2 Out of my brain on the train.
3 Ah vell.
4 It is what it is.
5 Sort of like I'm in the same office at home with the same teevee behind me, but no old movies.
6 Why?
7 Some moron put the remote somewhere other than its normal place, which is often on some random shelf.
8 Serves me right. I gotta trade that moron for a different one.
9 Easy enough. I don't need old movies on teevee.
10 I'll just find something to read. Remember reading?
11 Just so happens that my handy copy of Pete Townshend's Who I Am is open right next to a lamp.
12 Heck, I can swim through this.
13 He writes of the Who's masterpiece album Quadrophenia, and of the soulful voice of lead singer Roger Daltrey:
"An iconic Daltrey bellow could convey an extraoridinary
range of human emotion: withering sadness, self-pity, loneliness, abandonment, spiritual desperation, the loss of childhood, as well as the more obvious rage and frustration, joy and triumph.
"The angst of those teenage years in which we all feel misunderstood is easy to make fun of, but it's real, and it brings my hero Jimmy to the brink of suicide. When, at the end of the album version of the Quadrophenia story, Jimmy steals a boat and takes it out to a rock in the middle of the sea, his anguished and beautiful cry, 'Love reign o'er me', suggests that he has finally been able to integrate multiple selves. Even as author and composer I realised I had no right to decide whether Jimmy should end his own life. I let Jimmy decide for himself."
14 I skipped a brief part in here.
15 Continuing:
"I spent part of my summer recording sound effects: rain, storms, thunder, trains, traffic and of course the sea. I also commissioned a radio announcer to cover the Mods and Rockers battles on the beaches, and recorded myself walking along a beach singing the first few lines of 'Sea and Sand' to use as a prelude. Taping birds taking off on the river was a major coup, and I had a lucky moment as I approached a gaggle of geese in my punt. This kind of sound design is almost as fulfilling as composing music."
16 Any sound design guys out there? You know who you are. Pete Townshend just saluted you. I salute you. One of my favorite areas of theater.
17 I vaguely remember the first time I listened to Quadrophenia.
18 I bought it and opened it religiously. I wanted it to remain pristine.
19 The packaging was extraordinary. I can still smell the pressing of the pics as I zipped the cellophane off and held the vinyl between my palms.
20 A second Who rock opera.
21 I loved the sound effects and design. Pristine. No cracks or bad moments. It was all perfect.
23 I always treated that album special. Other albums were party albums and sometimes skipped so often that I would twitch right before each skip.
24 Not Quadrophenia.
25 It was sacred, and in many ways, still is.
26 Can you see the real me?
27 Blessed. Here's a link to it's opening.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DITBE78JpE
28 Moving On, Part One: 7 p.m. and not a word. Not a word.
29 At this point yesterday I wrote a scathing piece.
30 It named names and what I thought of them.
31 I decided to crumple it up and toss it.
32 It sure felt good.
33 I'm not sure what happened after that, because I watched this cooking show called Chopped! Very fun, and since we are still working to rule, I was able to enjoy yet more free time.
34 I had seen the show before, but never watched successive episodes.
35 I'm not really an episodic guy.
36 One thing I did notice: everyone on the show has nice manners.
37 For such a choppy title, it is a pretty tame show.
38 Everyone showed patience and decorum. Try finding that anywhere in 2014.
39 It gave me a little hope.
40 Everybody has to shout and swear these days. It gets old, and I don't know that I want to see a new generation of children growing up with no training in good manners and class.
41 I failed miserably in those areas, and I try.
42 Ah, I'm starting to sound like an old man.
43 Wait a minute.
44 I AM an old man.
45 But dapper.
46 A kid told me that yesterday. She has nice manners. She said, "I like your tie, Mr. H. You look dapper today."
47 Dapper Dan.
48 I felt combed and spotless. My casual shoes that leaked suddenly took on a new sheen.
49 I'll take it.
50 Moving On, Part Two: I awakened in the middle of the night and was told there was no need to go to a special meeting of the Teachers today.
51 This bodes quite well, I hope. That appeared after I got off the computer, last night around 8.
52 They clearly made an effort to settle, so hopefully we're good.
53 Dapper guys shouldn't have to be stressed, right?
54
55
56 I'd better go before you do.
57 Have a GREAT day.
58 See you again.
~H~
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