Townshend says he's at crossroads

His band, The Who, will play the Gorge Amphitheatre

BY LETTA TAYLER

Newsday NEW YORK — The demure man with the equine nose and silver stubble glances aimlessly around his hotel room, as if he were searching for some lost object but can’t recall what it is. He speaks softly, even dispassionately, about his role as the chief songwriter and guitarist for the seminal British rock band The Who. When emotion does creep into his words, it tends to be regret.

Gone is the swagger of the brash young rocker who declared, “Hope I die before I get old.” Instead, at 55, Pete Townshend resembles another of his lyrical characters — the sad man behind blue eyes, adrift in a sea of dreams, some of them empty.

Townshend is, by his own admission, at a crossroads. Formally separated from Karen Astley, his wife of 34 years, unsure of his professional future, he is casting about for a next step.

“I’m kind of at a weird place in my life, a watershed,” volunteers

ON TOUR WHO: The Who, with Pete Townshend, John Entwistle, and Roger Daltrey. WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Sat. WHERE: Gorge Amphitheatre, 754 Silica Road N.W., George, Wash. TICKETS: $53.85, $74.85, $95.85, $137.85; Ticketmaster 503-224-4400

[Photo caption] The Who, with rock giants, from left, Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey and John Entwhistle, are on tour again.