pete townshend - the south bank show - part 6

[SenseiSixString]

Sorry if anyone asked this before, but isn't the interviewer/narrator the same guy, I think Rusell Harty, from that one interview in The Kids Are Alright?

[booeyats1]

Thanks colourscrash for posting this. A great rare insight and very educational for me. Cheers from the USA!

[RickMoonbeam]

Dr Meg Patterson is a bigger con than Meher Baba. I do despair of Pete sometimes.

[idealtypical]

"I do despair of Pete sometimes."

I know what you mean. But at the same time, Pete's contributions -- as an artist & 'personality' -- have been animated in part by his nature as a 'seeker'.

He's quick to embrace big ideas/solutions/ideals; he longs to reconnect w/ his own naivete & sense of wonder. Many of his attempts have turned out to be pretentious, foolhardy or wrong, but his spiritual & moral quests have been sincere, & in his best work, he's brave enough to share it with the world.

[vollsticks]

Thanks for taking the time to write that, it means a lot even tho' you're a complete stranger-in fact, it probably means more (to me) in a weird way! But yeh, black-box is great! I've always wondered if the story about Keith Richards stealing one from "a posh detox clinic" in Switzerland is true or just "Rock Apocrypha". Hhmmm...  Cheers, all the best!

[vollsticks]

I have "bio-electric medicine" once a fortnight for opiate addiction, can't speak highly enough of it and I've been off opiates for 14 months now (from a 10-year addiction). I actually first heard of black-box therapy years ago and always wanted to try it, then i learnt that my local treatment agency offer it for free-it's about 20 quid per session to go privately. Pete Townshend is amazing!

[Bryan8329]

Wow, thanks for sharing. And congrats on staying clean.

[RickMoonbeam]

That little back box with the wires clipped onto your ears is a mask vollsticks. It allows you and Pete to blame your failings on a fake disease called addiction. In Pete's case it allowed him to look his wife and family in the face again. All psychiatric treatments work like this. They don't cure you of anything but allow you to think you're ill in the first place.

[vollsticks]

You don't know me so how can you talk about me with authority? For a start every addict is different and I don't subscribe to the "disease theory" anyway. Believe me, your disparaging comments to a man (well, two men, actually!) who has conquered his habit says far more about YOUR failings as a human being than it does about mine. Maybe you should try black-box, it might make you a less negative person! Then again...

[DKVillain]

wow Pete looks messed up at some parts heroen sucks.

[colourscrash]

he was clean for years by then.

[nenabunena]

WOW! Pete really has major issues w/ his parents/initial family, almost everything revolves around that dissatisfaction. Very nice interview, thanks!

[230Vince23]

Interesting when he said his experiences are pretty limited. I'd not thought of that even though he's toured and stuff.

"Mine have been too mate!", I said.

[tilmol]

i remember watching this just before the release of white city in november 1985. i had it on video but lost this years ago - so really great to see this again.

thanks.

[colourscrash]

very glad i could reunite you, so to speak.