BIG STAR'S RADIO CITY

2011-08-01T16:30:00.000-07:00

Trying to stay cool...

If you haven't checked it out, go to the Ardent site and get a copy of the new EP from the Big Star tribute in Memphis last year with John Davis from Superdrag. John's performances came early in the show but they set the bar high and were never topped despite the strong talent that followed. My good friend and esteemed critic Parke Puterbaugh was with me at the show and agreed with that opinion. Shortly after the weekend I emailed John Fry and suggested that John Davis , Jody, Ken, and Jon do some recording with the legendary Fry behind the board. Probably will never happen but this will give you a taste of what could be...

I recently "discovered" Dom Mariani (DM3), an power pop titan from Australia. These are some of the things you miss when you're raising a kid, working, and looking after aging parents. His song "Just Like Nancy" is absolutely killer and the original version would be worthy of Radio City if only he'd taken the time to write a great bridge for the song. Regardless, it's been at the very top of my playlist this summer.

Next week I'm going to see Bob Dylan and Leon Russell. In the latter half of 1971, that would probably have been my dream concert (along with a double bill of The Who and Jethro Tull). I was (and have remained) a huge Dylan fan but had no hope at the time of ever seeing him live (have since seen him many many times). On the other hand, I'd just seen Leon Russell in a converted bowling alley in Buffalo NY with Freddie King opening. It was about a week after the Concert for Bangladesh and Leon just killed the place. I remember walking out of this low-ceilinged sweat box with my Levi's soaked through. So 40 years later I get my wish. From what I've been able to tell, the return of Charlie Sexton has given Bob a much needed jolt (the band after Charlie and Larry Campbell left was mundane to say the least) and there's some new dimensions to his performance (more singing at the mike with no instrument). Regardless, I regard seeing Dylan as I did seeing Miles Davis. You should feel fortunate just to be in the same space with him for a few hours.

A reader inquired about my reference to Austrian economics giant Ludwig Von Mises in a recent post. Yes, in October of 1970 (I was a freshman in college) I attended a conference where I got to hear Von Mises speak in a small conference room to about 30 people. It made a huge impression. He talked about the need to have a national currency maintain a consistent value i.e no inflation of deflation. As I recall, he held up a ruler and essentially said that if a foot didn't maintain a consistent value of distance, every building would eventually collapse. And if a dollar (pound / mark / whatever) didn't maintain a consistent value, it too would eventually collapse. Not exactly rock and roll, but heavy none the less...

2011-06-09T07:59:00.000-07:00

http://ardentmusic.com/products-page/tshirt/

I'm sure that most of you are FB friends with Ardent Studios (a must for Big Star fans). But in case you missed it...Ardent is now offering official Big Star t-shirts at their site. If you're like me, you've looked at those bootleg shirts on eBay and held off thinking that the only thing worse than having no Big Star shirt is to have a cheezy knockoff. But now you can get the real deal. Mine hasn't arrived in the mail yet, but I can tell you that any t-shirt I've gotten from Ardent, going back to A Man Called Destruction, has been super quality. Father's Day is right around the corner and what would be better for the Fourth than a shirt with a big star. Order today!

Who doesn't love a good Brian Wilson story ? Here's one I heard last week from a friend of mine...

In the late 80s a friend of my friend – a veteran writer of network television comedy – was over at Brian Wilson's house when the phone rang. Brian answered and talked for a bit in the next room. When he came back he explained, "That was folk music's Bob Dylan."

How great is that? That he thought that he needed additional info to identify Dylan, as if the name wasn't enough, and then chose folk music...in the late 1980s! I can almost see Brian saying it with that sort of talk out the side of his mouth thing he does. Well, "That's surf music's Brian Wilson."

I think that Alex C. would have gotten a kick out of that story....

2011-05-24T14:28:00.000-07:00

Bob Dylan's 70th Birthday....

I usually ignore these sort of supposed "milestones" but all the Bob talk got me thinking a bit.

For starters, I've been a huge fan of Dylan since 1965. The first time I saw him (1974) was almost a quasi-religious experience (I never thought he would tour again). Since then I've seen him at least a few dozen times if not more. I've been backstage at a number of Dylan shows since 2001 (have never even sighted him except the time he drove by on a motorycycle) but have a few good stories out of it all. I firmly believe he's one of the great artists of our time. Right at the top.

While pondering how lucky I've been to be in the same room with Bob Dylan and witness him creating in the moment (a few years ago it was from ten feet away in a small club in Toronto), I started to think about who else I've been in the same room with that could truly be deemed to be a giant...someone who changed the course of history in their field and will be remembered for generations.

So here's my list...Bob Dylan, Miles Davis, Jimi Hendrix, Muddy Waters, Bob Marley, Paul McCartney, and Ludwig Von Mises. I've left out a lot from that category, including the Stones, Who, Springsteen and many many more. All sorts of jazz musicians (Sonny Rollins for starters) and rock (sorry Clash). And yes, Alex Chilton.

And what about Ludwig Von Mises? Look him up...

2011-03-12T09:41:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgKgvrWj5fo&feature=related

Here's a brief snippet of Pete LaBonne playing solo piano recently. Although he started out playing keyboards in soul bands around Buffalo in the late 60s / early 70s, he switched over to guitar and in about six months had pretty much mastered the instrument and created his own unique style. But he can still play the keys for sure...

I hope to be posting some rare mp3s related to Alex Chilton over the next week. But only if I can find some inexpensive and easy way to host them on a third-party site and then link them to Blogger so that when visitors click on them, they play immediately without going to the third-party site. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. If I can work this out, you'll hear some cool stuff...

2011-02-26T10:02:00.000-08:00

Below are four never-before-seen photos of Alex in action at McVan's in Buffalo in June of 1979. I didn't even know these photos existed until a few weeks ago. They were taken by the late Lynn Adams, a photographer and part of the Buffalo music scene back then. She passed away several years ago and right before this past Christmas her mother called a friend of mine and told her that she was going through Lynn's archives and came across some photos that might be of interest. Included were photos of Buffalo appearances by Patti Smith, Blondie, and Iggy Pop along with these photos of Alex.

I find these photos to be really captivating and not because I was standing a few feet to Alex's right. These shots were taken very early in our set...probably in the first song. It was really hot that night and within a few songs we had taken off everything but our t-shirts (see photos in the book). I love how Alex has a pencil behind his ear. Combined with the sport jacket, he looks like he's about to settle in for an afternoon of reading and taking notes. Here we were, playing twenty-plus songs with no rehearsal at a time when Alex had a reputation for chaos and yet there's an analytical look to him that lets you know that there was a lot of method behind his purported musical madness. In the book I describe how Alex and Peter LaBonne started to trade solos in the first song (Bourgeois Blues) and things really started to click. You can almost see Alex start to listen to what Peter was doing and say to himself..."This is going to be a pretty interesting evening..."

2011-02-26T10:00:00.001-08:00

2011-02-13T13:11:00.000-08:00

A few random notes...

http://bigstarthird.com/ If you haven't been to Chris Stamey's site for his Big Star Third project, head on over right now. A must read (and follow). Thanks, Chris ! (One of the little sidebars I left out of the book was that in October of 1977 I was in NYC for a month and went to Chris's apartment twice to interview him for Big Star magazine. He was playing with Alex at the time. The interview never ran because Bernie Kugel ran out of money for the magazine. Less than two years later I would get to play with Alex because Chris had walked away from a semi-chaotic gig in Austin with Alex, leaving the opportunity for my friend Peter LaBonne to jump onstage and start the wheels rolling. And many years later, Chris's then girlfriend, who remembered me coming to the apartment, married a really good friend of mine, Erroll. Erroll worked at the New York Public Library with a woman I'd gone to college with. One day he mentioned that he had a friend (me) who had this friend named Peter who made all this wild music. His co-worker flipped out because Peter was her cousin. You got all that? A lot of strange intersections of lives going on...)

On Grammy day, I'd like to say that I wish producers like T-Bone Burnett would take five years off. I'm sick of these guys who have a sound (which gets the critical seal of approval for supposedly being "retro") which they then impose on the artist or at the very least surround them with. Sort of like setting a gemstone in jewelry you create. The recent Gregg Allman album sent me over the edge on this. I respect Greg mightily. Love the ABB. His first solo album (Laid Back) is a classic. But I want to hear Greg's band (killer) with Greg picking the songs and then the producer bringing out the best from the band, not the producer calling all the shots with his pet legend of the month subjected to a predictable smooshy swampy sound of cool vintage instruments and amps. It's like a great looking meal that in the end doesn't satisfy. Which I guess is why I like producers / engineers like Jimmy Miller, Andy Johns, Glyn Johns, Bill Szymczyk, George Martin, and John Fry. The guys who made the band sound great on their own terms.

I just got a batch of previously unseen photos of Alex performing at McVan's. Will scan and put up a few soon. There's a great photo of Alex performing with a pencil behind his ear. The photos were taken during the first song we played (Bourgeois Blues) as he still has on his sport coat and sweater. It was really hot and we were soon down to t-shirts. You can almost sense Alex looking over at Peter during one of his first solos and thinking "hmmm....this is going to be a fun night."

2011-01-26T12:19:00.000-08:00

Well, for those of you who have inquired about where they might hear a bit of Peter LaBonne, this one's for you:

http://www.popwars.com/petelabonne/

23 CDs worth of material. Gigunda! For the curious, I would start with the first disc and then move through the first handful if so inclined. (I think that disc two has some of his best material so you'll hit paydirt right away.) Pete lives way up in the Adirondack Mountains and doesn't have a phone. I found out about this yesterday via a short, cryptic email. Frankly, I think the price is way too high. I'd sell the whole wad for $20 and get people buzzing. But bit by bit, listeners are in for quite a ride. Read the reviews and listen to the samples and you'll get a taste. Keep in mind that after hearing the first five or six discs on this tape, Alex Chilton told me that if he ever recorded an album of Pete's material (he spent some time in the Hodge Podge Lodge where this was recorded), he'd have his first million selling album. But I'm not sure anyone could really play this stuff except for Peter.

Peter plays virtually all the instruments and recorded all this on funky equipment under pretty primitive conditions - we're talking about a dirt floor shack. His standard M.O. was to get an idea over morning coffee, write the song, and then record it that day. He did a bunch of studio work in New Orleans and his cohorts would always try to back him up in the studio on his own material but all the attempts at capturing his sound came up flat. He's sort of like a one-man Magic Band.

I've known Peter since 1966. What's sort of amazing is that there are people like this still out there. Barely on the radar. Making music that sounds like nothing else out.

2011-01-24T07:56:00.000-08:00

I promised in a recent post to address why Alex didn't approve of the book and just to set the record straight will offer a brief summary of what went down.

Throughout the interview process there was an understanding (I believe) that if my tape recorder was on, comments were on the record unless otherwise specified. Alex made a few comments that he then requested not go in the book and those requests were respected.

After the book had been out a few months I heard about Alex's dissatisfaction and called him. He was unhappy that I had delved into his family history. What was somewhat puzzling about this was that he had brought it up when we first got together to discuss the project as a key to understanding the Big Star story from his perspective. When I returned to do the formal interviews, I started off with his references to the family history and he immediately, and with a great deal of enthusiasm, started right in. A lot of his narrative is in the book. At no time did I feel that the commentary was off the record.

We verbally jousted for a bit. When I didn't budge from my belief that I hadn't done anything wrong, he moved onto complaining that he didn't realize that I was going to talk about "a gig we did years ago." I explained how the description of the gig at McVan's was a way for me to explain and defend his post-Big Star work. It was a device to capture the reader's attention. After we went round and around for nearly an hour I told him "Alex, the next time you and I see each other, we're going to shake hands and still be friends." He replied in his inimitable soft drawl, "You really think so? Well okay then...I guess" That was the last time we spoke. I had tickets to see him with the Box Tops a few months later but it was the Saturday after Thanksgiving and I was tired from a few days of house guests. I gave my tickets away and stayed home. If not for comments by Alex that were reported in print, I wouldn't have ever have felt compelled to comment on the matter.

It bothered me that Alex didn't like parts of the book (the actual coverage of Radio City passed his test) but after I spoke with him I called a friend of mine, Parke Puterbaugh, who had written a big article for Rolling Stone back in 1993. Parke had had a similar experience as mine. We speculated as to why Alex felt compelled to focus on the negative – or imagine it – in situations where people genuinely had his best interests at heart. The reason might lie in this exchange from an interview in Bernie Kugel's Big Star fanzine back in 1977

Interviewer: What would you like written on your grave?

Alex Chilton: "A Self-Made Man" sounds best to me.

Translation: if you see yourself as a self-made man, you may have a more difficult time accepting the well-intentioned help and support of others. But who really knows? If I were writing a biography, I might delve into these matters more. But I'll leave that to someone else. As for me, whether or not Alex liked the book, I stand by it and wouldn't change a thing. Except all those annoying typos. And they're being fixed in the next print run.

As far as Alex's family history goes, it took me a while but I finally realized why it was important to the Big Star story from his perspective. His roots may have stretched back to England, but were firmly planted in New Orleans and the Mississippi Delta. His dad was a jazz musician who developed his sound in Mississippi and refined it in Memphis. Alex telling his family story was, perhaps, his way of letting us know that he wasn't a privileged Memphis teen who lucked into teen stardom. He was an outsider with a rich family musical and cultural background playing his way back home.

2011-01-11T10:19:00.000-08:00

http://mp3.rhapsody.com/album/this-is-it-volume-4-greater-buffalos-greatest-1975-1989?artistId=art.32873841

A brief detour...

Some of you have requested sound samples of the Blue Reimondos, my band that backed up Alex at the gigs mentioned in the book. I've resolved to figure out how to do that but in the meantime you can hear a few songs at the Rhapsody link above.

Our track on this comp. (lead track) is actually two separate recordings spliced together and cover the beginning and end of the band until we reunited in altered form to back up Alex. The first part is "Kryptonite Tonight" – a Ramones-like concoction of a buzz-saw riff and off-the-wall comic book lyrics. Except this was 1975 and we'd never heard of the Ramones. This was recorded at a high school dance with a five-piece line-up that was still attempting to be a successful cover band on the Buffalo bar circuit. We'd start off the evening with covers and once the crowd got hopping, we'd slip in Peter LaBonne's songs. It was just way more fun to get a gym full of kids jumping around to a song like "Kryptonite Tonight" than playing "Layla." Eventually two of our members – we were all high school friends – decided that their heart's desire was to play note-for-note versions of Eagles songs and bailed. That left Peter on guitar and keys and John B. King on bass. I switched from guitar to drums because...we needed a drummer.

The second song "Tarzan, Jane Hungry" features Peter on the Farfisa and was recorded in August of 1977 in a barn. More thought went into the recording but the technology was limited to several mics and a reel to reel. We ran through a chunk of our set just to get it on tape. By now we were established as the first new wave /original / whatever band in Western New York and a buzz was growing about Peter (one of the most uniquely talented musicians on the planet). I was going away on business for a few months and our plan was to reconvene in October and make some headway on a scene that was far more receptive to original material than when we started out. But right when I returned, Peter abruptly left town for good and that was basically "all she wrote" for the Blue Reimondos proper. "Tarzan" was yet another singular song by Peter. When we played clubs, this usually came later in the evening and would inspire demented conga lines for some reason. (Both of these recordings are in truncated form.)

John B. King just uncovered some reel to reels of the Reimondos that we are going to transfer. The first is a live gig at Hobart College from October '76. We couldn't find a job in the Buffalo area so this was our first public performance, 100 miles down the Thruway. A lot of the students were from New York and we went over really well. The second is a rehearsal tape where we went through a longer version of our setlist. I'm hoping that the tapes held up all these years and the recordings are strong enough to merit sharing with listeners. Will keep you posted.

In the meantime, find a copy of Peter LaBonne's "Meditation Garden" on the Sonic Trout label and get a relatively more recent peek into his creative world. (He can also be heard playing some great leads on Richard Hell's sessions from the 80s in New Orleans with Zig Modeliste. Check out the solo on "The Hunter Was Drowned."

You can buy a used copy of "Meditation Garden" at amazon.com for under a buck. Check it out...

http://www.amazon.com/Meditation-Garden-Pete-Labonne/dp/B00005ARCL/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1294772067&sr=8-2

2011-01-03T13:50:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone! I've resolved to post more frequently this year. I must admit the loss of Alex and Andy and my little dust-up with Bob Lefsetz just sort of wore me down. After spending three intense years with Big Star I needed a bit of a break from the subject. So of late I've been immersed in Delaney and Bonnie (saw them open for Blind Faith and became an instant huge fan), Family, Spirit, Ben Sidran, Jaki Byard, and 70s Hall and Oates. For starters. Now on to the latest news...

My book is going to go to a second printing. This is giving us the chance to correct all those annoying typos and errors that somehow got past a team of seasoned professionals (if you ask me, I think that someone hit the wrong button and printed an early proof of the book). One reader has provided me with a detailed list of possible corrections but if you spotted something that really bugged you, feel free to send it along.

There's a biography of Alex Chilton in the works for Viking Press. The author is Holly George-Warren. I don't know Holly (we're going to talk this month) but she's a friend and former co-worker with my good friend and fellow Big Star fan Parke Puterbaugh. Parke tells me that she'll do a great job. She was a friend of Alex's, wrote some articles on him, and even spent time in the recording studio with him working on an album. Can't wait to read it.

Several of you have commented on negative remarks Alex made about my book that were quoted in several European publications. The truth is that he didn't like something about the book and we didn't have the opportunity to resolve it. My last words to him (at the end of a sometimes contentious long phone conversation) were, "Well, Alex. You may disagree with me but the next time we meet we're going to shake hands and still be friends." His response, "You really think so? Well I guess okay then..." I passed on a chance to see the Box Tops when they came to a nearby casino in November 2009 (Thanksgiving fatigue) and then we lost him. But given that his opinion is out there, I'll set the record straight from my perspective in my next post.

2010-11-01T05:45:00.000-07:00

Jimi at McVan's. I just finishing reading the book Becoming Jimi Hendrix: From Southern Crossroads to Psychedelic London, the Untold Story of a Musical Genius by Steven Roby and Brad Schrieber. I love musical biographies and this is one of the best in recent memory. The authors devote the book to Jimi's life before he became a superstar – his life after Are You Experienced? is almost a coda to the main story: how a boy who grew up in very difficult circumstances learned how to play the guitar and scuffled his way to getting signed by Chas Chandler and then heading off to England. Jimi spent a lot of time backing up some real greats: Little Richard, Isley Brothers, and King Curtis to name but a few. He played the great guitar riff on Don Covay's Mercy, Mercy single on Atlantic (later covered by the Stones). He was a journeyman but on his way to something much bigger. Everyone knows the story of what happened after the Monterey Pop Festival. The story and insights into how he developed as an artist are far more fascinating than yet another rehashing of his relatively brief time in the spotlight. The book reinforced one of my beliefs about music today: one of the reasons why few artists of real note (when compared to the 1950s through mid-70s) have emerged in the past thirty years is there are few opportunities for a potential Hendrix to go out on the road with a number of greats and develop his or her craft. Everyone wants to be a headliner right out of the box. And therefore, we don't get many younger headliners who have any sort of staying power.

Along the way, Jimi did a stint with twister misters Joey Dee and the Starlighters. In my researching my book I came across some references to Jimi playing behind the Inkspots at McVan's in Buffalo. That apparently isn't true – this really well-researched book makes no reference to Jimi playing with the Inkspots. However, he did play at McVan's with Joey Dee for an entire week in November of 1965 and there's a picture of Jimi onstage with Joey where they're pretty much standing in the same spot of the picture of Alex and me onstage. I actually have some poorly shot photos of us playing taken from the same angle where you can see the audience alongside the stage. The 1965 photo shows men in sports jackets and ties. The 1979 photo shows my college friend and his brothers in t-shirts. A lot of musical legends passed through McVan's in its heyday. Alex was one of the last before it was torn down (before it collapsed) to make way for a convenience store.

2010-10-05T09:10:00.000-07:00

Hi Friends...If you're like me, you associate some of your favorite albums with specific times of the years. Radio City always makes think of warm spring weather. John Barleycorn Must Die puts me right back to the first week of September – back to school (the album came out just before my first year of college and was a dorm hit on arrival). I associate Van Dyke Parks' album Song Cycle with the first chilly and rainy week of autumn – when the leaves are turning and you know that summer is definitely over. I've actually been playing Song Cycle a lot over the past six months and my interest was piqued when I saw that a 33 1/3 book was coming out about the album.

I'm not familiar with Richard Henderson, the author of the Song Cycle book, but I can tell you that he did a great job. I've read pretty much everything written about Van Dyke Parks and the album but this book is a real revelation. In a way, the book pretty much follows the pattern of my Radio City book: author discovers album (with help of knowledgeable record store clerk), background leading up to the recording of the album, details about the sessions and the songs from the participants, the (non) commercial life of the album after it was released, and a brief but excellent summary of VDP's career post-Song Cycle. Henderson got to know Parks and had his full cooperation. The bottom line is that if you like Song Cycle and you liked my approach to writing about Radio City, you're going to love the book. It certainly inspires you to hear the album in a new ways and pick up a lot of details you might not have caught or known - even if, like me, you've been listening to it for the past 40 years.

2010-09-14T10:20:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been awhile...I was driving in my car last night, headed towards a sunset with the latest Teenage Fanclub disc playing, thinking that it was just a year ago that the Big Star box set was just hours from being released and everything that's transpired since. I remembered that last year it even crossed my mind that someday perhaps Alex, Andy, and Jody would perform Radio City from start to finish in the recent tradition of artists performing classic albums in their entirety. Now, just a year later, Big Star is in the heavens for good.

The Teenage Fanclub record (Shadows) is a fine record and reminded me that Alex thought highly of the band. During the interviews for the book I asked Alex what he thought of the many artists who worshipped at the altar of Big Star. He was complimentary of several (Chris Stamey, I recall) but then said with a twinkle in his eye "You know who's really good? The Fannies...they're really good." Most of you have probably heard the radio broadcast of Alex with TFC – certainly one of the highlights of Alex's post Big Star career. Hopefully one day a clean copy of the broadcast will find its way into circulation. Every version I've encountered has some serious issues (drop outs, speed ups). An official release would certainly be well-received and a fitting tribute to the trans-Atlantic musical friendship.

More soon...

2010-07-22T06:42:00.000-07:00

ANDY HUMMEL IN HIS OWN WORDS PART THREE. Here's the third and final installment of my written interview with Andy (see previous posts for more background) three years ago. One thing that came across loud and clear was how much he enjoyed his life – family, work, community, hobbies – and even though he still loved music, he had not an ounce of regret from walking away from Big Star. He participated in two of the greatest albums ever made and then went out and lived a great life without looking back. I listened back to the long phone interview that we did after the written part and you can just hear the enthusiasm and contentment in his voice. One funny bit was that when he brought up Led Zeppelin (who he like as much as Alex didn't like), I told him that I had a lot of LZ boots. He had never heard the word "boots" used to refer to bootleg discs and thought that somehow I had a large collection of Led Zeppelin footwear. Pretty amusing.

O My Soul

Co-written by Chris Bell?

Song seems to have been demoed several times – was the final album version recorded when the band regrouped after the Rock Writers Convention (May 73).

Who played Mellotron?

I have real memory problems on this song. I get the impression from everything I’ve read that it is considered an early one in the R.C. story. But everything about it, including what memory I do have, tells me it happened closer to the Dolby Fuckers period later in the process. I remember very consciously trying to depart from the “standard” Big Star sound on this. It sounds much more sparse than our previous stuff. I remember we were working with Jody to try and get out of the usual sort of rock and roll drum style of ride cymbal, bass drum on the downbeat, snare on the upbeat, etc. And in fact that’s what you hear. Jody’s just playing lots of sort of broken rolls and stuff, almost like an eclectic drum solo throughout the song or something. Also I’m not sure it isn’t an overdub. The bass part is definitely an overdub. This is the one where, once again trying to find different sounds, we put that old Showman out in the middle of the studio, turned it up until it distorted mightily, and recorded it through a Neuman set several feet away. All as opposed to running the bass direct. It’s my old Precision Bass for sure. I was trying to do a Paul Kossoff (or whatever his name is) [note - later we confirmed it as Andy Fraser] off-the-wall sort of bass part. And Alex pretty much did the same on guitar – very little strumming. I think this was when he really started getting great on guitar, picking out Little Wing, the Bach Bouree’ he liked so much, etc. Definitely Alex on the Mellotron. I think we had it set up in the control room. All in B studio of course. Also note the structure of the song. It starts off like it’s going to be a traditional sort of Big Star rock song, but then he started adding other parts different than the original line. This was very anti traditional Big Star and much more like Daisy or Dolby Fucker-like. In fact if no one had told me otherwise I’d say it was a Dolby Fucker song. If I had to guess I’d say the initial line was something that was written early on, then when we got around to producing it all the other parts and the different sounds got dialed in. Don’t know about the demo’s. Never really paid much attention to them. They were just a means to an end.

I can’t help you much on the convention timing issue but I’d guess it was way after.

Life Is White

What part(s) would you have worked on?

When recorded? (i.e. after Writers Convention?)

Who played piano? Alex?

I heard an acoustic demo by Alex and it was pretty astounding how complete it sounded in terms of having the arrangement worked out. It had to have been done after the song had been completely written (i.e. it was all there). Was is it common for him to do a demo once the song was finished?

From a standpoint of production concept I’d say this was a predecessor to Soul for sure. I hear all the same stuff, just not as mature in implementation. I’m playing the Rickenbacher direct I believe. I think I recorded the harp overdub with Alex playing out in the sound lock but it could have been Fry of Richard. I’m pretty sure it’s Alex on piano but it could very well be Dickenson or even Jack Holder. At this point Alex pretty well came into the studio with his parts completely worked out if memory serves.

Way Out West

Most accounts I’ve read confirm that this is solely your composition. However I did find one article that asserted that Chris was involved. Would like to nail down once and for all that you wrote it, how it developed from piano ballad to guitar song, and the unusual structure (how after the first verse and chorus, it gives way to a verse and chorus of guitar – not your usual pop song format). Did that come about when the song was cranked up in the studio with the band?

When recorded?

Was this worked on early on i.e. before Chris left?

I definitely wrote all of West except Alex’s solo. Chris wasn’t even around by then. He and I arranged it. I had written it late one night on my mother’s Knabe. I had planned to do it as a solo act. It’s about Linda of course. She was at college in Denver at the time. I don’t remember if I had a demo or not, I might have. We had all the equipment set up in A studio for jamming. We did this a lot. Jammed in A, recorded in B. So I played this song, on the Yamaha I guess, and Alex immediately turned it into a rock and roll song. Oh well – best laid plans and all. We got it completely down that night arrangement wise. The arrangement is because there weren’t any more words. I had written the lyrics before the music and they were what they needed to be – no more. So the solo broke up the two verses. I was way too afraid to try singing after the India experience so Jody did it with Alex on back-up. Could have knocked me over with a feather when I hear the Bangles had covered it.

That will have to do for tonight.

What’s Going Ahn?

This one is intriguing because you’re a co-writer (any recollections as to what parts you worked on?) and yet it was recorded with with Richard and (likely) Danny Jones. Richard says that unlike the other two “Dolby Fuckers” tracks that this was a John Fry session and not done “after hours”.

So might this have been written in the second half of 72 before Chris left (or around then) and then recorded by the Alex with Richard and Danny sometime in the first half of 73 before the band reconvened? Or…???

The acoustic demo that exists of Alex is again pretty spectacular – pretty much the entire arrangement is right there. Might that have been done…when?

This is the only song for which no track sheet extists (although Adam Hill @ Ardent is still looking). Do you recall any overdubs being done later? (electric piano, some tom toms I think – sound like the tom overdubs on September Gurls and Daisy Glaze)

General question about the three “Dolby Fuckers” tracks. When the band started to work on Radio City after the Writers convention, how did these three songs enter the mix? Was it assumed from the beginning “well, we can use these tracks…” or did Alex (or someone else) introduce the idea of including them later on as a way of shortening the time for completing an album (i.e. getting over the magic 30 minute mark)?

OK, I’m going to try this again. I’m on a different PC and email account now so maybe things will go better. I think this is where we left off.

If I recall, this is a song written in one of those songwriting sessions at Alex’s. As I’ve said before, I kind of think this occurred early on while Chris was still around but I could be wrong. It’s neither inconceivable nor unlikely that we might have had other such events later on. We hung out at Alex’s in his bedroom and listened to LPs on that cool little KLH stereo of his frequently there for a while. I don’t think it would be possible to say I wrote a particular thing or Alex wrote a particular thing. That’s not the way I remember it happening. The song was basically his idea. I just helped by throwing out the occasional chord turn, lyric, whatever. I think I took 10% writer credit or something like that. It’s his song.

I wouldn’t disagree with Richard about recording it, especially since I wasn’t there! That sounds about right.

The timing you suggest is about as close as I could come.

The only overdubs I kind of remember are the toms and the lead guitar parts. Once again, I wasn’t that involved with the recording of this song very much.

You Get What You Deserve

When (approx.) was this song written and developed. I’ve read accounts that say that it was possibly the fourth track you recorded with Chris in late 72 (same demo session) as O My Soul, Got Kinda Lost, and There Was a Life. Speaking of these songs, I listened to a demo at Ardent that I believe came from your collection(?). Adam Hill and I both thought that they sounded like they were recorded post –Chris (sounded like the three-piece with Alex singing). When do you think the demo might have been recorded?

I’m pretty sure this is another of those songs we had from early on. It was probably written before Chris left, but entirely by Alex I think. I also think this was one of the four we did in the famous mono session. My recollection is that they were Deserve, Car, Lost, and the other Chris song. By everyone else says different, so who am I with my 35-year old memory to press the point?

The mono session was definitely done while Chris was still around. I mean you can clearly hear him singing on both the surviving Bell tracks on my ¼ track copy, even though Alex sings lead on the slow one! [Note: see discussion before the first installment. Chris was not there and Jody sang the backup.]

Back of A Car

I’ve read a quote from you that this was “only recorded once” and that it was the first song recorded. When might that have been? Before Chris left in late 72 possibly?

Do you recall your input into the song?

It seems pretty established that this is one of the songs that Chris worked on before leaving and dividing up songs with Alex. Do you have any clear recollection of what the other song(s) might have been (this is a expansion of the question about O My Soul)?

There have been a lot of conflicting accounts as to whether or not Chris actually played on the album…any thoughts, recollections? It would seem that if that were the case that this would be the song.

As I’ve said, I believe this is one of the songs originally recorded in the mono session. To me it has Chris written all over it. I think the concept of the song, the verse chord change and the initial words were something he came in with. But we collaborated in turning it into a song. You guys have unrealistic expectations if you expect us to be able to remember every little lick we may have contributed to a song. I mean a song writing session is not like, let’s see how much of me I can get into this. Whoever was there was just trying to come up with a song we could play. In any case, I remember this as being the first song we recorded with John as a 3-piece and that it went very smoothly. I also think this was on our set list at the Rock Writers Convention.

I am pretty sure Chris did not play on any of the RC songs. We started from scratch when we decided to do RC after he left. We probably would have used the mono session masters in some way, shape, or form but of course they couldn’t be found. They were the only recordings of any of the RC material that existed at that time as far as I know. I guess it’s possible he did some overdubs or something later on but I’m not aware of it.

This song reminds me of driving through the Big Boy and Krystal parking lots in my old man’s Lincoln listening to a Led Zepplin tape right after their first LP came out. It floored us both. We had rigged up an early cassette recorder in the glove box.

Daisy Glaze

Any significance to the original working title of Knoxville? (John Fry actually speculated that Chris might have had input because it refers to where he / you went to school. Jody didn’t think so.)

Richard says that this song took a long time to develop and that Alex worked on it – jamming with various people – over months. I’m thinking that he may be confusing it with O My Soul (which would lend itself more to that.) The only song credited to you, Alex and Jody, how do you recall it being written? When recorded (before or after Writers Convention)?

This has some of the most inventive overdubs on the record. Who do you recall playing pump organ? Any recollection of the guitar in the first half of the song that more or less modulates on the beat? Any other recollections?

I don’t particularly recall the name Knoxville but then we used a lot of obscure nomenclature in those days and a lot of stuff had gone down in Knoxville over the years.

I don’t remember Chris having anything whatsoever to do with this. It was entirely (and probably the only) true Alex/Jody/Andy collaboration. My recollection of the genesis of this song was of Alex playing one of Handel’s Concerti Grossi (opus 6) for me on the little KLH in his bedroom. It’s the one with the intro where they play the same note over and over but twice as fast each measure or whatever. I’ve got the LP around here somewhere. I think John used to have it too – or maybe I have his, not sure. In any case we were in B studio later and just began playing licks and stuff around this. We all input and eventually, after several sessions of this, it became the music for a song. I kind of remember that we actually recorded it as we wrote it although that’s probably not the final band track. John probably recorded us doing that from scratch at some point. The Handel riff starts off the fast part of course. Then Alex went off and wrote some words and we finished it up. I know I overdubbed the pump organ part although it’s conceivable it was later re-overdubbed. I don’t think so however. The bass is my Rickenbacker direct. The acoustic rhythm guitar part was done as previously described in my email exchange with John. I think Alex played oscillator and I console on that. But it could have been John on console.

Once again I have difficulty remembering the timing of things with respect to the convention. My sense of time just wasn’t particularly focused on that event. I do think this one was in work a while before it was actually produced into a song. But I don’t think we were working on it as late at the Dolby Fucker period

She’s A Mover

You overdubbed the bass part and mention using a Fender Showman. What would have been your regular bass amp in the studio?

After listening to this I become a bit confused because I think it’s the same bass rig on both this and Oh My Soul – or at least parts of the latter which is possible due to punching in and out which we did obsessively. But I thought we had only done this once. Obviously not. It’s my Precision Bass through the Showman as I discussed earlier. It was a pretty cool sound.

When I was obsessing over the poor quality of the bass sound I’ve been getting lately my current guitar player, who has a very cool rig with a Rivera tube head and Mesa Boogie speaker, actually had the gall to suggest the amp sound doesn’t matter for a bass. So why don’t I just get one of those modern Ampeg high power non tube amps with all the elaborate “effects”?!?!. How wrong. The Showman rig’s sound is a perfect case in point although I liked the HiWatt better.

But as I’ve said before, we usually ran the bass direct. In an ideal world I suppose I would try to recreate the direct/tube compressor sound on stage. That would take some doing though.

September Gurls

Quite the masterpiece to say the least. Listening to the master tapes at Ardent I was floored that you did three takes and used the first take. If you isolate what the trio did live in the studio, it’s easy to hear that the band had real potential as a live band. Any thoughts?

About when do you think you worked on this song?

Any thoughts / impressions upon first hearing it? Anything specific you recall about recording it?

Yes – if there was ever a BS star that had major potential as a hit this would be it. Too bad. Remember, our goal when we started doing the RC band track sessions with John, based on the experience we had on the mono session, was to try to get them in as few takes as possible. Also this was the period not too long after the 4-piece “tour” and was right around the time of the convention, etc. So we had indeed been playing a lot and this was almost certainly one of the songs on the playlist. So we were tighter at this point than any other in BS history I suppose. We could indeed have been a pretty good live act if things had worked out a little differently. I didn’t use to like playing live. It scared me to death. Now I love it although it still scares me to death sometimes!

Once again, can’t help you much with the timing other than to note that this was certainly one of that early group of RC songs we did with John.

As far as the song itself, it seems to me this was kind of the high point of the original sort of Chris-inspired Big Star sound I believe I discussed earlier. We were all still playing in that style. The song was written pretty much in that style, although much more evolved. And we had become kind of expert at it. All three of us came up with great parts, it was a great song to begin with, and it just worked.

Morpha Too

I’ll close with a brief comment on my recollection of this. I remember very late in the process, but while I was still running with Alex some, we ended up in A studio late one night, both blasted on Quaaludes or whatever I’m sure. He started playing this song on the Yamaha and we decided to record it. I can’t remember if we ran one or two mikes but I know the piano went through a compressor which we turned up as much as it would go, essentially totally eliminating the dynamic range of the instrument. It’s a very cool piano sound. The decay of the notes is a loud as when they’re first played. John later re-recorded this properly I believe but kept the compressor thing.

This was pretty much my last hurrah with BS. After this Alex, or John and Alex, properly became concerned with finishing up the LP and getting it released. I was drifting off into other pursuits, like getting out of college. Alex was/had drifted off into the Lesa thing that consumed them both for a while. I was not involved with mixing the LP at all. That was pretty much a John and Alex effort. I remember getting together in John’s office or somewhere to divvy up the writer’s credits once it was sure it was going to be released. I also remember a discussion among the three of us about the Northeast tour they were planning after release (I think it was after the release). But it was nearly September and I needed to matriculate. So I did. And as fun as it is to remember all this stuff every 5 years or so when someone wants to do an interview, I’m glad I did. No offense to anyone, but from what I can tell, the music business sucks. And being involved with designing and building airplanes is kind of fun.

2010-07-21T05:36:00.000-07:00

ANDY HUMMEL IN HIS OWN WORDS PART TWO.

Here's Part Two of what will be three parts. See the last post for background info. Again, this is Andy is writing in response to my questions in July 2007.

I’m trying to recreate as much as possible a timeline for how the album came together. Here are the key dates as far as I can tell. So even being able to place when songs were written and / or recorded within these blocks of time would be helpful.

June 1972 – #1 Record released

October 1972 – live dates wind down

Dec 1972 – Chris leaves the band

May 1973 – Rock Writer’s Convention

December 1973 – Radio City mastered

So many writers have micro-analyzed this subject that whatever you have must come from more accurate sources than my memory. Instead of addressing this directly, let tell you a bit about musical relationships. You should be able to overlay the timeline on this fairly easily. This might be somewhat helpful.

First, just for the record - In the early days, before Big Star, Chris and I were pretty inseparable musically as I recall. Outside the studio we both played with various combinations of folks occasionally. And, of course in the studio one went with the flow of who was present on any given evening. But our primary musical vehicle/core was the 3-piece of Jody, Chris, and me, with Tom Eubanks doing a stint as a fourth for a while. We actually played out quite a bit doing fraternity parties, department store openings and the like. The other people we, and especially Chris played with, like Terry Manning, Steve Rhea, etc. have weighed in so heavily on this subject that you get the impression early Big Star and pre Big Star was some sort of commune as opposed to a cohesive band. Of course they’re just going by their recollections and this is what they remember. At one point a few years ago I had read so much of that type of stuff I almost became convinced myself. But nothing could be further from the truth. Especially by the time we hooked up with Alex we were very much a committed 3-piece band with a decent amount of both gig and studio experience.

Anyway, as we recorded the 1^st LP on National Street, and later Madison Ave, Chris and Alex became very tight musically. There was never any question we four were the band and we behaved as such, but Alex and Chris were just way more experienced than us so Jody and I were pretty much side men at this point. They each had songs they brought to the table, but when it came to producing and recording them they collaborated pretty seamlessly. I think they were rather surprised when I showed up with that horrible India Song. I never should have let Alex talk me into putting it on the record.

As we neared completion of the 1^st LP however, for whatever reason, Alex and Chris became increasingly independent of each other musically. Alex was all about branching out and experimenting musically while Chris was going through a personal crisis which inhibited his ability to socialize musically.

So Alex and I began to hang together. By this time I had taken John’s Audio Engineering course and was competent to run the studio solo. Previously we had been dependent on John, Chris, or Richard to provide this skill set. For the two of us, like most of these folks, hanging out meant hanging out musically. We did all sorts of crazy things, recording until the wee hours of the morning, listening to all sorts of odd musical influences and the like. We recorded Do Right Woman at Dan Penn’s studio with Spooner at 4:00 one morning. I’m sure it was horrible. I guess this would all have been happening roughly throughout 1972.

Anyway, the reason for going into all this is that by the time we began R.C. there was kind of a concept of operations (ConOps) in effect. Alex and I did lots of demo type stuff in the middle of the night with whoever was around. I have a really cool demo I recorded one night of Vera singing DIVORCE with Alex playing all the instruments and singing backup. I usually ran the studio and Alex played the music. When we were ready to do a real band track we’d get John to record it if necessary, then we’d spend the next month or so doing all the overdubs ourselves – of which there were a lot as I’m sure you know. Most of what I call the “mainline” R.C. songs were done this way. Alex later used a similar ConOps for the Dobly Fuckers stuff, usually, but not always with Richard recording.

Anyway, all that stuff about early BS is just me venting a little about the perceptions past articles and books have created. But this latter stuff is how I remember R.C. happening, at least at the 20,000 foot level as we say in the aircraft business. And I think it’s useful to understand this ConOps of how we operated in the studio before going into details about each track and stuff.

As far as the specific timelines go for R.C. … and this is not my strong area … first I’ll have to download the LPs from iTunes. I don’t seem to have copies. In the meantime, please note the following disclaimer: It has been about 35 years since all this occurred and I do not pretend to remember it all perfectly. So if you run into other evidence which seems to contradict me, it is probably more correct.

As an interlude while we’re waiting I’ll tell the keyboards story.

I started studying classical piano in the 3^rd grade. My mother had a small Knabe grand at our house she got about 1947. It was a great piano. It had easy action and a nice mellow sound. I studied formally with various teachers for about 7 years, until about the 9^th grade.

But I played that piano constantly experimenting with all sorts of stuff including figuring out a lot of rock songs. I can’t think of anything better than growing up with a nice piano at your disposal like that. You can’t help but learn a lot.

I actually played organ for a while for a soul band during my R&B period.

When we first started going to Ardent on National they had what must be about a 5’5” Chickering grand. I think it had a walnut finish. It must have been early 60s vintage. This was also a great piano. It was brighter and with a bigger sound than the Knabe. Most of the piano on the 1^st LP was this Chickering. Everyone used it for everything. When we moved to Madison we brought the Chickering with us and installed it in the B studio, the one we mostly used. So most of the piano on RC was also the Chickering. One hopes Fry still has it. Often I – and others – would go in and just play it for hours alone.

For the A studio they had to buy an additional piano. Fry, I expect at Terry’s urging, did not skimp. He got a brand new Yamaha concert grand. I think it was 7’ at least. It was solid black. It was a wonderful instrument. Smooth action, not the pronounced double action you get with Steinways, and a beautiful big bright tone. We used it some for recording but since it was in A studio, which we liked less and which was less accessible (all the big paying sessions were booked there) not nearly as much as the Chickering. But I – and a lot of others – loved to just go in there, close the door, and play and play, and play. Again, I hope it’s still there and in good shape. I liked that piano so much when it came time for me to by my own after I moved to Texas, I got a big black Yamaha C3 – with was their 6’ concert model at the time. I still have it and taught 3 kids how to play on it, not that it took with any of them. I taught myself to site read in the process though!

Alex had a Chickering at his house we played some too. I gather he grew up with this piano much like I did the Knabe. I remember it as being almost identical to the one in the B studio. His Dad was a jazz musician and used it when he jammed with his buddies,

I don’t believe Chris ever had a piano. I gather his family wasn’t musical like Alex’s and mine.

Also in B studio was a Hammond B3 organ with a big old tube Leslie. Hammonds are kind of a special case in the keyboard world to me. You play them kind of like lead guitar players play except on a keyboard. Also you have all those drawbars to manage. I never quite got it although I played it all the time trying to. Love B3s though. I wish I had one. I don’t think we ever used the B3 on a record but we used its Leslie all the time. Ever since Eric Clapton first ran a guitar through one, I think either on Abbey Road or Badge, everyone wanted to use that sound. And we did. It didn’t hurt that in addition to the rotating Leslie speakers it also had a great tube amp that distorted perfectly.

Other keyboards in the studio:

• They had one of the first Moog synthesizers. The damn thing was so complicated to operate I don’t remember using it very much. Then they replaced it with an Arp. I didn’t think it was much better but the Beatles apparently did so we screwed with it a lot. It probably ended up on a record somewhere. I’ll listen for it when my download completes.

• For a critical while they had an old pump organ out in B studio. I played this on Daisy Glaze. It belonged to someone though and they took it away finally.

• Frequently Jim Dickenson would bring his tacky piano over. This was an upright and someone had actually stuck thumbtacks into all the hammers to get that tacky sound.

• They bought an early Mellotron. We all loved it. Notionally you didn’t need to hire strings or horns anymore! They were very controversial with the musicians union as you can imagine. We used it a lot.

That’s all I can remember about keyboards so let’s resume with the timeline discussion.

As the Number 1 effort, and its very lame tour, wound down in mid to late 1972, new songs had already been written, both separately and jointly, mostly the latter. We hadn’t laid any tracks down to speak of but we had played many of the songs quite a bit in practice sessions, studio jams, and the like. Some writing occurred with the three or four of us in Alex’s bedroom. I know we did What’s Going Ahn there. Ditto Life is White and Back of a Car. It’s probably safe to say that the songs listed with both Andy and Alex writing credits were done this way. I’m almost positive Chris was present during some or all this. So it happened early on.

So we had these songs nearly ready to record. We also had a couple of Chris songs, Got Kinda Lost and another slow Chris song that escapes me right now. So there came a point where we were like, hey let’s record again. We were all getting kind of sick of the conventional method or recording; close miking everything, laying down 30 tracks before you settle on one, then millions of overdubs to get the final song. Plus we were really interested in mono. So – to make a long story short – we got Fry to engineer a session in B studio in mono, basically using one old big Neuman microphone in the middle of the room, with the whole band at once, and recorded four songs. I don’t remember how well we succeeded but the goal was to do them all in one take. I think we came pretty close. They sounded great. They were hot, fresh, full of enthusiasm, etc. and the mono sound Fry came up with was amazing I know we did Got Kind of Lost and the other Chris song. We also did Back of a Car. I’m not sure about the last one but it was probably Oh My Soul or You Get What You Deserve. I still have a tape of the Chris songs. I think Fry does too. You should listen to it. Anyway the master of this eventually got lost but it became the genesis of RC.

So after Chris left and we finally decided to do another LP, we started with these songs, subject of course to the deal Alex and Chris had cut on who would get writer credit on what, so we didn’t use the two Chris songs. Pity. But since the master was gone we had to re-record them. I recall a fairly long tortuous period during which we laid down the band tracks for Car, Soul, probably Life, Deserve, and later September and West. We then spent months producing and overdubbing them, often using the ConOps described above although eventually Alex took Fry’s course and started soloing on the console. This was sort of the Mainline part of the LP.

As we got well into this process Alex and Richard started up the Dolby Fuckers thing. I believe they/we did all that ourselves. Fry wasn’t needed to do the tracks because they were usually just a guitar and drums with everything else overdubbed.

The last two Alex songs were done way later right before mixing started.

2010-07-20T11:58:00.000-07:00

ANDY HUMMEL IN HIS OWN WORDS.

Andy was the first person I interviewed for the book. We did it in two stages. First I sent him a list of questions which he answered over several lengthy emails. Then we did a long phone interview. This was all in July 2007. Andy's wealth of information and good spirit really set the tone for the book and influenced its direction. I was always committed to writing about the music rather than the surrounding "drama" but an offhand remark by Andy, which you'll read below, about people who weren't in the room having an awful lot of say in the Big Star story made me think that the book would be best served if the interviews were confined only to those who actually had a direct hand in the creation of Radio City. So that was the seed planted by Andy and I think the book was far better for it.

As with any sequence of events nearly fort years ago memories can differ. One thing you Big Star experts will note is that Andy remembered Chris being part of the four song demo sessions between #1 and RC. This differed from what John Fry, Jody, and Alex remembered. In fact, they were adamant that it had just been the trio in the studio. A possible source of the confusion is that Andy heard background vocals on the reference tape he had saved and thought it must be Chris. However, Jody told me that he had done the background vocals. This is all perhaps a minor footnote but it involved a lot of research – including listening to the demo tapes at Ardent – and I came away certain that it was just the trio. Also keep in mind that these guys spent a lot of time together in the same studio so it would be easy to confuse one session with another. I wanted to publish this as Andy wrote it. (There were also some other things that people had different recollections of but there was always a very solid majority on one side and some external facts that made a final decision relatively easy.)

So here is Andy Hummel in his own words Part One. The italics are my questions, designed just to gather some basic facts to establish a framework for future interviews. Over a series of evenings, installments would arrive in my inbox. For a Big Star fan just starting to dig into the story, each one was a real revelation. I'll post the next installment in a few days. Enjoy.

Did you play any instrument besides bass on the album? Any of the keyboard parts?

The only instruments I specifically remember playing were the bass parts I did and the pump organ on Daisy Glaze. During the initial 3-piece period of the 2^nd LP there could have been others though. We operated very collaboratively at this point. See below under the timeline discussion for more on this.

What bass(es) did you use (make / model / approx. age / origin). (We’ll talk about your influences etc. when we talk. I also want to talk about your development as a musician and how, with more room to work, you really delivered the goods on Radio City. Also, what you would have been working on at Ardent when during the hiatus after #1 Record etc.)

I love to talk about guitars, so bear with me as I tell the Big Star guitar story.

Chapter 1 – electrics:

When Chris and I first began playing together in our dorm room at UT in 1969 I had a cherry red Gibson 335-style hollow body bass with black nylon flat wound strings. It must have been a 1966 or so left over from my days playing R&B - a very cool, unusual bass. Chris played a cherry red Gibson 335 6-string guitar with P80 or P90 pickups. I’m pretty sure it had a Bigsby. It must have been mid-60s as well. I can’t remember Chris ever owning another electric guitar. He was a one guitar kind of guy with that 335 and he played the hell out of it. I had a Kustom bass amp I never liked or used to speak of and he had a Fender Twin Reverb he used all the time.

A little after we returned to Memphis I traded my Gibson in for a new, sunburst Fender Precision Bass (I believe they call them P-basses these days) with a maple fretboard. This must have been late 1970 or so. Chris and I were obsessed with the sound John Entwhistle got out of his bass and heard him say the words “Rotosound Strings” on one of the songs on “Who Sellout”. We figured he must be talking about guitar strings and, sure enough, I went out and found some. Of course Rotosounds were all round wound in those days – may still be – and no one I had ever heard of used them except Entwhistle. I put them on the Fender, turned the treble way up, and that was the sound. This became my primary bass throughout the Big Star years, and other folks’ at Ardent too for that matter. It was always in the studio and got used a lot. Precision Basses are very reliable and musically flexible. You can play any style of music on them. I flatter myself that I was one of the first folks (beside Entwhistle obviously) to kind of pioneer that trebly, twangy sound the Fender got with those strings which later became a mainstay bass sound, although I’m sure no one picked it up on my account since no one ever heard us.

When we hooked up with Alex he had a gold Les Paul and a Super Reverb. The Super Reverb was the most deafening thing I ever heard. I think the Les Paul had humbuckers but they may have been P-style pickups. It’s hard to remember and doesn’t matter anyway because he didn’t use it much. They both played it a little on the 1^st LP but then Alex got a Fender Stratocaster which became his primary electric for some time. I’m pretty sure it was ivory colored.

So all those trademark trebly Big Star electric guitar sounds you hear on both LPs were primarily Chris’s Gibson and/or Alex’s Strat played through old Fender tube amps. Most of the bass parts are the Precision bass recorded directly through the console and one of two old vacuum tube compressors Fry had in the “B” studio. We hardly ever amped the bass. I’ll bet he still has those compressors. If not it’s a great tragedy.

The studio had an old tube Fender Dual Showman everyone used a lot for everything. It was a great amp. More on that later. When we were getting ready to go “on tour” Ardent bought us all new equipment. Chris and I got HiWatt heads because that’s what The Who used a lot. I can’t remember whether they were 100 or 200 watt. Alex had a Marshall he found somewhere. We had HiWatt speaker cabinets, I think with 4 12-inch speakers each. The original plan was for the guitar players to use two of these each with their heads like Cream or somebody. This was ridiculously loud so we backed down to one cabinet each. It was still too loud. I had two JBL bass horns John Dando built for me but they wouldn’t do the twang sound so I ditched them and used one of the HiWatt cabinets. The HiWatt head and speaker cabinet was a perfect stage bass rig. I don’t recall recording with any of this stuff much, except maybe the Marshall, but we kept it all in A studio quite a lot and it was the standard Ardent jam setup off and on for a while. More on this later.

While we were practicing to go “on tour” after the 1^st LP I lucked into a Gibson Thunderbird which, of course, is precisely what Entwhistle used. I think I got it at Strings and Things back when it was a “mom and pop” operation on Cooper. Unfortunately I didn’t get to play it much because Chris and I got into a big fight at practice at Alex’s house and he smashed the bass. So I went back to the Fender. I always go back to a Precision Bass it seems.

Later while we were “touring” somebody gave me a Rickenbacker to play at that gig we did in New Orleans. I think it was a supermarket grand opening or something ;-). I loved it and got my own when I got back to Memphis. Unfortunately there was something wrong with the neck. The guitar wasn’t fret true. So, as usual, I reverted to the Fender.

This entire time there was always a Hofner at the studio – may still be. Hofners are great. There’s no other sound like it. They have that short scale which is very easy to play and they are very light. We used it some before and during the 1^st LP. Later Terry Manning or somebody put round wound strings on it and ruined it I think. Hofners need flat wound strings. He bought a new one in the Bahamas or somewhere but he wouldn’t let anyone play it.

I didn’t own a bass at all from about 1974 until a couple of years ago. Not that anyone will care, but these days I play a black American Fender Precision bass with the extra Jazz bass-style bridge pickup, BassLine Quarter Pounders, and a rosewood fret board. I’m about to take the round wound strings off and put proper Beach Boys-style flat wound strings on it. I got it at a guitar show in Arlington about a year ago. I don’t like it much. It seems like the level is not well balanced across the strings and scale. Also, while the treble is nice I can’t get the bass tone I’m looking for. Maybe the new strings will be better. Or it could be the amp I’m using. It’s a newish 100 watt Bassman. I think I need a big tube Ampeg or a Trace Elliott. Or better yet, an old tube HiWatt like we used in Big Star days – good luck with that.

I also play a Hofner I bought new at Craig’s Music a couple of years ago. I love it but it’s hard to play at gigs because there are no dots on the upper edge of the fret board making it hard to know where you are in dim stage lighting with that short scale. Also there’s something about the way I hold it that causes the G-string to pop off of the bridge a lot. What I really want is a Gibson SG-style solid body. They used to call them EB3’s I think, with two humbuckers. The guy in Free played one of these. I’m sure I’ll wind up back on a Precision Bass but it’s fun to experiment and you can never have too many guitars. I’ve only got around 12 right now.

Lot’s of people have hundreds these days. I don’t know what they do with them all though. Also Japanese collectors are buying up all the nice old American guitars for ridiculous prices. I bet the dealers sell them a lot of fakes! I mean there can’t really be that many 1957 Les Pauls in this world. And it seems like you see a couple of hundred at every guitar show.

Alex told Patti (my wife) he has 20ish, but that was before Katrina. I’m guessing he may have lost some in the hurricane. Also he’s not sure where they all are. He travels quite a bit and apparently leaves them around or something. My current little band’s guitar player, Mike, only has 3 that I know of. I don’t really know anyone else that plays guitar.

I guess the interesting thing is that Big Star basically did the 1^st two LPs with just 3 electric guitars - the Precision Bass and the Strat, plus the 335 on No. 1 - and a couple of old Fender amps. I don’t think people are that “efficient: these days.

Chapter 2 – Acoustics (this is a shorter story):

I taught myself to play guitar on an old Silvertone flattop I bought new at Sears, probably for $15 or so, in Junior High School. I don’t know how I ever played it. I must have had very strong fingers and thick calluses. Later on in Big Star days I studied classical with a gypsy named Rene Fusco or Fuste’ – something like that. He sold me a classical guitar made by a well-known transcriber named Frantz Schmidt. I still have both of them. I used the classical for some demos at Ardent and wrote India Song on it (for what that’s worth!).

When Alex joined the band he showed up in the studio to record 13 and Watch the Sunrise with two Martin acoustics, I think a D-35 12-string and a D-28 6-string. I’m sure he had used them there previously in his work with Terry but I hadn’t seen them. They were wonderful guitars. Apparently he had been doing a lot of folk music in New York right before he joined with us. They were used extensively on both LPs, especially the 6-string. I played both a lot.

Chris bought a Yamaha dreadnaught-style acoustic, I think while we were recording the 1^st LP. It was a good guitar and used extensively on that LP and later on his solo stuff although it too was a victim of violence at one point. We were a very emotional band.

Prior to going “on tour” when Ardent bought us all those ampsI discussed earlier I also got a new acoustic. It was a Guild D-25. I put Schaler tuners on it, had the frets dressed down, and the action lowered. It turned out to be a pretty good guitar and the only serious guitar I had for many years after Big Star. Tommy Hoenn used it a good deal.

John Dando installed Barcus-Berry pickups on all the acoustics so we could play through the amps live. These were a very early version of internally mounted acoustic pickups. They fed back like crazy and had to have standalone preamps between the guitar and amp. John built some from scratch. We never used them much though. Nowadays that technology has advanced tremendously with Fishmans and some of the factory pickup systems people like Taylor use. It’s amazing. It’s suddenly practical to play amplified acoustic music with your neighborhood band.

By the way, Dando would be a good guy to talk to. He was sort of our technical manager. He knows a lot about the technology side of things back in those days. I think he’s still in Memphis. Fry will know.

Nowadays I have about a 7 year-old Taylor 314 Koa with a Fishman, which I love and play all the time; the Guild which now has a Fishman but is in the shop to be refurbished; a 1968 NOS Gibson J-50 I bought at a little shop on Madison Avenue the weekend of the NARAS awards, which I love but don’t play much because the strings are a little too close for finger picking; and the old acoustics I already mentioned.

I’ve played a lot of acoustic guitars in my time and I have to say Taylor has broken the code. Their guitars are to die for. Unless you’re just married to old school luthier methods Martin, Gibson, etc. hang their hats on your primary acoustic needs to be a Taylor. I don’t think the Martin and Gibson new technology guitars light a candle to the Taylors.

That’s my Big Star guitar story. Would you like to hear my Big Star piano story?

June 1972 – #1 Record released

October 1972 – live dates wind down

Dec 1972 – Chris leaves the band

May 1973 – Rock Writer’s Convention

December 1973 – Radio City mastered

As an interlude while we’re waiting I’ll tell the keyboards story.

I actually played organ for a while for a soul band during my R&B period.

I don’t believe Chris ever had a piano. I gather his family wasn’t musical like Alex’s and mine.

Other keyboards in the studio:

They had one of the first Moog synthesizers. The damn thing was so complicated to operate I don’t remember using it very much. Then they replaced it with an Arp. I didn’t think it was much better but the Beatles apparently did so we screwed with it a lot. It probably ended up on a record somewhere. I’ll listen for it when my download completes.

For a critical while they had an old pump organ out in B studio. I played this on Daisy Glaze. It belonged to someone though and they took it away finally.

Frequently Jim Dickenson would bring his tacky piano over. This was an upright and someone had actually stuck thumbtacks into all the hammers to get that tacky sound.

They bought an early Mellotron. We all loved it. Notionally you didn’t need to hire strings or horns anymore! They were very controversial with the musicians union as you can imagine. We used it a lot.

That’s all I can remember about keyboards so let’s resume with the timeline discussion.

The last two Alex songs were done way later right before mixing started.

Ok, now that you have the overall history of how the thing flowed we can start looking at specific songs. But that will have to be a subsequent installment.

2010-07-20T09:34:00.000-07:00

ANDY HUMMEL. I'm sure by now you've all heard the news of Andy's passing yesterday. There are some links to some good articles on the Ardent FB page. Check them out.

I never met Andy (I had hoped to meet him at the Big Star tribute in Memphis) but even in our relatively time of communication I got the overwhelming feeling that he was a man who really enjoyed life and had no regrets about the path he had chosen. He was incredibly helpful when I started the book and just totally delightful to speak with. Generous, positive, and intelligent with a sense of humor. As we Big Star fans know, he was also a terrific musician. His contributions to Big Star can sometimes be lost in the shadows of Chris and Alex, but in writing about Radio City and listening closely to the tracks over and over I grew to have a deeper appreciation for his contributions. In a way he was George to Chris and Alex's Paul and John: a team player with his own arsenal of special things to add to the musical equation. Just listen to his bass line on Way Out West. Brilliant. And contrary to what Andy (along with many others) thought, India Song is a great track. It just belongs maybe on a different record.

Tonight I'm going to dig through my interview with Andy and pull out some material that didn't make it into the book. In the meantime, remember that words may sometimes fail but prayer never does. Keep Andy's family and the Ardent family (who have had an extremely trying year) in your prayers. Back shortly.

2010-06-20T06:51:00.000-07:00

HAPPY FATHERS DAY. Didn't mean to take such an extended leave of absence from the blog. Things just sort of get busy at this time of year. New writing projects. I moved my home office. My son the runner broke his left wrist, requiring a stream of doctor visits to get it healing right (and avoid surgery to put in pins). Which brings me to Fathers Day. My son's name is Alex and you might have good reason to believe that he was named after a certain other Alex. For the record, here's the real scoop. My wife and I were so certain that we were going to have a girl (we didn't do the boy / girl test...it was just a hunch) that for some reason we didn't even have a back-up name for a boy. But after a long and difficult delivery (my wife was 40 at the time), voila!, it's a boy. She asked me what we should name him. I told her that seeing as how she had just done all the hard work that I'd defer to her. And she said, "Alex." It immediately flashed through my mind that I might take endless ribbing from my friends for naming my kid after a rock and roll musician, something I would consider to be pretty bush league (it once crossed my mind that there's probably a kid somewhere named after Don Henley and that was frightening). But I didn't have the heart to protest, especially after a sleepless night, so Alexander Warfield Eaton it was. Thankfully, my paranoia proved to be unwarranted. Very few people conjectured any Chilton connection. We call him Al around the house, Alvin when he's being goofy. A great kid and I'm proud to be his dad. I brought up the name thing with Alex (Chilton) when I booked him at a jazz festival here in the early-90's and he replied in his inimitable soft drawl: "It's a good name. It's always worked well for me."

Okay, now here's something on the music front to look forward to. One of the highlights of my trip to Memphis last month was reconnecting with guitarist Jim Duckworth (Panther Burns, Gun Club, various Memphis bands). I've heard from Jim in recent weeks that he has been rehearsing with a band comprised of Van Duren, John Lightman, Richard Rosebrough, and Jim on guitar. There's something about this line-up that makes me think that it's going to be even better in reality than it looks on paper, which is pretty darn exciting to begin with. Details as they emerge. Enjoy the day.

2010-05-26T09:01:00.001-07:00

So where was I? Sorry to leave you all hanging right in the middle of the show. A lot of the show is now popping up on YouTube and various other sites along with some still photography galleries. The Ardent Studios FB page offers a wide-sweeping compilation of these sources so I won't repeat them here.

Take Care. The final highlight of the concert for was Ken and Jon singing Take Care. I'm of the general opinion that Big Star 2.0 was more suited to the material on the first two albums but this performance was heartfelt and poignant to say the least. Most shows like this one end up with everyone on stage for the grand finale – like a teen comedy where everyone ends up in the pool – and this one was no different. But if the concert had ended with Take Care, it would have been fine with me.

The next day I drove down to Clarksdale MS with my friends Parke Puterbaugh (music and travel writer extraordinaire) and Jim Duckworth (guitarist for the Panther Burns and Gun Club) and explored the Delta a bit. That story and a final word on the weekend coming shortly...

2010-05-19T07:38:00.000-07:00

Back from Memphis. If you haven't read them yet, there are good summaries of the concert at rollingstone.com and the site for the Memphis Commercial Appeal (if you're on Facebook, sign up for the Ardent Studios page...they post links for significant coverage of Big Star in the media). Amongst the highlights for me were:

Playing Chris Bell's red Gibson 330 (used on #1 Record) for a minute. When I arrived at the venue I ran into Adam Hill of Ardent who was carrying two guitar cases. He said, "Follow me." When we got to the guitar tech area he opened one of the cases and there was Chris's Gibson, loaned for the concert by David Bell. Even more cool was that David had left the contents of the case intact, just as Chris had left them: picks, a capo, and a disposable razor. On the outside was the sticker that came with the Wings album Venus and Mars (which I once had on the case of a Gibson L-6S). Adam was pretty insistent that I play it – something I really prefer not to do as I'm not that good and even worse when put on the spot. But I couldn't pass up the chance and ended up nervously (didn't want to drop the guitar on the concrete floor) playing some James Gang riffs (a favorite of the band before Alex joined) before passing it back. John Auer later used the guitar in the concert as well. The other case held Chris's Gibson acoustic. Adam played I Am The Cosmos on it while getting it ready. Great sounding guitar.

The opening salvo. The concert started with the core trio (Jody, John, Ken) playing Back of A Car and then they were joined by John Davis of Superdrag for great versions of In The Street, Don't Lie To Me, and When My Baby's Beside Me. Davis just nailed it. Right on the money with the vocals, guitar, energy and spirit. He set the bar high for the special guest appearances and no one topped him. This particular line-up could and should continue as a performing unit in some way playing Big Star's music. After John Davis left the stage the trio did I Am The Cosmos. All in all, the first five songs were a strong reminder that Big Star was Chris's band to begin with and represented his artistic vision. The tone was effectively set that the evening was a tribute to Big Star and not just Alex.

For You. The band was joined by Jody Stephen's brother, Jim, who had played bass on the original recordin on Third. Despite the frenzied pace of the day, the band hit a really comfortable relaxed groove and Jody's vocals were spot on. All the band members had incredibly hectic days with rehearsals and the filming going on throughout. I wondered how they were going to catch their breath and relax a bit before they hit the stage. And then it started to rain on top of all that. They were sharp throughout the concert but this was certainly a highlight.

(to be continued)

2010-05-13T06:24:00.000-07:00

Getting ready to head down for Saturday's show...full report and hopefully some photos next week. Hope to see you there...

2010-05-07T13:23:00.001-07:00

All the way to Memphis...

I'll be in Memphis from 5/14 to 5/17 to attend the Big Star concert, touch base with old and new friends, meet the crew working on the documentary, and maybe squeeze in a trip to Clarksdale.

If you haven't visited the Kickstarter page for the Big Star documentary (see previous post), you should check it out right now. The response has been fantastic so far. As well it should be...Drew and Danielle and company are making sure that it's done right. It's going to be great.

2010-04-30T12:16:00.000-07:00

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1027989747/nothing-can-hurt-me-the-big-star-story?pos=2&ref=spotlight

BIG STAR ON FILM. I'm sure most of you Big Star fans caught this last night on the various related Big Star pages on Facebook. If not, click on the above link. This film is going to be a great tribute to Big Star and your funding support will help make it happen.

On a related note, I'm most likely going to go to Memphis for the May 15th concert. Just have to clear up some logistics with some commitments on this end. Will keep you all posted as I know many of you will be there. Would be great to see those I know and say hello to all of you I've met over the past year in cyberspace.

2010-04-27T08:25:00.000-07:00

Lou Johnson: http://www.funkmysoul.gr/?p=1126

Sid Selvidge http://www.raremp3.co.uk/2010/04/sid-selvidge-portrait-1969.html

This year I've spent some time exploring the world of music blogs that offer mp3s of rare or out of print albums that can't be readily found in stores or online. This is what I guess happens when you own pretty much every album you want to own and a few thousand bootlegs (through trading with fellow fans via bittorrent) on top of that and there's not a decent record store within driving distance of your house despite living in a metropolitan area: you go out digging through the rare and used bins online. I started out looking for LPs that I vaguely remembered from the late 60s / early 70s that had caught my interest back then but were soon passed over for better albums. The quantity of quality releases back then was so high that some albums that I thought weren't that good now sound darn near brilliant when compared to what's being released today. But, alas, the Illinois Speed Press and Cat Mother and the All Night Newsboys deserved their obscurity. On the other hand, the Mylon and Alvin Lee On The Road To Freedom album is really top notch, complete with a great George Harrison song with George adding his trademark slide and Ron Wood and Mick Fleetwood in the rhythm section. If someone wants to reissue the CD, I'll put my money down.

http://www.youtube.com/watchv=T32_k4QH95k&feature=PlayList&p=93B117A4394281EE&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=6

Two albums I (re)discovered have a Memphis connection and are definitely worth checking out.

The first is Lou Johnson's With You In My Mind – produced by Allen Toussaint and released by Stax in 1971. Never reissued and that is a shame because it's a great record. I'll leave it up to the posting blogger to fill you in but here's what you need to know: Toussaint himself rates it right at the top of his production work.

The second album is the debut by Sid Selvidge, a name known to all devotees of the 1970s Big Star / Chilton / Memphis scene. I once owned this record and it's good to hear it again (without having to fork over 50 bucks for a used LP). Sid has released three albums in the past decade and I highly recommend A Little Bit of Rain in particular. He's currently out on tour with Amy Speace. Check him out if he comes to your town.

2010-04-26T08:26:00.000-07:00

http://myvinylreview.blogspot.com/2010/04/special-feature-remembering-alex.html

Back from a trip to Chicago. One of the highlights was theWilliam Eggleston retrospective at the Art Institute. Just a fantastic experience to see so much of his work (including the covers photos for Radio City and Flies On Sherbert) in one place. The exhibit runs through the end of May and if you live anywhere near Chicago, you owe it to yourself to make the effort to get there.

Above is a link to a piece I did on request for the My Vinyl Review blog. I was at a little loss as to what to write – after the deluge of writing about Alex after his passing I sort of felt that there wasn't much left to say. Then I remembered this little mental puzzle I'd been working on when I started the book: what would have happened if Bob Dylan's career followed the same trajectory as Alex's rather than have early and ever-increasing commercial and critical success? What if Bob's teen rock band had some hits and his subsequent brilliant solo efforts languished in obscurity? What if by the time people discovered Dylan's brilliant work like Highway 61 and Blonde On Blonde he was more interested in playing off the cuff covers of the songs like those he played on his Theme Time Radio Hour? Well, you can't make all the pieces of the puzzle fit but it was fun to think about. Read the piece and let your mind wander...

2010-04-15T06:50:00.000-07:00

Over the past few days I've been deluged with links to the various stories regarding Alex not seeking prompt medical treatment due to a lack of health insurance. I thought about it last night and decided that I wasn't going to comment on it any more – and that was before Lefsetz sent out his latest email.

I find this entire matter to be maddening on a lot of levels – recognizing of course that I fanned the sparks a bit by trying to rebut Lefsetz's skewed portrayal of Alex as a down-on-his-luck, washed-up rocker rather than an intelligent man who made his own decisions. I have some regrets about weighing in the way I did in the heat of the moment. But I was (and remain) dismayed by the skewed portrayal of Alex and Big Star that's been perpetuated for the past thirty years.

What makes this an even more emotionally charged issue for me is that over the past few years prior to this I've witnessed friends and family members refuse to accept personal responsibility for their own health and experience dire consequences as a result, even death. Some of these people actually have / did have superb health insurance and still won't / didn't go to doctors. Some don't / didn't have health insurance yet have plenty of money to spend on things that they deem more important. I've got a lot of strong opinions on the matter that have to do with spiritual issues, personal economic and health priorities, and political philosophy (individual vs, government responsibility). If we sat down to talk, you and I might agree or disagree. I just feel that it would be tasteless to have any further discussion at the present time – especially in a public forum or the the media – as to how all relates to Alex's passing.

Alex is no longer with us. We should be thankful for the time we shared with him and for the musical legacy he left behind, a permanent part of the history of music that we – and generations to follow – can experience. Like one of my friends who knew Alex better than I wrote to me "No matter what, we all loved him, didn't we?"

I'll be back at some point when I feel inspired to write about the music. In the meantime, continued prayers for Alex's family and the folks at Ardent.

Bruce

2010-04-05T04:51:00.000-07:00

http://vimeo.com/10266927

My friend Sam Berger hipped me to this video: 40 minutes of Alex in the studio with Jim Dickinson and Sid Selvidge working on some tracks for Like Flies On Sherbert. I was quite fascinated by the segment where Alex is doing guitar overdubs for My Rival. I think when hearing the track that most people would imagine a recording studio packed with inebriated crazies just wailing out. But there's Alex, calmly listening to the basic tracks through the headphones and laying down those wild (and quite random-sounding) guitar parts. There's the co-existing analytical and spontaneous sides of Alex that Laura Chilton wrote about in action. I've just begun looking at all of Alex's work through that lens and am convinced that the tension and give and take between the two sides – which couldn't be duplicated consciously – is one of the key elements to what made Alex's music so indefinably captivating.

2010-03-31T09:31:00.000-07:00

http://vinyldistrict.blogspot.com/2010/03/tvds-record-store-day-2010-label_9322.html

Alex's post-Big Star / pre-'80s and beyond solo career hasn't gotten much attention in the ongoing tributes (nice of EW to mention Sherbert in their coverage but hardly a word about Behind The Magnolia Curtain - a Panther Burns record in name but if you spent any time around Alex during 1979 or 1980 you realize that there was a huge overlap between Alex solo and Panther Burns as a group – Magnolia Curtain is an essential album in the Chilton discography). Here are some really good remembrances from Tav Falco and Ross Johnson...

2010-03-31T09:19:00.000-07:00

Debbie Parker-Kuhns, bass player for the Philly Nuggets, sent me this last week. It's the page from the Memphis phone book that she ripped out on her way through town in 1979 as described in the book. Even though Deb had already met Alex in Austin (when our friend Pete LaBonne jumped up on stage and jammed with Alex), in my mind the story really began with this piece of paper. I still remember the May night when we worked up the nerve to call Alex on the phone, something we wouldn't have done if not for having this slip of paper. Somehow seeing that there was only one Chilton in Memphis made us think we could reach him easily. I remember his mom answering the phone and calling him, having a sweet sound in her voice like he was still a teenager...

2010-03-26T10:40:00.000-07:00

http://blurt-online.com/features/view/584/

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.

2010-03-24T16:19:00.001-07:00

ALEX ON GUITARS...

Thought I'd just lighten things up a bit with this direct quote from Alex from the early 90s. while he was showing me his recently acquired vintage Gibson backstage at a club gig. Something for all of you musicians: "Gibsons are guitars...Fenders are toys."

When I was doing the interviews for the book we talked a bit about guitars. Sometimes he didn't travel with a guitar and was provided with one by the promoter. He said that he really liked any Gibson / Epiphone with P-90 pickups but that the Les Paul was too heavy for an entire show, despite how cool it sounded. But keep in mind...the ultimate epic guitar sound (rhythm) of September Gurls was a Strat and he did play them until the end.

2010-03-22T05:47:00.000-07:00

http://www.billboard.com/news/alex-chilton-s-life-music-honored-at-sxsw-1004077119.story?tag=hpfeed#/news/alex-chilton-s-life-music-honored-at-sxsw-1004077119.story?tag=hpfeed

A grey and rainy Monday morning. Appropriate for the times...

A lot has been written about Alex over the last few days and I won't bother to post links to everything. But you really should read his wife Laura's tribute that was read at SXSW (linked above). I spent quite a bit of time thinking about and analyzing Alex's approach to music (even experiencing it a bit) and talking to others about it – Laura put it all into words on a deeper and mre insightful level than any one else ever did. The co-existing sides of Alex...analytical and the spontaneous...a brilliant and accurate observation. What a fitting tribute at a unbelievably difficult time for her. One little thing bugged me about it though (just kidding a bit). I had no idea that Alex liked the band Free, one of my all-time favorites. He was generally so quick to dismiss anything connected to rock that was made after 1968 that it never would have occurred to me to wax poetic about the sparse musical structures of Kossoff, Fraser, and Kirke. But then it that way, Free was sort of like a baroque classical trio, parts interlocking perfectly. It makes perfect sense.

I've had a fair amount of feedback, mostly positive, about my reply to Bob Lefsetz's piece. It was done in the moment and if I had maybe cooled off a bit it would have been more measured and nuanced. But I knew that he would be compiling responses and given his platform within the industry, I had a visceral reaction to his perpetuating an inaccurate image of Alex as a person and his circumstances. It was a verbal equivalent of throwing him (and the rest of the rock critic / fan world that revels in this inaccurate garbage and outright slander) up against a wall and saying "cut it out, damn it!" You see that picture in the above link of Alex in the above link? Does that look like the type of guy Lefsetz was describing? You tell me...

One more tidbit on a lighter note (inspired by the picture linked above)...one little thing Alex and I had in common from the first day we met was our affinity for Brooks Brothers-style oxford cloth button-shirts. I was wearing one when we met (they've been a staple of my wardrobe since high school - at the time of the gig I was working as a stockbroker for Merrill Lynch and I would drive to Brooks Bros. in Pittsburgh to stock up – Buffalo was more of a double-knit town) and he complimented me on it. Keep in mind, this was 1979...the height of the punk era. When I did the interviews for the book one of our side topics was how you could never go wrong wearing a white Brooks Brothers shirt. Perfect for almost any occasion. Maybe mix it up a bit sometimes with a pinstripe, muted tattersall or a pastel color. If you look at pictures of Alex performing in recent years you'll see what I mean. He had his own version of being a sharp-dressed man.

2010-03-19T13:35:00.000-07:00

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/music/sxsw/article/782058--chilton-s-death-rocks-music-fest

A good friend of mine in Toronto just sent me this link to a story in the Toronto Star about how Alex's death has rocked SXSW. For those of us not there, it's worth the read...

2010-03-19T11:24:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about what to write and can't seem to settle on the right balance between nothing and everything. I'm struck by how many people have been truly affected by Alex's death. And all that is because of that intangible, indefinable something in his music and performances that reaches us ways that few other artists have or can. I'm not an outwardly emotional person. When one of my musical heroes has passed away – John, George, Miles – I might get a bit choked up. After I learned about Alex's death on Wednesday night I went into my son's bedroom to help him change his bed and broke down in tears. Completely lost it. I thought about that later that night as I lay in bed trying to sleep. Why the intensity of the reaction ? Alex and I were friendly over a long period but not really what you would call close friends. I didn't worship him or try to glom onto his notoriety. I did genuinely like him as a person, really enjoyed our times together, and learned more about music just being around him than I can articulate. But my work has brought me into contact with a lot of great musicians, many of whose work I revere. None have touched me like Alex. That relationship was cemented for life after hearing Radio City for the first time.

And then as a lay in bed I heard Blue Moon playing over and over in my head. That sound, that voice, that vibe. Now silenced. As Jody Stephens said, Alex's voice might have been imperfect, but few people could connect with listeners like Alex. I think we all know that feeling that he gave us, whether it was hearing September Gurls for the first time on vinyl or watching him perform April In Paris live in a club. It's futile to try to put your fingers on what that something he had really was. But we all knew it was there. And I'm thankful I got to experience it in a lot of different ways over many years. And if you're reading this, I'm sure you feel the same way.

More next week.

2010-03-18T16:13:00.000-07:00

http://www.salon.com/life/rip/index.html?story=/mwt/feature/2010/03/18/alex_chilton_obituary

Here's my piece for Salon. I didn't really know it was being framed as an obituary but given the emotions that were flowing within me and a total lack of sleep last night (a bad cold on top of bad news), I'm pleased with how it turned out. My one regret: I should have worked Jody and Andy into the article. With a limited word count and a super-tight deadline (plus a head full of cold medicine) things fly by you. But I don't think that matters to them or anyone else right now.

Alex was even the extended subject on the local sports talk show in Buffalo this afternoon (WGR 55). He meant a lot to a lot of people.

2010-03-18T14:42:00.000-07:00

Salon piece done and I need a breather. Time to think. In the days ahead I'll be sharing some memories of Alex but right now I feel the need just to be silent. Except when I see or hear people saying things about Alex that don't mesh with reality. Then I'm going to try to balance the record – which was my intent with the book.

This morning I was greeted by an email from the noted music blogger Bob Lefsetz regarding Alex. This guy has a huge following and shoots from the hip. Has some interesting points about the direction of the music biz but has recently bought his own myth. Unfortunately he said some things about Alex that I felt were flat out wrong - implying that he was a broken down failed rock star who lacked the financial or mental assets to get proper medical help (also implying that if we'd had ObamaCare, his loss could have been avoided). I spoke with Alex enough to know that he had assets, he went to doctors, he cared about his health and looked after it. Except for the smoking. Here's my reply to Lefsetz:

I've known Alex since 1979. I wrote the book on Radio City for Continuum's 33 1/3 series that was published last year (which involved probably the last extensive interviews he ever gave). You have jumped to so many conclusions regarding Alex that you ought to have your laptop yanked for a year. I don't even know where to begin except to say that you couldn't be more wrong about Alex, his life, and why he lived it the way he did. And I also don't want to his reveal personal details just to counter some guy with a big megaphone who is loose on the keys. But I'll tell you this:

After dropping out of the music business in late '81 (I set up his last tour), moving to New Orleans, getting sober, and returning to the stage in late '83, Alex did exactly what he wanted to do. He wanted to play the music he wanted to play his way. If that meant playing obscure covers in small clubs, he was cool with that. He saw himself more as an itinerant jazz musician than a rock star (remember, he turned down a deal from Elektra in the '80s). He wanted control over his music and didn't want to deal with major-label types. He had no interest in the rock star life. Players like Zoot Sims or Sonny Stitt were role models, not any rock band.

He and I always talked about money and health. Alex lived a very frugal lifestyle. A small home in N.O. that his brother had owned was completely paid for. Ditto for a used Volvo. He had no debts. No alimony. The songwriting royalties from In The Streets being used on That 70's Show had given him a certain comfort level. He was anything but broke. Big Star dates and Europe were also good for him. John Fry at Ardent was ever-vigilant about getting Big Star its financial due. Alex didn't believe that living on a higher plane necessarily involved "bucks and babes".

Alex was also very health conscious – except for smoking, and I suspect that's what snuffed him out. One of the last days we spent together we had lunch at Whole Foods and virtually the entire conversation was about our various health routines. Alex was an extremely intelligent and informed person. He had no qualms about going to a doctor. Again, I know more than you ever will know on this subject but don't feel like sharing details that I consider private. But to imply that he was a poor, rundown man without the mental or financial wherewithal to go to a doctor is scurrilous. He smoked. He'd probably been told 1000 times that that wasn't a good thing. Sorry to disappoint you Bob, but Obamacare wouldn't have saved him. Alex made his decisions and did things his way.

If you read my book (feel free to take it out of a library...at a time like this I don't care about selling copies but they probably have it at Book Soup - it made their bestseller list) you'll get a much different picture of who Alex was and why he did things the way he did in his own words. Contrary to the common public perception, he was a real gentleman. And for all the talk about indies and artists taking control – they're all still all trying to "make it." Alex had transcended that. Hard to understand if you're someone wondering why he didn't try to build on Big Star and ride it to the top but he knew that they were a comet that had passed on to another universe and he had other musical worlds to explore.

Have to get going so I'll put up my thoughts about him on my Big Star blog later on. Needless to say, a sad day.

2010-03-18T10:07:00.000-07:00

I've been asked by Salon to do a piece about Alex and Big Star on a short deadline. As soon as it's done, I'll start to post my thoughts here, along with some photos. Thanks for your patience...

2010-03-18T05:11:00.000-07:00

March 18. 8 a.m. I'm sure by now that most of you have heard that Alex Chilton passed away yesterday in New Orleans from a suspected heart attack. I'll be posting some thoughts later today. In the meantime, please keep his wife and family in your prayers.

2010-03-13T06:24:00.000-08:00

WATCHPOCKET...

Over the past month I've been exploring the world of music blogs that offer rare / out-of-print / bootleg albums for download, usually in mp3 form. Among most blogs there's an honor code not to offer recordings that are readily available but there are some that offer so much recently released material that their boldness is somewhat shocking (and not cool). In my travels I've found about ten or so records I've always wanted to hear again but haven't been able to find (such household names like the Fabulous Rhinestones, Mylon with Alvin Lee, Illinois Speed Press, Augie Meyers Head Band, Cat Mother etc.) Some of these are records I might have heard once or twice some 35 or 40 years ago. If they were really great, I'd still own them. But sometimes you want to hear something again just to hear it one more time...

Along the way I uncovered WATCHPOCKET, a nugget of early 70s blue-eyed soul from Memphis, complete with Steve Cropper on guitar and none other than DANNY JONES (the mystery participant on Radio City) on bass. Watchpocket was a vehicle for Sid Herring, lead singer of The Gants ("Keep On Dancing"). Joining Cropper and Herring behind the board is Ron Capone, a member of the Stax Ardent orbit.

Below is an excellent overview of the project from Amazon, although I take exception to the comparison to Delaney and Bonnie (it's an interesting album but it doesn't compare to anything in D&B's run from Home up to (but not including) D&B Together. That said it's worth checking out if you're interested in Memphis music, early 70s style...

http://www.amazon.com/Watchpocket-Lp-Vinyl/dp/B000L0ZHJS/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1268490720&sr=8-2

If you want to hear the music, do a search for "rare MP3 music blogspot watchpocket" (leave out the quotations) and you'll be there.

2010-03-03T13:31:00.000-08:00

Time flies when you're....? Well, here are some random items:

The Art Institute of Chicago has a major exhibition of the work of William Eggleston through May 23rd. Big Star fans of course know that he took the photos for the cover of Radio City and was a long time friend of the Chilton family. But far beyond that, he's one of the great art photographers ever. I absolutely love his work and was thrilled to learn about the exhibition. My wife and I will be paying a visit soon to the Windy City celebrate our 25th anniversary. In some weird way my love of Big Star actually paved the way to our marriage. It's a long story but two long-time girlfriends ended our relationship because I let it be known that I would rather focus on playing with Alex (the first gig in '79) or go see him at Danceteria on his "comeback" tour ('84) than do whatever they had in mind. To quote one about-to-be-ex-girlfriend "I've had enough of you and this Big Star thing."

All you Big Star fans are aware by now the Big Star is not only playing SXSW (Bob Mehr will be hosting a discussion panel that will include Andy Hummel and Jody Stephens) and a benefit in May in Memphis for the refurbished Overton Park bandshell (the site of the band's last gig in 1974). Some readers have asked me if I plan on going to the Memphis gig (probably not but there's a possibility). That triggered some thoughts about seeing the current Big Star live...something I've never done. For a band whose work I love dearly I've been fairly ambivalent about seeing the band since the reunion. I'd certainly go to a gig within reasonable driving distance of Buffalo (which would include Toronto) but I'm not about to hop on a plane to see them (something I might do for Prefab Sprout). I thought about why seeing Big Star isn't on my "must do" list and it comes down to this: despite In Space, I don't get the feeling that Big Star is a band that exists in the present. They're more of a museum piece, playing more or less the same set (without much rehearsal that involves the entire band). That doesn't mean that I expect them to be putting out albums on a regular basis. But there are ways for bands who are missing key members and / or whose most-beloved records were made decades ago. For an example, take the Allman Brothers. Missing several key members but have retained enough of their original sound to get past that hurdle. They haven't made a classic album since 1974. What they do is constantly mix it up from night to night. Different set lists. Digging out rarely performed songs from their catalog. Throwing in new covers to the mix, some of which are related to their past (would be cool to hear Big Star pull out a Badfinger song or Hot Burrito #2 or ...something besides Baby Strange or Slut). Even tweaking the line-up over the years. As a result, the ABB seem very much a current, vibrant band in the present (I could name a lot of bands in this same category). I know that Jody works overtime to bring his A game to every performance and the Posie fellows would probably love to do something less static. But...

On the other hand, I know there are shows were the current line-up hits the sweet spot and I'm sure that if I was in the audience, I'd wonder what took me so long.

2010-02-19T05:50:00.000-08:00

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703444804575071351719588986.html?mod=WSJ_ArtsEnt_LifestyleArtEnt_4

There's an article in today's Wall Street Journal about the possible sale of Abbey Road and potentially being turned into a museum rather than remain an active studio. Interesting discussion of how much a great room can play in a great recording (the long gone 30th Street studio. Also mentioned are Sun, Capitol, Motown, and The Record Plant. To which list you could certainly add Ardent. Worth reading (not sure if you'll be able to read this online if you're not a subscriber so you may have to go to a newsstand). By the way, Ardent co-founder and subsequent founder of Federal Express Frederick Smith had an op-ed piece in the WSJ recently about how to get the economy going again. Made total sense but I'm sure those in power in DC would never dream of consulting someone with a proven track record of growing business and creating jobs.

2010-02-17T06:16:00.001-08:00

SUPERFLY MEETS SHAFT AT Hobart and William Smith, 1974

Okay, here's something that has nothing to do with Big Star (although I can imagine Alex Chilton gleefully taking part in this tale back when it occurred). Recently I was doing some research on music blogs and the bounty of music offered for free download (some of it obscure and out of print, some of it in obvious violation of copyright) and came across a site that posts obscure 45s. One of them was "Shaft Meets Superfly" by John and Ernest, one of those "drop in" novelty records that were popular in the 60s and still around in the early 70s. Far from obscure in my mind, it was probably one of the last 45s that meant anything to me. Here's the story...

In April of 1974 I was a senior at Hobart College in Geneva NY. I had become friends with Bob Meserve and spent a lot of time hanging out in the dorm lounge we shared listening to his collection of black and orange spined Impulse albums and Captain Beefheart. One night he came back from the campus pub (a dingy concrete bunker in basement of the administration building that served Pabst on tap for cheap) raving about a new 45 he and some friends (Paul Keating...and likely Dan Knickerbocker and / or John Johnson) had discovered on the jukebox: Superfly Meets Shaft Part Two. I went with him the next night to hear this masterpiece - indescribable at the time but in retrospect it sounds like Lee Perry gone berserk scratching a Curtis Mayfield record in the Holland Tunnel. Pure noise or a masterpiece. You could call it either way but we kept putting the quarters in the jukebox and playing it on endless repeat. After a while it took on a hypnotic effect, the sound just bouncing off the concrete in the dimly lit room. If we'd been in NYC, you could have put a velvet rope outside and charged $20 to get in.

This went on for a few nights until the student bartender (a frat jock lacking in humor and / or musical taste as I recall) pulled the plug on the jukebox and told us to get lost. The next night we returned to find that Freddie Hart had replaced John and Ernest on the jukebox. A letter was drafted in protest to The Herald (campus newspaper) that was signed by Paul (although I'm pretty certain that Bob Merserve was a co-author - he kept so far off the radar that when he would show up for a class final exam, it was common for a professor to have no idea who he was) comparing the removal of Superfly Meets Shaft to the antagonistic reception given the Rites of Spring. Here's the track and the letter (you can scroll down for the A side):

http://jukeboxmafia.blogspot.com/

Thanks to Zack Chaikin (for the scan of the letter) and Juke Box Mafia (for posting Part 2 on request).

Postscript. Paul Keating was tragically killed on the streets of NY in the early 80s trying to stop a hold-up. Bob Meserve and I kept in touch for many years. He somehow had procured a copy of the record and gave it to me to make a copy. When he became a father I sent it back to him – an heirloom that could be passed along to his son. I last saw him at a Pharoah Sanders concert I produced in the mid-90s.

Postscript Two. I was just reminded that a band I played in circa 76-77 (The Blue Reimondos - first CBGBs type band in Buffalo area although we were up and running before those bands recorded and we got to hear them) actually COVERED this, right down to the drop out near the end of the recording that tricks you into thinking that it's over and then...BAM! We didn't / couldn't do it note for note but had a lot of fun trying to recreate it in spirit right down to the excessive reverb.

2010-02-17T05:54:00.000-08:00

http://thebulletproofvests.bandcamp.com/

The Ardent Facebook page recently posted a note about a new Memphis band – The Bulletproof Vests – with an new album – Attack! – mixed by Ardent engineer Adam Hill. I got to know Adam a bit while writing the book – he's the Ardent archivist as well as wearing his engineer hat – and was eager to hear his work. I started surfing around to find sites where I could sample it. iTunes and CD Baby had mp3s for close to $10 for the album. Bandcamp (link above) had the entire album available in lossless format for $5. Sold. Now that's what I've been talking about for years. You want to sell albums in today's environment? Sell them cheap. Make them available in a lossless format (along with mp3s for those who like the feel of pencils jabbing in their eardrums. I will take a chance on a record for $5. Not for $10. And no way for $15. I have to have heard it and really want it. Unfortunately (for the recording industry) the new albums I'm willing to spend that much on have dwindled to close to zero. And I've bought just about everything I want in back catalog (and refuse to buy it again for a third time). But $5? That's reasonable. And getting back to Bulletproof Vests...I'm glad I did.

The band can really play (sadly, this can't be said of most bands today), the songs are top notch (you'll hear some nods to Big Star and influences with an abiding love of the MGS throughout), and there's that elusive blend of variety and unity on that's the hallmark of a really good album. The album wasn't mixed at Ardent but Adam has whipped up a great sounding record in the Ardent / John Fry tradition. (Of course, that all begins with how well the band recorded themselves to begin with. As John Fry noted in the book, a lot of records don't sound good because the musicians aren't making good sounds do to begin with.) If you dig the Memphis sound and all that means, this is a highly recommended addition to your play pile.

Here's how the band describes themselves:

"The album, performed and captured by the band themselves in their own Memphis studio, was mixed with a magic wand and a potato battery by Ardent Studios engineer, Adam Hill, who has been involved with Big Star, Jack White, The Green Brothers, The 145’s, & Jim Dickinson. Inside this smorgasbord of sound sits a rollicking exploration of tone and genre that is part psyched out backwards fuzz freak-out, part sweet country slow drippin' ear molasses, and part subterranean buzzsaw scream served with a helping of the heart stopping Memphis sound, filled with Big Star’s, Moloch’s, Reigning Sound's, Oblivians', Guilloteens' and MGs."

2010-02-05T06:32:00.000-08:00

http://travel.nytimes.com/2010/01/31/travel/31next.html?scp=1&sq=memphis%20&st=cse

A trip to Memphis is on the must-do list of every music fan. This article in the New York Times gives some good tips on where to go once you go to the must-see spots (Graceland, Sun, Stax, Civil Rights Museum etc.). In my visits to Memphis I haven't had the time to go much beyond the obvious but I'll have this article with me the next time I go back.

The last time I was in Memphis (finishing some research on the book) my son and I were walking through the lobby of the Peabody Hotel on a late Sunday afternoon. Who should we bump into but none other than Robert Plant...just standing there casually talking to a few people. No entourage. Dressed in jeans and a white t-shirt. Very unassuming. Needless to say, we were sort of excited. My teenage son is a huge Zeppelin fan (at the time, When The Levee Breaks was his ringtone) and wanted an autograph. I told him to be polite and if Plant acted like he didn't want to be interrupted, to just back off and scram. He approached Plant with a pen and a postcard of Graceland and said "Excuse me Mr. Plant. I'm a huge fan. Could I please have your autograph?" Plant was more than cordial and asked my son for his name.

"Alex"

Plant: "Well Alex, what are you doing in Memphis?"

"My dad and I are checking out some old music stuff."

Plant: "Well, Alex...you just checked out some old music stuff..."

Great exchange and it was cool how nice he was to the kid.

The next day Alex and I are in Studio B at Ardent with Jody Stephens. I'm taking the photo of Jody you see in the book. Alex is sitting on one of the Smashing Pumpkins' road cases. Jody's phone rings and it's Robert Plant's assistant. Plant had planned on swinging by Ardent that evening to say hello but was tired from a long day in the 100-degree heat going to Graceland and a few other music spots. Checking out the old music stuff. He had finished his tour with Alison Krauss on Saturday night, gone to to the tour party, and then gotten up Sunday and driven to Memphis to "check out some old music stuff." Places he's probably been to many times The next day he was driving down to Clarksdale to soak up more of the old music stuff.

We thought it was really cool that one of the biggest rock stars ever finishes a tour and instead of heading home with his money decides to spend some time soaking up some inspiration and vibes at the source. Not surprising then that he turned down 100 million for the Zep reunion tour with the explanation that he already had enough money, but only had some many years left to explore new musical directions. I understand that Plant has another album going with Krauss but I'm hoping he returns to working with Strange Sensation. I saw them on their last tour a few years back and they were strikingly fresh and creative. I enjoyed them as much as any band I've seen this century.

2010-01-21T11:34:00.000-08:00

http://www.therefrigerator.net/music/petediscography.html

A fair number of readers have asked about Pete LaBonne and the Blue Reimondos from the book. I promise that someday soon I'll figure out how to post a few mp3s of the classic Blue Reimondos line-up from the '70s. In the meantime, you can explore some of Pete's output from the 90s on at the above website. Check out the lyrics. Hear some live samples. Read some of his prose and and what others have written about him. Nice review by Charles M. Young in the Atlantic. Pete spend a lot of time in New Orleans and NYC (he played on Richard Hell's last studio recordings) in the 80s but since then he's lived in a self-built cabin in the Adirondack Mountains. He moved a few years ago when his rural tranquility was destroyed by a hot rod shop being built down the road from his place (endless revving of engines) and the effort involved has put a crimp in his writing and recording. Because of the temperature in the winter (wood burning stove inside, sub-zero outside) he can only record in the warmer months and at his peak he was writing and recording a song a day. Sometimes he ended up with 60 or so great songs by Labor Day. Peter is without a doubt the most unique and unrefined pure talent I've ever encountered. Those who have gotten to know him and his work or spent any time around him feel nothing but lucky. For twenty or so years I thought that he should be signed to a label and do the whole record company / rock star thing. Critics would love him. But then one day in the early 90s I realized that he was in the business of making music, for himself and his friends, and knew that he should stay far away from the music business. He's got his cabin, his land, his instruments, the woman of his dreams (I don't think that he and Shelley have spent a day apart since 1977), his garden, and always a funky vehicle. Lives a happy creative life. You can't argue with success...

2010-01-06T06:31:00.001-08:00

http://moonraking.wordpress.com/2010/01/05/big-star-revisited/

More Big Star to start the year...

2010-01-05T12:42:00.000-08:00

http://www.tirbd.com/2010/01/monday-interview-bruce-eaton.html

I did an interview with writer and Big Star fan John Kenyon for his Things I'd Rather Be Doing blog a month or so ago. It's up now on his blog and it turned out really nicely. I really enjoyed answering John's questions.

2010-01-02T10:44:00.000-08:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! The Big Star box set is showing up on quite a few year-end Best Of lists – as well it should. But if you still have some friends or associates who still haven't heard a note, amazon is offering the #1 / Radio City two-fer for mp3 download for only $5 for the entire month of January. (There are also many other great albums with the same deal. Amazon is superior to iTunes for mp3 downloads in my opinion both in terms of selection and price. If it isn't your first stop when you're looking to download something, you're probably throwing away money.) I ended up shifting out of ELP mode after Christmas (although I really grew to dig ELP's bombast and vintage synth sounds – drove through a snow storm the other night and cued up Peter Gunn Theme > Hoedown. Who has the nerve today to tackle Mancini and Copeland head on without that big wink of irony that's become so prevalent and annoying amongst the musical hipsters of today? The hip-hop guys who sampled Kraftwerk did so in the same straight-up fashion). Latest favorite has been Manfred Mann. Knew their hits but not their background (Manfred Lubowitz's tale is pretty interesting - a jazz pianist originally from South Africa) hadn't really explored their catalog. Right beyond their big US hits is a song that I can't believe wasn't huge: I'm You're Kingpin. If you're not familiar with it, go download it immediately and dig the way Manfred worked the jazz vibe - and actual vibes - into a pop r&b tune. We're talking MJQ! This has to have been in a movie soundtrack...can't believe it if it hasn't .

2009-12-22T08:45:00.000-08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS! It's been a while since my last post for a variety of reasons. First off, I finally succumbed to a bit of Big Star fatigue. After two and a half years focusing on one band and three albums, I just kind of got worn out a bit. I've been listening to two types of music that are anything but power pop. The first is a CD called The Legendary Cantors. It's a compilation of renowned Jewish cantors from the early to mid part of the last century. I got hip to them reading an interview with Ornette Coleman and it fell right in with an increasing interest in the Old Testament (there's far more of an emphasis on the New Testament in your typical mainline Protestant church such as the one I attend) and my wife's family's Jewish roots. The music has something so timeless, universal, soulful and even eerie about it - like listening to an old Charley Patton record. The Jews Blues. And then get this. Despite making a snide comment about them in the promo copy for the book ("Released at a time when ELP and Elton John were plodding from one packed stadium to the next"), I;'ve been listening to ELP (along with early Moody Blues, Yes, and King Crimson) for the first time ever (other than what you'd hear in your college dorm or in passing on the radio). So it's been Tarkus and Lark's Tongue In Aspic around here! Can't say that it will be a permanent habit but it's good to walk outside your little listening box (actually mine is pretty darn big) and visit some other places for a while. So I get in the car and crank up Knife Edge. Sort of clears the mind and ears a bit...

2009-12-07T07:13:00.000-08:00

http://www.facebook.com/pages/BIG-STAR-Radio-City-Appreciation-Society/219416141367?ref=nf

Just got invited to join this fan new page on Facebook. There's a link posted to an interview Alex did with The Idler in England in 1996. If you haven't read it, it's definitely worth checking out.

If you're on Facebook, you should check out http://www.facebook.com/brokedoc?v=info&ref=nf. Broke is a documentary about the rapidly changing music industry and explores the question of just how an artist can break out today. A good friend has been working on it (T-Bone Burnett is involved) from inception and from all reports it sounds like it's going to be a really top-notch effort.

2009-12-05T11:05:00.000-08:00

Here's a rarity for you...a photo of the first "new wave" band in Buffalo, The Blue Reimondos. On the right is Pete LaBonne. He had a lead role in the book as you might remember. I'm in the middle and our bass player John B. King is on the left. And no, blue Lacoste shirts and khakis were not our uniform although that's approximately what we always wore and never changed into rock and roll /punk attire for performances. In the background you can see the every expanding audience of empty Stroh's bottles that we performed for several nights a week in Pete's basement. We were diligent about practicing but couldn't get many gigs because we had graduated from covers to nearly all original (Pete's material). This was '75-'77. By the time new wave / punk started to get accepted we were done - only to get back together (with the wonderful Deb Parker on bass) in '79 and back up Alex for that one monumental gig.

2009-12-05T05:38:00.000-08:00

Just received the January issue of Down Beat magazine and there's a full page review of the Big Star box set - notable right off the bat because it's a jazz magazine that only occasionally touches on rock when it's deemed to be of ultra-importance or interest. The review is interesting because while the reader is obviously knowledgeable, he's not pre-determined to slobber over the project without reservations. He makes several points that I think are well considered: the three official studio albums should have lead off each respective disc and then followed with the outtakes and rarities at the end of each disc. Also, the sequencing of Third is random and distracting (he opts for the 1978 PVC sequence which I agree is by far the best). None of this is earthshaking but the review reminds me that critics tend to be predisposed to what they're writing about and skew it all accordingly. There is indeed such a thing as constructive criticism (the box set gets 4 out of 5 stars). The Chris Bell reissue gets 3 stars and includes this interesting line "melodically, his posthumous 1992 solo album always delivers...but Bell's singing and lyrics often go down easier with Chilton as his creative foil."

2009-12-04T07:01:00.000-08:00

http://www.crawdaddy.com/index.php/2009/11/12/alex-chilton-1975-1981/

Sorry for being AWOL for a bit. Was under the weather for a while and then had the Thanksgiving rush with house guests. As a result (and for some other reasons), I skipped the Box Tops show at the local casino last Friday. The reports were that the band played a fairly long time for a casino gig (can't gamble if you're rocking out) and Alex was in fine voice. He later went with some local fans and friends (John Lombardo - co-founder of 10,000 Maniacs) to a local music tavern and played some more tunes for the faithful. That's about what I know.

If you haven't read the above linked article about Alex's career from '75-81, you've got to check it out. Great interviews and commentary from people like Jim Dickinson, Jim Duckworth and Richard Rosebrough. Reallyy well done.

Have been listening to Fleetwood Mac's Future Games and Bare Trees recently. You don't hear or read about that Mac phase much but those albums have some really great material. Love the sound and the vibe...

More soon. I promise.

2009-11-17T06:14:00.000-08:00

Hey fans. Back from a ramble around New York state to watch my son's high school cross country team run in the state championships. An 800 mile round-trip drive for less than 18 minutes of running. Great to see all the various and varied regions of New York even at a frenetic pace. Frequent poster Larry was kind enough to send me some Chris Bell discs and they were a fine soundtrack for the ride. Thanks, Larry!

Hope everyone down in NYC is gearing up for tomorrow night's Big Star show. Please file reports! We fans on the other end of the state (memo to those who think New York state is a big city with some suburbs: go look at a map...it's actually mostly mountains and rural areas and Buffalo is over 400 miles away from the Big Apple) are wondering if Alex Chilton's Box Tops will perform Eddie Floyd's Stax chestnut Big Bird at their local appearance next week in a nod to Thanksgiving.

No need to hold off on your holiday shopping...the Big Star box set is now only $41.99 at Amazon. Just click on the link to the right and fill those stockings!

http://www.eastbayri.com/detail/132254.html

The above article addresses how bad most recordings sound today i.e. "the loudness wars." It's a short article and obviously the author can't touch on every great sounding record ever made (i.e. Radio City) but it makes a good point. Recordings used to be easier to listen to beyond the music. They certainly were more pleasing to the ears. I'm not sure I'd feel the same way about Radio City if it had been recorded using today's standards. Everything sounds loud, harsh, and brittle. No breathing room. Makes it hard to make it through half a disc. How would you discover September Gurls if your ears screamed "no mas!" before you could get that far into the disc?

2009-11-04T19:48:00.000-08:00

http://artvoice.com/issues/v8n45/i_want_a_witness

Hot off the presses. Here's a link to a Big Star feature in Artvoice, Buffalo's arts weekly, written by Donny Kutzbach, local promoter and music fan extraordinaire. A huge Big Star fan. We have sometimes fantasized about a double bill of, say, Cheap Trick and Big Star. Something that would equal the 1974 Boston double bill of Big Star and Badfinger.

Been a big behind on the blog here due to some magazine assignments but today I received a CD dub of a cassette tape that Jim Dickinson put together in the mid-80s of a Chris Bell "album" (comprised of material that ended up on the Ryko release). Will delve more into this and report back. Not sure about whether he mixed or just sequenced so some of you might be able to weigh in on this. But I'll report back with the track list. Not sure how much Jim was involved in this or whether he was just passing along something that was passed along to him.

Got my tickets to see Alex Chilton's Box Tops on November 27th. You Keep Tightening Up On Me probably isn't on the set list but that track (the band's last single) was one of their best. Check it out.

2009-10-27T08:17:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the comments everyone. Yep, the DC5 was my first concert. The performed at Kleinhans Music Hall in Buffalo on a Sunday afternoon in December 1964. Opening act was Shirley Ellis who performed The Name Game for a very long time. Good to have your one hit be something you can really stretch out on. The DC5 ran through a half hour set. The weird thing was that the stage lighting was so low that their white cuffs and collars were about all you could see. Evidently the promoter didn't read the one page rider calling for a couple of spot lights. A few months later I returned to see The Beach Boys with some unknown guy named Glen Campbell on bass. After the show there was some harmless shouting and jostling in the lobby (teens being teens) and rock concerts were banned from the hall for the next 4 1/2 years (3,000 seat home of the Buffalo Philharmonic). They changed the policy in time for The Who to perform Tommy and a double bill of Led Zeppelin and The James Gang in September 1969. Chris Bell and Andy Hummel would have dug that Zep show for sure (they were both Zep fans and their band also covered some James Gang tunes).

Ardent related tidbit...I've been exploring the early recordings of Tony Joe White album, especially his first album (Tony Joe White) for Warner Reprise in 1971. I once had a vinyl copy but hadn't heard the recording it in decades. Turns out that it was produced by Peter Asher and was recorded in part at Ardent (would have been the National location). This is a really great album and not usually mentioned when people are going through the list of things done at Ardent (the first I'd heard it). The song Copper Kettle was recorded by Bob Dylan for the Self-Portrait album. Tony Joe is sort of like Elvis's younger brother immersed in a backwoods bayou groove (Elvis of course recorded and performed his tune Polk Salad Annie). Peter Asher returned to Ardent to add the Memphis Horns to James Taylor's post-cover of Time magazine Mudslide Slim album. But that Tony Joe album is better...

Have been getting a lot of feedback on the Chris Bell set and the general feeling is that if you have the money it's a nice thing to have but not essential by any stretch. It would be nice if it were someday available for download so those of use who already gave at this particular office could cherry-pick some additional tracks. Given that the original I Am The Cosmos cd wasn't an album but rather a collection of the best available tracks, it would logically follow that barring any new discoveries in the archives that the new tracks would be interesting but not essential.

Alex Chilton's Box Tops are playing a casino in Niagara Falls at the end of November. A lot of people are asking me what to expect and I don't really know what to say. Any one care to weigh in? If you've seen the Box Tops recently, tell us what you think.

Artvoice (Buffalo arts weekly) is slated to run a feature on the book this week. Will post a link when it runs.

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=170503 If you aren't familiar yet with the Steve Hoffman music forum, you've got to check it out. Intelligent people discussing good music in a civilized manner. This is the thread for the Big Star box set. There's also a thread for my book:

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=181852

2009-10-20T07:12:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone...Happy Rocktober (a cheesy phrase for sure but one I love nonetheless...) Frequent commenter Larry and a few other people have asked me what I think of the new Chris Bell deluxe reissue. My response is "I don't know." Or to be more specific: I'm not really sure if it's worth the money. Some time this decade I hit a wall as to how far I'm willing to go to buy reissues and concert tickets. A four CD box set of one of my favorite bands ever for $52? I'm in. 13 new / alternate tracks added on to an album, monumental high points aside, that I don't go back to anywhere near as much as any of the three Big Star albums, for $40 plus shipping? Naaaaah. Or at least I'll have to hear it all first to get over my resistance to reissues. I recognize that this is a different case than that of a hit album being reissued for the fourth time but overall I have this feeling that record companies are playing us for suckers as a way to cover up their own increasing ineptitude. Can't develop any new bands? Let's find a way to repackage someone's past success yet again!...Enough! But if you have the Bell reissue, please weigh in and tell us what your take is.

Same goes for concert tickets. Since my first concert (the Dave Clark Five in December 1964) until maybe five or six years ago, I never thought twice about going to a concert if I wanted to see a band and when I made that decision, I always bought the best seats. Now I pass on a lot of shows and have gravitated towards cherry-picking the best of the cheap seats (seats just behind the stage sold as obstructed view actually give you the feeling of being on stage with the band). Could I afford the top price seats? Probably. But next month I'll be sitting in the cheap seats for the last show of Springsteen's current tour (an arc that began for me when I booked him for two grand at my college in '73 and has put me in the front rows for many a show). $29 a seat feels about right in this economy. And given that last night there were entire empty sections at his show last night in Philly (home turf), I'm not the only one thinking this way. And recently I've passed on seeing some old favorites in a local club (Todd Rundgren, Robin Trower, Hot Tuna) not because of the ticket price (around $30 - reasonable for a small venue) but because the service fees jacked up the price to $40. Sorry Todd and Jorma....it wasn't your fault. But why should it take $10 just to sell me a ticket (and I love that they actually charge you more for printing at home even though you're using your paper and ink and saving them printing, labor and postage costs)??

2009-10-09T05:52:00.000-07:00

The November issue of MOJO not only has a review of the book but a feature story on Big Star. I used to subscribe and would sometimes get my copy a week or two before it hit the newsstand and sometimes would never get it at all and would have to go through the aggravation of getting a replacement copy. So now I just wait for it to arrive at the local store (and they don't really give you much of a break on the money when you subscribe). Sometime over the next few days I'll be able to put my hands on one and report back.

2009-10-09T05:22:00.000-07:00

Hi Folks -

The free book offer is over thanks to the folks at the FTC. They just put in a rule that if if anyone endorses / reviews a product in any public forum (on tv, in a blog, at amazon etc.) and received "consideration" in any form, it has to be revealed. A sample of the product is considered to be consideration. So, if I sent a copy of a book to a music blog for review, they have to reveal that I sent them a book. Or if you posted a review at amazon, you would have to reveal that I had sent you a book. Do they really expect magazines and newspapers to put in a disclaimer at the end of every review "Hey, we got a free copy so take all this with a grain of salt"? Do they really think that viewers watching some movie star shill for a product on Oprah can't figure out that there's probably something going on? Or who is sincere? You can read more about this in today's WSJ. It's just another example of government overreaching. Mighty considerate of them to announce that they expect prosecution to be rare...

2009-10-08T16:54:00.000-07:00

MOJO!! Just got the word that the book is reviewed in the November issue of MOJO (Kraftwerk on the cover although not sure if they'll change it for the US market as they sometimes do. Really good review (just read to me over the phone). Details to follow.

2009-10-06T06:07:00.000-07:00

http://memphibianinlondon.blogspot.com/

Just received a note from Hans Flagon aka James Enck about the book. He has a highly entertaining blog with some really interesting firsthand tales of his time in Memphis in the 70s and 80s with Tav Falco, The Panther Burns (touring member), Alex Chilton, and a cast of many Memphis luminaries and legends. I hereby nominate Hans to write the 33 1/3 book about Behind the Magnolia Curtain! Hans put in request for some Blue Reimondos recordings. I'll admit to being a bit behind the curve on that front but will do my homework on how to post some mp3s for your listening pleasure...

2009-10-03T05:28:00.000-07:00

http://www.webcutsmusic.com/features/2009/continuum-books-33-13-album-series/

Nice article about the 33 1/3 series at this very nicely done English / Australian alternative music site. This is conclusion of the part about Radio City: "It’s about as an authorative and informative an exposition as you could hope for." Thanks, mates!

The book is back in the Top 20 again. I'll have a full-length update over the weekend, including some new info about the alternate version of O My Soul on the box set. But right now, it's a beautiful autumn morning and it's time to go watch some of the top high school cross-country runners in North America.

2009-09-29T06:04:00.000-07:00

Here's what Ric Menck, drummer extraordinaire for Matthew Sweet, Velvet Crush, Liz Phair, Marianne Faithfull etc., had to say about the book on Facebook. (Thank you, Ric. And EVR for the heads up.) The book had its best week yet last week due to comments like this one. If you see a review in print or online, please let me know....

"Bruce Eaton's 33 1/3 book about Radio City by Big Star is an astonishing read. Along with being the most insightful portrayal of Alex Chilton and the Big Star phenomenon I've ever read, it also explains quite clearly why one should never approach music or musical artists with preconceived notions or expectations. A must read for anyone who considers them self a fan of Big Star or music in general. Thank you Bruce."

2009-09-19T04:56:00.000-07:00

http://www.thatdevilmusic.com/TMQ/

Quite a week, huh? Maybe the best week for the collective Big Star community ever. It's been great participating in various forums and just reading what everyone thinks and feels about the band the box set. I'll say this: it's one of the very few boxes that exceeds expectations and is "all thriller, no filler." I've made a habit over the years of borrowing box sets from friends in the business or getting them from the county library and then reducing them from four or five discs to maybe two. No way with this one. Four essential discs.

Nice review linked above. I remember buying Trade Mark of Quality bootlegs by mail from some guy in North Carolina in the mid-70s. He had a small ad in the back of Rolling Stone. Still have some of those records. And thanks to all for your kind words about the book this past week. The book zoomed back into the Top 20 Rock Books at Amazon. (And it was an honor for the book to be noted by Bob Mehr in the liner notes for the box set.)

A lot of discussion about the sequencing of Third / Sister Lovers / Alex Chilton. I have to say that the original PVC vinyl sequencing really works for me. It's not the first configuration I heard it in (I had a lo-fi cassette of the test pressing) so it's not a case of what I heard first and just got used to. It just flows really well in my ears. One of these days I'll try to find out who sequenced that version. They nailed it...

2009-09-17T09:51:00.000-07:00

Maybe you once had this feeling as a kid. You really want a special toy for Christmas. You wait a long time for it. Finally the big day arrives and there it is...you're ecstatic. And then a few hours later you accidentally break it and it can't be fixed. Remember being that bummed out? The crushing, almost irrational disappointment??

This morning I slipped discs 3 and 4 from the box set into paper sleeves so I could listen to them in the car while I went to an appointment. Picked up a book, some papers, and the disc from my desk and headed out. Got in the car...no disc 3. "Must have left in on the desk," I'm thinking.

Arrive home two hours later. There's disc 3 in my driveway, run over by my Volvo wagon, and COMPLETELY RUINED. Arrgggggggggghhhhhhh!!! (Even more irrational...even though I can probably get a burned CD-R copy from a friend, it won't be the same as having an intact set...)

I'll have to calm down a bit before I wax poetic / coherent about those Alex solo demos at the end of Disc Two. Magnificent for sure...

2009-09-16T13:41:00.000-07:00

Got it...finally. Love the "tapebox " packaging. The photos are great. Lots of shots I've never seen before (nore has probably anyone else but a few). The essays don't break any new ground but are an excellent summation on all three fronts. Nice message from J. Fry (although he told he didn't care much about the photo they used of him at the board...so I dropped it from the book). Just getting into the discs but I would say that some of the alternate mixes are really revelatory, some are just interesting, and some were passed over for obvious reasons. At some point over the next few days I'm going to make a disc that matches them with the originals for an easier A/B comparison. But there are so many cool things that any concern I had about the original albums not being presented as released kind of went right out the window...Too bad the back picture of Radio City didn't show Alex in his tennis shorts...we could have blamed the album's failure on that.

2009-09-16T08:17:00.000-07:00

http://www.memphisflyer.com/SingAllKinds/archives/2009/09/15/behind-the-scenes-of-the-big-star-box-set

Good morning all...listening for the sound of the UPS truck delivering the box set (unfortunately, there's not a decent record store in the Buffalo area). Here's the first of two links I'm going to post from the Memphis Flyer about the box set - this one being an interview with Adam Hill, Ardent engineer and archivist. Adam was of immeasurable help when I was writing the book. One of the most memorable moments over the 18 months was sitting with him in Studio C listening to some of the tracks channel by channel. Breaking down September Gurls and hearing what went into the track – especially Alex's guitars – was a real thrill. At any rate, Adam is a great guy, a huge Big Star fan, and it's nice to see him in the spotlight...

2009-09-15T13:29:00.000-07:00

Big Star Live Part II. Frank from Memphis recently sent me a scan of a review of Big Star playing at the famous Rock Writers Convention from Phonograph Record magazine (thanks, Frank). I tried to track down any reviews of the gig while writing the book and came up short (this wasn't in the Ardent archives nor available through Rock's Back Pages). It's a long (and glowing) piece by Mike Saunders. Here's the partial set list based on Mike's account:

Feel (opener)

In The Street

My Life Is Right

Don't Lie To Me

When My Baby's Beside Me

[after "six or seven songs" Alex switched to acoustic]

Thirteen

Ballad of El Goodo

[after four acoustic songs Alex back to the Stratocaster]

rest of set included:

My Life Is Right (again)

Come On Now (Kinks)

Around and Around (Chuck Berry)

Slut

encore:

The Letter [Alex introduced as "This is a song you may remember..."]

2009-09-15T09:46:00.001-07:00

What was that English band that released a bunch of stuff last week??

Well, today's the day for the children by the millions (okay, thousands) have been waiting for.

Regarding the live disc, I've read some comments elsewhere by a few who are disappointed that the entire recordings weren't presented in their original order. What I can tell you is that a total of 36 songs were recorded. Four songs were performed three times each. Eight songs were performed twice. Eight songs were performed once. So with the twenty songs on the disc, you're getting the best take of the twelve songs performed more than once and not missing out on any one song. The running order seems to have remained fairly close to the order in which they were originally performed, accounting for the combined performances of course.

Having heard the unedited tapes while doing research for the book, I can tell you that there is a lot of dead space between some songs – often longer than a minute – while the band tunes up, changes instruments etc.. I'm sure you've heard or read by various people associated with Big Star over the years that they didn't have any following to speak of in Memphis. Here you can actually hear it. They finish a song and there's almost NO reaction. Maybe one person randomly applauding. Mostly just conversation and the clinking of glasses and ice. Chilling. Wouldn't we have all loved to have been there and made things different?

I'll be back as soon as my copy arrives – might even be today...

2009-09-10T07:00:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone...the countdown begins to release date. I'll have the box-set on the 17th (ordered through Amazon Prime) but if anyone has it already or gets it the day of release, weigh in by all means. I briefly (three seconds) entertained the notion of trying to get a promo copy (after all, I've been out doing advance work for months) after the scribe for the local arts weekly let us knew on Facebook about already having his copy (jealous...who me?) but my bottom-line motto has always been "the most radical form of supporting the arts is to actually buy a darn ticket (or record)". (In fairness to the local scribe, his review will sell some copies.) Everything costs a lot these days and money is getting tighter. But if you're a Big Star fan, this is a way to vote with your wallet and get some mighty fine payback to boot. If all of us who have derived so much pure pleasure from second-hand and cut-out copies of the original LPs over the past 35 years ponied up this time, the band might actually see some significant revenue from sales.

2009-09-04T04:56:00.000-07:00

HWS Concerts Winter / Spring 1974. Going to wrap up the stroll down memory lane so I can keep an eye on the sky...the Big Star box set just around the corner.

Earl Scruggs Revue / Country Cooking. This was the Winter Weekend concert. You don't see Earl's name much these days (and the Revue's recordings are out-of-print and not available digitally) which is puzzling given that he is one of the true innovators and pioneers of country music and still living (maybe that's why – he needs to announce that he only has so many years to live and put out a box set and hire Rick Rubin to record him). The Revue was exploring the boundaries between country and rock at a time when most of the acceptance of that was stemming from the rock side (The Byrds, Grateful Dead, Dylan etc.) and the country establishment still looked at the long hairs with disdain (not knowing that a few decades later that "country music" would basically sound like Foghat with some lyrics about pick-up trucks laid and the secret that grandma told to grandpa and kissing your high school girlfriend tacked onto it). Country Cooking was a bluegrass group out of Ithaca with Pete Wernick, Tony Trischka, and Russ Barenberg. These guys have all gone onto to big things in the bluegrass world and Country Cooking is revered as sort of a supergroup in reverse.

We actually did some promo on the local country music station and brought in some of the "townies" from the surrounding farm towns for this one. I don't remember much about the concert itself except that Earl was great guy, the band was really good, and a fine time was had pretty much all – the townies and the freaks got on well. The only bad note was that Country Cooking insisted on performing Anne Murray's Snowbird. They did it in soundcheck, I told them it would not go over well, and they shunned the advice. When they played it for the audience, a lot of people made bird noises in protest.

Chick Corea and Return To Forever. I'll let you decide the cause and effect and just tell you how I see it: Chick Corea's work before Scientology is infinitely better than what came after. This version of RTF (the quartet with Bill Connors > pre-Al DiMiola) came after and pretty much defined pretentious, self-indulgent fusion. Rebuffed by the concert committee, a student on campus who was Chick's #1 Fan went to the student government and got the extra $2000 for the show. My one memory of the show was Chick twiddling the knob on his synth and making all these exaggerated faces like he was about to give birth to a cinder block. Those first two RTF albums (with Airto and Joe Farrell) are really nice though...

Stanley Turrentine. This was the feature show for Third World Weekend...back when campuses actually had separate living facilities for minorities (at their demand), which always struck me as odd coming right after the civil rights battle to do away with those sorts of things. I was way into my Pharoah Sanders period (never left it actually) so I didn't give Stanley his due. I later came to really appreciate his work on Blue Note and his much-maligned at the time work on CTI (which were urban hits and thus this booking). I've got Don't Mess With Mr. T on my iTunes right now...

Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention / Dion. Spring Weekend. May 3, 1974. When the opportunity to book Zappa for $7500 crossed my radar during the winter, the notion of the traditional student poll went right out the window. Zappa for this price was too good to pass up. Zappa's manager (Herb Cohen) dictated that we book Dion (who also recorded for WB at the time) as an opening act. He was in his post-rehab solo folkie phase. One of these days I've promised myself that I'm going to delve into Dion's long and multi-faceted career.

We were well aware of Zappa's finicky and somewhat demanding reputation so Peter Kapp and I thought it would be a good idea to go see the band two nights before our show at the Broome County Arena in Binghamton. We asked the crew what the band really wanted backstage in terms of food and drink and learned that they were all really big on organic / health food type stuff as well as good beer. We came back, cancelled our catering plans, and went to the local health food restaurant (run by Robert Ward's wife as I recall) planned out a huge dinner. A really fantastic spread complete with gallons of fresh-squeezed juices. I think the total came to around $200 which seemed astronomical at the time but we knew it would be worth the investment. Then we went to the local beer distributorship and stocked up on brew like Bass Ale – imports that weren't all that common. $4 for a six-pack! The food paid off as the band was knocked out, the roadies got over their hangs up about the gig (they thought the venue was too small for a band of their stature), and I knew that all was well when Frank stopped me in the hall and said "You guys are doing a good job." Only the road manager (who else?) was less than completely satisfied, asking "Got any guac?" (a phrase I still use today to express faux-dissatisfaction). This was my last college show but when I started producing world-class jazz artists in the early 90s the lesson stayed with me. I always make sure that the musicians are well fed before the show, going beyond what it says on the rider and getting the preferences from the artists or managers. It's the best investment a promoter can make (besides great sound). A well-fed musician is a happy musician and a happy musician hits the stage ready to deliver.

Frank had a great band with George Duke, Chester Thompson, Ruth Underwood, and Don Preston to name a few. You can hear the group doing the same set on Live At The Roxy and Elsewhere (some of the album was recorded within days of our date) and if you look at the photos on the original album cover you'll see the trademark heating radiators on the back wall of the Geneva Theater stage in a few of the live shots.

Unless Zack Chaikin comes up with a show that I forgot about, that's then end of my run as concert chairman. Springsteen played the theater twice more – in December '74 with a woman violinist in the band and then July 1975 (promoted by Springsteen's manager with help from Peter Kapp). It was a really wild experience pulling into the parking lot. School was long out of session but kids had driven from all over the region to be at the show (on a weeknight), the second night of the Born To Run tour. Springsteen hit the stage like a running back at the five yard line about to explode into the end zone. I'm surprised the theater was still standing by the time he finished the encore.

All of these successful rock shows planted the seed that the Geneva Theater – a run-down movie theater that was eventually sold for back taxes – could be a regional performing arts center. The name has reverted to its original moniker – The Smith Opera House – and there's been a lot of renovations but the theater still feels (and smells) the same as it did back when these monumental shows took place. A few years ago my son and I attended a sold-out performance by the Derek Trucks Band and absent the mushroom cloud of smoke, it felt just like 1973. Looking down from either side of the stage were the backlit statues of Mozart? Bach? Beethoven? The ghosts of performances past hovered in the air. The sound was crystal clear and there still wasn't a bad seat in the house. After two sets and an encore, we walked to our car (past 410 and 385 Main Street, where I'd spent much time) and headed home. Over thirty years had passed and it felt like maybe...three?

Okay...holiday weekend and then back to Big Star...

2009-09-03T08:12:00.000-07:00

HWS Concerts December 1973. Livingston Taylor / Billy Joel. We had booked Livingston Taylor to do two shows in the on-campus auditorium (the fee was somewhere in the $2-2500 range). You don't hear Liv's name much these days but his first two albums (debut on Atco and then Liv on Capricorn – both produced in Macon by Jon Landau – partially making up for the abysmal jobs he did with the first Boz Scaggs LP and MC5's Back The USA) but those records were great in their own right. In retrospect, he would have been better off not being James's brother. We were happy about the booking.

About ten days before the show I woke up one morning (a Sunday) feeling like someone had kicked me really hard in the lower abdomen. Went to the college infirmary. They sent me to the emergency room at Geneva General. They looked me over, gave me some antibiotics and some pain pills. I went back to my dorm room and rolled around in agony while trying to watch a Buffalo Bills game (this was the year that OJ broker the rushing record). Within a few hours I'd gone through what was supposed to be a few days supply of pain pills. Back to the hospital and this time I was admitted where I would spend the next few weeks before finally having surgery.

After I'd been there for a few days I got a call from the agent I worked with, wanting to know if I'd booked an opening act for Taylor. I hadn't planned on one but he proposed Billy Joel - a guy with a debut coming out on Columbia shortly who was looking for work at any price. I had actually heard Billy's Cold Spring Harbor album and immediately thought that he was worth $500 for two shows but that decision might have been made easier by the fact that I was bored and medicated.

I didn't get out of the hospital in time to see the show...just heard a few minutes of it over a pay phone. But Billy came, saw, and conquered, previewing most of Piano Man and proving to be quite the entertainer with his between song raps. For the second time in a few weeks, musical lightening had hit HWS. Everyone went home for Christmas break and came back with copies of The E Street Shuffle and/or Piano Man. A few weeks later I was sitting in my surgeon's waiting room and the radio station was playing Piano Man...a huge hit.

I've been producing jazz concerts in the Buffalo area for the past 19 years and for me, nothing is better than booking an unknown new artist long before they go on to big things. The trick is knowing who is going somewhere and who isn't. Any one can write a big check to Chick Corea or Sonny Rollins. I'd much rather be the first person to book The Bad Plus outside of New York City. Or book Joshua Redman and Christian McBride almost a year before their first album is out. I'm still carrying on the HWS tradition, just in another arena. (By the way, my current favorite new band is Most Other People Do The Killing – coming in early 2010).

I've said this before, but one of the reasons that popular music isn't as good as it used to be is that colleges no longer provide a strong touring circuit for new acts to get exposure. Springsteen lived off of colleges before he hit it big. And here was Billy Joel, going from school to school for motel and gas money. Tickets were cheap, it was a receptive environment and people responded immediately by buying records and spreading the word. It worked for everyone.

2009-09-03T08:06:00.000-07:00

What do you want to bet that this tape spend some time lodged in the dash of a Camaro? I love how 8-tracks destroyed the sequencing of an album (the second side of this 57th Street > Rosalita > New York City Serenade is still Springsteen's peak in my book) and broke songs in two. Kind of like Robert F. Moses ramming an expressway through an urban neighborhood.

2009-08-30T13:18:00.000-07:00

HWS CONCERTS Fall 1973. I don't have the exact dates for these shows (except Springsteen) but Zack Chaikin is working through the Heralds so hopefully I'll be able to add them later.

LEO KOTTKE (September) You know that dopey gimmick politicians have been using lately about "hitting the reset button"? Well, this was sort of my concert reset button. Learning from the previous year's Preston / Kottke mismatch and determined not to open the year with yet another singer songwriter getting publicly plastered to the gills I decided to spend a bit more money and book Leo to play the on-campus auditorium. We booked two shows, they both sold out, and the small venue proved ideal for both musician and audience alike. Leo had moved up from Takoma to Capitol and his Mudlark and Greenhouse albums which he drew from for these shows remain among his very best in my book.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN / JAMES MONTGOMERY BAND. 10/26/73. Well, to the degree that I'm remembered by my fellow classmates, it's largely in connection to this show and the one that followed. This was the obligatory Fall Weekend concert at the Geneva Theater, our concert home in exile off-campus. After James Montgomery had cancelled for the Steve Miller concert, re-booking him seemed like a no-brainer. The buzz was still building and their first Capricorn album was on its way. Looking for a crowd-pleasing headliner who wouldn't break the bank, I had settled on John Sebastian. Hard to believe that things were moving so quickly back then but only a few years after his incredible run with the Spoonful, Woodstock, and that great first solo album he was seen as already fading (this was pre-Welcome Back Kotter). But like Steve Miller, he had a body of work that still holds up to this day and the price was right. (As I recall, another option was the English jazz-rock band Mark-Almond – same fee so I went with John.)

A few weeks before the concert Sebastian cancelled for reasons I don't recall (tie-dye jacket lost at the dry cleaners?) and so the scramble began. We had to do a show and most acts who had tour plans were most definitely booked for a weekend night. I called up the agency we worked through and started to put together a list of possibilities. One name I remember was Tom Rush. I was (and remain) a huge fan of The Circle Game and his first Columbia album but I knew a folkie wouldn't cut it for that show, especially after James Montgomery. Then the agent Ed Micone said, "And there's also this guy Bruce Springsteen whose got an album on Columbia." "How is he live?" I asked. Ed asked another agent (Wayne Forte – who went on to be a huge player in the industry) in the office to pick up the phone. "Tell Bruce what you think of Bruce Springsteen." Forte: "Best act I've ever seen". Me: "Seriously...how good is he?" Forte: "Best act I've ever seen. Book him and if you don't think so I'll personally give you your money back."

You get used to hearing hype in the music biz but there was something about the way Forte spoke that made me believe him. (For years afterward, I would tell people to buy tickets to see Springsteen and if he wasn't the best live act they'd ever seen, I'd pay for the ticket. Made the offer dozens of times...never lost a cent.) Peter Kapp (by then my trusted cohort) and I listened to Greetings From Asbury Park in his dorm room. It wasn't a great representation of Springsteen but we got the strong feeling that it was the right thing to do – it all just felt right – and so for the grand sum of $2000, the deal was done.

We advertised the show as "new artists in concert" and between the low ticket price ($2 for students) and the fact that it was Fall i.e. Party Weekend we had a good-sized crowd. The James Montgomery Band (by this time they had dropped "blues" from their name) got the crowd warmed up but even at the time seemed to lack the certain something that would take them to the next level (when I went back to Hull, Massachusetts this past May to clean out my late mother-in-law's house, James was playing at the main bar in town with J.Geils sitting in on guitar). But the band was rocking and the crowd was in the mood so things were good except for one detail...even after James Montgomery was finished with his set, the E Street Band was nowhere in sight. The roadies for the band had driven up separately with the equipment and were getting noticeably worried. One told me "Those guys drive like maniacs...they're probably dead in a ditch somewhere." They were seriously concerned, especially after the stage was completely ready to go and there was still no sign of the band.

Suddenly, an old black station wagon roared down the alley of the theater to the loading door and out poured the entire E Street Band (intact). Huge sighs of relief all around and they hustled in to get ready to hit the stage as the crowd was already getting a bit restless. In the middle of this all, Clarence Clemons pulled me aside and asked if there was a place he could go to enjoy a little "refreshment" before the show (evidently Bruce didn't approve of these things). So I lead Clarence out into the dark alley and stood there acting as a lookout for him while he got ready for the show. We had this brief conversation:

Me: "Too bad you missed the James Montgomery Band. They were really good."

Clarence: " Yeah?"

Me: "Yeah, they were good..."

Clarence (exhaling while looking down on me): "Well you ain't seen nothin' yet kid...you ain't seen nothin' yet."

I was like a scene right out of one of Bruce's concert raps. Me and the Big Man. In the dark alley. The whole game about to go down, And The Big Man guaranteeing the final score...

The band came out, Bruce sat down at the piano, and they proceeded to start New York City Serenade off the yet to be released second album. Not a rocking start to the set – there was even some nervous shifting around in the seats – but Bruce poured himself into it. I was ten feet behind him in the wings by myself (we had really tightened security by then – no one got backstage except a useful few) feeling it all unfold. He finished to some decent applause for an unknown guy playing a never before heard song. Next up was Spirit In The Night, Bruce still at the piano as I recall. Things starting to rev up. He switched to guitar. Played a few songs from the first album...probably Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street? and Blinded By the Light. A choice r&b cover (634-5789 was one for sure). And all of a sudden, the entire place is going bonkers. Standing on the seats, going crazy. I'm standing a few feet away wondering "why isn't this guy the biggest thing in the world?" By the time Bruce wrapped up the encores with Twist And Shout, everyone had a new religion.

If you're lucky, maybe you get one experience like this in your life. To stumble on an artist without any preconceived notion about what you're going to hear and then having your head and heart turned inside out. Everything totally unexpected. (Big Star content: this is how I felt the first night I heard Radio City.) We all felt really lucky. And, unbelievably, many of us would get the same experience a few weeks later...

2009-08-29T19:44:00.000-07:00

http://www.amazon.com/Keep-Eye-Sky-Big-Star/dp/B002BFO8HS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1251600110&sr=1-1

Amazon has just dropped the price of the box set to $53.99. For those of you (like me) who don't live within convenient driving distance of a record store that will likely stock it, a good alternative. Between Big Star and Prefab Sprout, the third week of September is looking good for sure. Also, it was just announced that The Box Tops are slated to play the local Niagara Falls a casino the day after Thanksgiving. It's a weird venue – like a lecture hall for a medical school. Will be interesting to see how Alex reacts to the scene. Well, it is definitely a smoking friendly environment so he'll like that...

2009-08-28T11:25:00.000-07:00

(Big Star fans refer to posts in early August for why the minimal Big Star content this month...will be back on point after Labor Day leading up to the box set. But note that the Steve Miller show was a Reimondo Production...a nod to the past and future Blue Reimondos through which I eventually connected up with Alex Chilton as all of you faithful readers of the book already know.)

Steve Miller Band 5/4/73. The year before we had tried out the idea of conducting a student poll to decide who we would book for the big Spring Weekend concert. There was some friendly ballot stuffing for Poco but ultimately we settled on The Byrds. This year we did the same thing for some inexplicable reason (and for the last time) and we offered up a number of bands in the $7500 range – the top price for all bands back in that day except those that could pack a large arena (see: Tull, Zeppelin, The Who, Elton John etc.). As I recall, the list included Hot Tuna and Seals and Crofts. Seals and Crofts took a lead in the poll but fortunately jacked up their price to $10,000 so we were never placed in the uncomfortable position of having to overturn the will of the people, if you know what I'm saying. One of my classmates, now the mayor of his city, came up to me to lobby for the chance to hear the jasmine blowing through his mind and when I acted less than enthused he replied. "C'mon Bruce, a little wine, a little reefer, a little Seals and Crofts on the Quad..." [the Quad was the main campus open space hangout - would have made it difficult to sell tickets for starters...] I still use that phrase to this day to apply to a situation that is just a little too groovy for my chi...

There was pretty strong backing on the committee for Steve Miller (always one of my favorites) and so the deal was made. Steve's first five albums for Capitol were all great but since Number Five he had put out two now-forgotten clunkers (Rock Love and Recall the Beginning...A Journey From Eden) that even those of us who were in his corner had trouble saying much good about. They were (and remain) pretty lame...the work of an artist treading water with inspiration drifting away. So Steve was in a career lull (thus we could afford him) for sure. And back then, two years was an eternity if that's when your last good LP was released. Little did we know that there was an album called The Joker already in the can...

The show was sold out in advance (despite some protests over the $2.50 ticket prices for students...usually from kids who actually had a lot of money) so everything was looking good until early afternoon the day of the show. The James Montgomery Band was canceling – lead singer James had a bad throat. The band was getting a buzz as Boston's answer to the Allman Brothers (they were even signed to Capricorn but hadn't put out an album yet) so we were disappointed. I made a few calls, was offered a few unappealing solo acts (Chi "Thunder and Lightening" Coltrane was one - now Alice C. would have been a different story) and decided to just go with Steve Miller.

My first interaction with Steve Miller was when I walked into his dressing room with his road manager Lester (a Vietnam vet who was way cool in a Shaft kind of way) to explain the situation. Lester said, "James had to cancel" and without a pause Steve replied, "Okay, we'll do two sets." Just like that. Steve wasn't a rock star with a show to put on. He was (and remains) a working musician – someone who even back then put on an album cover "The Steve Miller Band tours annually..." followed by two blocks of many months. We may have seen his career as being in a lull but he had been around pros his entire life (Les Paul and Mary Ford spent their wedding night at his parents' house, T-Bone Walker and other blues greats were frequent visitors). Even then he had the long view (a few years later he recorded the basic tracks for Fly Like An Eagle and Book of Dreams at the same time – stockpiling two albums worth of material in advance). A few minutes later when I brought in the bottle of Jack Daniel's that had been requested (a pint, having learned a bit from Buddy and Jr.), Lester intercepted it and said "That doesn't come out until after the show."

Steve may have been absent from the charts in recent months but he still had a great band, with bass player Gerald Johnson a particular standout. They did two sets and previewed most of The Joker (although not the title track). There was two disc live set from this period released on the King Biscuit Flower Hour label a few years ago and if you like Steve, I can't recommend it enough. If it had been released at the time, it would have been a real campus favorite. Also on the setlist were a number of classics like My Dark Hour, Space Cowboy, Seasons, Living In The USA and even a preview of Fly Like An Eagle (a song he worked on live for quite a while before recording). It was a smooth show from start to finish and most everyone went home happy. Lester came back to Jackson Hall and held court. The year finished on a definite high note, a precursor to even better things to come...

I saw the Steve Miller Band last week and the concert brought back a lot of good memories. Steve and Company played 2 1/2 hours. A lot of hits. A lot of blues and r&b. He looked great and sounded even better (superb six-part harmonies). The "working musician" model has served him well. No embarrassing rock star moves to recreate. Just a bunch of good-natured middle-aged guys laying it down with a clear aura of genuine enjoyment and grace. Superb musicianship and songs you can remember. Always works for me.

2009-08-26T05:01:00.000-07:00

Oct. 11 High Country. Another cheap-o show in the on-campus auditorium / lecture hall. High Country were a California bluegrass band signed to Racoon Records (the Youngbloods vanity label through WB/Reprise. Founded in 1968, the are still active today and considered to be the West Coast's premier traditional bluegrass band. Not much to recall expect they definitely provided 100% of your personal minimum yearly requirement for bluegrass.

Oct. 19 Chuck Mangione. Not a concert committee production. Chuck was just starting to get a name beyond the his native Rochester and New York jazz community (The Mangione Brothers had an album out on some division of Prestige - Jazzland maybe?). Chuck would soon have huge success but his appeal escapes me to this day (on the other hand, I always dug what Buffalonian and mainstream jazz hitmaker Grover Washington Jr. was doing even if when critics couldn't allow themselves to). Like dozens of Mangione shows in my neighborhood since then, I skipped this one.

Nov. 3 Buddy Guy and Junior Wells, The Fabulous Rhinestones. Here we were trying to get back on track after the Preston / Kottke debacle – with only moderate success. The Rhinestones were a band of veterans lead by Harvey Brooks (Dylan, Super Session etc.) along with Kal David (Illinois Speed Press with Paul Cotton of Poco) and Marty Grebb (played with Bonnie Raitt for a long time). The had an album out on the Gulf and Western label and a minor FM hit with What A Wonderful Thing we have (a great song if I recall but is long out of print in every format so I can't check that out). I was really focused on running a tight show – we used stage passes for the first time to keep the backstage area clear – and generally making sure we took care of business. The phrase I use to day is "crisp presentation".

It was at this show that something clicked in my head in terms of dealing with "famous" people (or at least people you admire). They are at the venue to do a job. You are there to help them. If you confine your interaction to that sphere you are basically on the same plane, working together towards the same goal. You are equals. There's not need to get nervous or fret about what you're going to say to them. You don't have to lurk around waiting to ask them a question about something they did in the past that will make them immediately realize that you alone among all their fans are really, really special. So even though Harvey Brooks had played on Highway 61 Revisited, I just talked to him about whatever we needed to figure out to get the show right. That's been my modus operandi ever since – and the reason why I never asked Alex Chilton about Big Star until I sat down to write the book. Over the years I've dealt with a lot of different people who might inspire a bit of awe – from Frank Zappa to Keith Jarrett, Pharoah Sanders, and Sonny Rollins. I've found that if you keep things on a professional level, it all works fine (and you never have those "I can't believe I said that..." moments.

Buddy Guy and Junior Wells had recently put out an album on Atco, recorded a few years earlier in Miami with Eric Clapton on rhythm guitar (it's still one of their best albums). They had a reputation for being a great live act – that was their thing – but I made another rookie mistake (or at least facilitated it). Before the show I went down to their dressing room to say hello and asked them if wanted anything to drink. One of them asked for Seagram's VO and the other asked for Chivas Regal. Eager to prove that I wasn't one of those (white) promoters who might have ripped them off in the past, I peeled off some bills and sent someone down to the local liquor store with the instructions to buy a fifth for each. (I stuck to beer so had no idea how much potential damage an entire bottle could do but would soon find out.)

The Rhinestones finished up their set – a good opening act – and their roadies cleared the stage. Buddy and Junior didn't have much equipment (it all fit in the trunk of their large Caddy) but no one was making a move to set up so I went down to their dressing room to find out what the deal was. Buddy and Junior were kind of weird – like they expected us, the college kids, to know how to set up their amps and drums. Then I looked over and saw the two liquor bottles, both drained to within an inch of the bottom. What the crowd got was the equivalent of a boozy late-night club set transferred to the stage of a theater. Some people left, some people stayed and cheered them on from the front of the stage pit. I remember being pretty depressed afterwards.

Dec.8 The Ohio Express. Another "Rage" in Gulick Hall – many kegs of beer and general mayhem. The Ohio Express had an interesting story. They were actually a real rock and roll band who had been appropriated as a front for the Kasenetz-Katz studio operation (also responsible for the 1910 Fruitgum Company). They didn't play on the records, they just went out and performed them. It was a way to make a living. They were relieved when they arrived that they weren't expected to wear the stage uniforms their agent usually made them wear. They just got up in their street clothes and played. Towards the end of the night they knocked out some of the bubblegum hits (Yummy Yummy Yummy) and everyone went a bit nuts. Rock and roll was getting very serious at the time and it would be a few years before the Ramones and the Dictators reminded us that it was really supposed to be fun.

1973

Jan 12 Dizzy Gillespie. Jazz was really in a slump at the time. Thus one of the true jazz legends was playing with a quintet for $2000 a concert (and probably around the same amount for an entire week at a club). This wasn't exactly cutting edge jazz (post Coltrane or about to emerge fusion), "just" be-bop played by one the co-inventors. Dizzy was always a great entertainer and it was tough not to like the performance but the reviewer in the college paper wrote that someone should "drop an amplifier on Bruce Eaton's head" for booking "the Stone Age Herb Alpert". That writer, Bob Meserve, ended up living across the hall from me next year and we became good friends. His record collection was stacked with orange and black-spined Impulse! albums and I learned a lot from him. We always laughed about the review.

The contract called for Dizzy to be paid $1000 in cash after the show (I have the contract on the wall of my office today). That was a lot of money to be carrying around in my wallet I thought so I put it in an envelope and slipped it into my sneaker. The dressing room was a science lab near the auditorium and I went in, untied my shoe, and pulled out the envelope. Dizzy was watching me and started laughing and soon the entire band was gathered around. I handed over the money and Dizzy mugged on and on – holding the money at arm's length and acting as if it smelled like a long-dead fish while everyone cracked up. A good memory for sure. One thing became obvious when I started producing jazz concerts in 1991: Dizzy was revered by his fellow jazz musicians across generations.

Jan 27 Rick Roberts. The former Burrito Brother (post-Gram) and future voice of Firefall in another of our $500 concerts. He had just released his first solo album Windmills on A&M. It was a pretty good as I recall and Rick would be cheap entertainment for a cold night in Geneva. He was pretty impressed with himself...more than we were.

Feb 9 (Winter Weekend) Flash Cadillac and the Continental Kids. Desperate times call for desperate measures. After not hitting our revenue projections for Billy Preston and Buddy Guy, we didn't have much money left for Winter Weekend if we wanted to have enough to book a big act for Spring Weekend. So for $2000 (including sound) we brought in the future stars of American Graffiti. Looking to hype the show up, I had copies of their publicity photo printed and advertised a door prize to the first 200 people to show up in 50s / greaser attire. It worked. We had a good crowd in the Geneva Theater in an appropriately celebratory mood. Not everyone on campus was as intense about music as many of us were and, truth be told, they would much prefer a concert like this over someone like the Feat or Boz. Flash tore it up to the point of several members of the band collapsing from exhaustion after the show. I don't remember much of the end – the late P.J. Miller had a big chain as part of his outfit, started swinging it around during the encores and clobbered me in the back of the head. When I came to the band was crammed into Scratch McCloskey's room next to mine in Jackson Hall. Still have some photos. I think Porter Brooks was there too...

Coming up: The Steve Miller Band...1973 and 2009...

2009-08-25T06:37:00.000-07:00

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article6793618.ece

Will be back with more HWS concerts tomorrow and then we'll gear up for the box set. But in the meantime, I read the new Mojo magazine (or at least new for the US) last night and buried amongst the feature articles on current bands that should be soon (and deservedly) forgotten was a bit about Prefab Sprout releasing their first album in 8 years (and demos from '92 at that). I happen to be of firm belief that Paddy McAloon is the greatest song-writer of the past quarter-century and that the neglect of Prefab Sprout (especially in America – their last two albums weren't even released here) is on a criminal level equal to that of the neglect of Big Star in the 70s. They're that good. I'll let the writer in the Times make the case but if you haven't delved into the catalog yet, the comparisons to Burt and Sir Paul are well-deserved. The production sometimes is "of its era" (it's 80s-90s keyboard-based power pop – Thomas Dolby for some LPs) but it's not overwhelming. But the songs are. I obtained a bootleg recording of the band doing some live shows a few years back with just a simple guitar / keys / bass / drums band and you just listen to it and shake your head...Beautiful writing on every level.

2009-08-21T08:33:00.000-07:00

HWS Concerts Fall 1971 Part I.

Sept. 15 Spider John Koerner. This was the first concert I booked as chairman. Basically the idea was to do an inexpensive ($500), easy (PA and a couple of mics), and low-risk (held in on-campus auditorium – at most the show would end up costing us a few hundred dollars). John showed up in a big pre-historic SUV that he'd borrowed from Bonnie Raitt (pre-environmental awareness) and did a Jerry Jeff – getting progressively hosed while rambling through a really long set. John was an early influence on Bob Dylan when Bob first left Hibbing and arrived in Minneapolis to (nominally) attend college. I wasn't aware of this at the time so Koerner was spared any line of questioning I might have had on that front. (At the time Dylan was almost in semi-retirement and I was trying to learn all I could about him.) Rookie mistake: I accidentally deposited John's check with the gate receipts so he didn't get paid that night. Didn't seem to bother him. We mailed it on Monday...

Oct. 6 ( Fall Weekend) Billy Preston, Leo Kottke. This somewhat odd double bill (in hindsight) has been on the end of quite a few "who thought that was a good idea" comments – even on blogs 37 years later. So listen up – I'm the guy who thought it was a good (not great...that idea didn't work out) idea. And here's how it all went down...

My original target for this show was Loggins and Messina. They'd just released their first album and were starting to catch on. They were touring like crazy and their fee was $4000. I also really wanted to bring in Leo Kottke, whose Takoma album was a campus favorite. Pairing the two seemed like a great double bill. I put in offers for both – this would have been in July when the booking for the Fall was really heating up. Kottke confirmed immediately and the agent I was booking through, who was doing a lot of L&M dates for colleges, thought that they would confirm fairly quickly also. But they didn't. They were getting hotter by the week, getting flooded with offers (some more lucrative), and adjusting their routing by the day. I've since learned through experience over the past few decades that the longer a date takes to be confirmed, the less likely it will happen. That's what happened here. What seemed like a sure thing fell apart when they decided to hit the West Coast. So now faced with a booked theater and and opening act I went looking for a headliner in my price range. In the HWS tradition I was wanted someone on the way up like Loggins and Messina. Two names came to the forefront: JoJo Gunne (with some ex-Spirit members – 12 Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus had also been a campus favorite) and Billy Preston. Preston had the Beatles connection, had torn it up in the Bangladesh concert movie (like my favorite Leon Russell) and had a summer hit record (Outta Space). Given that he had worked with musicians across the spectrum, from Ray Charles to the Fab Four, in my mind I was picturing a rock'n'soul gospel show like Leon (this was before YouTube, when you could check these things out if the artist hadn't been to your town yet). What we got was something a bit off that mark.

The show did not run smoothly. It was the first date of Billy's tour and the band's equipment didn't arrive from LA. They rented equipment out of Albany and it arrived late. Billy's road manager said he wouldn't play unless the piano was tuned just before the show (it had been tuned that afternoon – today I'd play the piano myself and then tell the manager to stick it if I thought it was in tune – but one learns these things over time). I ended up having to pay a tuner (the only one available on short notice on a Friday) from Rochester $75 (big amount for back then) to come down and basically fake tune just to appease him. The show was considerably less than sold out and the audience was more polarized than you'd normally get back then. There were people there to see Preston and people there to see Kottke. Period.

This became a show that you just wanted to get through. Kottke did okay for his fans but both Leo and the listeners had to work really hard to connect. There didn't seem to be a lot of energy in the hall. Billy Preston came out with the attitude (and the volume – really cranked up) that he was already a rock star (talk about a wig!) The set went by in a blur (that happens when you're watching a concert that isn't working out the way you had hoped) but my overall impression was that he wasn't really interested in working the crowd on an organic level – just blast them into submission. He was disappointed that the hall wasn't packed with adoring fans ready to rubber stamp his certain superstardom – which is probably one reason why despite a few more hits it never really came (the following year some guy named Bruce took a crowd the same size and sent them into orbit). The band was just there to back him up – any chemistry they shared had occured backstage. A few years later I saw Billy playing keyboards for the Stones when he literally jump-started a crowd that was enduring a lethargic Stones set (they have to be the most overrated live band of all-time) with a couple of numbers that brought the crowd to their feet mid-set and forced Mick and Keith to try to match him. (But then Mick and Keith fired him after he started showing up with his own soundman just for the keyboards.) At the end of the evening I found out that I'd underestimated how much business we were going to do at the door – in order to pay the security etc. I literally had to use the very last quarter we had taken in (tickets were probably in the range of $2.50 or something on that order) to send everyone home paid in full.

The bad vibes lingered. Early the next morning I was awakened out my slumber by a call from my faculty advisor Al Beretta who wanted to know "what the hell had happened." As it was being reported in that morning's Geneva paper, Billy had been arrested after kicking his door down at the local Chanticleer Motel. Turns out that he'd gone to the Twin Oaks (local bar), downed many shots of tequila, became progressively bummed out that there were no groupies in sight, and then took it out on the door (with his six-inch platforms no doubt).

This is the origin of why when I book an artist today the second question I ask (after the fee) is "How are they to work with?" Life is too short...

Coming up: Buddy, Junior, and bad bad whiskey...

2009-08-18T14:58:00.000-07:00

HWS Concerts 1972 part one:

Jan. 22 Happy and Artie Traum Warm up- Cassie Culver, warm down- The Elves. Even though double and triple bills were wildly eclectic back then (check the line-ups for the Fillmores East and West), this was an odd one. It would have been even odder if we'd included the "rap session" led by Father Malcom Boyd that the school administration was pressuring us to include (he'd been booked to appear elsewhere on campus and they were concerned that no one would show up). But this one was weird enough.

Ronnie James Dio must older than Santa Claus. My older brother's freshman mixer at St. Lawrence in 1965 featured none other than Ronnie Dio and the Prophets. Somewhere along the way they mutated into the Electric Elves. And then The Elves. And then Elf. After touring as an opening act for Deep Purple, Ritchie Blackmore recruited Dio as lead singer for Blackmore's Rainbow. Nobody stays with Blackmore long and eventually Dio found himself the lead singer of Black Sabbath (touring in recent years as Heaven and Hell). You stick with something long enough and you get to be your own boss...thus we eventually got Dio. The biggest impact the Elves had in this appearance was that their roadie dragged a speaker cabinet and left a long gouge in the gym floor, making our already iffy relationship with the Athletic Director tenuous indeed. That would begin the chain of events that lead to the historic preservation of what's known today as the Smith Opera House in Geneva.

Feb. 19 Little Feat. Remember that Little Feat album I bought for a quarter (see earlier post)? Peter Labonne (without whom I never would have met Alex Chilton let alone write the book - a brief commercial message - buy it and read the improbable story) and I wore it out during the summer of 1971. When I got back to school and the concert committee started meeting I played it for Tim Yolen (not the other way around as reported in The Pulteney Street Survey) and started lobbying to book the Feat. Tim dug the record (who wouldn't) and eventually he just said, "They're your band...it's your show. Book them." So for the princely sum of $750 I booked Little Feat – the original quartet – for Winter Weekend. We somehow decided to skip the opening act and have them do two sets so the fee was renegotiated to $1250. The rider for the band was only one page long and included such precise and demanding details as "a professional sound system" (the jazz groups I book today sometimes have entire pages on their monitor requirements), twelve microphones including stands (wouldn't want to forget them), and a piano (no specification) tuned to A440. That was about it. For one of the greatest bands ever.

We hyped the show on campus the best we could for a band with one album (Sailin' Shoes wouldn't be released for a month or two) and given that it was Winter Weekend, winter in Geneva, and nothing else to do but go to the Twin Oaks (local bar), ticket sales were good. But there was one problem. The afternoon of the show a major blizzard hit and although the Feat somehow made it into town (they had played at Amherst College the night before), getting the equipment into town and backing the trucks down the slippery hill to the gym loading dock was a nightmare. Trucks got stuck. The lights never made it. The starting time was delayed and delayed again. Finally around 11 p.m. (for an 8 p.m. show) the Feat took the stage under the glare of the gym lights before an audience that had understandably dwindled (ahhhh, the lure of the frat party). Eager to jump-start the proceedings the band started off at a really intense level. I was so exhausted that after a few songs I just sort of went numb. (Feel free to weigh in with your recollections.) The one thing I do remember clearly is hanging out with the band in the women's swimming locker room (which doubled as the band dressing room). I told Lowell that my friend Peter had had a dream in which Lowell and Fred MacMurray were serial killers. Lowell said "A lot of people have that dream." That version of the Feat was so good yet their success was minimal (Amherst by the way was a real stronghold for them – like Hobart would be for Springsteen). Roy Estrada would soon leave to join Captain Beefheart and three more would join. The band's fitful climb up (they never really made a great record after Dixie Chicken) discouraged Lowell to the point that when they finally got some serious recognition he had willed (and drugged) himself into being a secondary player in his own band. I often wonder what might have been had that original four-piece line-up had more success.

Feb. 26 Holy Modal Rounders. The annual appearance of the Rounders was a campus institution. For this show they played in a room above the cafeteria that held a few hundred people at most. By the end of the evening there were at least 15 empty kegs, countless tiles separated from the floor (a combination of spilled beer, people gatoring, and who knows else why). Totally wild. If you look up the phrase "you had to be there", this would be Exhibit A.

May 4. Ry Cooder. Cancelled. Ry was going to tour with the band that was on his just released Into The Purple Valley (including Jim Dickinson RIP - see? another Big Star connection...) But he cancelled the tour much to our disappointment.

May 5 (Spring Weekend) The Byrds. Remember that big scratch that Dio's roadie made on the gym floor? Well after a few cigarette burns were left in the floor after the Little Feat concert the A.D. gave us the boot. The problem was that we'd already booked The Byrds and there was no venue on campus that was suitable for the show. But when life gives you lemons, sometimes you can even make Vueve Clicquot. Somewhat desperate, we checked out the aging movie theater in downtown Geneva – The Geneva Theater as it was known then. What we found was a 1500 seat hall that had originally built for live performance. It was funky but you still see it's former grandeur. (Visit the website to get a sense of how cool the place was and is http://www.thesmith.org/NewFiles/main.html) Even though some students bitched about either paying the princely sum of $2.50 for a ticket or walking a mile or so off-campus, the show sold out. We had way more people than we could have ever fit in the gym.

The Byrds hit the stage with Lover of The Bayou and the crowd just locked in to what they were putting out. At the time they were near the end of a several year resurgence. There was some internal feuding going on and some members were getting restless. But that night, they were the best band in the world. The sound was fantastic thanks to the legendary Dinky Dawson, an Englishman who had established himself with Fleetwood Mac (well, at least we got someone associated with them) as one of the pre-eminent sound system pioneers in rock and was doing sound for The Byrds. His stereo WEM system sounded perfect in the hall and between the sound and the crowd, The Byrds gave one of their last / best performances ever. They even ran out of songs to play and repeated Mr. Tambourine Man as an encore. Afterwards Clarence White gave Karen Inman (WS '75) and me a demonstration of his string-bender Telecaster, an invention of his that made it possible for him to mimic a steel guitar (and now used a lot by Nashville players). Clarence was run down by a drunk driver a year later and is often overlooked as an important player in the development of the electric guitar. But just ask Jimmy Page...one of Clarence's many devotees. How great was it that within a few months we got to see Lowell and Clarence??

By the end of the year Tim had decided that I would follow him as concert chairman (even though I would only be a junior). Even though I did a double major with degrees in Pol. Sci. and Econ., my real major was concert promotion. Next post: 1972-73.

2009-08-18T08:43:00.000-07:00

Hobart / William Smith (hereafter referred to as Hobart or HWS) concerts – Fall of 1971. (Many thanks to Zack Chaikin for the exact dates.)

Sept. 27 Jerry Jeff Walker. I think we paid Jerry Jeff $500 for a solo show in Albright Auditorium (a lecture hall). He played for a long time, getting progressively inebriated to the point of incoherence. Those who were on his plane stayed for the evening. Everyone else eventually left. I inadvertently continued the tradition of starting the year with a drunk folksinger the following year (stay tuned).

Oct. 25 Edgar Winter’s White Trash and Grin with Nils Lofgren. The first concert decided on by the entire committee. Edgar's band included Rick Derringer and the late Jerry LaCroix - basically the same band on the Road Work album. They were rough and tumble guys. When Tim Yolen (concert chair) asked Rick how long he'd been on the road, Derringer replied "My entire life." They got paid somewhere in the neighborhood of $2500 and put on a rousing performance. Nils and Grin had gotten a big boost from Nils being on After the Gold Rush. But in concert, as on their records, there was something missing that kept them from going over the top. In 1976 I saw Nils (with some of the same bandmates) in a bar on Lake Erie south of Buffalo. They were on tour in support of Nils's first two albums on A&M (the first is a classic if you've never heard it). A Tuesday night – probably a fill-in date for gas money. They just set up on the floor in the corner and then leveled the place. I was with Kathy Burton (WS '77) and she prevailed upon the committee to bring in Nils a few months later to Bristol Gym (opening act....38 Special). But whatever magic they had night apparently couldn't be duplicated again. Reminds me of something Jerry Garcia once said – that on any given night, any given band could be the best band in the world. Doing it more than once, let alone with any regularity, is the trick...

Oct. 30 Peter Yarrow. I skipped this...probably was off seeing Jethro Tull somewhere. People forget that in the early 70s they were on a level of popularity with Zeppelin and The Who. A band that could be the best band in the world night after night. A tangential story: After I graduated from college in '74 I went to NYC to try to land an entry level job in the music biz. One possibility floated my way was being road manager for Mary Travers. PPand M weren't my cup of tea but they had been a major act and I wondered why such a position might be entrusted to a novice like me. It turned out that no one else would take the gig. Among your supposed duties was to carry a supply of her preferred toilet paper, anticipate whatever facility she might be compelled to use and then rush in and swap out the inferior brand for the good stuff. I passed.

Nov 5 Planned concert with Fleetwood Mac cancelled. This would have been the Bare Trees / Kiln House band. Booking English bands was always more challenging given the tour logistics. I tried to book them a few years later (along with the King Crimson Lark's Tongue In Aspic group) and came up short.

Nov. 5 ( Fall Weekend) Boz Scaggs. For $2750 (or something close to that), we booked Boz as a replacement for the Mac. He was touring in support of the Boz Scaggs and Band album (Boz's first three Columbia albums remain hard to find on CD but are all excellent). He had the full band with horns and they were just great. The only problem was the audience was largely apathetic to the point that even after doing Somebody Loan Me A Dime (how can you not respond to that song???) they didn't get an encore (pencilled in as Dime A Dance Romance from Steve Miller's Sailor album). Afterwards the band was disappointed and to this day that performance had the biggest disconnect between quality (high) and audience reaction (low) that I've witnessed. I recently got a soundboard recording of the band done within a few months of this show and it backs up my memory of how good they were...

Dec. 5 The Kinks and Snake Drive. Chairman Tim was determined to land the Kinks, even if it meant a 4 p.m. Sunday show right before the start of exam week. Which it did. It was a strange atmosphere – people definitely weren't in a party mood with exams looming the next day. But with English bands, you had to fit their schedule and they were playing LeMoyne college in Syracuse the night before. They were touring in support of Muswell Hillbillies and did the exact same (short) set, except we got an encore of one their early hits due to a small group of diehards who wouldn't quit cheering and somehow touched the heart of the otherwise grumpy Ray Davies. It was the last day of their tour and they were probably back in England by the time we started sweating through our first exams...(I have no idea who Snake Drive were - probably a local band - but R.L. Burnside had a song of the same name and there's a killer version of it on the first Panther Burns album with Alex Chilton - there's your Big Star connection for this post, however tentative)

2009-08-17T07:38:00.000-07:00

http://www.rhinohandmade.com/browse/ProductLink.lasso?Number=521305

The deluxe Rhino Handmade 2-CD version of Chris Bell's I Am The Cosmos is now available. If you've heard it, please post a review. Or at least let us know if it's essential, interesting, or for completists only.

2009-08-17T06:45:00.001-07:00

Hobart and William Smith concerts 1970-71 (Big Star fans see August 5 post for explanation of this detour). Like a lot of kids back then, the most important part of what I took to school for my freshman year was my box of LPs. To this day whenever I hear After The Gold Rush, John Barleycorn Must Die, or Alone Together, I'm instantly transported back to my little single room in Hale Hall. Colleges and universities today tend to spend their budget for concerts on one or two big shows, usually overpaying through the nose (agents commit the equivalent of robbery when dealing with colleges) for a handful of big name acts. But beginning at the tail end of the 60s and going into the early 1980s, colleges were a key touring circuit for artists. Colleges were a vital source of gigs that unfortunately has largely dried up. They presented lots of concerts throughout the year – big name artists (if you could afford them), up and comers, older legends – all kinds of music . A concert committee was expected to present shows throughout a semester and, as a result, the students were savvy bookers. They knew enough not to blow their entire budget on Akon (or the equivalent). Just from my limited experience I can name quite a few college promoters from back then who went on to become prominent in the industry. The kids who were into music lobbied to get on the concert committee. It was the hottest position in student government.

By the time I arrived, Hobart had already begun to establish a reputation as a school that was a step ahead in concert promotion. My freshman year role was confined to being an eager member of the audience. Concerts were held in the small gym on a foot-high stage. Fall Weekend featured Leon Russell, just starting out as a solo artist after his stint with Joe Cocker and Delaney and Bonnie. He started his concert with a mesmerizing solo version of Wild Horses (RIP Jim Dickinson) and then went from there, adding the Shelter People (Leon's second album was mixed by John Fry at Ardent). It was a fantastic performance and made me eager to see him again when he performed at a converted bowling alley in Buffalo the following August (with opener Freddie King). On that blistering hot summer night, just a few days after the Concert For Bangladesh, Leon gave one of the most astounding performances I've witnessed (still one of my top five all-time). I went to see him a bunch of times after that hoping for a repeat of the deep soul he showed at Hobart or the intensity in the bowling alley but Leon never came close.

Music snobs like to brag that they saw a band before they got big, begrudge them when they have great success, and let everyone know that "they were really much better way back..." It's really obnoxious. But, the arc of Leon from Hobart to the bowling alley made me realize that there is really something magical about experiencing artists when they're still on their way up. There's the aura of mystery and discovery that vanishes once an artist becomes established. There's a feeling that the artist and the audience are in some sort of experiment together. There's an unspoken invitation: "I'll keep driving up this road trying to find out who I am as an artist and you come along for the ride if you like what you hear." For the best artists the ride up can be long and dazzling (Beatles, Dylan, even Springsteen). Others hit the plateau pretty quickly. But cherishing that climb up is not just about rock snobbery – it's really an unforgettable experience.

The key of course is latching onto artists who are going somewhere. That's a tricky business that seems to elude most of the record companies today. But for quite a few years, the people who booked concerts at Hobart had the knack. We couldn't afford Elton John but if you wanted to see some news band from Boston whose first album was coming out on Atlantic in a month or so (The J. Geils Band), the Hobart gym was where you wanted to be. To experience a band that good without ever previously having heard a note of theirs, let alone have any preconceptions of what they did was truly mind-bending.

Near the end of spring semester two pivotal events took place. I was recruited to be on the Concert Commitee (thanks to a strong plug by the late George Callahan to chairman Tim Yolen) and I bought a pile of Warner / Reprise promo albums that the college radio station had received multiple copies of. Back then, the Warner / Reprise label was almost a guarantee of quality so for 25 cents apiece a pile of records by artists like Norman Greenbaum, Turley Richards, John Simon, and some band named Little Feat seemed worth the gamble.

2009-08-05T07:54:00.000-07:00

AUGUST...I'm going to take a bit of detour for the upcoming month. As I've alluded to elsewhere, I produced concerts at Hobart and William Smith College in Geneva NY in the early 1970s. We were a small school, unable to write out big checks for artists like Jethro Tull, the Grateful Dead, or Elton John as nearby schools like Syracuse and Cornell were able to. But we had a student population that was intensely interested in music and supported whatever the concert committee presented. As a result, we were able to focus on relatively unknown or upcoming artists as well as veterans who didn't necessarily have a hit record at the time. Some of the concerts at the school during this period have become legendary and whenever I go back to school for a reunion, that's all people want to talk to me about. To the extent that I am remembered, I'm introduced to spouses as "the guy who was responsible for all those concerts I've told you about"...and then the spouse duly rolls his or her eyes, having heard the stories umpteen times. I wasn't the first nor last in a string of student promoters who put together the series of shows (three of us actually went on to be in the concert business at one time or another) so I can only tell my part of the tale. Last year the alumnae magazine did a cover story on the concerts of yore. As cool as it was, it was riddled with factual error. So for the next few weeks I'm going to travel chronologically through the shows. For those of you who weren't there, I'm going to try to put the events in the broader context of what was going on in the music business back then and how it differs (monumentally) from today. As far as any connection to Big Star, there isn't one. Except that it will become readily apparent that if I'd heard a Big Star record when they were first released, I would have booked them at Hobart at the first chance. There would have most certainly been a date in Geneva during the Radio City tour plugged right in between Boston, Syracuse and Niagara Falls.

2009-07-22T16:59:00.001-07:00

Had hoped to write a longer second installment about Rock City by now but have been swamped. So just go to amazon.com and download the song "Seems So Long" – a song that should have been an FM classic rock standard. Crank it up in your car and we'll talk about it next week.

2009-07-16T11:22:00.000-07:00

ROCK CITY 2009. Any serious Big Star fan knows about Rock City, the pre-Big Star "band" that included Thomas Dean Eubanks on bass as well as Chris Bell, Terry Manning, and Jody Stephens. But was it really a band that morphed into Big Star (on the first Rock City album that was finally released a few years back on Manning's Lucky Seven Label there are even a few Bell songs that ended up on #1 Record) or something else entirely? In the liner notes to the recently released second Rock City album "Who Can Find The Dreamer?", Eubanks aims to set the record straight. Like any successful enterprise, musical or otherwise, there are people who will try to horn their way into the picture or claim credit after the fact. Big Star is no different. One undercurrent I picked up in my interviews for the book was a fair amount of exasperation with various individuals who over the years have trumped up their association with Big Star or their importance to the band. That's why in the book I only interviewed the people who were actually "in the room." I don't want to steal Eubank's thunder but he's very clear on what Rock City really was: a solo studio project based around his material that Chris Bell brought into Ardent and engineered to get the hands-on experience. Jody was there because he was a friend and a great drummer. Because it was an informal project and there was a shortage of material, Chris added a few songs (as well as a tune by guitarist Jeff Smith). Terry Manning liked what he heard and pitched in. This was in the all-hands-on-deck spirit that characterized Ardent during this time. There was no label interest in the demoes, Chris went on to Big Star, and the material languished in a tape box marked (by Chris Bell) "Rock City". As Andy Hummel explains in my book, adding "city" after something was a really common expression of the day. Thus if you had a record you thought was radio friendly, you might indeed call it Radio City. Eventually the demand for any material with a Bell / Big Star connection brought the material to the light of day, but according to Eubanks, in a somewhat skewed light. As he concludes in the liner notes..."No on else should attempt to take credit for Big Star save these five individuals [the four band members and John Fry]."

Next installment: the newly-released Rock City album.

2009-07-10T06:11:00.001-07:00

Hey Everyone - Happy July! It's mid-July and I still haven't turned on the AC. (I know, I know, the fact that the Earth has gotten cooler over the past decade and this is one of the coolest summers on record is just more proof that the Earth is getting warmer...just like the weak sales of the latest U2 album is proof that they're getting more popular...and Boston isn't a college town). Just back from cleaning out 40 years of accumulated stuff from my wife's family home near Boston and it's been hard to concentrate on anything other than endless trips to the dumpster. Driving back home I listened to the Beach Boys Today! / Summer Days and Summer Nights. I'm not a good enough guitarist to be able to explain it in words, but I could definitely hear more of how Carl Wilson influenced Alex on guitar when I focused on his parts. There's this subtle little flourish thing Carl did that Alex picked up and...well, I told you I couldn't describe it...

By now I'm sure you've perused the track list for the Big Star box set (link to Amazon below if you haven't – they're also starting to lower the price for pre-orders). What's my take? I'll be thrilled to get it. My only concern before hearing it (CAVEAT! PLEASE NOTE! I'm not one of those obsessive fans who freaks out and criticizes a recording / movie / whatever before they see or hear it. This is just idle musing for entertainment purposes. Got it?) the use of alternate mixes for some of the tracks for #1 and RC to the exclusion of the LP versions (it appears that 3rd is presented intact). There's an assumption made that you have the original recordings (and I'm sure that few who buy the box set won't have the originals). But knowing at least some of the people involved, I'm sure there was good reason for the way things were done. I'll probably just load all the discs into my Mac and then make discs that edit out all the original versions, not wanting to mess with the perfection of the original discs in my head. Even if the alternate mixes are better (who knows? they might be...) I'll still want to hear them separately rather than in the flow of the album.

As I've noted before, Big Star fans are going to freak when they hear Alex's acoustic demoes for Life Is White and What's Going Ahn. The only track not on the box that I would have lobbied to include would be an instrumental track for September Gurls without the vocals. It's an absolutely stunning testament to the band as creative musicians and John Fry as a brilliant engineer. Maybe a little too "inside" for some, but for anybody who's ever been in a band, it would be revelatory. A textbook example of how it's done...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002BFO8HS/ref=s9_simz_gw_s0_p15_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1P5H4J5HJAA3QQEBQ70V&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846

2009-07-01T09:09:00.000-07:00

Brief postscript on Michael Jackson. There's an excellent article in today's (7/01) Wall Street Journal by Jim Fusilli (one of the best music writers around) that delves into the making of Off The Wall and Thriller in a very 33 1/3 manner. Who played what. How the tracks came together. Interesting little tidbits. All focused on the music. A nice antidote to all of the media madness. And when you separate the cream and wheat from the hype and chaff, Big Star produced in their short time more minutes of great recorded music than MJ recorded over his solo career. Hard to believe...just like the fact that Wilt Chamberlain NEVER fouled out in 1045 NBA games. Use that little nugget to win a few bets at your family barbeque this weekend

2009-06-29T18:18:00.000-07:00

Well, everyone seems to be weighing in on Michael Jackson so here are my few thoughts. I think that Off The Wall was his best album by far. A really talented artist still trying to be heard and great producer / arranger working on a record without any of the intense superstar / fame overhang. When I interviewed Alex Chilton for the book we talked about how much we both liked the song Rock With Me (which Alex has been performing for years). Alex thought it was written by someone from Earth Wind and Fire but I tipped him off that it was Rod Temperton from Heatwave (Rod also wrote the song "Thriller" – hope he kept most of the publishing!). Alex was a little bemused that when he plays the song some people think he's making some kind of musical joke (the cool indie legend poking fun). The real reason: "It's a great song."

When Michael ordained himself the King of Pop it reminded me immediately of another charismatic business-savvy frontman: Mick Jagger. When the Rolling Stones toured the US in late 1969 Mick insisted that Sam Cutler introduce them as "the worlds greatest rock and roll band" (as heard on the Get Your Ya-Yas Out LP). You know, no one was really thinking about that stuff back then. The "greatest" this or that. The Stones were working their way back from a few down years and there were any of number of bands that could have said that about themselves. The Who. The Kinks. Probably even Ten Years After or even Canned Heat. The first band to claim it would have everyone nodding their (stoned) heads in agreement. But the Stones (Mick) claimed it and it sure gave them the slack to get through an awful lot of crappy albums and concerts to this day. So was Michael the King of Pop? If he said so....I don't even know what that would mean. I'll always dig the Jackson Five's "I Am Love"and Michael's Off The Wall...but certainly no more than Smokey, Marvin, and Stevie (none of whom never saw fit to deem themselves The King of Soul).

2009-06-29T06:19:00.000-07:00

http://www.blurt-online.com/features/view/385/

I've been getting a lot of emails about the book and somehow last week this review at Blurt online didn't hit my radar until Friday. I can't tell you how gratifying it is as an author to read a review like this one from someone who is as passionate about Radio City as I am. Equally gratifying was a reader review at amazon.com from Memphis musician Jeff Golightly. Click on the amazon.com link to the right to read his comments and be sure to check out his power pop combo The Everyday Parade. Great sounds and really cool graphics (memo to self: check to see if they have t-shirts). http://www.myspace.com/theeverydayparade

Once again, thank you to everyone for your kind words and support. And in response to a question, yes, positive reviews at amazon.com really do help so feel free to let your inner-Lester(Bangs) loose and write a review.

2009-06-26T11:59:00.000-07:00

Last night was the annual Buffalo Spree (the glossy life-style monthly for the Buffalo area www.buffalospree.com) Best Of party at Shea's Buffalo Theater. The wife and I planned on sampling some of the award-winning food from local restaurants and then strolling down the street to catch a free concert by Los Lobos. Upon arriving at the bash I learned that Radio City had been cited as the Best Recent WNY-related Book by Associate Editor Chris Schoebert. Chris is a really fine writer (and obviously a Big Star fan) who covers a wide range of topics so this nod is especially appreciated. It more than made up for the Lobos being rained out. We arrived home just as the Michael Jackson news was breaking. More on that in the next post but in the meantime here's the review:

Best recent WNY-related book

Bruce Eaton visits Radio City

Has there ever been a cooler album opener than “O My Soul,” the “drink till we drop” first track of Big Star’s immortal Radio City? And has there ever been a sweeter tortured love song than “September Gurls”?

I’m the wrong guy to answer these questions—Bruce Eaton is a better choice. A frequent Spree contributor, Buffalo native, and programmer for the Albright-Knox’s stellar Art of Jazz series, Eaton is the author of the latest book in Continuum’s stunning 33 1/3 collection, in which noted writers tackle some of the greatest albums in music history—everything from Kick Out the Jams to If You’re Feeling Sinister.

Eaton’s selection of Big Star’s Radio City is a classic one for many reasons. Alex Chilton’s Big Star is the legendary lost power-pop band behind three shoulda-been-chart-toppers: #1 Record, Radio City, andThird/Sister Lovers. The reclusive, often difficult-to-pin-down Chilton is deserving of a study himself, but approaching him through Radio is wise, as it is the quintessential Big Star album. Eaton discovered it the way many did—not through ad campaigns or radio play, as there really were none—by simply spotting it in a record store, and recalling something read in the pages of Creem. “I had a good feeling Radio Citymight be worth the six quarters,” he writes. Thus began a journey into Chilton’s universe, one which later brought Eaton into contact with AC himself; Eaton “reached [his] summit” on June 26, 1979, as Chilton joined the author’s band onstage at McVan’s nightclub in Buffalo, the first of several encounters.

In addition to the personal details, the book breaks down the Big Star sound and myth in stunning fashion. Fascinating details are unearthed, including the band’s own opinions (Chilton on “September Gurls”: “It’s not a song that grabs me to this day”), info as to why the album was not heavily promoted (“Columbia executives deemed the cover to be pornographic by virtue of a day-glo poster of the Kama Sutra partially visible in the background of William Eggleston’s cover photo”), to in-the-studio tidbits (Chilton on “O My Soul”’s guitar work: “I think that was probably copping the lick from Dave Edmunds”).

The book does not go into great detail regarding Chilton’s recent output, but it doesn’t have to. This is Radio City’s story, and as such, it truly demonstrates why Big Star is so important, and why commercial success never quite came to pass. But what’s most special about the book is the way Eaton captures the precise moment that a record changed his life, and what that means. It happens to many of us—it certainly happened to me—but to be able to put that feeling into words? It takes real talent, and Bruce Eaton has that in abundance. “To me, the definition of a great record is simple,” he writes. “When you finish playing it, you want to play it again.” For Big Star fans, the same is true of Eaton’s Radio City.

—Christopher Schobert

2009-06-23T08:42:00.000-07:00

Welcome to summer. One of my all-time favorite albums is All Summer Long by the Beach Boys. It always gets moved into my playpile in June and stays right near the top for a few months. Last year while I was working on the book I started to pay close attention to the instrumental Carl's Big Chance. It's sort of a throwaway guitar instrumental on side two but I listened to it more closely knowing that Carl Wilson would be teaching Alex Chilton how to play the guitar not when the Box Tops toured with the Beach Boys not that long after the record was made. Some people have speculated as to how much influence Carl had on Alex and two overriding concepts came to mind. The first is that Carl was a lead guitarist who didn't see himself as a soloist working within band but rather a band member who played an instrument whose solo capabilities could be used to build a great band track. They came up with parts that fit the particular song and didn't focus on the particular part of the song where they could grab the solo spotlight. Neither Carl nor Alex seemed to feel a need to be the archetypal lead guitarist – an extended show-off guitar solo from either of them would seem as out of character as a Levon Helm drum solo. The second influence that Carl might have had on Alex is in the area of tone. Clean, articulate, without effects. Alex would eventually use all sorts of guitars and amps but the guitar sound of Radio City is largely the sound of a Fender Strat through a Fender Twin (or Hi-Watt) with no pedals. Alex undoubtedly heard other guitarists who employed the same simple approach but has expressed his greatest admiration for Carl Wilson.

Last night I was reading Inside the Music of Brian Wilson by Philip Lambert (also published by Continuum) and learned this little tidbit: the original working title of Carl's Big Chance was Memphis Beach! Although likely inspired by the chunka-chunka guitar rhythm from the Chuck Berry tune (a recent hit for Johnny Rivers at the time), it's also an eery sign of the future friendship between a kid from California and a kid from Memphis.

I came across an outtake of the Beach Boys doing an impromptu version of The Letter sometime in the late 60s. Knowing of Alex's affection for the Beach Boys, I asked him over the phone if he'd ever heard it. His reply, "I think so."

2009-06-17T12:56:00.000-07:00

http://powerpopaholic.blogspot.com/

Nice blurb about the box set and the book at powerpopaholic. Thanks! If you see a review that hasn't been noted in the blog, please send me a heads-up.

With #1 and Radio City being reissued in remastered from yesterday by Fantasy I've read a number of comments about the "brightness" of the records, especially #1 Record. There's a reason the albums (especially #1) sounded the way they did. They were recorded, mixed and mastered with an eye (and ear) towards being heard in mono on car (or portable radio) speakers. Most of my listening to Big Star for the first five years after I first heard them was in my Ford Maverick. A cheesy cassette system cranked up to LOUD. Sure sounded good. Especially when compared to the recordings today where there's no dynamic range. One thing that's been lost in the recent loudness wars is my ability to listen to new music for more than a few minutes.

2009-06-16T06:53:00.001-07:00

In case it hasn't hit your radar, a remastered two-fer of #1 Record and Radio City is being released by Fantasy today. There's quite a bit of discussion in the blogosphere about the merits of the various Big Star remasters / reissues but I haven't picked up any solid word yet on the new one. Back in 1970 I had a realization (when the kid in the dorm room next to mine played the same three records over and over through his humongous stereo for the entire school year) – some people own stereos so they can listen to their records and some people own records so they can listen to their stereos. I was definitely fell into the former category – using a modest but adequate system to listen to the hundreds (if not thousands for a few years ) of new records that I acquired. That being said, I love the sound of a good vinyl LP and abhor the sound of a bad CD (whether poorly remastered or one that's a product of the loudness wars i.e no dynamic range). My older brother works for Avalon Acoustics – makers of really high-end speakers – and my brother-in-law installs home systems that run into six-figures so I can appreciate the merits of a really great recording through an exceptional system (next time I go out to Boulder I want to run an original Radio City LP through the Avalon demonstration system) but in the end I'm listening to the musicians and what they were doing rather than the recording itself (and given that at least half of my listening involves "recordings of independent origin" – bootlegs – a decent sounding official release usually is more than adequate). But in the back of my mind I hold on to a fantasy that one day when my son is out of college and our retirement needs are covered (yeeh, right) that I'll have a dedicated listening room where I can pull out one of those original Blue Note pressings from the racks, sit back in comfortable chair with a good book, and get the feeling that Hank Mobley is right there in the room with me.

Larry has a great comment about the lyrics for RC in response to my post yesterday. He's inspired me to read the lyrics again and see what other little gems might be contained therein besides "I loved you, well, never mind." To maybe put a (slightly) finer point on my thoughts, I guess I'd rather have the lyrics remain just what my ears hear and my brain processes (however inaccurately) and my emotions respond to than have to read that the bridge to You Get What You Deserve has something to do with Chilton's reaction to the Vietnam War (pick your own example of critical overreaching and assumption). Thanks Larry...that is indeed a great line and it is Chiltonian to the max.

2009-06-15T11:28:00.000-07:00

http://www.sonicboomers.com/boomerangst/fridays-five-5

http://www.memphisflyer.com/SingAllKinds/archives/2009/06/10/big-stars-radio-city-in-book-form#more

A few of the latest reviews of the book. First up are some comments by longtime critic Roy Trakin – who actually attended the Rock Writers Convention. Roy was also a celebrity judge in the recent movie documentary Air Guitar Nation...highly recommended! A great laugh. Maybe next there will be an international "air drums" competition with the drum break from September Girls part of the compulsories.

Next is a review from Memphis Flyer,a local arts weekly which sparked this observation. Rock writers often focus on lyrics because they work with words. They have what they perceive as a common – perhaps even – ground with the lyricist – a keyboard with letters, not musical notes. Once the instruments come out of the cases, the writer is usually just another guy who wishes he could play guitar. The actual focus of those involved in the creation of Radio City was on the sound, the recording, and the song structures so that's what I decided to write about. When I ran my overall thoughts about the lyrics to Radio City by Alex Chilton and he said that he agreed wholeheartedly with my take, I didn't feel a need to explore the lyrical themes much beyond their casual impressionist nature. To start looking at them line by line would have reminded me as to why I switched my college major from English to Political Science in 1971 – the head of the department couldn't read anything without ascribing five layers of meaning and symbolism that if the author really intended, he would never have finished the book. Rock lyrics are more often than one might think just a bunch of words put together around an idea. And often what you hear on first listen is all there is to get...Which doesn't make September Gurls or Back In The Saddle (just heard Aerosmith on the radio - what does the song really mean? I dunno - some guy is back in the saddle and riding a killer riff – the title and whatever words I can pick up match the vibe precisely and that's all that matters ) any less worthy than something by Patti Smith channeling Rimbaud.

And about the typos that have been mentioned above and elsewhere...I can't tell you how bugged I am about them (and, yes, as the author, I bear some responsibility). But they're there (kind of like John Bonham's squeeky hi-hat on Moby Dick). They don't get in the way of material. And if everyone buys enough copies, we'll fix them in the second edition...:)

Had a few detours but now back to work on the Powell's piece. In the meantime, questions and comments welcomed.

2009-06-04T11:46:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone - I'm at work on a piece about the book for the Powell's website (big league independent book store in Portland). Will let you know when it goes up. In the meantime, all questions are more than welcomed. Thanks!

2009-06-01T07:23:00.000-07:00

A few things to start the month...

If you're a Big Star fan, you've likely heard the news of the box set coming September 15th. Thanks to the people at Blurt for getting the details out first. Here's the link to Rhino

http://www.rhino.com/store/ProductDetail.lasso?Number=519760

The Rhino site is streaming Lovely Day (which eventually became Strike It, Noel). One song that some of the Big Star band members mentioned as being one of their favorites when they were together that you don't see name-checked as much as some of the other covers they did was Lou Reed's Perfect Day from the Transformer album. Listen carefully and you might be able to hear a distant connection between the two songs. Or perhaps not...

I've heard the raw live recordings for the box set from early 1973 and they'll be worth the price of admission alone. A few observations....Andy Hummel stands out as a bass player who can not only lay down the foundation but also add melodic lines that add to the song a la McCartney and James Jamerson. Alex Chilton's folk and bluegrass roots from his time in NYC are quite apparent in his guitar playing. Given his simple guitar / amp / no effects set-up, he has no problem replicating his studio sound live. And as you might expect, Jody Stephens doesn't let the band slack for a second (he also has that Ringo "slow drag" hi-hat style down cold).

As always, thanks for the nice words about the book. If you can find your way to leaving a good review on amazon.com, it will be much appreciated.

Heard from Peter LaBonne...there should be a website going up shortly that has voluminous amounts of unreleased material (actually, pretty much everything he's ever done is unreleased) available for you listening pleasure. Will keep you posted.

2009-05-26T18:35:00.000-07:00

http://www.audible.com/adbl/site/entry/offers/partnerPromotions.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=Yes&productID=BK_ADBL_000815

Just released...the audio version of the book,.

2009-05-26T07:07:00.000-07:00

Some housekeeping to start the week...By request, here's a larger version of one of the photos in the book of Big Star performing at the Rock Writers Convention. The photos were taken from a contact sheet, quite small, and very dark so they were difficult to work with as you might imagine.

Here's a link to more about the Big Star boxset:

http://blurt-online.com/news/view/2303/

I reread Bud Scoppa's article last night (link below) and it got me thinking a bit about why Big Star has been often imitated but never duplicated. One main reason I think is that Big Star didn't confuse melodies with chord progressions. A lot of power pop sounds to me like someone came up with a (jangly) chord progression and then kind of strung a (predictable) melody across it. You can almost hum the melody as you're listening to a song for the very first time. Big Star wrote melodies that stood on their own. Listen to the instrumental track for any Big Star song and you'll be at a loss to imagine or predict the melody.

Thanks again to everyone for your positive comments about the book so far. As you might imagine, writing a book about something people feel very passionate about (and know a lot about ) is a bit daunting. But after holding my breath for a while awaiting for public opinion, I'm exhaling and relaxing. If you like the book, please consider leaving positive feedback at Amazon.com (link in the column to the right). It definitely helps to get the word out. And while you're at it, fill in your Big Star collection. If you don't have all three discs, now's the time to stock up for summer and get ready for the box set.