WHOper Bowl

Congrats to the New Orleans Saints and all their fans. A well-played and well-coached game.

The high point for me, being a Packers fan with no particular dog in the hunt, was the halftime entertainment. Once again, the aging boomers are called upon to perform and once again they deliver. Even with the 50% lifestyle-attrition rate that took Keith Moon and John Entwhistle too soon, the Voice and the Music of The Who still resonate with power. Having Pino Palladino and Zak Starkey as fill-ins helps as well.

After watching - and more importantly, hearing - the recent spate of awards shows that showcase the musical/performing artists of the present day, to watch a couple of guys in their early 60's play live to an audience of 100 million viewers and pull it off was a reminder of where the bar used to be set.

Sure, 40 years will take a bit of exuberance from your throat and your strumming hand, but I'll take real music, performed by real musicians in real time over any tuned (or horribly out of tune) pre-programmed fluff that we've been told is the modern equivalent.

Yes, I'm an old grouch. Yes, it's a generational thing. Yes, yes, yes. But the fact remains that there was a time when the best Pop music was sometimes written by Artists and sung and played by Musicians, not "songwriters" and "entertainers". Pete Townshend aimed higher than sharing his high-school crush diary entries with us. He succeeded.

"Won't Get Fooled Again" is timeless, because we all DO get fooled again...and again. For a few more years at least, we have the chance to occasionally give the catwalk over to the Old Models and marvel at how they cloak themselves in Talent and Originality...and not The Emperor's New Spring Line of Fashion.

'Cause they "know that the hypnotized never lie...do ya?".