Fun fact?

I'm currently reading Philip Glass' memoir Words Without Music. And now I know that Thurston Moore's short lived post-Sonic Youth band Chelsea Light Moving is named after the moving company Glass formed with a few other starving artists in order to make money while he worked on his music.

Consider your lives enriched.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/14/2025 09:31AM by Michael Toland.

That's extremely wholesome content. (Unlike some of Thurston's other life history.)

Given the photo of the box truck on the cover, I had assumed it was a real company. Of course, I never would have guessed Phillip Glass had anything to do with it. Or any moving company, for that matter....

I did know that Glass worked as a taxi driver. He said once that a posh lady going to Lincoln Center knocked on the glass and said: "Driver, did you know that there is a famous composer with your name?"

He also worked as a plumber. He showed up at the apartment of Time art critic Robert Hughes, who was amazed to see Glass, plunger in hand.

Hughes: You are an artist! What are you doing working as a plumber?!
Glass: Because I have to eat. Now where's your toilet?

I just finished Chrissie Hynde's autobiography. She told about some of the jobs she took before getting things off the ground with The Pretenders -- the sorts of menial jobs that practically every aspiring rock musician takes, because, like Philip said, they have to eat.

One of those jobs was with a cleaning service in London. She was able to recommend several of her friends for jobs with the service; according to her, that cleaning service would hire practically anyone. She even got John Lydon a job.

Imagine Johnny Rotten showing up to clean your house.

He had experience with gob, I would imagine.

Yep, he worked as a plumber for a few years, despite having no training. He and his partner would go to the hardware store, buy supplies, and ask the guy behind the counter how to do what they were hired to do, then go do it. Amazing he got away with it for so long.

As you note, he also drove a cab - that's what he was doing when he got a commission (at age 41) that finally allowed him to quit his day job. He also subbed for his wife at her house cleaning job and worked as a studio assistant for artist Richard Perra. He started working as a pre-teen in his father's record store. If his memoir was to believe, he never blinked an eye about holding a day job.

> If his memoir was to believe, he never blinked an eye about holding a day job.

I'd guess that very few musicians ever do, at least when they're starting out. The only ones I've read about recently who didn't have day jobs (as far as they let on) were Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson of Rush. Both of them worked in the family business as younger kids -- Alex as a plumber's assistant, Geddy in his mom's store. But once they started Rush, along with original drummer John Rutsey, the music was their full-time pursuit. (The drinking age in Toronto dropped to 18, just at the time the members of Rush all were reaching that age. As a result, they were able to get bookings at the local clubs, six or seven days a week.) Neil Peart worked in his family's business too, until he was scouted out to audition as Rutsey's replacement.