The Who,Who'sNext & The Wholigans,,,,,,,,

All in one night is enough Who for any Who fan to keel over in a drunken whostupour, but that is exactly what happened Sept 18th 2006.
I was in NYC staying at Bill's house (guitarist who's next) along with all of the other band members including The Wholigans own drummer Darren who was filling in for the evening.
It was kind of strange waking up and seeing another Roger across the kitchen in the form of Dave.
A lot of people think that there would be animosisty between who tribute bands but it's quite the opposite we all have a comradrie anongst the east/south/west coast bands. (rappers could learn a lesson)

I went to to the who's next rehearsal which was a little weird for me to watch and probably just the same for Dave, but we ended up at an irish pub to cap the night..

Next day I headed into the city and met up with tons of Wholigans inc actually too many to name but here goes:
Mike,Marc,Rob,Scott,Meg,Joyce,George ,hirbormort,Alan Mckendree,ratboy was noticably missing as was bjorn and majik (who showed the next day) there were many others whom I met at thestout which was an ok place to meet but too big & loud for me, I prefer the smaller intimate...molly wee's pubs(next time guy's?)

We head up to the gardens 90% of us without tickets, I bought with the help of Rob a $50 sidestage ticket and headed gleefully towards the entrance only to be turned back with the words 'it's a fake' echoing in my head...oh well.
So I bought a dirt cheap ticket of $20 to get in the door and walked in with Rob and we ended up in$250 seats 10th row up Petes side and a fantastic view.
I can't repeat the setlist forbatem except for the fact there was a lot of new stuff which I thought was great and I do think in fact ' WE'VE GOT A HIT !'

I've posted elsewhere that the closing song 'Tea &Theatre' was/is the most emotional song Pete has written and had the most emotion I've heard/seen come out of Roger.
Very VERY well done boys, it was excellent !

After the show I head to BBKings where who'snext were playing midnight till 2, it was a bit of a rough start for the lads but as the night wore on the pieces fell into place along with the additions of a steeelslide player for a few songs and also The OX'S guitarist Godfrey Townsend played a few songs , one of which I sang
'shakin all over ' with Stoney from the quadropheniacs(another who tribute) I also did 'substitute' with who's next.for the encore.

It was about 3.30-4am by the time we headed home and one of the lads in the van found out he had just become a proud papa that night (not my place to say who) so after that we all toasted with a beer (at home) then crashed immediatly as most of us had to to leave for the airport within a few hours.
Myself ,I was Who'd out and didn't care if I heard another Who song in my life, yet hear I am about to embark on a couple of gigs in Georgia 2 weeks later!!!!!!
One in Augusta where we are playing the entire live at leeds + others, then it's off to Stone mountain park in front of 15,000 people !!!!

My back is still very sore along with my legs, but once I'm on that stage I'll be superman, but when I walk off I'm sure the kryptonite will kick in.
How can you NOT get excited singing The Who for all those people:)

Barry

Sore back ...what sore back ?..rock n roll will fix it !

OH MAN !!!!!!!
I am worn out from the Flogging Molly gig last night, I danced/pogoed/jigged my ass off all night and all on one count em one drink
They were fantastic and I bought the t-shirt.
I was obviously the oldest one there but I didn't give a damn, I went within 10 feet of the stage amongst the skins and the punks and the bodysurfers and sweated my butt off and had a smile on my face all night long

The place was in an outdoor courtyard holding 1200 people in a place called Jannus Landing in downtown St Petersburg.
If you like the pouges,the clash,elvis costello, the levellers,seven nations,great big sea ,celtic music in general and add punk attitude you get Flogging Molly
.If you get a chance to go to a live show GOOOOO!
You will have a blast.
Part of the fun for me was getting to look at all the real young people who had anticipation,excitement,and that look of a first time concert goer ,and the look in their eyes was incredible.I remember those days and still try to retain that magic and flogging molly did that for me last night.
http://www.floggingmolly.com/

I came home jumped in the shower,came out then cracked a beer and prepared to watch The Who on David Letterman , then promptly fell asleep
Thank god for DVD recorders.

Up next...Wolfmother Saturday at the same venue, then The Who Monday in NYC.
I hope my old bones (back) carry me through the next few days.

Thank god prohibition is long gone or I'd have to find alternatives to pain medication ;}


Music will keep you young ,people and will keep the kid inside of you alive, so keep rockin don't let ANYBODY tell you, you are too old.
Look at Pete or me for that matter, it works I tell ya !!!!!!

Rock your bloody arses off till you die !

Here we go again

As some of you know I had a major back operation a couple of years ago (you can read the story on our site 'dear diary' http://www.thewholigans.com/dear_diary.html
What I didn't tell people just prior to this years convention in London in April , is that I had another back surgery , not as big as the first one but scary enough that it had possibilities that could have caused me never to walk again amongst many other problems, but anytime you enter that realm those possibilities exist. This all happened 2 weeks prior to the tour.

I just didn't want to let the who fans know and especially the tour promoters as it would have created a lot of problems.
Thankfully the procedure worked and I was able to do the tour but with help of many pain prescriptions.

Well since then the problems still persist and my daily activity is limited so that said I went to see my specialist and I'm going on the table Sept 25th for a 1/2 day mini surgery/procedure.
Everytime you have surgery, scar tissue is left in the body, and after having an MRI last week it was discovered that here is a lot of tissue pressing on my nerves causing a lot of lower back pain,down the right leg and into both feet.
So I'm having a new procedure done which works but is still not an automatic thing for doctors to go through yet, it's still fairly experimental.

What happens (the squeamish should not read on) but they cut a hole just above my anus
(about the size of a dime/sixpence) then they run a cathetar/or some kind of hose up through the lower hole in my tailbone and up into my spine.
From there they release enzymes into the area of the scar tissues, the enzymes slowly eat away the tissue.
I am going to have this done twice including the regular steroid shots over the next month or so.

OH....I forgot to mention that they keep me awake during this to make sure they don't screw up, why they do this is beyond me.
They do medicate ,but the fact they keep me awake sucks!
It hurts just thinking about it :(

If this does not work then they will put a small piece of metal transmitter inside my back which sends signals which confuses the brain ,I don't really want to go that far.......but.

I have been going nuts with the pain for years since the initial operation but never really told anybody just because.
My band members knew but I don't think knew the extent.

On stage I feell like a kid again, the adrenolin works wonders (they realy should investigate that) afterwards is a different story.
I'm no cripple so I'm not seeking sympathy as millions suffer the same deal, I just needed to get it off my chest.(or off my back so to speak)

The procedure on the 25th will not hinder my gig on the 29th, I'll have my buddy southern comfort with me ; }

Thanks for listening, and see you in NYC : )

Thinking.

Hello all,
thought I'd let you know that there is a lot going in my world,some sad,some painful , some good and a lot to contemplate.
Mentally and physically I am not the man I was 10 years ago.I'm really having to dig deep before I come up with solutions.Can't really give you details but time will tell the tale.
I will see a lot of you in NYC both before and after the show, but it's times like those that helps one think about tomorrow and look forward to...we all need something like that otherwise whats the point ?

I apologise for lack of blogs re San Fran and Ft Lauderdale and hell even lack of uk photo's and our web updates, seems my brain is on a temporary wholigan hold right now.
Life is bigger than The Wholigans......Whodathunk ?

Barry

Remember 911

I urge you all to take a moment to remember 911 today and to please leave politics out of it, it was just not an American tragedy but a human one.
Take a moment.