Posts Tagged ‘pete townshend’
The Secret Policeman’s Ball(s):
Martin Lewis, John Cleese, and the Origin of the Superstar Benefit Love-Fest
A conversation with Martin Lewis is a lot like a celebrity benefit show: there’s name-dropping, obligatory roasting, flash and panache, and a definite hint of the self-congratulatory. The man has helped manage Eric Burdon and Donovan, produced records, films, and festivals on both sides of the Atlantic, and served as HuffPo’s resident “least-reserved Englishman.” Hell, when he was 15 he compiled the discography for Hunter Davies‘ Beatles bio; by 19 he was recruiting Pete Townshend to write dust-jacket blurbs.
These days, Lewis is making the interview rounds in celebration of the thirtieth anniversary of the first Secret Policeman’s Ball, an Amnesty International benefit launched in 1979 after modestly successful incarnations as “A Poke in the Eye With a Sharp Stick” (1976) and “The Mermaid Frolics” (1977). (It was the 1981 SPB that inspired an initially skeptical Bob Geldof to found Live Aid four years later.)
Slideshow: The Who at the Verizon Center
Pete Townshend didn’t duck-walk on Monday night. He didn’t curse, or smash his guitar, or clock Abbie Hoffman in the back of the head. In fact, he didn’t do anything of which your mother wouldn’t approve.
Which isn’t to say that the Who in its current incarnation lacks vim, vigor, or even cheek…just that the guys who came to prominence as purveyors of auto-destructive art now seem more intent on self-preservation.
