2,000 MILES TO TEA & THEATRE - Part Two

  
       NYC --Started in NYC for the Joe's Pub show.A line formed for the 6pm
door opening.That is where we met many of our familiar Who friends for the first
time. Pete Townshend walks thru the front dooor & brushes Mike on theway in
(Mike was just getting thru the door after presenting his ticket).Pete says
"excuse me" and looks Mike right in the eyes and Mike says "hello Pete",and then
Pete says "hello" back - with this warm smile on his face.I was ahead of Mike and
Pete had pushed his way past me but I didn't know it was him at the time since I
saw him from the back.It wasn't until Mike told me he was shouting at me to get
my attention, but it was too loud in there to hear him. In hindsight, Idid recall
that the gentleman was Pete because I recognized his arse!I mean his walk. :)
The show itself was great.Thanks to Joyce,we have a table on the stage
practically. ("Give me a drink boy wash my feet")...and that'swhat we did for
Pete! Rob got Pete stains!! We all got Pete stains!I loved hearing Pete perform
"Blue,Red & Grey", "Greyhound Girl",and "Let's See Action".



But for me, oneof the best moments washearing Rachel sing my favorite Rachel song, "Happy to be Sad".It was totally unexpected and her beautiful voice is even better to hear live. We all loved Floyd Vance and Martha and her horsey outfit. Both so incredibly talented as well.Our table was next to George and Duke (I believe they were at he same table). George looked like a cool mod with his mod-like sunglasses and the way he dresses.And of course, Sean Duke Cassidy is THE MOD from SF! And of course Max is THE THE MOD.WE ARE THE MODS,WEARE THE MODS, WE ARE WE ARE THE MODS!!!



-Thank you so much Joyce for arranging our stays at those
gorgeous hotels..the Hilton and the Affinia. What great atmosphere's and locations
for both,especially the Affinia. My favorite hotel so far.Iam glad this one
didn't have a minibar,phewwwww.Lesson learned! Always those magical Who moments
with you Joyce :)


- The Stout pre-show parties and meeting all the great Who
friends!Thanks to Jason Hare and whomever else were in charge of the Who videos
on all those big screens. Most of the names we met are below. The last night,
Magik shows up! I finally get drunk with you Billy,hahaha! A really cool looking
bar.Huge place, beautiful place.Ilike it better than the Molly Wee's Pub from
the past tours.-First night at MSG......there was a ticket fiasco but ALOT of
people ended up being in similar situations.They all got resolved and lessons
were learned .I never sweated any of it...I was "getting on" and enjoying
somep reshow pints for a change. You can't change the situation so you just feel
confidant it will all work out - and it all did! It's a sad reminder of how many
people are out there scamming and ripping us fans off to make a buck. We all
wanted to find these guys and do a clockwork orange on them. George hung out at
the box office for hourstrying to make up for all of our losses, thus never
getting a chance to join the preshow party.Thanks for doing that George..and
Oz.


The show was great but the overall audience reaction was not.Seemed to be more
corporate types on the floor this first night for somereason.I still loved the
energy from the guys and the new songs continued to blow me away.There was this
one guy to my left who looked to be around Pete's age wearing a suit, silver hair
and glasses.I decided to high five him and he went for it. Many many times.The high
fives were so stingingly hard from this guy...even in my numbed-to-a-thumb
overdubbed state....my hands were actually sore for the rest of the night.I could
hardly hold my beers.But the iceddown beers helped heal the pain,Hahahahahaha!!
If he was one of those corporate guys...he was one of the true Who fans from the
way he wase enjoying the show. He should of gotten his business partners arses
out of their chairs though.The review for this show is short,I know. The Boston
show and the 2nd MSG show was "the" shows for me! But they all were awesome.

-
WHO'S NEXT plays at BB King's as part of the AFTER SHOW PARTY and a big crowd is
there for the show.They are "on" as usual.J ust great.After there show, everyone
splits their time between Faces and the Irish pub and than onto a late night
diner.2nd MSG Show -As mentioned above, the preshow gathering is again at the
coollooking STOUT bar with the Who being played on the big screens
again.-Spending the Who's 2nd Msg show with Joyce,Meg,and Mike..from the2nd row
on Pete's side! Thanks Meg for all you did to get us those tix.It was great
meeting and hanging with you. High fiving you Joyce during
a Who show was awesome! I was just so afraid of spilling my beer on you..I had to
be careful not to give anyone around us a beer shower.What a great view.It was
massively loud , the way I like it. Lauri and us making Who eye contact and
Who fists salutes often during the show.We loved every minute of it.

The MSG crowdthis 2nd night was way more into it!-Just before the lights went down Mike
yelled high to Bobby Pridden,and Bobby turned and smiled and then the lights
suddenly went out and you could see Bobby quickly turn his attention back to
his controller board.What a way to distract the sound engineer Mike,lol.Just
kidding. :)


-Mike points at some guy in the photo pit at this 2nd msg show
andsays to me."That photographer looks just like Jason Hare". And Iagreed.About
10 minutes later I see this stranger's face when heturns around for a moment and
I realize it IS Jason,lol. I tell Mike this and he says "No, it is not". Finally,
Jason turns around again and this time smiles and waves at us and Mike says
"wow,it is Jason".WOW, you lucky dude Jason!!!!


-We all file out of the Gardenand down the corridor when all of a sudden some sort of version of "LOVE REIGNO'ER ME" occurs.I mean, he is one of us and does love us all, right? So, then you can say that his message was one of love.Luckily that LOVE did not reign on
us. But the arc and the smile were all part of the special effects.It was a beer
chest but it was NO beer coming down- that for sure.Hate to say it, but it has to be added to the Who story hall of fame,lol.The security guys could of easily been "dicks" too. Matter of fact,I
think when they brought him backstage, he thought he was being led to a backstage
party -hahahaha! In a flash, you were already sitting in Faces and Names on your
third drink? How did you do it? lol.



-Roger's voice to me sounds just great despite some negative thoughts from others (but just a few and we all have our ownopinions).I just think that in the mix of it all, you really can't hear the off notes.You can on the DVD's at times which is natural.It's all part of anatural progression, but it's still all progressed well if you ask me .At his age
with six million screams under his belt, we and Roger himself are lucky he's singing at all.Pete's windmills spitfire strumming,chording,& overallplaying is more ferocious than ever. Not too many leaps but the "few" leaps he
does have been coming at unexpected times and he's doing more ofthe scissor kicks facing the audience than I've seen before, which has been surprisingly cool. Fewer jumps, but placed at precise times..makes it just as special than ever before. The singing,playing,energy,enjoyment,etc from the whole band has just been incredible.



The last night, we spend most of the night at Faces and Names hanging with everyone...including Simon and Bobby Pridden.A cool way to end this trip.We put in our share of time at the Irish Pub for old time sakes these past several days too.Loved hanging with THE Eddie Ryan,Lauri,Mason,Lauren,Steph, Sara &Tommy,GG, Jason Hare, Diane & Bob,Seth,Brian Lynch,Kevin's fromMaine and Vermont,Rick from Maine,Barry,Alan,
Charles and hisdaughter,the McMullen's, Brian Cady,Keets, Duke, Barry,JeffW.,Cynthia,Bill Canell and his brother,the rest of the band.George L.and Mark Fintz, Sheridan, Matt,Lisa & Ron, Happy Jack,Joe L., Jeff House,Max the Mod (great having you hang out in a room a bit!),ScottS chrade,Magik and so on! I know names have been left out,there weres o many friends there. I mean, we all know the Faces & Names! We allmissed you TRISH!!!p.s.- Thank you to everyone who took pictures.Joyce,George,Ozzie,Mikeand so on.So far I have seen
some great ones from George! Lookingfoward to see many many more!