thrill when our band was booked to open 
>for the Who in the Boston Music Hall. They weren't particularly "big" 
>yet, having just three albums out. They were traveling with only two 
>roadies, one of them a short little cockney fellow named "Sweaty" and 
>the other a young American lad who made sure we knew he was Jim 
>Morrison's brother. Of the band members themselves, Pete and Roger 
>Daltrey were quite sociable, while John Entwhistle and Keith Moon 
>were aloof. What first broke the ice was that Pete noticed we'd been 
>smoking joints and asked to buy our roaches (naturally we gave him 
>whatever we had). Then we mentioned the Sandy and Jeannie connection 
>and things got even more relaxed. We learned that they were working 
>on a new rock opera about a deaf, dumb, and blind boy (they played 
>"Pinball Wizard" that night). Also it happened that there was a 
>feature story on Pete in the current Rolling Stone, and he paged 
>through it making comments about the various photos in the spread 
>("pensive," "earnest," that sort of thing). It got quite chummy. We 
>even made plans for Pete and Roger  to come out to our band house 
>after the concert.
>
>That never happened. They'd been on the road too long, and Keith Moon 
>was especially road-crazy. He'd been drinking already and by the time 
>they got to their second set he was totally manic. When they reached 
>the climactic destructo-rama bit where they'd smash up all the 
>instruments, Keith went a few steps beyond theater and REALLY got 
>into it. He started throwing his drums into the audience, and this 
>incited a near-riot as fans tried to climb up on the stage. Sweaty 
>was in the orchestra pit throwing drums back up on the stage and fans 
>back into the audience. He had a lot of upper body strength for a 
>little guy. Finally Keith staggered off the stage, kicking over our 
>drummer's kit on the way, and smashed his hand through a window. He 
>cut himself rather badly in the process, and since the band had a gig 
>in Central Park in New York the following day, Pete begged off and 
>they took care of Keith.
>
>I've seen the Who perform a couple of times since then, once doing 
>Tommy in its entirety at the Boston Tea party and another time on a 
>double bill with the Grateful Dead, but I never did get chummy with 
>them like that night. My own musical career went on from rock to 
>electronic music, and then in 1978 I learned of Keith Moon's death. 
>My immediate impulse was to make a tape piece out of My Generation, 
>accentuating the stuttering effects and highlighting Keith's manic 
>drumming. Unfortunately my composition teacher had other ideas of how 
>to further my compositional education and I put aside the idea - that 
>is until last weekend!
>
>By the way - a few years ago I got ancient enough to join AARP 
>(American Association of Retired Persons) and in addition to the 
>hotel discounts and other benefits I was privileged (and embarrassed) 
>to receive their monthly "Modern Maturity" magazine, which basically 
>tells you how groovy it is to be old and in the way. Last year they 
>must have figured out that this message wasn't quite coming across to 
>the influx of new Boomer members, so they started a new magazine with 
>a hipper style and message. The title:  "My Generation"
>-- 
>
>______________________________________________________________
>Richard Zvonar, PhD
>(818) 788-2202
>http://www.zvonar.com
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>