I wish they'd stop saying that...

General Announcement!

The Who without Keith Moon and John Entwhistle are not The Who. Thus, THE WHO are not playing the Super Bowl. HALF of The Who are playing the Super Bowl.

Just wanted to clear that up.



And now, some music with (among others) the REAL Who.



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I have played this video before on DEAD AIR, but love it so much it gets a rerun. All that mods-on-speed dancing! Great cultural artifact, enjoy!

Keith looks about 14... in fact, by my estimation, he was only 18 or 19.



I Can't Explain - The Who (circa 1965)



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Dirty Work - Steely Dan (1972)



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Earworm time! This has been IN MY HEAD FOR TWO SOLID WEEKS! And then I always think of Bill Murray in Lost in Translation (three hanky alert for that clip, for those of you prone to sobbing in the middle of the day!)...

Check out Bryan's early-80s hair, very nice! Most guys who sat and watched themselves in a video-within-a-video? I'd make a nasty crack about narcissism... but this is Bryan Ferry, and as this song makes clear, he has earned the right to do whatever he wants.

More Than This - Roxy Music (1982)



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More Than This - Bill Murray in Lost in Translation (2003)

Birthday jams

I think it's vaguely creepy how Blogger features birthday cake today when I log in. You're a BOT, dude!

Thanks to all my Twitter friends who wished me a happy birthday when I threatened to become hysterical! I love you!

Below: stuff that makes me feel particularly old, in no special order.

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If you are drinking heavily and/or involved with bikers, this is a great break-up song. Famous guitar riffs at the end (by the late Duane Allman), sound just like a whip. WALLOW IN THAT PAIN, people!

Whipping Post - Allman Brothers Band



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Speaking of Twitter, there is hashtag titled #Iwish, and I bet them whippersnappers don't even know where that came from.

Turn it up!

I Wish - Stevie Wonder



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One of those songs that when you search for it on YouTube, you get every single damn amateur troubadour from here to Luckenbach, thinks he can sing it.

We received our education in the cities of the nation...

Me and Paul - Willie Nelson



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Montage of early Who clips. Roger had not yet discovered his trademark flashy Elvis-on-acid outfits, and sometimes appears as if he had just emerged from bad job interview. (He shows his incipient fashion sense at approx 1:02, dons sunglasses.) John, age 21, looks about 14; Keith Moon was all of 19 years old, appears 12. Pete was working on his pseudo-alienated, "I'm too good for mere rock and roll" major artiste pose, which would serve him very well throughout his life.

Check out those 60s mods and their strange amphetamine-inspired dance moves!

I Can't Explain - The Who



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Captain for Dark Mornings - Laura Nyro



Enjoy, and happy birthday to me!

Another reason to talk about the Who

Fun meme, borrowed from Ren and Amber!

Rules: Choose a singer/band/group- THE WHO

Answer the following using ONLY titles of songs by that singer/band/group
Band/Artist

1. Are you male or female? The Real Me
2. Describe yourself. The Acid Queen
3. What do people feel when they’re around you? They are all in love
4. How would you describe your previous relationship? Cobwebs and Strange
5. Describe your current relationship. Success Story
6. Where would you want to be now? Sea and Sand
7. How do you feel about love? Is it in my head?
8. What’s your life like? Quadrophenia
9. What would you ask for if you had only one wish? Tattoo
10. Say something wise. Love ain't for keeping

Anyone who wants to borrow that, feel free! HIPPIE MEMES ALWAYS!

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In the movie Quadrophenia, we are treated to an inside Mod joke: punctuating the lyrics "Why doncha all ff-ff-ff--" someone helpfully bellows FUCK OFF!!!!! (instead of the much nicer, radio-safe "ff-fff-fffade away"...)

And forever after, I've always heard it that way. ;)

The Who - My Generation (at the Monterey Pop Festival)



Notice:

1) Those really amazing amoebas flashing on the stage. Was that somebody's job, to make those? (Out of squishing paint together, or what?)

2) The clothes are something else. They didn't call them Mods for nothing! Roger's cape makes him look like he is getting ready to sit down, offer you some herbal tea and read your tarot. At the end, during the pandemonium, he is just spinning around, cape flying, oblivious.

3) Nice montage at the end, of various historic destructive Who finales throughout the ages.

4) Keith defies description, as always.

Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere

I've had a hectic work schedule, so my apologies to everyone I owe email to, as well as regular snail mail and phone calls! (Cousin Bethie, this means you.) I'll get around to it, I swear!

Meanwhile, you all get to listen to the Who. You really don't need much else in life.

Fun visual effects in this one, as the primitive black-and-white camera (1965, British TV) swoops around every which-way, trying to look suitably psychedelic for the times. Keith Moon looks maybe 14 years old, as he smashes away at the drums. God, I miss him. I forget which writer (possibly Greil Marcus or Dave Marsh?) said Keith kept Pete from taking himself too seriously, balancing The Who in a way that was forever lost when he passed.

Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere



From the same year, American TV (does anyone remember Shindig?)--

I Can't Explain



PS: Don't forget to watch the Vice Presidential debate tonight! To keep you occupied, by way of wonderful Cracker Lilo, comes the Sarah Palin Baby Name Generator! Amaze your friends!

Soft-core memories of the Drive-In

Left: THE STEWARDESSES which of course you know is the highest-grossing 3-D movie of all time!



In my post yesterday, I mentioned soft-core porn. In reading it back, I wondered if such a thing even exists now? What was called soft-core in my youth, could now be broadcast on regular network TV with no trouble and no censorship. And certainly, a movie like Midnight Cowboy, (which, believe it or not, was rated X when it first came out), barely qualifies for an R these days.

But what I loved... ah!... were the soft-core movies at the Drive-In! These movies had occupational names like The Stewardesses and Private Duty Nurses. (This was one reason early punk bands sometimes chose names like The Waitresses.) The women in these movies were often in semi-formal competitions with each other, to see who could bed the most guys, and alas, one would always fall in love and have to quit the competition. It was sweet!

The dialogue was weird, as it was usually written by men. Thus, it was the kind of sexual talk men assume women do outside of their presence. (Check out the fabulous song GIRLS TALK by Elvis Costello; at least Elvis knew he didn't have a clue, which just made him more nervous.) These B-movie girls sounded like guys in a locker room, not surprisingly. What's interesting is that they always seemed to be enjoying the dirty dialogue and performed their sex scenes with aplomb. In one of these (and I regret to say I cannot remember the title, as they all tend to run together in my mind), one woman reached over and turned a lamp on during sex, and smiled the dirtiest smile I've ever seen, before or since. Like the guy in Citizen Kane who remembered the girl with the parasol once a month for the rest of his life... I have always remembered that wicked B-movie smile.

I saw these movies at that transcendent and resplendent place called THE DRIVE IN... I miss drive-ins so much, at times, I fear I will scream when I see photos of them, and particularly (((shrieks!)) if I see a photo of one I actually went to, like this one.

The Drive-Ins showed old movies, second run, B-movies, foreign, whatever. The screens were so enormous, you could see them a mile away. Outside one restaurant parking lot (with an excellent view of a drive-in screen), several of us as teenagers would collect randomly to watch the movies with no sound--and it was in this manner I saw several bad movies (LINDA LOVELACE FOR PRESIDENT), as well as movies that required no sound to enjoy (A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS).

Working-class couples used to take their kids to the drive-in; as children, we'd all be asleep by the time the dirty movies (second feature, usually) came on. Taking the kids in a car meant no babysitting costs; it was a cheap way to have a good time. As kids, we would go in our pajamas and run around like crazy before the movie started, then at nightfall we would be suitably exhausted and fall asleep right after the cartoons, even before the opening credits. The adults might take some beer and some eats, maybe invite the cousins or neighbors--I can recall a "line" of cars that was my stepfather's family--two of his brothers, their wives and children. Lots of people would "meet" other cars at the drive-in and then move from car-to-car--as you might recall from the movie Grease.

If your mother had forbidden you to see a certain boy, you dated his friend, and when you all showed up at the drive-in, you could change places. :) Likewise, pot-smokers, gay folks, and people having extramarital affairs, all found fun stuff to do at the drive-in, and everyone was very discreet.

At the drive-in, leaving your car at night (to go to the bathroom, buy some sodapop or whatever), and moving amongst the microphone-stands, was a thoroughly magical and hallucinatory experience. The microphones, hundreds of them inside cars or outside on their stands, broadcast the movie in unison. This created an amazing, haunting stereophonic echo: drive-in polyphony, as beautiful in our memories as a medieval choir.

I can still remember going to get some 7-Up and hearing the most fantastic noise of my life, and I turned transfixed to see a 50-foot-high, white-fringed Roger Daltrey on the screen in front of me, which was as incredible as if Jesus Christ had come back to earth. Holy shit!--I thought. I stood there in the dark, hypnotized by the huge screen (beautifully surrounded by trees and crisp Midwestern summer night), as those hundreds of microphones brought to me the sound of the greatest rock band in the history of the world. (No, that is not open to debate. Not for nothing is my email "Who fan"!) And I can remember the sound of the film WOODSTOCK at the drive-in, as The Who, Paul Butterfield, Alvin Lee, and so many others radiated rhythm from all of those little microphones...

My wish for everyone is that they should have such a wonderful memory.