I bought tickets in February for The Who's Saturday June 29th show in Irvine. I was going to take my youngest boy, and we were both excited and thrilled. *SIGH* I don't mean to sound callous, but do they refund? ************** John Entwistle, 57, bassist for The Who, dies Fri Jun 28,11:37 AM ET Ken Barnes USA TODAY

John Entwistle, bass player for The Who for the 38-year lifespan of the band, was found dead in his Las Vegas hotel room Thursday. The 57-year-old musician suffered a heart attack, according to a Clark County, Nev., fire spokesman.

The Who had been set to begin an American tour tonight in Las Vegas, and had just announced the addition of seven dates to the original 21-date schedule. The opening-night show was canceled, as were three concerts in California -- Saturday in Irvine, Monday in Los Angeles and Wednesday in Mountain View.

Entwistle was known as ''the quiet one'' in The Who, a band of volatile personalities onstage and off. Standing stock-still and expressionless, Entwistle was described as the ''temple of anchored watts'' who provided the foundation for Pete Townshend's guitar pyrotechnics, singer Roger Daltrey's microphone-twirling and Keith Moon's anarchic drumming. (Moon died in 1978 at 31; in recent years, the group has used Zak Starkey, Ringo Starr's son, as its drummer.)

Born in London on Oct. 9, 1944, Entwistle was formally trained in music and played the French horn with a youth orchestra. He met Townshend in 1958, and they began playing Dixieland jazz. In 1960, he joined Daltrey in The Detours in the Shepherd's Bush neighborhood of London, quickly adding Townshend and enlisting Moon in 1964. As the High Numbers, they recorded a single that year, then changed their name to The Who and electrified the British charts with six consecutive top 10 hits in 1965-66, including the anthemic My Generation.

Success in the USA was delayed until Happy Jack reached the top 30 in 1967. Their pioneering 1969 rock opera, Tommy, and a series of tours established the group as a world-class rock band, to some the equal or superior of the Rolling Stones as the best live band of the day. They were among the first bands to use feedback as a guitar effect, and became notorious for destroying instruments at the climax of concerts.

Along with contributing innovative bass stylings to The Who's recordings (he was one of the first rock bassists to take a solo break, on My Generation), Entwistle played french horn and sang. He also wrote a number of well-known tracks for the band, including concert favorite Boris the Spider, My Wife, Whiskey Man, Heaven and Hell and Tommy tracks Cousin Kevin and Fiddle About. His songs were marked by their macabre, darkly humorous imagery and were firm favorites among the Who faithful.

Entwistle recorded half a dozen solo studio albums, starting with 1971's Smash Your Head Against the Wall but met with little commercial success outside of the group. A collection of his solo works, Thunderfingers, was released in 1996.

The Who broke up in 1982, but reunited for Live Aid in 1985, a tour in 1989 celebrating the 20th anniversary of Tommy, and a series of live dates in the '90s. There had been discussions about recording a new Who album after the conclusion of the fall 2002 tour.

-- (cin@cin.cin), June 28, 2002

Answers

I just heard on the radio that The Who just announced that their show at the Hollywood Bowl would go on as scheduled. They plan to do a tribute to Entwistle that will include the live participation of some ‘legendary rock-n-roll bassists’.

If they take this scenario to the Irvine venue, you could end-up seeing what will go down as one of R&R’s all-time concerts.

If not, they have already announced that refunds are available at the point of purchase.

Who might some of these ‘legendary bassists’ be? Any guesses?

-- Free (head@case.analysis), June 28, 2002.

For openers:

Colin Greenwood, Mike Jeffers, Derrick Taylor, Nick Fyffe, and Dave Swift.

-- Olde Tyme (rock@nd.roller), June 28, 2002.

Thanks headcase. I just phoned ticket-master and was told that the Irvine show has been re-scheduled, but they had no details and asked that I call back tomorrow for more info. They did confirm that the Hollywood show is still on.

-- (cin@cin.cin), June 28, 2002.

Btw, I met the new bass-player for Metallica a few weeks ago. He was a really nice, down-to-earth kinda guy, and he was on his way up to San Francisco Bay area to join up with the rest of the band. He said his name was Scott, but I didn't catch the last name.

-- (cin@cin.cin), June 28, 2002.

Did he father your next child while he was at it. You seem to know him as well as you did the other fathers.

-- She'd like a big time Bass (cin@theslut.com), June 28, 2002.

Who wrote the book of love.

-- (lars@indy.net), June 29, 2002.

cin loves her sons. Her sons love her. That's what real mothering produces and it's the only thing that counts to a mom.

Blueballed wannabes can take a hike.

-- Carlos (riffraff@cybertime.net), June 29, 2002.

Unfortunately a band photo of Metallica appears next to the word sellout in the 2002 Webster's Dictionary.

-- dr. pibb (drpibb@new.formula), June 30, 2002.