Breaking In

I was introduced to the music of The Who well before they had an album, or even a song, available in America. The older brother of a friend had gone to England, heard them there, and brought back their music. I remember standing in my brother's room, the turntable atop his upright piano, listening to this music that was unlike anything I had ever heard! I was hooked!

There were, in Los ngeles, a few record stores which carried Ehropean lables. I scoured these stores, searching for anything byThe Who, buying anything I could get my hands on.

When The Who finally became known in the US, and started to have a large and loyal following, they began to tour. I attended every concert that was within driving distance...some of which I had to lie about where I was going. When they were appearing so close to home, at the Santa Momica Civic Auditorium, I just had to go but, as luck would have it, I was without the money for a ticket. I staked out the artists entrance of the Auditorium for a couple of concerts prior to The Who's appearance. I wanted to study the security. I noticed that prior to show time, when the band was getting ready to set up a couple of hours before showtime, there was a lot of traffic in and out of the back door, with very little checking of credentials. I had the "look", painfully thin, with long, straight hair which came to my waist, so, when The Who was getting set up, I just casually walked in the back door with a bunch of technitions, and no one questionrd my being there.

I hid in plain sight, moving about as if I belonged, passing the band members who would give me an initial look of surprise, then ignored my presence.. About an hour before showtime, when they had started to let the crowd in, I went down into the seating area, mingling with the crowd. I'd make frequent trips into the lobby area, going to the bathroom, buying a drink, getting my face recognized by the security.

As the seats began to fill up, I began to look for a single empty seat, and found one in the third row, center. I sat down, no one questioned it.

When the band began to play, I saw Pete Townsend look straight at me, he gave a little smile, and nodded. The next song was "I Can See For Miles", and I felt it was just for me.