Pete Townshend Scoop

I'll put Pete Townshend's Scoop album up against anything I've ever listened to and incredibly these are a collection of Townshend's demos. The album is sheer brilliance and gives a different take on some of Pete's solos and songs by The Who. The above song is a favorite of mine, "Mary." I remember when I picked up this CD and just not really grasping the concept that these great songs were only demos. Hey what I can tell you, they didn't have Wikipedia back then. Scoop was released on vinyl in 1983 and later on CD in 1989.

Pete Townshend Cares

The above video is of Pete Townshend performing “Can You Help the One You Really Love” which is from Lifehouse; the aborted project that was supposed to follow up Tommy. Many of the songs from Lifehouse were used for the 1971 Who’s Next album.

One of the quotes below the video on YouTube says it all:
"He says more in this song than almost all rock music has said all through the entire sixties and seventies."

How accurate that statement is.

As far as helping people goes, Pete actually has helped many people. As recently as 2008, The Who played a show in Detroit - which has an estimated 50% unemployment rate - and all profits went to Focus: HOPE (a non-profit civil and human rights organization) and Gleaners Community Food Bank.

Some detractors - and boy are there enough of those in this world - will say that all celebrities donate to charity because it is a tax writeoff. First off, I don't know that ALL celebs are philanthropic and secondly Townshend personally sold fund-raising anti-heroin T-shirts at a bunch of U.K. Bruce Springsteen concerts in 1984.

The Genius of Pete Townshend

This is “Unused Piano,” which is a Pete Townshend demo that was never used for the Quadrophenia album, but ended up on Scoop – a CD collection of Townshend demos that are really remarkable...as is the musician.

The Who Giveaway

The Barnes & Noble Website has two offers: win a trip to see the SuperBowl and see The Who halftime show and they are also offering a chance to win a Gibson SG Guitar that has been played by the great Pete Townshend. The link is here.

You can also guess the band's setlist at the big game here.

As much as I would like to go the Super Bowl, I would actually prefer winning the guitar!

Pete Townshend Month

I’ve decided to honor Pete Townshend all month here on my blog. Why? Why not. Besides, with the labeling function on Blogger it gives me the chance to group some cool stuff all under one heading.

This first clip is the close to "Won't Get Fooled Again" at Live Aid in 1985.

Who Cares

The Who and Teenage Cancert Trust (TCT) have teamed up to launch Who Cares, which is designed to raise money for TCT. The news is here. Basically, it's a new way for the fans to get involved in raising money for the charity.

Incidentally, a fan has an authentic Pete Townshend shirt up for auction on eBay, which comes with an autographed photo of PT wearing a similar shirt. The auctioneer says that all proceeds will go to TCT. The link is here.

Roger Daltrey and Eric Clapton Hitting The Road

Roger Daltrey will be teaming up with Eric Clapton in February/March of 2010 for a few shows together. Meanwhile, Clapton and Steve Winwood will continue touring into the early part of next year. More on the news can be found here. I couldn't find any video of Roger and Eric performing - unless you count Clapton in the movie, Tommy - so I have posted Clapton with Pete Townshend.