SUPER BOWL ANTICIPATION GROWS SURROUNDING 'THE WHO'

Once upon a time, a Super Bowl halftime show meant Carol Channing, college marching bands, Up With People and salutes to Louis Armstrong. These days, headliners like the Rolling Stones and Paul McCartney happily line up to play a 12-minute set. This year, the Who is headlining the show, a curious choice because the band has not released an album of new songs in four years and its first farewell tour was in 1982, before many people who will be watching the game were born. Bill Curbishley, the Who’s manager for 39 years, jumped at the chance to play. Performing at the Super Bowl, he knows, means reaching about 100 million television viewers, a great way to promote the band’s new greatest hits album, publicize a coming tour and reach fans who might know the Who only because its songs are heard on the “CSI” television shows. “I don’t think it will sell millions and millions of albums, but it will definitely have an impact,” Curbishley said. “If you get into people’s consciousness, it helps.”