Friday, September 09, 2005




It's becoming extremely obvious to me that striving to think about anything other than the countless ramifications of what's happening in the Gulf Coast is close to impossible. I've managed to avoid most TV news coverage (save for the Daily Show, but then again I get more and better news from Jon Stewart than I ever will from The Situation Room's 40 TV's), but even a short stroll around my favorite websites plunges me right back in the harsh reality. The Village Voice had a story about the specific cases of musicians being affected by Katrina. After the surreal business with Harry Connick Jr. and Kanye West's freestyling on the NBC telethon, the musician most mentioned in relation to Katrina was Fats Domino, whose whereabouts were unknown to most until a family member saw a newspaper picture of him being rescued.

The Voice blog mentioned a few others, but the mention that most caught my eye was Alex Chilton. For the uninformed, Alex Chilton was the lead singer of the Box Tops, best known for "The Letter." After that he was the lead for Big Star, which beyond having written the theme song to the Schiavo-esque That 70's Show (the version on the show is a cover) also produced some of the only listenable music in the pre-punk 1970's. They what amounts to 4 albums which can be found in pairs on CD: the shiny guitars and killer melodies of #1 Record/Radio City; the nervous breakdown of Third/Sister Lovers. Lately he had moved to New Orleans to dabble in whatever happened to catch his fancy, including the occasional Big Star reunion.

The beauty of the Internet is how quickly I can get information. This entry began with the purpose of touching on the unknown whereabouts of Mr. Chilton since Katrina. A little mid-blog surfing has now informed me that Alex Chilton has been found; he's safe and sound. I had #1 Record/Radio City playing in the background as anxious homage; now it's celebratory. Nevertheless, Big Star is grossly underrated, so the post stays. Glad you're okay, Alex!

Now I'm in a bar
That's gotta be where they are
Gonna dance in the bar
They're gonna fight on the floor
Faster than I can see

- Big Star, "Daisy Glaze"


Posted by Joel at 9/09/2005 12:38:00 AM