Friday afternoon. Waiting here to do a radio interview regarding Alex and Big Star. Listening to my friend Parke Puterbaugh on the air right now talking and spinning a few discs. I just found the above article about Alex by Barbara Mitchell, former manager of the Posies. Definitely worth a read. Heartfelt observations and some good stories.
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Thanks very much for your book and blog on Big Star, Bruce ! I always hoped that there would be a follow-up to the "Radio City" installment with a book focusing on Big Star "Third". Now, I guess it all will remain a mystery. Speaking of 3rd - I now have a copy of the 1975 Ardent pressing up on eBay should anyone be interested ;-)
Bruce: Just read your revelatory and yet riddled (with typos) book. I think you get far closer to the music and the band than Jovanovic did (of course, he wasn't able to talk to Chilton, so it wasn't entirely his fault), and your prose is a lot more stylish and fun to read, but did you or anyone at Continuum actually proofread the pages? I noticed at least 42 typos (missing letters or entire words, grammatical and continuity errors), which averages out about one every three pages. Shame, really. (If you email me at david_foss@harvard.edu, I'd be happy to send you a list.) I imagine a character-for-character proofread would discover more such errors. I'm surprised no one else has commented on this, as far as I have seen. On the other hand, your book contains incredible insights--the explanation of the mando-guitar being used on "September Gurls" is worth the price of the book alone. I've spread the word on your book and website to my fellow BS fans. I've loved the band ever since a friend (typically) turned me on to Radio City in 1974, saying "you have to hear this." He played "O My Soul," "You Get What You Deserve," then "September Gurls" at deafening volume and we were blown away. I spent the next 35 years trying to catch Big Star (or at least Alex) live without success until I heard about the Brooklyn gig last November. We drove down from Boston for the show. We had dinner at a nearby restaurant before the concert. I was sitting there geekily wearing my BS t-shirt and suddenly this handsome guy is standing at our table, sticking out his hand, saying "Hi, I'm Jody Stephens, drummer with Big Star, thanks for coming to the show." !!!!!! That made the following show even more amazing. So sad that it was Alex's last gig. So so sad. Anyway, thanks again for writing the book--and for being a true friend to Alex.
David Foss, Harvard University Press
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