A Man Called Destruction: The Life and Music of Alex Chilton, From Box Tops to Big Star to Backdoor Man (48 page)

BOOK: A Man Called Destruction: The Life and Music of Alex Chilton, From Box Tops to Big Star to Backdoor Man
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“All the other boys”
:
HGW interview with Adele Brown Tyler.

“Alex was nothing like”
:
O’Brien, written remembrance of AC.

“Alex had a big four-poster bed”
:
HGW interview with Bill Buffett.

“We stayed up all night”
:
HGW interview with Jobe.

“Alex was the person”
:
ibid.

“He had the kids”
:
HGW interview with George Klein.

“He was trying really hard”
:
HGW interview with Carole Ruleman Manning.

“Alex and I were amorous”
:
HGW interview with Leffler.

“I was renting a tiny”
:
HGW interview with Buffett.

“I kind of had a crush”
:
HGW interview with Adele Brown Tyler.

Chapter 5: From Moondog to Deville

“The first time I ever saw Alex”
:
HGW interview with Gary Talley.

“Ronnie was incredibly arrogant”
:
HGW interview with Russ Caccamisi.

“black as hell”
:
Cub Koda, “Alex Chilton: My Dinner with Alex,”
Goldmine.

“There was a dress code”
:
Jud Cost,
The Letter
liner notes.

“I didn’t care for”
:
Bruce Eaton interview with AC.

“We were as much wooing”
:
HGW interview with Caccamisi.

“enormous macho guys”
:
New Music News,
n.d.

“There was probably a group”
:
HGW interview with Pat Rainer.

“an explosive temper”
:
HGW interview with Danny Smythe.

“There were cliques”
:
HGW e-mail interview with Dixie Thompson.

“I was getting laid”
:
Koda, ”My Dinner with Alex.”

“We told Alex”
:
HGW interview with Caccamisi.

“due to his talent for gambling”
:
Jim Dickinson,
The Search for Blind Lemon.

“Everything I ever knew”
:
HGW interview with Wayne Carson Thompson.

“I wanted to produce a hit record”
:
HGW interview with Dan Penn.

“We worked out the chords”
:
Koda, “My Dinner with Alex.”

“I was a little hung over”
:
ibid.

“He was the darnedest thing”
:
Cost,
The Letter
liner notes.

“We had a big room”
:
HGW interview with Penn.

“We set up”
:
Koda, “My Dinner with Alex.”

“The guitar player”
:
HGW interview with Penn.

“After Dan got all the instruments”
:
Koda, “My Dinner with Alex.”

“Alex was one of the few”
:
HGW interview with Penn.

Chapter 6: America’s Youngest Hitmaker

“I guess my life”
:
Gina Arnold, “Ex Box Top Bounces Back as Rock Legend,”
San Francisco Chronicle
.

“When we cut it”
:
HGW interview with Dan Penn.

“The Memphis Strings were a little sloppy”
:
Roben Jones,
Memphis Boys: The Story of American Studios
.

“That was a big part”
:
HGW interview with Penn.

“We hadn’t really worked up”
:
HGW interview with Russ Caccamisi.

“never had to crack a book”
:
Cub Koda, “Alex Chilton: My Dinner with Alex,”
Goldmine
.

“We worried”
:
HGW interview with Caccamisi.

“Somewhere around that time frame”
:
HGW interview with Paul Jobe.

“I think he paid us $900”
:
Jones,
Memphis Boys
.

“Our manager”
:
Koda, “My Dinner with Alex.”

“We were talking about”
:
HGW interview with Caccamisi.

“I went in again”
:
Koda, “My Dinner with Alex.”

“Nobody was happy”
:
HGW interview with Caccamisi.

“My dad said”
:
Koda, “My Dinner with Alex.”

“We weren’t too happy”
:
HGW interview with Danny Smythe.

Management “was scared”
:
HGW interview with George Klein.

“It had a great feel”
:
ibid.

“We were driving”
:
Jud Cost,
The Letter
liner notes.

“Dan got pissed off”
:
Robert Gordon,
It Came from Memphis
.

“Dan was just very frustrated”
:
Koda, “My Dinner with Alex.”

“Tommy was a great guy”
:
Jim Dickinson,
The Search for Blind Lemon.

“My dad had played some gigs”
:
Koda, “My Dinner with Alex.”

“I was right up close”
:
HGW interview with Bill Buffett.

“I remember thinking”
:
HGW interview with Adele Brown Tyler.

“Sometime in August”
:
Bruce Eaton interview with AC.

Chapter 7: On the Road

“I liked the Box Tops”
:
HGW interview with Jerry Blavat.

“keeping me a little bit in line”
:
Parke Puterbaugh interview with AC, 1987.

“thought it was a regional hit”
:
HGW interview with Gary Talley.

“I’d never met any hippies”
:
ibid.

“He had a fifth of booze”
:
ibid.

“Jim Morrison turned around”
:
HGW interview with Danny Smythe.

“Suzi was a sweetheart”
:
HGW interview with Marc Benno.

“Suzi was part of the hippie commune”
:
HGW interview with Talley.

“This was my backdrop”
:
HGW e-mail interview with Chris Paul.

“We would tape it on Saturday”
:
Sarah Crump, “Noted Rock Agent, Radio DJ David Spero Shares Memories of His Entertainment Career,”
Cleveland.com.

“a giant cereal bowl”
:
Cost liner notes,
Nonstop
.

“I remember the first gig”
:
Cub Koda, “Alex Chilton: My Dinner with Alex,”
Goldmine.

“The Beach Boys liked us”
:
Parke Puterbaugh interview with AC, 1987.

“the recordings were so manipulated”
:
Koda, “My Dinner with Alex.”

“I didn’t go for that material”
:
ibid.

“As we were pulling away”
:
HGW interview with Talley.

“The phone rang at our hotel”
:
HGW interview with Louise Leffler.

“We discovered”
:
HGW interview with Smythe.

“We did all three”
:
ibid.

“We stayed in different motels”
:
HGW interview with Talley.

“The thing about Alex”
:
HGW interview with Smythe.

“Though Alex was the youngest”
:
HGW interview with Talley.

“By the time I quit”
:
HGW interview with Smythe.

Chapter 8: Nonstop

“People talk about 1968”
:
Bruce Eaton interview with AC.

“‘The Letter’ was upbeat”
:
HGW interview with Dan Penn.

“Dan called me one day”
:
HGW interview with Spooner Oldham.

“Alex and the musicians”
:
HGW interview with Penn.

“I was frustrated”
:
HGW interview with Oldham.

“It was laying around”
:
HGW interview with Reggie Young.

“When they got a real good song”
:
HGW interview with Penn.

“Ardent had a brighter sound”
:
Roben Jones,
Memphis Boys: The Story of American Studios
.

“a certain yearning bluesy quality”
:
Lester Bangs, “The Box Tops:
Dimensions, Nonstop, Super Hits
,”
Rolling Stone
.

“Memphis pop production at its best”
:
Jim Dickinson,
The Search for Blind Lemon
.

“At American, there was no clock”
:
HGW interview with Young.

“Whatever I asked him to do”
:
HGW interview with Penn.

“Dan didn’t have his finger”
:
Cub Koda, “Alex Chilton: My Dinner with Alex,”
Goldmine
.

“He and I always got along”
:
Jones,
Memphis Boys
.

“Dick Clark seemed really interested”
:
HGW interview with Gary Talley.

“They placed him”
:
Jud Cost,
Cry Like a Baby
liner notes (2000).

“The Box Tops”
:
Mark Lindsay,
Cry Like a Baby
original LP liner notes (1968).

“For years I tried to cut a song”
:
HGW interview with Mark Lindsay.

“I was just too busy for 1968”
:
Eaton interview with AC.

Chapter 9: “I Slept with Charlie Manson”

“Here I am at the top”
:
Gina Arnold, “Ex Box Top Bounces Back as Rock Legend,”
San Francisco Chronicle.

“I remember being amazed”
:
Michael O’Brien written remembrance of AC.

“I don’t know that anybody’s prepared to handle fame”
:
Parke Puterbaugh interview with AC, 1987.

“We’d get together”
:
HGW interview with Paul Jobe.

“It became the main hangout”
:
HGW interview with Gordon Alexander.

“I’d only known Alex”
:
ibid.

“This was when I was really starting to get serious”
:
Cub Koda, “Alex Chilton: My Dinner with Alex,”
Goldmine
.

Alex told one friend
:
Bruce Eaton interview with AC.

“I’d never seen that many groupies”
:
Puterbaugh interview with Thomas Boggs.

“I stayed at Dennis’s house”
:
Koda, “My Dinner with Alex.”

“the whole Manson family moved in”
:
ibid.

“got wind of that”
:
Neil Strauss,
Everyone Loves You When You’re Dead
.

“Suzi was laid-back”
:
HGW interview with Jobe.

“I never saw or heard them argue”
:
HGW interview with Alexander.

“Chips Moman came in”
:
Puterbaugh interview with AC, 1987.

“He loved this . . . Dylan song”
:
HGW interview with Wayne Carson Thompson.

“I think Chips saw that I had some potential”
:
HGW interview with Gary Talley.

“My biggest disappointment”
:
ibid.

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