A FEW MORE ODDS & SODS

Here’s a few more bits and pieces from my Who folders.

The Who Generation is a 64-page magazine published by Circus, the US rock monthly, and written by Nik Cohn which is a guarantee of quality of course. It was published in June of 1974 to coincide with The Who’s four nights at New York’s Madison Square Garden and, in fact, because I was living in NY at the time, Circus had called me to ask whether I’d be prepared to write it. Unfortunately my contract with Melody Maker precluded me from writing for other magazines and, in 1974, I felt it unwise to offer my services to what was, in effect, a rival. So I recommended Nik and he did a great job, probably far better than Circus were expecting. I seem to remember Nik taking me for a slap-up meal as a thank you.

I felt no such qualms a year later when I was approached by Penthouse magazine which I didn’t feel was in competition with Melody Maker, even though the sub editors were always on the lookout for an eye-catching picture of an easy-on-the-eye girl singer. Nevertheless, the text in the Rock Superstars Poster mag is uncredited because I wasn’t supposed to be working for anyone else other than MM. What I remember most about working for Penthouse was that they paid really well and the girls who worked on the reception in their Third Avenue offices all looked like centre-spreads (with their clothes on).

This was the programme for the orchestral Tommy at the Rainbow on December 9, 1972. In the cast list inside John’s name is spelt Entwisle, which makes a change from usual Entwhistle misspelling. Originally planned for the Royal Albert Hall, the performance was banned by the general manager who deemed Tommy not to be a proper opera and, in any case, was ‘unsavoury’. Wonder what he thought of Robert Plant squeezing his lemon on the hallowed stage during the Pop Proms of June 1969.

I have no idea where this Tommy The Movie magazine came from, but the 30p price tag seems to imply it came from the UK, which is odd because I was living in NY when the film was released. It’s full of stills from the film including a spectacularly unattractive shot of Keith as ‘the evil and lecherous Uncle Ernie’ and Nora (Ann-Margret) ‘cavorting crazily in a fantasy of melted chocolate’. The text – a précis of the film – is uncredited.