This photograph, taken by Bob Gruen, has
just surfaced of your man at Just Backdated with Pete, taken at the party
following the New York premiere of the Tommy
movie, in the subway station at 57th Street at Sixth Avenue, on March 18, 1975, and elsewhere on the blog
there’s a pic of me at the same knees-up with Moonie and Annette, his main
squeeze from 1974 onwards. As I mentioned there, I could never figure out why
it was held in a subway station.
“So Pete, this Tommy movie. What do you reckon?”
“Well, it’s a form of expressionism.”
“Expressionism?”
“It expresses deep emotions.”
“Indeed it does, but don’t you feel
that the literal interpretation employed by the film’s auteur distracts from
the fundamental essence of the original work,
and in this respect negates the essential truths that Tommy’s challenges convey.
The essence of that truth is surely fundamental to the realisation of Tommy’s
plight. A key aspect of the film is the presence of negativity, the impact of
Cousin Kevin and Uncle Ernie for example, in what is essentially a positive
statement designed to accentuate the successful transportation of Tommy back
into the sensual world. If the ultimate absence of Tommy’s confusion brings to
him a realisation of our own state of mind, then the essence of Tommy lies in
his fundamental ability to confront the essentials in life, that is the need
to hear, speak and see. Is this the essential truth behind the work and has not
that truth been submerged in this figurative cinematic interpretation?”
“Er, no. Not really.”
(In homage to that scene
in Kids Are Alright, where PT is
interviewed by a German journalist.)
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