May 7, 2009

I watched with glee
While your kings and queens
Fought for ten decades
For the gods they made



Michael Benevento, Car Pile Up, 2008

* 1969 Crawdaddy interview of Keith Moon. excerpt:

Q: What would you say was your most lunatic achievement?

Moon: Ah yes, that would be my birthday party in Flint, Michigan, when I was arrested by the Sheriff while in the nude covered in birthday cake. I think it had something to do with the bottle of vodka I drank at the time.

We hired this motel for the party and it got rather out of hand. Some television sets were found lying at the bottom of the hotel swimming pool and one or two of the changing cubicles were damaged. While attempting to evade arrest I tripped over and knocked out my two front teeth.

The following morning the Law invited me to get out of Flint, Michigan, and never come back, which was a bit awkward as the rest of the Who had gone on to New York and I could not get on a plane—so I hired one, a jet. That party cost approximately $25,000—everyone was very good about it!

Q: Do you feel any necessity to do anything other than be a drummer—would you like to produce?

Moon: I am a producer—I've produced a little three-year-old daughter—Mandy. I'd like to play Hamlet but he wasn't a drummer, was he? I suppose it could be written in that he was a drummer in his spare time—a bit of a dab hand with the sticks. Let's face it, he must have been cos he had a sense of rhythm.

It was a bit of a fluke that I can play drums really or that I can't play 'em really. I'm not a great drummer. I don't have any drumming idols—I know a few idle drummers. And they come over here after having the National Health and move in next to you. It's disgusting, that's what it is!

Q: Have you ever wished you were someone else—someone that you admire for any reason?

Moon: Sometimes I think I'd like to be King Arthur—I liked his taste. Sometimes I think I'd like to be John Entwistle. Sometimes I think I'll be sick.

No, I'd like to be John because he hasn't changed since the day I met him five years ago. Still wears the same clothes in fact. I'd like to be a large cauliflower—no, that's in bad taste.

Q: What has been your most miserable moment with the Who?

Moon: That would be when we nearly lost John in a hotel swimming pool in Spain some years ago. He leapt into the four-foot-six with his snorkel and something went wrong with the ping pong ball. He nearly drowned—true story.

I'm a person who always does things to extremes—extreme happiness or extreme depression, when things get too heavy I just go away or jump out of a window. I don't get depressed unless I'm around people who are depressing—I reflect their feelings. Sometimes I think I have a death wish. I'm happiest playing drums. I likes to hit—I likes hitting.

* 69 Love Songs, Illustrated.

* "I've stopped drinking, but only while I'm asleep." -- George Best

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

re: Michael Benevento, Car Pile Up, 2008

Could almost be a non-abstract Dubuffet.

Good Find.

2:04 PM  

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