Pete Townshend at Woodstock, to Abbie Hoffman: "Fuck off! Fuck off my FUCKING STAGE."

[Amerigo Vespucci]

That's probably my favorite Pete Townshend moment of all time, tossing that fucking hippie opportunist P.O.S. waste of space poseur scumbag Hoffman into the cheap seats.

Here's the YouTube audio-only clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8BYgzIEHIY

Never, never, never let ANYONE climb onto YOUR stage.

A.V.'s little book of rules for a happy life.

:toast:

[JVS]

1. So you prefer a kiddie-porn collector to a liberal political activist?

:popcorn:

[Amerigo Vespucci]

3. Popcorn indeed.

I don;t believe the "I was doing research for a book" defense from Townshend at all. I believe that, for whatever reasons, he had kiddie porn on his computer, and it broke my heart.

That said, I do believe that Hoffman was an opportunistic poseur scumbag and not a "liberal political activist" at all. The "liberal political activist" was what he used to keep the cheddar coming in, baby...

:popcorn:

[siligut]

4. They’re both assholes.

The question is which one is bigger. I don't believe the "research" thing either.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

7. Agreed

I remember when Townshend released "Empty Glass" and there was some controversy over "Rough Boys."

Roger Daltrey DID NOT WANT to align himself with the content of that song.

Townshend's response was "I have been a woman..."

What I'd like to explain to my fellow DUers...and people who know me know that I seldom "explain" anything...is that the 1967 album "The Who Sell Out"...especially the song "I Can See For Miles"...changed my LIFE.

So yes, Townshend was and is an asshole.

Hoffman too. Sorry to speak ill of the dead, but if he were here right now and hooked up to a lie detector and asked "Are You An Asshole" the only truthful answer would be "YES."

So one asshole had the stage. And another asshole climed aboard to spew his agenda. And the fist asshole tossed the second asshole for his efforts.

That's all I'm saying.

:patriot:

[gmoney]

10. ...the fist asshole...

Freudian slip? LOL

[Raine1967]

2. Now I know what Dana Milbank was going thru...

;-)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/05/dana-milbank-leaving-coun_n_116997.html

[Amerigo Vespucci]

5. I hear ya, but...

...my personal belief is that Hoffman was a poseur, not a poster child for "us," and that if I were Pete Townshend, I would have placed a Doc Martens in his ass TOO.

:toast:

[Raine1967]

13. Abbie and Dana

Both were dicks at that moment... :D

Pete, like Niko, planted the Doc Martens where they belongd... :P

[MineralMan]

6. I met Abbie Hoffman in 1968. I was not impressed.

That is all.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

8. That's all that really needs to be said.

I grew up in the 60s and I wasn't impressed with Hoffman either.

He did not "speak for me," he was not "the voice of a generation."

He was a man intent on marketing Abbie Hoffman, and I wasn't buying.

:toast:

[MineralMan]

9. Yes, that was my impression, too.

I was on the close periphery of a lot of stuff in DC at that time, but never a leader of anything. Hoffman was a leader, but it seemed to me that his heart was more into leading people into following him than into the core of what was going on.

He could be very persuasive, but I kept finding myself looking at him with some suspicion. That said, he paid a pretty heavy price for his activism, so there it is.

[Moondog]

12. A very young Amy Carter,

apparently, also was unimpressed. Slept with him, and moved on.

[abq e streeter]

11. I had the same view of Hoffman till I saw him speak in his later years

he'd mellowed but was still involved in progressive causes, but this time quietly and without the big ego/self-promotion shtick. He made more sense than almost any political speaker I'd ever seen, which surprised the hell out of me. Also, as far as your admonition to never let anyone climb on your stage.....depends on who, where when etc... I was once playing a horrid little bar on a slow night , and just couldn't wait to be done for the night. At about 11:00, the entire University's women's ski team came in to the bar, and after a few minutes, all climbed onto the stage and started dancing up there for the next half hour. A stage full of cute little ski-bunnies from Sweden, Austria etc. just shakin' their thing(s). I have to say that in this particular circumstance, and I can only speak for myself, my life became drastically happier after my stage was climbed upon.