More About Who Says

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'I thought you said you hoped you'd die before you got old. Well, now you're old. What now?' Of course, most people are too polite to say that sort of thing to a dying pop star. I say it often to myself."

Townshend has always been the voice of the Who. Some of his best critical pronouncements were printed in "The Book Of Rock Lists" by Dave Marsh and Kevin Stein. Here are a few of them:

"Rock 'n' roll is all that counts. I'll tell you, in 10 years, you'll know. 'Cause 10 years are past and we know."

"Pop has become solemn, irrelevant and boring. What it needs now is more noise, more size, more sex, more violence, more gimmickry, more vulgarity. Above all, it desperately needs a new messiah who will take things right back to the glamour, power and insanity of the Elvis Presley age."

"Sometimes I really do believe that we're the only rock band on the face of this planet that knows what rock and roll is all about."

"Rock is an indiscernible form of communication and entertainment combined, and it's a two-way thing with very complex but real feedback processes."

"Let's face it, you can't worship a guy for destroying an instrument in the name of rock. I smash guitars because I like them."

Violence on stage has been a way of life for the Who since its beginning. Keith Moon, drummer for the Who until he died of a vast overdose of sleeping pills four years ago this month, earned his spot in 1963 after challenging the group to play with him and then destroying the drum kit that belonged to the group's original drummer.

Soon after, Townshend became famous for smashing guitars during live performances.

While violence and anger have made the members of the Who comfortably wealthy, they also turned against the group three years ago before a concert in Cincinnati where 11 fans were killed in a rush for seats at a festival seating concert in Riverfront Coliseum. Although the group was not responsible, the incident caused a wave of bad publicity for it and for rock 'n' roll in general.

But just like rock, the English band has managed to survive.

The last two years have been productive for the group, both collectively and individually. Last year's "Face Dances" was a commercial and critical success. Townshend released his fourth solo album, "All The Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes," while bassist John Entwistle put out "Too Late The Hero." Roger Daltrey, the flamboyant lead singer of the Who, is set to release his third solo album before Christmas.

Rave Reviews

The rave reviews already are pouring in for the group's recently released "It's Hard" LP.

The present 10-week Who tour, which opened last Wednesday night at the Capital Centre in Largo, Md., could be the last for the band as a performing group although the band insists it will remain together as a recording act.

"We're not saying we're not going to do any more shows, but this will be the last tour," Daltrey said at a news conference announcing the tour. "I don't see the Who breaking up."

When will it end? Once again, Townshend has the answer.

"You should keep on playing rock for as long as you have an ax to grind," he has explained. "And if you haven't got an ax to grind, you should go into a cabaret."

Who: What, Why

A lot of folks have expressed shock that there still are a couple of thousand tickets left for the Who concert at Market Square Arena Wednesday.

One of the reasons the show hasn't "gone clean," as they say in the business, is the show's ticket sale procedure.

When tickets went on sale last month, they were sold on a mail order basis only and ticket buyers had no say where their seats would be.

Maybe some rock fans simply weren't willing to give up $15 without knowing where they were going to sit. Imagine how the guy sitting in Row YY feels knowing he paid the same price as the man in the first row.

About half of the 18,000 tickets were sold by mail order. The rest are being sold over the counter at the arena box office, Ross and Babcock and all L.S. Ayres stores.

It was the Who, not Sunshine Promotions, that suggested tickets be sold on a mail-order basis. No one knows why, but one theory might be that the group is going to great lengths to avoid any kind of "physical rush" for tickets.

The legendary English band was the recipient of unjustified criticism for a gate rush for seats at a festival seating concert in Cincinnati three years ago that took the lives of 11 concertgoers caught in the stampede.

"Blind" mail order ticket sales is nothing new. The State Fair has always done it for its shows and the practice is common nationwide.

Indiana's slumping economy, caused by a large number of lay-offs in the auto industry, also has affected concert ticket sales on many of the shows. The Who draws a large part of its audience from the blue-collar crowd.

Last Saturday's Fleetwood Mac concert at the arena also may have cut into Who sales. It was another $15 show and the closeness of the two may have forced concertgoers to make a difficult choice. Perhaps, being able to choose their own seats for Fleetwood Mac made a difference.

This will mark the Who's first appearance in Indianapolis.