Alex Chilton RIP 2010

I saw him with three other middle-aged guys. Bass player even had a stand in front of him with sheet music.

About half solo stuff, half oldies (non-Box Tops). Did "What's Your Sign, Girl?".

At one point, he held up his guitar which looked like the one pictured below:

http://www.merchantcityglasgow.com/media/images/big/825-alex-chilton.jpg

And with the neck sticking up, said to the 50 people there, "What do y'all think about my guitar? It kinda looks a lot like Mickey Mouse, don't you think?"

that Bangles video upthread just made me cry, 2 1/2 years after the fact. What a great songwriter.

also got a Mountain Stage radio tape--from around that time, I think--where he also covers some of his fave Italian pop ballads.

swoon!

I saw him with three other middle-aged guys. Bass player even had a stand in front of him with sheet music.

yeah i mean this was it for him i think, turning into (or always being, kinda) a pick-up band guy, like chuck berry, playing the standards & fucking around with them. it seems like that was where he was at. it was really cool & special seeing big star but the fact that at the same time i figured he was rooted in playing around with classics made me wish i could see him just doing his thing. it's like that whole thing about how awesome it would be to sit around while keith richards played a guitar, & how different that is from watching the stones thrust through one of their old jams. i saw him w/the box tops, too, like a year before he died, strapping on a bass to play green onions, & he looked like he was having a ball. he looked like 20 years old.

this is really nice, i mainly don't like music writing but:

http://strawberryfieldswhatever.blogspot.com/2013/06/i-got-alex-chiltons-name-written-on-my.html

Listened to Like Flies on Sherbert while stoned and it completely came alive to me. It made me realise he's a great story teller. He shapes the narrative with weird effects and volume inequalities, all the while acting out a scenario with his voice. The way everything is structured, and especially his guitar work, heightens the story.
It also rocks in a brutally southern, soulful way. Live in London is spectacular too. The version of Kanga Roo on that is massive.
I've Had it - who's singing this? It totally sounds like John Cale, but he's not credited right?

Bach's Bottom - I can't beleive I haven't heard this before. As a massive Big Star fan, this is the missing link between Big Star (particularly Third) and Like Flies on Sherbert. It's beautiful, and the throaway outtakes are fascinating.

Live in London is awesome. He has got an incredible presence. I saw him in Munich in the late 80s and he rocked hard.

I've Had it - who's singing this?

Jim Dickinson, I think?