[www.commercialappeal.com]

no, no, no! Say it isnt so!

Oh terrible news. Sheesh, a solo Chilton song came on my iPhone when I was coming home from work today

Here is a review from December 28, 2002 of my one/only time seeing the reunited Big Star lineup:

Big Star and the Posies, Dante's December 28, 2002

I realize that I never posted a write-up of the Big Star show. This is an oversight that should be remedied immediately. First, the obvious — I saw Big Star in concert! Staggering. This is a band that broke up around the time I was born, and while only half of the members are still there (Chris Bell died, so his absence can't be criticized, only mourned), that's still remarkable. Of the bands who recorded my sadly out-of-date Desert Island Discs, I've now seen all in concert except for the Judybats, Daniel Lanois, and Dawn Upshaw. Linda Thompson and Big Star were two of the holes in the list, until 2002.

The mood at the Big Star gig can be described as ecstatic. Alex Chilton has a reputation of a reclusive and difficult performer, but he was all grins during the concert, which was also the occasion of an impromptu birthday party. The set list drew heavily from #1 Record and Radio City, the albums that formed the foundation of the power-pop genre, rather than the critically-idolized but infinitely more depressing Sister Lovers. Jody Stephens, the drummer, was all rock-and-roll good looks despite spending decades off the stage. Ken Stringfellow and Jon Auer of the Posies were the rhythm section, as they've been during the infrequent Big Star reunion concerts over the past couple of years, and both were in fine form.

If you wanted a succint introduction to the power-pop genre in all its styles, you could have done far worse than attend this concert. The band started off with "In the Street," which Cheap Trick performs as the theme song to That 70s Show, and slammed through a host of brilliantly tuneful, urgent pop songs about girls and cars and teenage anomie, performed with guile and wit despite the fact that Chilton wrote them 30 years ago (and they were nostalgic even then!). Chilton's voice wavered somewhat — he doesn't hit those tenor notes like he once did — but Ken Stringfellow is a great singer and he aided on backup voicals. Throughout the show, Jon Auer performed the Chris Bell songs ("I Am the Cosmos" and a few others), Jody Stephens sang his own songs and one-time bassist Andy Hummel's ("For You" and the crowd favorite "Way Out West"), Stringfellow took the lead on a few numbers, and Chilton handled the majority. The quality of the performance was surprisingly strong, given that Chilton said that hadn't played guitar much recently, and the songs have some very tricky guitar lines. He and Auer alternated leads ably, and Stringfellow played bass with as much grace as he sings, plays keyboard, and does about a million other things. (He wins my Sixth Man of the Year award, because I saw him three times this year in a variety of settings and always did a great job.) Stephens is a really good drummer, and I hadn't appreciated how his drumming adds so much nuance to the Chilton/Bell songs; it's one of the elements that elevates Big Star above the power-pop masses.

The overall sound of the show is Byrds, with more oomph, or Beatles without the sense of whimsy. "The Ballad of El Goodo" is one of the great unheard power ballads of the rock era, "Daisy Glaze" and "When My Baby's Beside Me" mix straightforward rock urgency with a melodically sophisticated pop touch. "Feel," "You Can't Have Me," and "Don't Lie to Me" are angry and bitter, but still insanely catchy. From Sister Lovers Chilton pulled the most crowd-pleasing numbers and ignored audience requests for major bummer anthems like "Night Time" and "Holocaust," which would have been as inappropriate as singing the latter at a bar mitzvah. Instead, he did the Kink's "Till the End of the Day," and the stupendous "Jesus Christ" (the best religious Christmas rock song of all time) and "Thank You." The band also did a rocking version of Todd Rundgren's "Slut," ("S-L-U-T, she may be a slut but she looks good to me"), which was on the 1994 concert album Columbia. "Big Black Car" was the only downbeat number of the set, and yet Chilton was grinning while singing it.

The crowd left amazed and cheering for more, and Chilton obliged some of the requests, chatted with audience members and seemed to be enjoying himself thoroughly. Astonishing.

Very, very sad.

Radio City is in my top records of all time, Third would be just slightly lower on the list.

He was an American original taking the 60s Anglopop he loved and filtering it through a completely uniquely American sensibility.

RIP



Post Edited (03-17-10 22:30)

Ohhh, such sad news ...

My future wife and I saw him in 1989 in Birmingham, AL, opening for Drivin' & Cryin'. The members of the Georgia Satellites were his backup band. Very fun show, even if most of the crowd didn't have a clue who this guy taking Dan Baird's place onstage was.

After the show, we stopped at a fried chicken joint for a late-night snack, and Alex was there. We ended up treating him to dinner. It turned out this was a one-off gig for the dude; he really was taking Dan Baird's place that night. The GA-Sats were on their way to their next show, and Alex was on his way back to New Orleans. A nice fellow, whom I'm lucky to have met. RIP, Alex.

I am astonished and pleased that — at least on his death — Alex Chilton has received thoughtful/sincere/meaningful tributes in the New York Times, Washington Post, and the floor of Congress. As for SXSW, since most of the genres represented couldn't've existed without Chilton, I modestly suggest that they rename the festival in his honor next year.

It would be such a touching move. But I suspect it won't happen for fears of damaging brand-name recognition.

...

I've been mulling over the lyrics to "Do You Realize?" the last few days and have modified them a bit:

"Do you realize that everyone in your record collection one day will die?"

Fuck! fuck! fuck! fuck! I met him in his mellower moments while he was fronting the Box Tops. I don't care what anyone says--he was a sweet man.

I miss him dearly. He was such a nice guy.

Chilton was still waiting tables into the new millennium (in New Orleans). He said he made pretty good money doing it--but the idea that the guy from fucking Train lives in a mansion and Chilton waited tables irks me to no end.

Saw Mo Tucker play a bar in Ithaca in 1998. She was sitting at the next table with her purse in her lap demurely drinking coffee out of a little cup with a saucer before the show. John Slugget (Half Japanese guitarist) played drums with her that night. Decent, well-read chap. We talked about Bukowski.

While this is indeed sad news, I am really glad Mr. Chilton had the opportunity to enjoy the past decade. It seemed like he'd made peace with his past, and that is the best any of us can do.

He leaves a hell of a legacy.

Does anyone know how to play the riff from the Replacement's Alex Chilton song? Surely it is very simple, but for some reason always eluded me. Whatever I play doesnt sound right.

p.s. The unavailability of accurate and available rock tablature is one of the great disappointments of the Internet.

Damn. A lousy day indeed.

Could anyone suggest some non-Big Star essential listening? I dont think I have heard a note of the man's music outside of Big Star records?

I was surprised to find how totally unsentimental he was about Big Star. Last year he was quoted as saying something to the effect that "some people will tell you that Big Star was the greatest band ever, and I say they're wrong."

re outside work

flies i guess but here are some

[www.furious.com]

A friend of mine's niece dropped out of medical school because she got a job as a waitress at a high end restaurant and was clearing $1,500 - $2,000 a week in tips in the mid-90s, so she figured what the heck, why run up the expense of going to med school and deal with the stress of being a doctor when she could make close to six figures waiting tables (with the added bonus of being able to hide an awful lot of it from taxes.)

I couldn't fault her logic.

Well, I lasted a lot longer practicing law than I did playing in band for money. But now I don't do either, so draw your own conclusions.

Back to the subject at hand, I was very sad to hear this news too. I had just listened to High Priest last week for the first time in at least 15 years and was pleased to be reminded what a fun (if lightweight) album it is. RIP, brother.

If you haven't seen this, it's a damned fine tribute.
[www.c-spanarchives.org]

....and John Mayer lives on. God, you are too fucking funny.

Fess Parker died today. He's TP material due to the fact that Adam and the Ants named their most famous album after a line from the Davy Crockett theme song.

Re: NME's cult heroes - I don't really see Yoko as flying under the radar.

daniel johnston, however, is an expert at flying under the radar...

thats right capt jack,
but dj is from WVA, so lemme reinnerate an say this be da last time i tells ya...put yer $ on TENN.

ps jus jivin. i don't even know if the vols are still alive. is they? well if day is you betta go on & bet on 'em. tell me, whatcha gonna do wif all dat money?

His life was like a reversed film: started off with a gruff low voice, then it changed to high. Started as a mainstream pop star, before working his way down to "outsider" oddball.

I don't care what anyone (e.g. the TP reviewer) says, I love "Like Flies on Sherbet" but when I try to describe it, it sounds bad. (Think I'll go off and listen to it now... )

Weirdest moment ever?

Pizza Hut, Memphis, Sep. 1988. "Hi, can I take your order?" -- nametag "Alex"

Holy fuck. My friend Mark recognized him immediately and had a hard time keeping himself from grabbing the guy and telling him how awesome he was. We both kept quiet, but asked one of the other workers on the way out: "Yeah. He works part time." We tipped heavily.

Had the chance to meet him in OKC about two years later and told him we'd seen him there. "It was a bad time." Humble. Sober. Really nice.

In the alternate Rock and Roll Hall Fame, this guy has a wing to himself and his heirs. Bad day.

Pizza Hut?! That's a helluva story. And Mo Tucker worked at WalMart after the Velvets. I don't think I'd even recognize them so out of their element. I didn't even recognize Flea playing with Patti Smith last year - I just thought it was funny that Smith's bassist was shaking his head around like Flea.

flipside of this story was meeting the VP of Technology Standards at Sony during a business conference and having dinner and drinks with the guy and only connecting later in the night when I said he had the same name as one of my favorite guitarists. Weird thing was the year before at the same conference we had a wine tasting with Andy Shernoff and I didn't link that one either, must have been the different spelling of his first name

My friend Chad has one of my favorite anecdotes:

"Chilton played my guitar one night in Nashville. The word was that he needed a telecaster for a show he was doing. I let him use mine. I got an autograph on my Big Star CD in return. That night I shot the bull with him a little bit, and he told me he was working as a waiter in the French Quarter. He said the money was fantastic. When he told me that, I think my dream of being a musician died a little bit and the dream to go to law school was born. Who wants to hear about rock legends waiting tables? Then again, maybe I'd rather wait tables than practice law."

Depending on the restaurant, a waitperson in the French Quarter can indeed make some good coin, if he/she does a good job at it. Probably not as much as a stripper, but still pretty good.

As to which fate is worse for a "rock legend" — waiting tables or a law practice — I guess that's best left to the reader's own point of view.

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?

All of the musicians I love are dropping like flies!

I am not nearly prepared for this crap! What a colossal bummer!

...

Black armband over the other black armband over the other black armband.

My radio station did a tribute to him today. Heard the Replacements song this morning, natch. Cloistered here in the Northeast, I can't say I've seen him in any restaurants. But if he dropped a pizza off at my condo, I woulda given him a big tip:

Get on tour, get back in the studio, and stay out of restaurants!

Check out Paul Westerberg's eulogy to the late great Mr. Chilton.

His shadow loomed large over SXSW this year. In the shows I personally witnessed, he got dedications or covers from Cheap Trick, Marty Willson-Piper, Lenny Kaye, Chuck Prophet (twice) and Alejandro Escovedo.

(Not if your records are made by <b>robots</b>. I'm not convinced that a lot of current pop isn't ...)

Which means Kraftwerk will survive us all. And Christina Aguilera's breasts.

blasmo wrote:

> Which means Kraftwerk will survive us all. And Christina
> Aguilera's breasts.

The Michael Jackson android wins for being immortal and being the first android with its own theme park!

Quote

Which means Kraftwerk will survive us all. And Christina Aguilera's breasts.

...

Perhaps the ambiguity was intentional, but I'm now wondering if Kraftwerk have ever been in the same room as Ms. Aguilera.

A recent NME has an article of the 20 greatest cult heroes in rock.
Chilton @ #2.


[www.nme.com]

i never forget a face,
hey its my fave Pagan!
good ta see ya, your lookin great mate. heres my #2 cult hero just for NME:

stephen bishop-animal house



Post Edited (03-25-10 03:11)

i used to surf palm beach and see yoko standing in front of a window in her house; watching me when no one else was watching.

ps-& god bless the entire state of tennessee!



Post Edited (03-25-10 00:14)