The Who’s Roger Daltrey speaks at ACM@UCO, playing solo tonight in Thackerville

Posted by brandy

on October 22, 2009M at 11:23 am

roger daltrey - uco-acm

Roger Daltrey takes a question from Scott Booker, president of the University of Central Oklahoma’s Academy of Contemporary Music, during a guest lecture Wednesday night at the school. (ACM@UCO photo)

Roger Daltrey, legendary frontman for The Who, spoke Wednesday night to a master class at the University of Oklahoma’s Academy of Contemporary Music.

As a guest lecturer, the singer spent about 90 minutes taking questions from ACM@UCO President Scott Booker and the student body. He talked about the history of The Who, discussed how music saved him as a disaffected teen and praised Oklahoma City-based rockers The Flaming Lips.

Lips frontman Wayne Coyne, who is active at ACM@UCO, was on hand for the Q&A. Coyne is a longtime fan of The Who; he and the Lips performed last year in the “VH1 Honors” tribute to The Who in Los Angeles.

And for anyone who still has doubts that the ACM@UCO is one of the most awesome things to come to Oklahoma City in awhile – the school won over the lead singer for The Who.

“I’m very impressed with your college – it’s fabulous,” Daltrey said. “And well done to the Lips!”

Daltrey also had some interesting words for his band’s infamous habit of smashing their instruments at the end of their shows.

“The most wonderful thing about that was, it was an art form,” Daltrey said. “What people don’t get about it, and what the journalists never wrote about, was the sound that it created. It was a total art form, it was music without space. That guitar was like an animal being slaughtered, and Pete did it with incredible artistry. It wasn’t just brutal destruction. He used to wail and howl, and Keith’s drumming would be so chaotic but perfectly in rhythm with the whole thing.”

My talented colleague George Lang has the full story on Daltrey’s visit to ACM@UCO. Click here to read it.

You can also see more photos of the singer’s appearance there at the ACM@UCO Facebook page. Click here to go there.

And if you’re interested in seeing Daltrey yourself, he’s playing a solo show at 9 tonight at WinStar World Casino off Interstate-35 in Thackerville. For more information, go to www.winstarworldcasino.com.

-BAM

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