WHOoPLA: Chapters 38 & 39
Stroh’s ramped up their ”Schlitz Rocks America” co-operation with The Who by the end of November with full page ads in Rolling Stone magazine hyping a “Sweepstakes” that offered a trip to see the final show in Toronto and dozens of other prizes. The ads and overall design of the promotion have always struck me as funky at best. They look glitzy, pop and out of sync with the nature of The Who. But, nevertheless, maybe befitting a band that didn’t really know itself at the time.
Tim and Patti went to the first of The Who’s two nights of concerts at The Rosemont Horizon in Chicago to meet the band before their Milwaukee show. Backstage they were greeted warmly by Daltrey in particular.
He threw his arms around Tim and practically wrestled him to the ground.
“You didn’t fucking jump did you!?”
It was a good laugh. Tim’s recorded interview questions weren’t the deepest but you have to remember he was still a human. Picture yourself as a young rock n roller at 26 years old now backstage with one of the greatest bands of all time. Daltrey’s warm greeting put him at ease but he was still in awe. He asked Daltrey if this tour was more fun than the others.
“I’m enjoying this one more because you can see an end in sight…it’s great to be doing it and knowing that you don’t have to go out and parody yourself for the rest of your life.”
He then promised Milwaukee that,
“We’ll give ‘em a hell of a show.”
John Entwhistle was next. He was bored to tears as he first did a station promotional announcement for the show. The Animal then tried to flatter him and jokingly asked that they play the song that Entwhistle had wrote from their latest album It’s Hard. It’s Your Turn had been battered in heavy rotation on QFM while Tim was on the ledge because it’s opening lyrics were:
Up here on the ledge,
I’m getting pushed to the edge.
Entwhistle explained that only three of the band members knew the song so they wouldn’t be doing it.
When The Animal asked him who his influences were, he droned:
“Nobody.”
He said there was a group in England called “The Shadows” that were about the only band with decent instruments at that time so everybody,
“… admired ‘em just for the instruments…not that they were that good musically.”
He said he learned to play bass by playing along with old rock n roll records by folks like Eddie Cochran, Duane Eddy and Chuck Berry. He said he never really admired any other bass players because he always thought he was better than everyone else.
“A bit ‘a conceit (laughs) but that’s how I thought.”
Entwhistle, who passed away from a cocaine induced heart attack in Las Vegas in June of 2002, may have not been the prettiest or most showy of the bunch but he was very in touch with the psyche of the band. “It’s Your Turn” had no chorus or hook you could attach yourself to but the balance of the lyrics from his song supported the band’s “Farewell Tour” rap. It’s an elder rocker’s warning to the up-and-comers:
That poignant revelation flew right over Tim’s head. He was, after all, just a simple guy from the Midwest who loved rock n roll. The Animal:“One final thing here…”
Tim was interrupted by Mick Ronson who barged in and wrapped his arm around Townsend’s neck, gave it a twist and said,
“One final thing? He’s the best guitarist in the world! This guy is an inspiration to every guitar player in the world! Believe me!”
Tim kept trying to play it straight like it was an on-air interview but kept getting interrupted by Ronson.
“He’s the best! He’s the best guitarist in the world!”
Townsend chimes in,
“That’s the cold and it’s gone to his ‘ead!”
Then Townsend threatened to turn on the nearby shower. Ronson got the message and ducked out.
Ronson was an old London friend of the band who was invited to be the tours opener and had teamed up with T-Bone Burnett for it. His resume is lengthy with production credits that include Lou Reed’s “Transformer” album, Elton John, John Mellencamp and many others. His most notable band work came with David Bowie on the Ziggy Stardust tour where Bowie would famously pretend to give a hearty fellatio to Ronson’s guitar.
As they continued, Townsend lamented the fact that they’d only really been to Europe and The United States. He was fading. Losing energy as his words weakened and slowed.
“We’ve never been to Australia…and… We’ve never been to Japan.”
The Animal invited him for a stay on the ledge.
“I’ve got a habit of jumping off of them… that’s the problem.”
The comedic relief caught Tim by surprise. Good thing he wasn’t drinking milk because it would have blown out his nose. Townsend jumped on it.
“It wasn’t a proper ledge anyway! It was a balcony! With a Jacuzzi! A microwave oven! A word processor up there! Three women! Air conditioning!”
He was getting punchy now. Any final words for Milwaukee? Townsend paused for dramatic effect. Then:
“I’d like to thank you for what you did”
he said calmly with the true and sincere gratitude of a middle aged, reflective man. Then it was back to the fun,
“… and I’d like to claim back the act of heroism! WE want to be the heroes! Not you!”
Tim laughed it off.
Clearly Townsend and the others didn’t see Tim as a dreaded “rock journalist” with whom they had to be guarded. They spoke to him as a somewhat removed, but nonetheless welcome, friend.
While “being out on a ledge” is an often used metaphor. Pete Townsend had demonstrated an almost eerie interest having written about it in three songs from ‘77- ‘78. One was “Empty Glass” from his solo album. On “Love Is Coming Down” from the Who Are You album he wrote:
I’m cut up
Life’s like a razor’s edge.
I’m all shut up,
And standing on the ledge.
And I’m going down
Going down
Going down
On “Street in the City” from his Rough Mix solo album, he wrote about a ledge bound window washer:
Going to lean back on the wall
And pray for him to fall
By their comments in these interviews and their written words, Townsend, Daltrey and Entwhistle had a preconceived, romantic entrancement with the exhilarating place from which The Animal had made his plea.
Chapter Thirty Nine: The Day.
As the day of the show approached, the city readied a grand welcome. It ended up that The Who played both December 6th in St. Louis (The Checkerdome) AND December 7th in Milwaukee.
As a last kick promotion, QFM promised to give away a pair of front row tickets to see The Who on the day of the show. Jeff “Mr. Midday” Peterson had long grown frustrated with the idiot “Did I win?” bozos who often won request line call-in contests. He decided this was too good a deal to fall into those unworthy hands and gave former co-worker and friend Steve Palec a call. They used Palec’s girlfriend’s name as the 93rd caller contest winner and she and Steve enjoyed the show from those prime seats. (Palec admits to being uncomfortable for the duration and then absolutely scared when the next day a picture taken from a backstage angle appeared in The Milwaukee Journal showing Roger Daltrey standing and singing almost directly into Palec’s center of the photo, smiling, goo-goo eyed face.)
NOW, THEREFORE, I, HENRY W. MAIER, Mayor of Milwaukee, do hereby proclaim, do hereby extend the official welcome of Milwaukeeans who have been devotees of this band and know that the answer to the question “WHO’S NEXT” is no one– there’s only one “THE WHO”.
Signed:
HENRY W. MAIER
Mayor
Not likely that the stubborn old liberal Mayor wrote that himself. Someone in his office was obviously a rocker because, hokey and cute as it was, it captured for history the importance of the moment. (I say stubborn because Mayor Maier was later a difficult impediment to getting a larger facility built in his demand that no public funds be used.)
For all of us, December 7th, 1982, is a day that “will live in infamy.”
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