Fears For ... Alex Chilton (lead singer of the Box Tops and Big Star)

[brentspeak]

(note: This article contains old information about Fats Domino, who has been since been found safe).

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/fears-for-fats-domino-and-alex-chilton/2005/09/02/1125302739005.html

September 3, 2005

The rock singer and guitarist Alex Chilton, 54, of the recently reunited band Big Star, was listed on the missing persons page of www.nola.com, the Times-Picayune's website, on Thursday. He remained at home in New Orleans during the storm, said a spokeswoman for his record label, Rykodisc, and has not been heard from since the flooding began.

[Arugula Latte]

1. A song for Alex Chilton

I hope he is safe.

"Alex Chilton" by the Replacements

If he was from venus, would he feed us with a spoon?
If he was from mars, wouldn’t that be cool?
Standing right on campus, would he stamp us in a file?
Hangin’ down in memphis all the while.

(chorus:)

Children by the million sing for alex chilton when he comes ’round
They sing I’m in love. what’s that song?
I’m in love with that song.

Cerebral rape and pillage in a village of his choice.
Invisible man who can sing in a visible voice.
Feeling like a hundred bucks, exchanging good lucks face to face.
Checkin’ his stash by the trash at st. mark’s place.

(chorus)

I never travel far, without a little big star

Runnin’ ’round the house, mickey mouse and the tarot cards.
Falling asleep with a flop pop video on.
If he was from venus, would he meet us on the moon?
If he died in memphis, then that’d be cool, babe.

(chorus)

[bhunt70]

2. no way

[gmoney]

3. Alex... hang tough!

Hope he's OK. Saw him play a couple years ago, and he was still great. I was glad to see he's FINALLY making some money ("That 70s Show" uses "On the Street" for its theme) -- he is a wildly erratic musician, but can really achieve heights of genius. I love his solo album "Cliches" which is just him and his guitar covering old standards like "There Will Never Be Another You" and the first CD release of "High Priest" is an all time favorite.

I hope Alex is OK. My guess is that he's been holed up in his place for a week with some scotch and some corn flakes and he hasn't noticed yet that anything is out of the ordinary.

[splat]

4. Alex Chilton of The Box Tops (My baby sent me a letter...) Hang in, man nt

[Rowdyboy]

5. Bad news....I saw him perform in Memphis and Jackson, Mississippi

He was soooo good. Had a beer with us during one of the breaks (he knows a friend of mine casually).

[mitchum]

6. Awww fuck

[kevinam]

7. Nola.com

I went to the missing persons page. There are 14,500 or so missing person messages. I pray it isn't that ugly.

Kevin.

[Dogmudgeon]

8. Ouch ... this is even worse ...

I actually know Alex.

(He's really the only big star I know.)

He's not my bosom buddy, but every time he played in Philly from about 1985 to 2000, I'd turn out to see him. I had a lot of friends who were musicians; Ben Vaughn (Third Rock composer) pretty much grabbed me by the sleeve to meet the guy, since I was the first one of Ben's fans to have also been into Big Star. Philly is a very tight town if you're into music.

He's a great guy. Not "star-like" at all. Although he's had epic problems with alcohol and drugs, he was one of the most sober people I'd ever met -- sober in the sense of being "connected". I guess psychologists would call that "being integrated".

A couple of other people I know are also missing. I've had to console myself with the thought that they just don't have reliable communication down there right now.

Looks like I've got a lot of praying to do. And I'm not even religious. Funny how that works sometimes.

--p!