Who bassist doesn’t paint by the numbers

By Jolene Thym

STAFF WRITER

Most people know him as a musician with The Who, the bassist who for decades has rocked in the shadow of his more flamboyant buddies. But John Entwistle’s creative energy is taking new, more visual directions of late.

The offbeat musician, who took art classes before joining The Who, is expressing himself with pen and ink, creating humorous caricatures of himself and other musicians.

His images will be displayed today and Sunday at the Hotel Triton and Cafe de la Presse, 342 Grant Ave., San Francisco. The exhibition can be seen from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Entwistle, in the Bay Area performing with The Who in Pete Townshend’s “Quadrophenia,” today and Sunday at the San Jose Arena, will attend a reception at the gallery from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Sunday.

In a telephone interview from Vancouver this week, Entwistle was happy to talk about his latest mode of creative expression.

“I made a choice between art and music when I went to college. I could either go to the Royal Academy of Music or to art school. I went to music school, but when I got out, my father decided he would rather I got a job.”

After working two years for the equivalent of the Internal Revenue Service in England, he found that he could make more money at night, playing in a band. The rest is The Who history.

His interest in art, Entwistle explained, goes back to art classes in high school. His teachers, however, did not appreciate his sense of humor.

“I found that I was a much better cartoonist than a serious artist. When The Who played a benefit concert at the old high school, I went around and talked with my teachers. The art teachers told

Please see Entwistle, C-5

The artwork of John Entwistle of the rock group The Who will be featured at Hotel Triton, 342 Grant Ave., San Francisco.