Worth Another Listen - The Who

I love The Who, a band on the front end of the British Invasion. In the early 60s, Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend and John Entwistle were in a band, the Detours, that was playing the pub & club circuit in the UK, making a living. After a few changes in the lineup, and the addition of drummer Keith Moon, they changed their name to The Who, and the rest is history.



I have to admit I am not a huge fan of The Beatles, nor a huge fan of the Rolling Stones. Sure, they both did some great things, and I don't 'hate' them by any means, I just had a thing for other bands. There was Led Zeppelin, still my all-time favorite band, and The Who that captured my heart. From their first release, My Generation, to Who's Next, to Quadrophenia, to Who Are You, their particular sound of rock was just the thing I loved. Well, that, and Roger Daltrey.



I mean, how beautiful was he? And he had that body and absolutely no problem with showing it off. He was the stuff of many a teenaged fantasy, I can tell you. But that was just a bonus, it was really about the music. They lost Keith Moon in 1978, and broke up in 1983, only to reform a couple of times. John Entwistle passed in 2002, but Roger and Pete still are around, and released Endless Wire in 2006. They are still touring from time to time.

The Who managed to play both Woodstock and Live Aid, two of the biggest concerts of Rock & Roll history. Here is a cliip from Woodstock, the encore presentation of My Generation.



The Who are on American TVs weekly, with their seminal song Baba O'Riley used by the CSI franchise as the theme song. The song has been bastardized for decades as I remember both fans and haterz alike calling it Teenaged Wasteband...



Not too surprising, but The Who have a website. You can visit it by clicking here.

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Great Women - Judy & Barbra

Both Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand deserve their own post, and they will both get it. But this particular duet is just far too outstanding to not get recognized. The event was The Judy Garland Show, taped in 1963. Barbra was at the beginning of her career, only 21 years old and hadn't hit Broadway yet with Funny Girl. Judy was at the end of her career, although she was only 41, she died less than six years later. Judy had done A Star Is Born nine years earlier, and Barbra would remake it 13 years later. But in 1963, they did a couple of songs together, the first being Happy Days Are Here Again/Get Happy, hits for Barbra & Judy, respectively.

They also did Hooray For Love, which compiles several songs into one.

In an oddness that can only be attributed to live television, they were joined by Ethel Merman on stage for There's No Business Like Show Business. Merman, of course, owns the song, and takes it home. Judy tried to keep up a bit, but figured it out, and Barbra just looks like she isn't sure what she got herself in to. You just figured there was a stage manager or director offstage yelling 'Sing out, Louise!'

All I can say is that VH1s Diva shows have nothing on these three ladies just daring the world to get in their way. And every gay man in the couttry had their TVs tuned into this, and lost their breathe for a few minutes. After the show, I would be willing to bet that notes were not the only belts that Judy & Ethel shared - unless the producers had the liquor cabinet locked tight.

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