Tag Archives: Pete Townshend

Music, Pop Culture

Morrison Hotel Gallery Presents The Melody Maker Photography of Barrie Wentzell

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Jimi Hendrix Color Portrait By Barrie Wentzell
Apparently, Jimi Hendrix Always Dressed Like This (all Post Photos By Gail, Click any Image to Enlarge)

Every picture tells a story. During his career, Photographer Barrie Wentzell collected an endless cache of unheard stories from and about many of rock’s greatest legends that would blow your head right off. From 1965 to 1975 – certainly one of the (if not the) most vibrant and fertile decades for Rock & Roll music and culture — Wentzell shot both live performance and candid, intimate photographs of everyone who was anyone: from Jimi Hendrix and The Beatles to The Kinks and Led Zeppelin for the UK weekly music rag, Melody Maker. Continue reading Morrison Hotel Gallery Presents The Melody Maker Photography of Barrie Wentzell →

Film and Television, Pop Culture

That’ll Be The Day

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On This Date, October 23rd in 1972:  Filming began for the British film That’ll Be the Day, a coming of age story set in the late 50s / early 60s starring David Essex (of “Rock On” fame) and Ringo Starr, with Keith Moon in a memorable, drum playing cameo. That’ll Be the Day is a fairly bleak look at life in post-war Britain and, more importantly, the central character, Jim (David Essex) isn’t a very nice guy. But if you’re a fan of The Beatles, this film is a fascinating re-creation of the environment in which they and the entire British Invasion came of age. Of further interest to fans of The Beatles and The Who, the film is somewhat based on the early life of John Lennon, and Pete Townshend wrote the song “Long Live Rock” for the soundtrack. That’ll Be the Day has never been released on DVD but you can stream it online if you subscribe to Netflix. The story moves a little slowly, but it is worth checking out.

Music, Pop Culture

Happy 65th Birthday, Pete Townshend!

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Pete Townshend, guitarist for The Who turns 65 today. Happy Birthday Pete and thanks for all the great music, which is still better than 100% of the pop music being produced today!

Music, Pop Culture

The Who Record Pinball Wizard

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Pinball Wizard Picture Sleeve (German Release)

On This Date, February 7th in 1969: The Who recorded “Pinball Wizard” at Morgan Studios in London. Although it was not one of songwriter Pete Townshend’s favorites, it went on to become by far the most popular song from the rock opera, Tommy, reaching #4 in the UK charts and #13 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. “Pinball Wizard” remains part of The Who’s live set to this day. Perhaps they will perform it later today when they provide musical entertainment for the half time show at the Super Bowl (aka The Stupid Bowl), which I will be doing everything in my power to avoid watching!

Music, Pop Culture

Happy Birthday, Pete Townshend!

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Pete Townshend, guitarist for The Who and certainly one of the most awesome living Rock Stars ever in the universe of all time, was born on this day, May 19th, in 1945. I’m lucky enough (meaning that I am old enough now) to have seen The Who live in their prime before the death of Keith Moon. This was way back in March of 1976, at the Anaheim Stadium in Orange County, California where I grew up. I think the ticket was $12. I’d say that show is probably in the top three or four concert experiences of my life, and I do remember it was VERY LOUD, despite being held at an outdoor sports stadium with a capacity of over 55,000 people. My ears still hurt. In fact, according to Who legend, that concert is the one at which Townshend claims to have lost a good percentage of his hearing. “Happy Birthday, Pete!”