See Me....Feel Me...

     Ok…I knew he wasn’t an actor.  I knew he was a lead singer in a rock band called The Who.  He was the guy in that band my brother liked.  That information didn't help me in any way when we headed off to see the movie Tommy that afternoon.  It didn't prepare me, or spare me the reaction I  had when Roger Daltrey appeared on the screen and transformed from the 'deaf, dumb and blind' boy into a vision I can't even find the words for.

    So that's how it happened....the start of it all.  The dye had been cast and we were both in the vat.  Soaked.  I suppose it didn't matter who knew what about The Who or Roger Daltrey.   What mattered, was, that we both knew the one- dimensional version of "Tommy" we'd seen on the screen, wasn't going to be enough.  And we were absolutely committed to finding our way to him. 

    Information is power, and in our minds, this was a mission of significant proportion.  Neither of us intended to leave the movie theater and go home to our parents and back to our lives as we had known them.  We had questions....we needed answers.  And so it began.  Arming ourselves with as much media as we could find, the fact finding started.  Internet was not a part of that generation, but there was more than enough from fanzines, music mags, and, of course vinyl.  It didn't take long before both our rooms were wallpapered....much like any other teen building a shrine to their idol(s).

     Every few days,  another Who album found it's way into our hot little hands.  We huddled together in my room, closed the doors, and listened to the record on the turntable.   Memorizing all the lyrics, all the nuances, the difference of the way he sang a song on this album or that.  Turntables and lp's.  Fantastic.

     We listened closely to every word, every breath and every scream.  We could even hear  his spit hitting the microphone..... Everything was about Roger Daltrey....the guy in the adidas sneakers...just like Rogers, the English accent, just like Roger's.  Even the woman walking in front of us with the blond ringlets...just like Roger's!  Obsession....and we loved it every minute of it. 

     We were having the most amazing time... Tucked away in our little insulated world of Roger Daltrey, we were driving everyone around us crazy.  If it wasn't about Roger Daltrey, we weren't interested.  My parents were beginning to worry about me.....

Run Run Run....

The year is 1975.

     Some things should just be illegal.  Roger Daltrey is one of them. When you’re 17 years old, female and a virgin no less…seeing a movie like Tommy is dangerous.

 

      There was no warning. Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw on the screen that afternoon in nowhereville, New Jersey. So no surprise when I called my best friend in a panic screaming, ” OH MY GOD! THERE IS THIS GUY….THIS ACTOR…AND HE IS EVERYTHING!” “That’s no guy….that’s Roger Daltrey. And he’s not an actor. He’s the lead singer of The Who.

 

      My best friend was far more cool than I was, and she had an older brother, of course she knew who they were. “The what????” I don’t care….you HAVE to come see it with me….you are going to lose your mind!” And that’s how it all began. We went to see Tommy together. not once.. but.30 times…give or take. I guess we both lost count. We were 17..it was the perfect time to become obsessed with a rock star… Little did we know not only the insanity that would follow, not to mention obsession and infatuation. Or, where it would all end up….stay tuned!

So you think '21 is gonna be a good year...

So you think '21 is gonna be a good year....

Well, it's not '21...it's '79.  

     Everything that had led up to our arrival at Madison Square Garden in Pete Townshend's limousine, were more than enough to satiate even the most ardent Who fan. Yes, we had been lucky enough to meet Roger Daltrey. We had spend what at the very least, can be called, 'quality time' with him in England. Never, in a million years, did we believe that a few years later, we would be wedged between Pete Townshend and John Entwistle on our way to seeing The Who perform... ...beyond our imaginations.

     So, as we sat in the green room, we tried to absorb the reality of being backstage... part of the very private group that were allowed 'all access' passes. Not 'backstage' passes, ALL ACCESS passes. We were in the company of The Who's top level management, some wives /girlfriends, and assorted personnel that were a part of the tour.

     As much as we'd like to say, we were cool....no way. We were in shock. We had no idea why, we had no idea what would happen next, we didn't know where we were seated for the shows....nor did we think it was wise to inquire.

     There was one thing we knew for sure..the only thing....ONLY thing, we were certain of, was, we were going to see Roger again. Although we had been in touch since we had spent time with him in England...we had not seen him face to face since 1976, and, to put it plainly, we were nervous. We were not only nervous, we were excited...and we were uncertain...we didn't know how he would react to us being there.

     Suddenly, from a distance...we heard that inimitable sound....the throaty laugh we knew came from Roger Daltrey's throat. He had arrived....and within seconds he was going to walk through the door. And walk through the door he did....He looked at us, we looked at him...and his reaction was nothing less than cool. And by cool, we mean cold. He did not meet our eyes with an expression that made us comfortable.

     He saw us, he knew we were there, but you wouldn't know it from his expression, or lack of.  In hindsight, it was such an unnatural response...Think about it, anyone you have spent time with amicably, says hello or gives you a hug when you meet them again....but, Roger Daltrey isn't just anyone.

     You can only imagine our feelings in that moment. We had no idea why our presence was not met with a warm welcome. We suddenly felt so awkward and uncomfortable...and let's not forget the shock of seeing him in the flesh.....with his new haircut! We had not seen Roger with his new look....He had cut off all the the beautiful, long curls he had when we first saw him in Tommy, and was now wearing his hair short.  Needless to say...he was..... still…stunning. He was so beautiful in fact, that we had to lock ourselves in a bathroom, away from everyone else, to let off some of the steam from just the sight of him....

     It is sheer conjecture on our part....we never discussed it with anyone, but we were convinced that he was angry.  We had no idea if he knew why or how we ended up not only backstage, but as part of The Who's 'inner sanctum'.  We were aware of the less than welcoming reception we had received from some of the people there. We could only conclude that they believed we were sleeping with Pete Townshend. 

     The stories of our escapades in Pete's hotel room, and of us piercing his ear, had made it's way through the gossip. We were concerned that we were being labeled as the type of girls that contributed to the whole 'groupie' factor that was part of life on the road for so many rock stars.  That was not the case with us, so the idea of being perceived that way, left us crestfallen.

     We were not there for sex, we were there because we loved The Who...we loved all the components that made The Who the most magical rock band of our time.  Yes...okay.... we were "in love" with them... who wasn't?  But... we were in love with being in love.  We didn't realize it at the time, but,  being best friends and loving The Who, doing it together….well...  maybe that's what "Join Together" was all about.

     Pete had gone off to tune his guitars, and prep for the concert, and at that point, we still had no idea where we would be for the show. For all we knew we'd be sitting in the green room....us and our 'all access' passes.
until next time...

My Wife...

Tonight’s blog post is a bit of a departure from the main event. We wanted to talk about a person who was an integral part of our story. Her name was Maxene Harlow....She went on to become Maxene Entwistle.

That first night in the limo when Pete said we were going around the corner to “pick up John”, Thunderfingers got into the limo with a tall, dark beautiful woman. John had recently left his marriage and was seriously head over heels for Max (as we all came to know her). It was very obvious in the way he looked at her; you could just see it in his eyes. We had an immediate connection with her. She was so down to earth and easy to be with and let’s face it, she was also from our side of the pond.

It was rough for Max to be around the other wives and friends of Allison Entwistle. After all, John and Allison had been the childhood sweethearts. As you may remember from our previous post, we had pierced Pete’s ear in a bathroom at the Navarro hotel, and we were not exactly embraced by the other women in the Who’s camp. So there we were, thrown together by happenstance, and, as Maxene used to say, “we got on like a house on fire."

John really appreciated us being there for Max, something he never forgot. We wanted to mention Maxene because she got a bad rap as being a home wrecker, which she most certainly was not. She was not even a Who fan initially, she could have cared less. She was a seamstress and a really good one at that. I think she met John because she was making clothes for Keith Moon and was a waitress at at a famous rock and roll hang in L.A. She was a pretty bad waitress and John thought it was amusing and that she was adorable.... and she was!

He pursued her for a long time and, while she turned him down many times, finally she said yes and they got together and stayed together for many years It was the beginning of an close friendship between Max and ourselves and even more unexpected, was the deep bond we would form with John Entwistle.. Ironically this really changed our perception and our role in this world we had collided with. We were no longer outsiders looking in….

Dizzy in the head....

It's overwhelming enough to meet Pete Townshend....but to have his bodyguard fish you out of the crowd of fans and escort you into his limousine...

Pete Townshend sat in the back seat, on the right side, nuzzled up against the door. He faced away from the window and seemed amused. What could have been going through his mind? If you know Pete at all, and that includes watching him perform, you know what a "Pete Townshend half smile" looks like. It is exactly that expression that was on his face as the door to the limo opened and
he saw us. I slid in next to Pete and she sat in one of the little jump seats directly across from me.

You can sit a many different places. You never give it much thought though...trains, planes. dentist chairs, theaters, family dinners....but as most people know, there is an undeniably special quality to sitting in a limousine. You automatically feel important. You feel special. It's glamourous, it's chic....it's anonymous when the windows are tinted. But to sit in a limousine with Pete Townshend....out of the ballpark...

And as sparkly as it may be to sit in a limousine, when you're sitting in between Pete Townshend and John Entwistle, the feelings of 'special, important and glamourous' escalated to a wholly different level. The week before, we had been instructed by Pete to wait in the lobby of The Navarro Hotel, after spending the evening as part of an intimate gathering in his hotel room. Pete to an intimate As we were leaving that night, Pete had asked if we had tickets to the week of shows The Who would be doing at Madison Square Garden....we realized we did not. So, he simply told us to meet him in the hotel's lobby on the night of the first show.

Now, a week later, we sat with him in his limo as the driver put the car in drive and headed east on Central Park South. Pete....for all his bravado and intensity can be a very soft spoken and gentle man. That was his demeanor when he said the words,
" We've just got to make a stop. We're going to pick up John."

John who???? She told me that's what she thought later....the shock of being there had clearly clouded her head. John Entwistle was staying at a hotel on 5th Avenue. It was literally 3 blocks from Pete's hotel. To get to John's hotel, the driver had to go around in what seemed like circles because of the way the streets run in that part of New York City.

When the car pulled up to the curb at John's hotel, it stopped, and we waited. If only we were able to remember every detail of what might have been said, we'd be happy to share it. But it's like drinking just a bit too much champagne....your head's a little dizzied. I remember this, the door opened and John Entwistle eased into the car and sat next to me. Sitting in between John Entwistle and Pete Townshend. Is this really happening?????

There we are, having no ideas we'd refer to ourselves as The Glow Girls years later....We both used only our eyeballs to communicate. We had no choice! It wasn't as if we would say out loud, " Oh my fucking Christ! Are we really sitting in a limousine with one half of The Who???? We can only hope you'll use your imagination to wrap your heads around this experience....and realize that the only thing that was clear was that this car we were riding in was heading towards The Garden....and we were going to see The Who perform.

It takes about 15-20 minutes to get from Central Park South to The Garden. The traffic in that part of town is insane. And, with The Who in New York, even worse. The car made the turn to the
street where The Garden is located. We'd been there before, but had only gone in to the main entrance, like all the other concert go-ers. We didn't know there was a discreet entrance below ground level where the 'important' vehicles went. So as the car disappeared below ground, the excitement was raging.

Keep in mind, we had other things on our minds....We knew we were going to see Roger Daltrey.
We had not seen him since we had been to his home in England. We were concerned about how he would interpret our arriving with Pete. We knew he was going to think we were doing the 'groupie' thing. It was a huge issue for us. In fact, little did we know at the time, that many of the people in The Who entourage...management, wives, friends...they all assumed that we were sleeping with Pete.
NEVER. We never, ever went down that path. EVER. It just wasn't that kind of party. We take great pride in that fact. Never the less....we knew that's what Roger would assume. But there was no way we were not going to do this just to make sure we looked honorable to Roger. Or anyone for that matter....after all...we loved The Who....the music....the men....out of the question.

The limo pulled into an indoor parking area. Pete...and John....well, they've done this a hundred times before. They seemed unphased. We were quite the opposite. Where do we go? What do we do? Who will tell us what happens and where we'll be sitting....

There is a backstage area where everyone who's part of the 'in' crowd gathers. Tables, with food and drink, couches and so on. It's " backstage." We tried to look as though we were seasoned 'backstage' people...though we admit it's highly unlikely that we were anywhere near as cool as we'd like to believe. Particularly because we knew Roger Daltrey was near....the very idea of seeing him again up close was more than enough to make us feel completely undone. You don't get over the whole 'Roger Daltrey' thing. You just don't...and anyone who has felt those feelings knows exactly what the means.


As we sat in this highly exclusive 'all access' area, we finally had the chance to talk. We tried to be discreet as we ranted in whisper tones about what had just taken place. Was this real? Were we....sitting backstage....guests of Pete Townshend????

And then...just as we were gaining our composure....we heard it.....that throaty laugh....it was Roger....he was heading down the corridor....how were we going to manage this? stay tuned...