A Man Called Destruction: The Life and Music of Alex Chilton, From Box Tops to Big Star to Backdoor Man (52 page)

“I walked into Trader Dick’s”
:
HGW interview with Ross Johnson.

“We only listened to two records”
:
HGW interview with Paul Williams.

Chapter 21: Bourgeois Blues

“With Chris is where Alex”
:
Rob Jovanovic,
Big Star
.

“I feel like there’s a lot of character growth”
:
Walter Dawson, “As Usual, Alex Chilton Has Reached Out to the Unusual,”
Memphis Commercial Appeal
.

“The audience went completely berserk”
:
Tav Falco,
Mondo Memphis
.

“He played effortlessly”
:
ibid.

“the Oscar Wilde of Memphis”
:
ibid.

“I was interested in looking”
:
Jonathan Valania interview with AC.

“When the Sex Pistols hit”
:
HGW interview with Tav Falco.

“When I got with Alex”
:
ibid.

“a bit bewildered”
:
Falco,
Mondo Memphis
.

“Alex helped get the Klitz”
:
HGW interview with Elizabeth Hoehn (Lesa Aldridge).

“Alex and I would sit”
:
HGW interview with Gail Elise Clifton.

“Like its creator”
:
Nick Kent, “No Star,”
NME
.

“I got down to Austin”
:
HGW interview with Chris Stamey.

“Donna told me”
:
HGW interview with Randy Reeves.

“I hadn’t planned on backing”
:
HGW interview with Stamey

“It made Alex mad”
:
ibid.

“I did the organization”
:
HGW interview with Falco.

“Falco’s crew noticed”
:
Ross Johnson, “’Til the Well Ran Dry.”

“I saw the Cramps”
:
Ian Johnston,
The Wild World of the Cramps.

“The Cramps have been in the studio”
:
Joe Sasfy, “The Cramps,”
Unicorn Times
.

“any particular production style”
:
HGW interview with Jim Lancaster.

“We drive down burnt-out”
:
Andy Schwartz, “The Cramps’ Big Break,”
New York Rocker
.

“Since Alex lived with his parents”
:
HGW interview Amy Gassner Starks.

“dating underage girls”
:
HGW interview with Kent Benjamin.

“I picked Alex up”
:
ibid.

“it was originally another song”
:
Epic Soundtracks,“Alex Chilton.”
What a Nice Way to Turn Seventeen
.

“Big Star’s first was slick”
:
ibid.

“A very bright music nut”
:
Robert Christgau, “Robert Christgau: Dean of American Rock Critics.”

“
Flies
got away”
:
Barney Hoskyns interview with Jim Dickinson.

“Unbelievable record!”
:
HGW interview with Ben Vaughn.

“intentional spontaneity”
:
HGW interview with Ross Johnson.

“My life was on the skids”
:
Gina Arnold, “Ex Box Top Bounces Back as Rock Legend,”
San Francisco Chronicle
.

Chapter 22: Behind the Magnolia Curtain

“I don’t try to make the transition”
:
Walter Dawson, “As Usual, Alex Chilton Has Reached Out to the Unusual,”
Memphis Commercial Appeal
.

“I have been on the verge”
:
ibid.

“I went in with my best rockabilly”
:
Barney Hoskyns interview with Peter Holsapple.

“During the set”
:
HGW interview with Will Rigby.

“Panther Burns sawed through”
:
Tav Falco,
Mondo Memphis.

“We played every night”
:
HGW interview with Rigby.

“I’d go see the Randy Band”
:
HGW interview with Candace Mache.

“It was sex, drugs and rock & roll”
:
Drew DeNicola interview with Elizabeth Hoehn (Lesa Aldridge).

“was very amiable”
:
Rob Jovanovic,
Big Star
.

“was in something of a daze”
:
“Like Blood on Mixing Desks,”
New Music News.

“He got off the plane”
:
HGW interview with Bruce Eaton.

“These 1975 tracks”
:
Robert Christgau, “Robert Christgau: Dean of American Rock Critics.”

“From the minute I saw”
:
HGW interview with George Reinecke.

“Alex delighted in wearing pajamas”
:
HGW interview with Ross Johnson.

“Alex always had this knack”
:
HGW interview with Gordon Alexander.

“[T]his girl comes up to the stage”
:
HGW interview with Jim Duckworth.

“Steve McGehee had just come on board”
:
HGW interview with Johnson.

“The club had a really long bar”
:
HGW interview with Ron Easley.

“recorded in one and two takes within about six hours”
:
Falco,
Mondo Memphis.

“pure sick noise”
:
Barney Hoskyns, “Panther Burns:
Behind the Magnolia Curtain
,”
NME
.

“happy to talk about anything”
:
HGW interview with Steve Wynn.

“Also, he didn’t want to play guitar”
:
Bruce Eaton,
Radio City
.

“unconstructed rocker kind of guy”
:
HGW interview with Duckworth.

“Bruce had been doing this whole buildup”
:
HGW interview with Jim Sclavunos.

“Alex was at the low point”
:
HGW interview with Eaton.

“Sometimes you have to respect”
:
Greg McLean, “Alex Chilton, Maxwell’s, Hoboken, NJ,”
New York Rocker
.

“He seemed to be drunk”
:
HGW interview with Sclavunos.

“The boys in the band”
:
ibid.

“We had a really sweet night”
:
HGW interview with Hoehn/Aldridge.

“We were all lined up”
:
HGW interview with Sclavunos.

“He sort of sheepishly”
:
ibid.

“pointing his thumb”
:
HGW interview with Duckworth.

“Alex was driving a cab”
:
HGW interview with Hoehn/Aldridge.

“Alex’s mother loved him”
:
HGW interview with Vernon Richards.

“I wanted to quit drinking”
:
Jonathan Valania interview with AC.

“I’m not too ambitious”
:
David D. Duncan, “Alex Chilton: Then and Now,”
Music and Sound Output
.

Chapter 23: Lost My Job

“I went back to Memphis”
:
AC at New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, 1997.

“My mother said that Alex”
:
David Fricke, “Alex Chilton 1950–2010,”
Rolling Stone
.

“working on a political campaign”
:
HGW interview with George Reinecke

“It wasn’t really a funeral”
:
HGW interview with Adele Brown Tyler.

“scrubbing the big pots”
:
HGW interview with Vernon Richards.

“We were walking around”
:
HGW interview with Adele Brown Tyler.

“kind of personality crisis”
:
HGW interview with Rene Coman.

“I remember Tav”
:
ibid.

“shocking to approach music”
:
ibid.

“She was really nice”
:
ibid.

“Our tour manager”
:
HGW interview with Steve Wynn.

“the ground man”
:
HGW interview with Coman.

“We’d hang around”
:
ibid.

“Alex was re-evaluating”
:
ibid.

“For the second night”
:
ibid.

“I can’t go out”
:
ibid.

“the hustler vibe”
:
ibid.

“It was the saddest, lowest joint”
:
AC at New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, 1997.

“Do the twist”
:
HGW interview with Coman.

“Peter [Holsapple] and I went to see Alex”
:
HGW interview with Will Rigby.

“Frank called me”
:
HGW interview with Peter Jesperson.

“We rehearsed with him”
:
HGW interview with Coman.

“the three of us just locked”
:
HGW interview with Doug Garrison.

“I loved it”
:
HGW interview with Paul Williams.

“We drove up to New York”
:
HGW interview with Coman.

“I suddenly realized”
:
HGW interview with Jesperson.

“When Alex Chilton arrived”
:
David Fricke, “Catch a Fallen Star,”
Melody Maker
.

“We had a couple of rooms”
:
HGW interview with Jesperson.

“Chilton responds to sensitive questions”
:
Fricke, “Catch a Fallen Star.”

Chapter 24: High Priest

“Minneapolis was a great refuge”
:
Jim Walsh,
The Replacements: All Over But the Shouting
.

“someone who’s gladly said goodbye”
:
David Fricke, “Catch a Fallen Star,”
Melody Maker
.

“For five or six days”
:
HGW interview with Peter Jesperson.

“rusty derelict”
:
Tav Falco,
Mondo Memphis.

“song about a pimp”
:
Ralph Traitor, “Wildman on the Edge.”

“We knew the project”
:
HGW interview with Rene Coman.

“When we recorded ‘Stuff’”
:
ibid.

“It’s the oldest crowd”
:
J. R. Taylor, “Rock Hard or Die Trying.”

“what year I was born”
:
HGW interview with Doug Garrison.

“There wasn’t a big crowd”
:
HGW interview with Joe Sasfy.

“Big Time was a cool label”
:
HGW interview with Steve Wynn.

“I plan to continue playing”
:
Don Snowden, “Feudalist Star: Alex Chilton,”
Los Angeles Times
.

“a soul album”
:
Martin Aston, “Alex Chilton:
Feudalist Tarts,” Melody Maker.

“tightly astringent brand”
:
Robert Palmer, “Pop Life,”
New York Times
.

“rarely sounded so relaxed”
:
Parke Puterbaugh, “
Feudalist Tarts
,”
Rolling Stone
.

“long periods of silence”
:
HGW interview with Coman.

“the not fun part”
:
ibid.

“playing forever”
:
ibid.