"Over and over until the tape deck died...
Over and over until the tape deck died..."
-- the Hold Steady
Your host: Rupe
If something about music moves you, feel free to share it. We do accept submissions and guest appearances!
Contact: Rupe33~at~AoL
Playmixt has a companion photography blog here:
http://photomixt.tumblr.com
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This story of Roger Daltrey meeting a 12-year-old WHO fan will jerk a tear to your eye. Click the pic to get hip.
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The Godfather Meets the Punk?
Pete Townshend and Bob Mould meeting backstage at a Quadrophenia show.
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life:
The Who in a 1968 LIFE magazine feature, “The New Rock.”
the who
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“And to ease the loss of youth
and the many, many years I’ve missed you
pages plead forgiveness, every word handwritten…”
—Handwritten by The Gaslight Anthem
There’s something about rock and roll music and its lasting connection to youth that later in life can almost give you an alternate history of growing up. Listening to The Who’s Quadrophenia can take me back to those awkward years in a heartbeat - yet I don’t know anything about being either a mod or a rocker. (A mocker, on the other hand…well, don’t get me started!)
Growing up a few hours away from the Jersey Shore made Bruce Springsteen’s music a natural and easy source for an alternate version of my youth. While I never got caught on the South Beach Drag’s Tilt-a-Whirl, I did see my friend Kenny get stuck upside-down on that coaster in Wildwood. It’s interesting to note that both Bruce and that particular Who album are steeped heavily in the allure of the beach and ocean. There’s also a deep romantic streak running through all this music that’s not always visible at surface level. Sometimes it takes awhile for it to be noticed; maybe that’s due to years and distance you put on with the tunes over the years of growing older.
Tonight at the 9:30 Club in Washington DC, we’ll once again spend some time with The Gaslight Anthem, whose 2012 LP, Handwritten, is one of my favorites of the year. We spent some time this summer for the first time in years at the Jersey Shore, and it was the perfect soundtrack for driving around there. AND PLAYING IT LOUD. What continually astounds me about it is how I can both look back and ahead with the music. There are a lot of allusions to records (the song 45 likens recovering after a breakup to turning a record over), the radio, and the love of music - especially in the moving video for this song.
This song and the above quote makes me think back on the lonely, awkward years and the pain inherent in feeling those feelings so intensely and passionately. The song is a love letter to the days of handwritten notes and letters - and does it without necessarily knocking or commenting on technology (like Arcade Fire’s tune “We Used To Wait”).
As we move forward with planning a wedding, though, there’s another line in the song that turns me around and has me looking forward with immense positivity.
“And with this pen, I thee wed
from my heart to your distress…”
At first glance it might seem sad because of the “distress,” but to me the connection of heart to distress means that said distress is getting addressed by the ceremony at hand.* These things may or may not be intended by The Gaslight Anthem, but when it comes to lyrics… they’re always in the ears of the beholder. These are a few reasons why I love The Gaslight Anthem and especially their current LP.
(*Note: I’m not saying my fiancée is in any distress, it’s just a line I like in a song!)
Wherever you are, whenever you need it… the YEAH button will be there:
www.yeahbutton.com
@TheWho
Source: yeahbutton.com
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Pete Townshend and Zak Starkey.
THE WHO.
Quadrophenia tour 2012.
Verizon Center, Washington DC.
November 13, 2012.
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Roger Daltrey of The Who, performing Love Reign O’er Me.
Quadrophenia 2012 tour.
Verizon Center, Washington DC.
November 13, 2012.
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Pete Townshend of THE WHO performing Tea and Theatre.
Quadrophenia 2012 tour.
Verizon Center, Washington DC.
November 13, 2012.
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From the time that I started listening to more music than just what Mom had in the house, the first band that I explored everything by was THE WHO. I remember babysitting that night in 1982 of the “final” (!) show in Toronto, which was broadcast on the radio via Westwood One Radio Networks. Took my boombox along and recorded it on some Maxell cassettes, and I wore those recordings out.
When it comes to my initial forays into music, my cousins from North Carolina were a little bit like the older brothers I never had. They turned me on to a lot of the music I still love today. In the early 1980s, bands like The Jam, U2, and R.E.M. were unheard-of, unless you had the lifeline that MTV was back then in terms of new music.
Back in middle school, a gigantic leftover piece of poster paper in an art class came home with me, and I markered it up into a gigantic Union Jack with “THE WHO” in 3-D style lettering. That was on my bedroom wall for years.
In college marching band, we played I Can See For Miles, and I’d flick the 3rd valve of my baritone horn in an (unwritten) homage to the note-bending twanging on the original recording. The band director was constantly trying to figure out who was “out of tune.”
Finally saw them in 1989, twice in 1996 performing Quadrophenia, (tour shirt above) and again in 2000 - a show which had Townshend blazing away on his electric the entire night, soloing on a par with his more-revered ’60s peers named Clapton or Hendrix. It was mind-bending playing for someone justifiably known as the King of the Power Chord.
Quadrophenia is one of my favorite albums of all time. The themes running through it are multifold, and it seems I get something different out of it every age I listen to it. Without a doubt it helped me through some of the most difficult times of my life, through bouts of depression, isolation, loneliness… and a general wondering of “what’s it all about?” There’s something so powerful yet beautiful about the music and the story that affects me to this day - even though growing up I might’ve been the furthest thing from a mod there is. Then again, that quest for identity on the cusp of adulthood is one of the LP’s prime themes. Ask Eddie Vedder what this record means to him, I’m sure he’d say something similar.
And yet… despite all that… I wasn’t going to go this time out. The Who’s 2012 tickets are very expensive, and we’re saving for a wedding. Seeing them for the first time without John anchoring the bass would be really tough to handle. Was in Vegas 2 years after his death, and I could not even go into the Hard Rock Hotel there with some colleagues, it was still too painful and sharp a memory (and waste of talent).
But… tonight in Washington DC, thanks to @VH1Classic, not only am I going… but I’m taking one of those NC cousins who are the primary suspects in my long-time love of this band. I am so incredibly thrilled and appreciative of this opportunity - it’s hard to put it into words other than… LONG LIVE ROCK*
*be it dead or alive!
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So this tweet here…
Hey @palladia and @vh1classic — can you see the real me in DC? Can ya? Can ya?! #IwantTheWho More here: on.vh1.com/Va5iDP
— Playmixt (@Playmixt) November 2, 2012
Won me tickets to see THE WHO perform QUADROPHENIA for the 3rd time in my life next Tuesday the 13th in DC. I am extremely excited. It is one of my all-time favorite albums. Just this past weekend I watched QUADROPHENIA - CAN YOU SEE THE REAL ME on Palladia, and then I played the album loudly and sang every word.
Special thanks to Palladia and VH1Classic for the contest!
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Legendary WHO bassist JOHN ENTWISTLE would have turned 67 today.
Happy Birthday, John!
Source: celebrityrockstarguitars.com
Can ya… can ya?!
It’s shaping up to be a fine WHOLLOWEEN season for fans of The Who:
- Pete Townshend’s autobiography, WHO IAM, comes out October 1.
- On October 31, VH1 will broadcast the new documentary film “Quadrophenia—Can You See The Real Me.”
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Something I’ve learned Today:
Quadrophenia was made in 1979, at the height of the British punk movement, and the filmmakers contemplated casting a punk musician as the lead, to lend Jimmy an authentic air of rebellion. They considered Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols for the role, but the film’s insurance company refused to allow him to be cast. Rotten apparently would have turned down the role anyway, saying he didn’t want to “live out any of Pete Townshend’s fantasies.”
And other interesting facts about “Quadrophenia”: from Criterion
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HOW DO YOU SKIP RAY DAVIES' "WATERLOO SUNSET" ENTIRELY?! #NBCFAIL #HATCHETjob →
In general, this blog strives to remain positive, but last night’s broadcast has me simply incensed. Waterloo Sunset is quite practically the city anthem of London, and NBC cut the leader of the Kinks out of the broadcast while leaving in a lot of other questionable choices. Not to mention cutting The Who’s songs to a third of their actual length even though they aired after midnight on the East Coast. We know the words, NBC, and we know you cut those songs.
With NBC’s announcers constantly talking over the music when presenters could’ve been identified onscreen, it was infuriating to watch and hear in the first place. While the closing ceremony was indeed a long event, it is clear NBC cut significant portions of the show that altered the flow of the music in a way that changed the presentation significantly and to its detriment. NBC’s broadcast was disjointed, random and confusing. It might’ve been one of the most legendary closings in the history of the games, but NBC really butchered and botched their task here in the US.
You, dear reader, can see Ray Davies’ performance of the legendary and lovely Waterloo Sunset here. It is preceded by a bit of A Day In The Life, a sequence we suspect NBC also cut.
EDIT/UPDATE: For the other performances the US did not see, click here.
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