SXSW '07: 3/14 -- TOWNSHEND TALKS, THEN ROCKS

No matter what the forum is, Pete Townshend isn't shy -- and he doesn't send mixed signals, either.

The way he sees it, the death of bassist John Entwistle contributed to a different dynamic within The Who.

"The chemistry that we have today is a completely different one, but it's just as effective," he told Bill Flanagan during Wednesday's keynote address. "It's just different. I think it enabled us to make a new record. I think if John had been alive, it would have been much, much, much tougher to make [Endless Wire]."

Townshend also said that Who singer Roger Daltrey is "not interested" with such music industry changes as the technological methods in which music can be distributed.

"He just knows that he's lucky," he said. "He's a singer, he's got this big brand name, he's [in] a baby boomer band, a baby boomer audience -- and sometimes they bring their kids, so we get an extra 10 percent. ... He's happy with his position, and so he should be."

Townshend, however, is very much into technology, and he used the keynote conversation to discuss what he calls the Method. It's a Web site launching next month that will offer subscribers the chance to create their own unique composition by "sitting" for the Method software composer, a process he likened to sitting for a portrait painting.

"You come to the Web site, and we give you a piece of music, which is yours -- completely unique," he said. "In fact, we allow you to own a third of the copyright, so if Coca-Cola decides to use it for their next commercial, you might get rich."

Later Wednesday night, Townshend was an unscheduled guest at the Austin Music Awards. He strapped on a guitar and joined former Faces keyboardist Ian McLagan, an Austin resident, and his band for a tribute to the late Ronnie Lane. And while he didn't bust out his trademark windmill move, Townshend still played with abandon, moving around as though he owned the stage.

Also playing with a purpose at the awards show were singers and new Austin residents Bobby Whitlock, who is best known for his work with Derek and the Dominos, and his wife, CoCo Carmel. They performed a handful of tunes from the band's Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, including a moving version of "Bell Bottom Blues," with Carmel on saxophone and Whitlock on piano.

On the Day Stage on Wednesday afternoon, Robyn Hitchcock served as performer and interviewer, playing various cover songs that complemented producer Joe Boyd's answers and excerpts from his new book, White Bicycles: Making Music in the 1960s. Topics discussed included the 1965 Newport Jazz Festival (during which Bob Dylan famously "went electric") and Boyd's work with The Incredible String Band, Pink Floyd and Nick Drake.