Le Bar Bat

Who Week In New York

If I had to describe this night in one word it would be "Insane!!". There were many people involved who helped me organize this event...Gigi, Magic, Margaret and Brian to name a few. The show was booked for October 5, 2000 which was the off night between the four MSG Who shows. Knowing that there would be many Who fans from out of town looking for something to do, we needed a place to gather, so Le Bar Bat it was. I wanted to make this night different from the usual Who's Next performances. For this particular show I wanted to invite Who related musicians to play with us on different songs and make it more of a celebration. The night would be called "An Evening Of Tribute And Charity." I also saw it as a great opportunity to raise a large sum of money for Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Foundation.

The first person I asked, and he gracefully agreed, was Godfrey Townsend from the John Entwistle Band. He is truly one of the coolest guys I have ever met. The best part of this experience was hanging with him after rehearsals and talking about how he hooked up with John. Godfrey took time out of his schedule to work with Who's Next and to be a part of this special night. The other person was Simon Townshend, and I must tell you, if it weren't for the Big Country Convention, Simon would have been here. We actually met and talked about it in August and were e-mailing one another. We are still working to put something together with Simon, so lets hope it happens.

In order to raise more money, we needed more merchandise to raffle off. We contacted Nicola (Pete's Personal Assistant) and asked if we can purchase a Life House Chronicles box set and get it signed by Pete. We felt having an item like this would raise some good bucks. Not only did Pete agree to sign it, he donated it as well. Thanks to Nicola and, of course Pete, we were able to get this done. John and Roger were also contacted and agreed to sign several photos, although Roger wasn't as easy. Also included in the raffle was a Maximum R&B box set signed by all three.

The night of the show is one I will never forget. After seeing The Who the previous two nights, I was running a 101 temperature that day. We loaded in around 3:00 p.m., did our sound check at 5:00 p.m., and left the club. From 6:00 to 11:00 p.m. there were 300 people from France having a company party and seminar. We got to the club around 10:00 p.m. where people started filing in for the show. At this time, people were buying raffles and hanging upstairs in the club looking down at the stage and 300 French people. I remember running around like a nut yelling at the manager, "Get these fucking people out of here, we have a show to do." I had to make sure that the V.I.P. section was opened, that Roger signed the box set, sell some raffle tickets, make sure the Q104.3 van had a parking spot out front, find my guitar tech, change into my boiler suit, say hello to everyone who came in, get 300 French people out and then perform for three hours with a 101 temperature. When I look back now I don't know how it happened but it did. The first chords to Can't Explain rang out around 11:30 to a room filled with WHO fans.

In all, the Le Bar Bat experience was insane. Musically it wasn't

a great show, but that night wasn't about us. We raised over $1,500 for Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Foundation. Looking back I remember meeting a great bunch of people. Wendy, Kanga, Sheridan, Cathy from Chicago, Starky brothers, Bjorn (who won the box set ), and so many others. The one thing I realized after talking to many fans, is that we all (Who Fans ) share one thing in common and that's passion!