This seems like a good time to catch up here. Last August the Quadrophenia Director’s Cut was done and dusted. I decided then to sign the contract with Harper Collins for my memoirs, picking up a project I put down first in 1998, then again in 2005. I thought I would have an easy ride. I’d already gathered all my archives. That had made it possible to write in a new way about Quadrophenia. I could segue straight into my life story. I had the diaries and papers in front of me. I enjoy writing, I figured for my memoirs all I needed to do was swap a studio for a writing desk, and in six months, I would be finished….
In fact I completed the audiobook recording only yesterday, August 18th 2012. The book was accepted by my publisher just two weeks ago, the day before I flew back from my studio in Rachel’s house in France, to rehearse and perform at the Olympics Closing Ceremony. It’s been a squeeze.
I’m not complaining. I’ve worked in luxury, and with good weather mainly. I wrote a good bit of it while on a family holiday in Antigua where we were first over the line in the New Years Eve sailing race. I know that is a brag, but sailing is teamwork, and all I did was write cheques and sit on deck looking deck-orative. While working on the book I’ve continued to write music. While in France for a few weeks during June and July I squeezed in seven new demos – I’ve got a lot of music now for Floss. So much music is work-in-progress that I really need to stop composing and start pulling the various elements together.
The Olympics gig nearly didn’t happen for us – Roger and I weren’t certain that two old geezers should be there singing about our generation, but I’d so glad we did it. The day itself was immense fun. Really well organised. Backstage, it felt like being a part of a great circus, with ballet dancers, mime artists, street-party trucks and literally thousands of workers. The Spice Girls were in the dressing room next door and seemed so happy to be there, looking spectacular, practicing their vocals (and really singing by the way) and sharing make up bags. I got a few tips. Liam Gallagher and his mates in Beady Eye were mooching about, as were the guys from Kaiser Chiefs (who played Pinball Wizard and were glad to hear I approved).
I saw old friends Kate Moss, Kate Hudson, Eric Idle, Mike Rutherford, Nick Mason, Roger Taylor, Brian May, Phil Palmer (from the Psycoderelict and Lifehouse Chronicles shows), Jules Bowen who used to programme for me at my studio in its heyday, Georgia Jagger (who was in a fashion parade), Annie Lennox and dozens of others. I met lots of artists for the first time. It was very cool.
I missed seeing Ray Davies and George Michael, but that might be a good thing: they’re probably fed up by now with me exalting them both to high heaven.
Roger is now completely in charge of the new video presentation for the forthcoming Who-Quadrophenia tour that begins in November in Florida. He has some really exciting ideas and we have a good team. I am not going to be much help. I’ve got two weeks of PR on my new book in October, with a lot of lead work to do prior to that time. I’m looking forward to the tour, mixing performing with PR interviews in which I hope to tell some of the more dodgy stories that my publisher’s legal department have removed from the book. One thousand pages cut to five-hundred. There are a lot of dodgy stories left over.
Around me, there are some wonderful things happening. My partner Rachel Fuller is deeply into orchestrating Quadrophenia for large orchestra and choir. The test we did on BBC Radio with Jeff Beck playing ‘Love Reign O’er Me’ was really promising. This is something I’ve wanted for years, and one of the reasons we got together fifteen years ago. Yesterday we met with Hans Zimmer who has graciously commissioned one of his inside team to work with Rachel at his London studio. So before the expensive recording sessions, we will be able to hear top-notch computer demos, and rehearse intensely with the singers we like best. This will probably premiere at some charity event in the future, then tour as part of a touring orchestra subscription programme. Symphony orchestras are keen to bring in new repertoire that will widen their audience.
The other project I am delighted about is Tommy. Des McAnuff is going to be directing a revival of our 1993 Broadway version at Canada’s Stratford Theatre where he is in his last phase as director. I’m so proud that he’s chosen Tommy as his swan song. That will open in May next year.
Between shows, and whenever I can, I will continue to develop Floss. I’m allowing myself as much time as I need to get it right.
My grandson Kester came yesterday. A little more than two-years-old he is very keen on recording studios. Some of the time he was pretending to sing into proper microphones, sometimes he was singing into the washing up brush. He’s very good at mouth organ. That, you may not know, was my first musical instrument. Pretty easy, all you have to do is breathe. I hope I retain that facility for a few more years. Life is very good.
That’s it. It’s Sunday in London, sweltering hot, off to lunch.
Post subject: [2012-10-08] Pete Townshend "Who I Am" hardcover autobiography
Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2012 3:43 pm
Joined:
10 Feb 2008
Posts:
5099
Thanks Brainiac. I'm looking forward to Pete's book, the tour (I'll be seeing them once) and whatever else Pete and Roger decide to give us either collectively or solo.
I've been looking forward to "Floss" for about 3 years now. SIGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Post subject: [2012-10-08] Pete Townshend "Who I Am" hardcover autobiography
Posted: Fri Mar 08, 2013 8:05 pm
Joined:
10 Jun 2011
Posts:
2941
I got a copy for Xmas and picked at it for the next month or so. Since the Who's story is fairly well known, Townshend focuses more on his perceptions of what was going on in the group and in his life, rather than to try and provide the definitive chronicle of the band--he is intent on explaining why he wrote the songs he wrote, and how they fit with his life as well as with the band. So there's not an exxcessive amount of stuff in here concerning, say for example, the Shel Talmy dispute, other than Pete really doesn't seem to have had any personal problem with Talmy. Also, don't expect much in the way of wacky "Moon The Loon" stories--Pete's matter-of-fact discussion of his relationship with Keith refuses to glorify his excesses. At the same time, he does provide portraits of John and Roger that are as illumanitive as anything I've ever read about either of them.
We also get a great deal of insight into his marriage. Pete's discussion of the the sex-and-drugs aspect of his life also run counter to the traditional rock and roll confessional. It turns out that convincing groupies to have sex with him wasn't as easy as one might be led to believe, and his efforts were also hampered by his tendency to fall in love with these women.
Still, the book (for me) didn't get truly interesting until it got to the era after Moon died in 1978. This is where Pete candidly discusses stuff such as Daltrey's dissatisfaction with Kenney Jones, his solo albums of the 80's, the intense pressure placed upon him to agree to tour in 1989, his final go-round with alcohol in the early 1990's, and John Entwistle's sad state of health towards the end of his life.
I don't think there was any part of the book that I enjoyed quite as much as I did his extensive liner notes to the "Quadrophenia" boxed set last year, but this book, it seems, served a different purpose for Pete. Looking for any insight into the "Who By Numbers" sessions? It merits maybe five paragraphs on pages 273 and 274. Pete writes that the album was described as a "suicide note," and then, in a footnote, provides his source: the Wikipedia page for "The Who By Numbers."
Finally--the closing chapters, which deal with Pete's child pornography scandal, don't really disclose anything new, in that Pete had publically been fairly candid about his involvement even prior to his arrest. What more is there for him to add?
So, as a Townshend fan, I'm glad I read the book, and it provides a very unique perspective on the other three members of the Who. But it's not your standard rock/showbiz confessional, and I'm not sure that people who aren't into the Who would necessarily get much out of it.
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