Danny Doom’s Booze Cabinet

If there was a 21st-century attention-span paradox in having the man who wrote rock operas and concept albums compress his life’s work into 12 minutes — well, Townshend said beforehand that the medley was Daltrey’s idea.

Yeah, that kind of says it all. That review in the NY Times has to be the kindest one I have read. I fully expected the medley and so was not disappointed, but just underwhelmed. They are old now, and Roger can’t sing like he used to. It’s kind of depressing but what can you do? It was still exciting to see them in action, even for such a corporate gig–the biggest corporate gig ever. Well, that’s what they do these days, shill and provide the soundtrack for t.v. shows.

It was never going to be the awesomeness that I saw at the House of Blues years ago, with John Entwistle still alive and me so much closer in proximity than I ever could have imagined. Just amazing that I did it, that I spent $300 I very clearly could not afford (no more today than then), and that it all worked. So I am forever glad about it. Twelve minutes at halftime? Nope, not gonna do it.

Let’s keep it real. I don’t really care who wins the Super Bowl. I want the Saints to win but I believe the Colts will win. But whatevs. The true highlight for me will be halftime, when The Who, as they currently exist, take the field for one of those made-for-t.v. medleys that will no doubt leave me unsatisfied. But still. I’m excited for it. You’ve got to appreciate these guys while they’re still here.

I’m a little late to this, but Carrie Brownstein (Sleater-Kinney, NPR) writes about The Who and their documentary Amazing Journey: The Story of The Who (“It’s not a great film, by any means, but it does feature fascinating interviews with the two surviving original members, Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey,” she says, and I agree). But the real point of her post is, how much do you need to know about your favorite bands, and does it necessarily improve your love/appreciation of them the more you know? See that post for more.

In the case of The Who, I’ve never read one book about them, instead schooling myself solely on their records and the great rockumentary The Kids Are Alright. You don’t need much more than that. Listen to Live at Leeds and ye shall know The Truth.

On the other hand, I read No One Here Gets Out Alive, the Jim Morrison bio, in high school and it opened up a whole world of other shit in addition to The Doors’ actual music (Huxley, Blake, Nietzsche, Kerouac, Ginsberg, Journey to the End of the Night by Celine, 50’s and 60’s jazz, Oscar Wilde, and more).

(Whether the book is any good, or even factual, is neither here nor there; it did what it did.)

The Doors and The Who came to me around the same time, and it’s obvious now that the mythology eventually gave way to the actual quality of the music, and that’s why I still listen to The Who today as much as I do. Not that I don’t still enjoy The Doors, but it’s clearly of two different levels. That’s not to take away from the pivotal very first moment when I heard the song “Not to Touch the Earth” on a Doors Greatest Hits cassette and was completely blown away, frightened and fascinated, and had to know more. Before all else, the music came first.

I could go on here, thinking about Cobain and Heavier Than Heaven, or Hammer of the Gods, the Led Zeppelin epic, but it’s a never-ending and indefinite conversation that I am having with myself. So I’ll stop now.

The Who, via Stereogum, with Pearl Jam, Flaming Lips, and others. “Who Are You,” “Baba O’Riley,” oh man, I have to see this whole thing. PJ’s “The Real Me” is transcendent.  Holy shit! Sweetness!

Oh, Roger Daltrey. You didn’t need to say anything; you already won me over when I was 15. But all this is nice too:

“Let’s just hope to God he wins,” he said. “Let’s be honest, with the standing in the rest of the world of America today, with what George Bush has done to your country, it is inconceivable to me that Americans would vote in another Republican. It would be kind of really, really weird if they win again. You just sometimes wonder, what if, just what if (John) McCain did win. The signals that would send to the rest of the world!”

It is inconceivable, and it isn’t going to happen. But I understand his concern. The track record speaks for itself these past 8 years.

And of course, this wasn’t necessary either, but it is great to hear Roger speaking of vinyl so lovingly:

“It wasn’t just music that people used to buy, it was a total art form. … I think that’s what people like. They like it personal. They like vinyl because if you scratch vinyl, it’ll be scratched, but it’ll be your scratch. It will only be on your record.”

We’ve been working on the artwork for our record for some time now. It’s not just like putting out a cd with a tiny cover and all that! I think it’s gonna look great, and I can’t wait. I also cannot wait to see all of this Who stuff that is happening this week. The word on the street is that Pearl Jam stole the show with a couple of Quadrophenia songs, but we’ll see. I saw an AP report that said The Who played songs such as “Teenage Wasteland.” Ummmm, it’s called “Baba O’Riley,” OK? Sheesh! Come on!

This I have to see: Pearl Jam, Flaming Lips and…Foo Fighters…will play Who songs in honor of the greatest band there ever was for some VH-1 thingee. Really? Foo Fighters? That should be…interesting. Anyway, The Who themselves, as they are, will play too, so that tops it off with a cherry. Pretty sweet. Cable TV, huh?