Pete Townshend, who once penned the snarling lyric “hope I die before I get old,” is now 52, mostly deaf and preparing to tour with his surviving bandmates from The Who. Compared with some of his other contemporaries, that’s doing terrific. Over the last two weeks, three musical dinosaurs checked into the rock `n’ roll sickbay:
–Neil Young, 51, canceled a five-week European tour last Friday after he accidentally cut the tip of his left index finger while slicing a ham sandwich. “I’d have eaten the thing in one piece if I’d known cutting it in half would jeopardize our tour,” Young said. “It’s macaroni and cheese from now on.”
— Bob Dylan, 56, also called off his European tour last week. The announcement came May 28, after Dylan checked into a hospital complaining of chest pains. Doctors diagnosed him with an infection swelling the sac around his heart. The ailment, while potentially fatal, was apparently caught before posing any serious threat to Dylan.
— Carl Perkins, 65, was admitted to a hospital on Tuesday with a blocked carotid artery, the main artery that leads to the brain. Doctors say Perkins’ life is not in danger, although the rockabilly pioneer famous for writing “Blue Suede Shoes” may require surgery to clear the blockage.