May 11, 2014

May 11, 2014

I woke up this morning, feeling like it was a brand new day, which technically it is, and therefore decided to give up drinking.  Ten minutes into my day, I realize that I was being silly, and a nice glass of vodka and orange juice to get the day properly started.  There is nothing more perfect than a perfect mixture of orange juice and vodka in a glass, with ice of course, and enjoying this magnificent weather with a book of paintings by Jean-Léon Gérôme on my lap, as I try to measure my thoughts in conjunction with how many sips of the drink I am taking at that moment.  The thing I like most about Gérôme’s paintings are the fact that they are really about nothing.  In many ways, I feel like a tourist, in the middle of my vacation, and just letting the world soak up into my liver.  

The one artist that I can’t stand, is Salvador Dali.  When I look at his work, I think of him how great he is with the brush, and all that technical crap-trap stuff. Gérôme, just gives the looker the straight news, and doesn’t fuss about how wonderful he is.  To this day, I can’t figure out why Dali is so highly regarded in this world.  The very thought of him makes me feel cranky.  I tossed the Gérôme book on the couch and went to the kitchen to prepare a second glass of my breakfast, and tried to figure what I should do for the rest of the day.  Looking at the weather forecast on my I-Phone, it looks like it will be a horrible week of heat, sweat, and lack of sleeping.  But today is extremely beautiful, and I want to take advantage of the morning light and the mild warmth of the sun.  Therefore I looked up what movies were playing this early afternoon. 

For me, the pleasure of perfect weather makes it even more better when you are in a dark movie theater, and seeing your dreams projected on a 35mm projector.  Lucky me, the Cinefamily is showing a retrospective of films starring Kurt Gerron, a German actor, who was famous in the height of the Berlin film world.  He stared in the original Berlin production of “The Three-Penny Opera, singing “Mack The Knife, and was also in “The Blue Angel” with Marlene Dietrich.  Peter Lorre requested him to move to Hollywood, but he refused, and wanted to stay in Europe, which in hindsight, wasn’t that great of an idea, since he was gassed at Auschwitz.  Nevertheless some of his films still exist, and this afternoon they’re going to show “White Slave Traffic” made in Germany in 1926, which by the way is the year that my father was born.   

However, before I go, I need to call up Pete, who is in a band that I’m managing called The High Numbers.   Although the band has been around for the last five or so years, I feel that they need to change their name.   I was thinking of The Low Numbers, because most people identify with being in the last of the line, or losing out in the lottery - so therefore I think the change of name would be good.  If I wasn’t managing him and his band, I think Pete and I would be great friends.  But I have a policy in business by not being friends with your client.  I need to have that objective approach at looking at Pete, and I don’t want to fall under the blanket of friendship.  Also I’m having trouble with his latest song “I Can Explain.” I don’t think teenagers want to hear someone explaining something to them. My god the trials of me being me, and therefore a third glass of my daily medicine and then off to the movies. 

Pete Townshend's memoir "Who I Am"

Without a doubt The Who was a major band in their time and place.   Also Pete Townshend surrounded himself with great eccentric figures - Keith Moon, Kit Lambert,  Nic Cohn, Chris Stamp, John Entwistle,and the first Who manager and visionary Pete Meaden.  How I would love to hear stories about these guys from Townsend, but what we get instead is (very) basic tales of insecurity, doubt, "woo me being a star," etc from the mouth and brains of Pete Townshend.

There is nothing wrong with that, for he is very much the engine of The Who, but what made the band great are the characters surrounding The Who.  Through Townshend's writing I don't get a clear picture of the individuals around him.  He touches on it, but its totally reflects on his own ego or thoughts about his role in the mess of being in The Who.   On paper this sounds like an ideal book, but reading it, I find it very normal, plain, and basically not exciting. Without a doubt Townshend is a superbly talented songwriter, who in the end thinks too much about his work.  It is interesting that he admires Ray Davies of The Kinks, who I think is not only a better writer, but also a much more intense individual than Pete.

Reading this book right after the Neil Young memoir is interesting.  Both are legendary without a doubt, and both are egotistical to the max.  I think Townshend is much more of a charmer, but still he comes from a stock where he sees the world from only his pain, pleasure, and of course the doubt that is always there.   Both Neil and Pete think a lot about their role in their lives, which is perfectly normal for any man in their mid-60's.  But unlike someone like Bob Dylan or Patti Smith (both books by these artists are more superior than Pete or Neil's) are basically unique figures who rock because it is in their instinct to rock.

Pete praises John Entwistle, but I feel he doesn't give him credit for the great songs he wrote for The Who.  "Boris the Spider" is a great classic Who song, and maybe my favorite Who song after the High Numbers material "I am the Face" and "Zoot Suit" two brilliant (and early) Who songs.  And to be honest, to me, they were a great unstoppable band from The High Numbers to The Who Sell Out album.  After that, "Tommy" and so forth -not that interesting to me.   Classic rock albums yes, but essential Who... No not to me.

The book is an enjoyable read, but I wished it went further into the world with the guys he worked with as well as the Mod world.  There is material in this book, but not enough of it.