Total Pageviews

Sunday, July 31, 2011

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.....

4 comments:

  1. oh, there were tons of days before the internet and gosh how much better the economy would be without it; or, I also remember plastering my bedroom walls with who pics. I also had a wall to the rolling stones and another to fleetwood mac. There was a section for the beatles and then, oops, wings.

    I imagined my life no other way. I could not see beyond those images of live performances, album covers, sections of interviews, images of smashed bits of guitar, quotes of brilliance by other musicians. And today I don't want to.

    Thanks for this.

    ReplyDelete
  2. OK.. So I read all the blogs and I NEED more! Soon! Can't wait to hear more!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Fake Pete from TheShout.netOctober 13, 2011 at 6:42 PM

    So, what is up with this story? Inquiring minds want to know.

    ReplyDelete
  4. And who's mind is it that's inquiring...

    ReplyDelete