that scans, yeah
― out-of-print LaserDisc edition (sleeve), Saturday, 29 July 2023 05:35 (nine months ago) link
Alex? Cantankerous?
― Poor Little Fool Killer (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 29 July 2023 07:34 (nine months ago) link
we went to see a reformed box tops at the hoboken arts fest. afterward my wife wanted to get alex to sign the set list she'd taken from the stage floor. i cautioned her that he might not take kindly to that, but he seemed to have been in a good mood for the whole show so she approached him and he smiled and signed it and was very gracious. a nice final memory of alex chilton.
― Thus Sang Freud, Saturday, 29 July 2023 09:47 (nine months ago) link
Must have had a very good soundman at that show.
― Poor Little Fool Killer (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 29 July 2023 10:04 (nine months ago) link
but deep down I doubt he was really dismissive and just being his usual cantankerous, difficult self.I’m sure there was more than a little “fuck you, where were you when we couldn’t get arrested?” frustration on Alex’s part whenever Big Star was gushed over in the ‘80s and ‘90s. And “Where were you when Chris Bell was alive?” was probably part of that frustration.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Saturday, 29 July 2023 10:20 (nine months ago) link
This is probably somewhat true, but didn’t the rock press like Big Star, wasn’t there some press party in Memphis that encouraged them to keep going?
― Poor Little Fool Killer (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 29 July 2023 10:23 (nine months ago) link
No doubt held at TGIF.
― Poor Little Fool Killer (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 29 July 2023 10:24 (nine months ago) link
The Rock Writers Convention. May 25 and 26, 1973.
― Poor Little Fool Killer (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 29 July 2023 10:37 (nine months ago) link
Guess there was some myth that they had broken up after Chris and only got back together for this convention. But it did give them a shot in the arm and motivate them.
― Poor Little Fool Killer (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 29 July 2023 10:41 (nine months ago) link
Feel like I say this every few years or so, but I just think of Alex and Lou Reed as two peas in a pod filled with shpilkes, compelled to bait the press and audience incessantly in order to scratch some itch or relive and temporarily relieve some trauma.
― Poor Little Fool Killer (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 29 July 2023 10:44 (nine months ago) link
Highly recommend Bruce Eaton’s 33&1/3 book on Big Star’s Radio City.
― Poor Little Fool Killer (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 29 July 2023 10:54 (nine months ago) link
Okay maybe they hadn’t formally broken up before that but were kind of drifting a bit.
― Poor Little Fool Killer (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 29 July 2023 10:58 (nine months ago) link
Chilton and Reed shared that bitterness of, “Oh, you like us now, and it’s hip to know our music? Because we went through hell for years trying to find an audience and thinking everyone hated us.” For Reed that bitterness extended to the point where the planned 1993 Velvets US tour wouldn’t hit NYC. It was one of the few things he and Cale agreed on during the reunion: “NYC didn’t support us then, so why should they be able to see us now?” (though it was a moot point since they split up.)
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Saturday, 29 July 2023 10:58 (nine months ago) link
Now I’m hearing “Style It Takes” in my head.
― Poor Little Fool Killer (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 29 July 2023 11:02 (nine months ago) link
What you say is of course true but I think there are some elements. I recall something Doug Yule saying something about Lou’s “imperfect instrument.” Both of these guys were huge talents but they lacked some facility which seems to have frustrated them. In the book I keep referring to, Alex totally dismisses his own songwriting, in particular his lyrics, on Radio City. Neither was a particularly natural musician in the traditional way, which I assume bugged them, although Alex managed to turn himself into his own kind of troubadour, slowly but surely building up his guitar chops from what he learned in those first lessons from Dennis Wilson on a Box Tops/Beach Boys tour.
― Poor Little Fool Killer (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 29 July 2023 11:10 (nine months ago) link
Something something something
I wish I had right now a member the press in my presence upon which head to heap vitriol for my annoyance at my own neverending string of typos.
― Poor Little Fool Killer (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 29 July 2023 11:12 (nine months ago) link
Member of
― Poor Little Fool Killer (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 29 July 2023 11:15 (nine months ago) link
To be fair, he did the songs
?
― budo jeru, Saturday, 29 July 2023 15:16 (nine months ago) link
I love thinking of 13 and You and Your Sister as a pair
― calstars, Saturday, 29 July 2023 18:03 (nine months ago) link
You And Your Sister (Songs)
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 29 July 2023 18:21 (nine months ago) link
To be fair, he did the songs?
He performed (many of them) live, he didn't shun the entire repertoire.
― Halfway there but for you, Saturday, 29 July 2023 18:24 (nine months ago) link
ah
― budo jeru, Saturday, 29 July 2023 18:29 (nine months ago) link
At this point it’s kind of pointless to try to get inside his head and figure out what he was thinking. At any point really
― Poor Little Fool Killer (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 29 July 2023 18:31 (nine months ago) link
I was just reading in my new/old favorite book about how he hated all his songs on Radio City, at least the lyrics, then that he hated the ones Chris wrote too, saying they were “written by committee” and then that he didn’t feel like he figured out how to write a good song at least lyric-wise, until 1977!
― Poor Little Fool Killer (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 29 July 2023 18:35 (nine months ago) link
I’m trying to think of an Alex equivalent to I am the Cosmos
― Diarrhea of a Madman (calstars), Saturday, 29 July 2023 19:29 (nine months ago) link
Maybe Holocaust
― Diarrhea of a Madman (calstars), Saturday, 29 July 2023 19:35 (nine months ago) link
"Big Black Car"?
I think he disliked a lot of the Big Star songs for the turmoil they reflect and describe; his later songs are "snappier" and reflect more classical virtues of wit and emotional control.
― Halfway there but for you, Monday, 31 July 2023 03:05 (eight months ago) link