All my teacups-- To address the subject of The Who's sudden newly found motivation-- Pete Townshend has been commissioned by the BBC (the first article appeared two sundays ago, in the London Times, I'm sure you can find it through the online archives) to complete his Lifehouse project and recreate it on the BBC in December. This week Pete and BBC officials met to discuss Pete's overall vision (and he is the only one who truly knows) of Lifehouse. It also appears that Pete is preparing to talk to Roger Daltrey and John Entwistle to discuss making this a Who affair. For those of you who might not be aware, Lifehouse is the second of Townshend's 'rock operas' that he wrote, following Tommy. The scope of the project was too big--the story took place in a somewhat post apocalyptic gloomy fictional country, where all forms of human expression are banned, and somehow Bobby (the protagonist) and his buds find a rock and roll band whose music is a religious and spiritual revelation. Thusly, at the Lifehouse, the walls are torn down. Another facet of the project is that everyone in the world would be able to hear the music emitting from the Lifehouse via a virtual reality system of somekind. (very ambitious for 1971) Of course at the time, everyone in the world could not view the concert at the same time, according to Pete's vision. What medium would he have used? Well, the dream has come true, and the Internet is that medium. That's a very loose description, but it should be known that PT wanted the project to include an album, movie, and a series of concerts. (one aspect of the project had people being numerically entered into a computer, thus translating into notes, making the barrier between audience band fall, hence the 'Join Together' motif) The concerts were held, at the Young Vic in Waterloo, but those concerts didn't really fit Pete's true vision. (if you can get your hands on a boot of one of these shows, do. It's incredible, vintage Who) Lifehouse turned into the Who studio album "Who's Next", released in 1971, which reached #1 in the UK, though the songs didn't have any apparent connection. (however at the end of "The Song is Over", Daltrey sings a line from "Pure and Easy", a track that was never released on a standard Who album, though was THE pivot point of Lifehouse) If you happened to pick up Pete's 1993 album "Psychoderelict" the Lifehouse story may seem familiar to you. Incoporated into that album were some aspects from Lifehouse. It seems that Lifehouse continues to motivate, and yet haunt Pete in everything he does. Now the questions are many, while the answers are not... -Will this be a concert as well as a BBC production, which will inevitably include voice overs, and actors? -Will Pete write any new music for the event? -Will it become a Who or TED event, or just Pete and his band? -Will this finally spark that Lifehouse Who album that we've always dreamed of? Sorry to ramble. Hopefully there are some Who fans out there whom are just as excited as I am. -blake ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~- I'm sorry like atari... "We try harder and harder, tryin' to get our way, but it's a long, long wait until Judgement Day. So settle your affairs and take your time, for everything in the world is yours and mine. Yours and mine." --Pete Townshend, '68 "I'm looking back and I can't see the past anymore, so hazy. I'm on a track and I'm travelling so fast, oh for sure I'm crazy. I will be immersed, queen of the fucking universe, and i don't know what i have anymore, anymore than you do." --Pete Townshend, '80 +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list please mail "sinister@majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo@majordomo.net". For list archives and searching, list rules, FAQ, poor jokes etc, see http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +---+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" +---+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+