by Robert Wilkinson Today we send out a huge birthday salute to one of my favorite songwriters of all time, the amazing Peter Townshend, powerhouse behind the band known as the Who, the best live band I've ever seen. If you don't know who he is or what he's written, prepare for a treat like few others! Pete Townshend (19 May 1945) is a multi-instrumentalist and force majeure, whose work is beyond amazing. One of the most prolific songwriters in history, many of his songs are profound, extraordinary in their breadth and scope of imagination, and sometimes deeply disturbing and haunted. I saw the Who 6 times between 1967 and 1976. They were a unique pyrotechnical sonic spectacle, and were the first to pioneer the destruction of their instruments as a work of performance art. Even though it started by mistake, it became a standard of their act, and was the influence imitated by Jimi, the Yardbirds in the movie Blow Up, and a hundred acts since then. At the forefront of i...