The passing of pets and entertainers sucks (as does the passing of everyone else). With a slightly heavy heart, here goes:

Pax Deorum — Enya
Lady Madonna — The Beatles (Love version)
Too Bad — The Faces
Cushie Butterfield — Sting
Penny Lane — The Beatles

One Time Too Many — Willie Nelson with Steve Tyler & Aerosmith
(I Don’t Know Why) But I Do — Clarence “Frogman” Henry
L’il Liza Jane — The Dirty Dozen Band
Waterfalls — Paul McCartney & Wings
Bargain — The Who

Bonuses:
Rainbow — Burton Gaar
Alphabet St. — Prince

Alex put on a helluva live show. What a privilege to get to see him both with Big Star (on a revival tour in the early 2000′s) and doing his own thing in New Orleans.

When I was 9 years old my neighbor, a teenage girl named Lisa , had copies of The Faces Ooh La La and Big Star’s Radio City in her room and we sat there and listed to them one Saturday afternoon while drinking Slurpees. I was initially there to read her brothers comic books but after hearing September Girls something clicked.

I went down to the Ben Franklin a few days later and I could only find a copy of Ooh La La so I promptly bought it, took it home and drove my mother nuts. It took me a couple more months before I could find a copy of Radio City and when I finally did I bought that as well.

I definitely was in love with that song.

Nights at the Turntable – Gerry Mulligan
Amelia – Joni Mitchell
Reggae Nights – Jimmy Cliff
Saturday Night – The Blue Nile
Op. 1 – Paganini 24 Caprices -Itzhak Perlman
Syeeda’s Song Flute – John Coltrane
Force Majeure – Tangerine Dream
Muskrat Love – America
All Summer Long – Brian Wilson
Bye, Bye Love – Simon and Garfunkel
Bonus Track: Morning Love – Ravi Shankar

yeah, he was pretty unique live. saw him sometime back in the early 90s i think in a tiny club in baltimore. very intense. this is indeed a very sad day.

1. Cheap Trick – “Dream Police” (Dream Police)
2. The Magnetic Fields – “I Don’t Want to Get Over You” (69 Love Songs)
3. The Beatles – “Wait” (Rubber Soul)
4. The Blasters – “Marie Marie” (Testament)
5. Pixies – “Bone Machine” (Surfer Rosa)
6. Big Star – “Slut” (Keep An Eye On The Sky Disc 4)
7. X – “I’m Comin’ Over” (Wild Gift)
8. Velvet Underground – “Pale Blue Eyes” (The Velvet Underground)
9. Neil Young – “Broken Arrow” (Live At The Riverboat 1969)
10. Lovin’ Spoonful – “Younger Generation” (Anthology)

11. David Bowie – “John, I’m Only Dancing” (The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars)

I Can’t Love You Anymore – Lyle Lovett
Cry Cry Cry – Steve Miller Band
Paralyzed – Roseanne Cash
Hank & Audrey – Katy Moffatt
Tall Trees – Dave Alvin

Orphan Girl – Gillian Welch
Go Jimmy Go – Jimmy Clantan
Out Of This World – Ricky Peterson
Uncle Sam – Jerry Douglas
Chloe Dancer/Crown Of Thorns – Mother Love Bone

+ Petit Poulet – Sinead O’Connor * for my Da, gone four years tonight *

Any Colour You Like – Pink Floyd
Snake Eyed Mama – Don Cole
Bring Me Coffee or Tea – Can
Love Will Tear Us Apart – Joy Division
School Bell/Tree House – Indian Ocean
Is You Or Is You Ain’t My Baby? – Dinah Washington
Metamorfose Ambulante – Raul Seixas
This Feeling – Quando Quango
Sympathy – Jane’s Addiction
She’s Strange – Cameo

Feeling Love – LEB Harmony
Small Talk at 125th and Lenox – Gil Scott-Heron

I see a little of Satch and a little of Fenway in handsome Cooder.

I’ll miss you, Alex.

The Next Life – Suede
Spring Chicken – Brakes
School Uniforms – The Wombats
I Love You So Much It’s Killing Us Both – Jawbreaker
Object Of My Affection – Peter Bjorn & John
Cry Baby Cry – The Beatles
From The Gut – Husker Du
Being A Girl – Van Hunt
DCWYW – White Denim
Corporate Deathburger – Millions Of Dead Cops

Eleven:
Que Onda Guero – Beck

The first ten from my whole iPod at random, right?

R. Crumb &his Cheap Suit Serenaders – “I’ll See You in My Dreams”
Jesse Crawford (pipe organ) – Humoresque [Dvorak]
Duo Uriarte-Morongous – Quintet mvt i ‘Allegro Brillante’ [Schumann, arr Brahms]
Los Punkrockers – “Liar” [fr 'Exitos de los Sex Pistols']
John McCormack – “The Lost Chord” [Sullivan]
Michael Ponti – Prelude op35n1 in Db [Scriabin]
New Dada – “La Quindicesima Frustata” [fr Sixties Beat Italiano v1]
Original Soundtrack – “Peabody’s Improbable History”
Clarence Williams – “Organ Grinder Blues”
Michael Ponti – Prelude op37n4 in g “Irato impetuoso” [Scriabin again]

because there were two Scriabins, another #10:
Spike Jones – “I’m Goin’ Back to Where I Came From”

turning it up to #11:
Maria Vlasova [accordion] – Petrouchka, fr sc 4 “Outdoor Fete at Night” [Stravinsky]

[skipped a Chinese vocabulary lesson because it's not music]

1. Ooh Baby Baby – Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
2. Haunted House – Leon Redbone
3. Choice of Colors – Jerry Butler
4. Nagasaki – Cab Calloway
5. Heartland – Willie Nelson
6. Soak Up The Sun – Sheryl Crow
7. Oh Atlanta – Little Feat
8. Shiver Me Timbers – Tom Waits
9. Watchin’ TV With the Radio On – Barefoot Jerry
10. Kow Kow – Steve Miller Band
Bonus1: Stir It Up – Bob Marley & The Wailers
Bonus2: Peace On You – Roger McGuinn

Knowing only the Big Star hits, I remember the pleasant surprise when I heard Chilton get political in “Guantanamerika” during the depths of the Reagan years:
Breathing in the mist from the cropdusters
Gazing at the stars that have lost their luster
“Sieg heil” to those in-god-we-trust-ers
Ooh ooh, drugbusters

So sad (and the Who play at the Super Bowl; no justice).

1. Float On – Modest Mouse
2. We Are the Champions – Queen & Liza Minelli (Freddie Mercury Tribute)
3. I Held Her in My Arms – Violent Femmes
4. Sweet Transvestite – Rocky Horror Picture Show Soundtrack
5. Bette Davis Eyes – Kim Carnes
6. Bad Businessman – Squirrel Nut Zippers
7. Tainted Love – Soft Cell
8. Song 2 – Blur
9. Token Celtic Drinking Song – The Pogues (How appropriate!)
10. Doctor! Doctor! – Thompson Twins
11. 29 Palms – Robert Plant

I meditated horizontally for a while this morning, to see if it would help me shake this sore throat thing, and put the iPod on to play the randoms from earlier. Right after the ones I listed finished, it went on to “Tanz mit mir” from Hänsel & Gretel, followed by “I Can’t Dance (I Got Ants in my Pants)” by Kitty Gray and her Wampus Cats. Coincidence? I scoff!

RIP Alex. 59 is too young.

There is a series of books called 33 1/3 that is basically really long record reviews. The book about Big Star’s Radio City album is one of the best in the series and is a great little history of the band as well as the album. I was lucky enough to have read about Big Star (in Stereo Review, of all places) in the early 70′s and managed to find their Ardent albums in the used bins. I’m not sure they ever existed as new, full-price records. Both #1 Record and Radio City were my favorite albums back then. I still have my vinyl copies.

RIP Chris Bell too. He died WAY too young.

A couple of years after I saw a review of Radio City in Circus I found both Ardent albums as $0.49 cutouts. My great musical mentor got to borrow & scratch them up but it was good to repay the favor of introducing me to the Mothers, the Bonzos, Roxy Music, Sparks, punk, etc, in Lima, Ohio.

Thirteen songs I didn’t get to hear on my crappy 50th birthday:

Are U That Somebody – The Gossip
Contract [live] – Gang of Four
Redeye – Vivian Stanshall
HAYDN: The Wee Wee Man in E flat (Hob.XXXIa:124) – Haydn Trio Eisenstadt
I Guess I’ll Have to Cry, Cry, Cry [alt] – James Brown
Wicked Annabella – The Kinks
Men 2nd [Bradford 10/25/78] – Wire
‘Indian Wisdom’/You’re Welcome [fan mix] – The Beach Boys
Song Of The Narobi Trio [Solfeggio] – Hot Butter
After Dark – Sparks

Angus Desire [Carling Academy Islington, London, 5/17/08] – Sparks
HAYDN: Frae the Friends and Land I love in E flat (Hob.XXXIa:105) – Haydn Trio Eisenstadt
This Angry Young Man Ain’t Angry No More – Sparks

Randomly generated from my “rock” folders:

1. Looking for Some Heat – Otis Taylor
2. Evil Hearted You – The Yardbirds
3. In the Middle – Grant Green
4. King of Latin Soul – Joey Pastrana & His Orchestra
5. Maybe After He’s Gone – Zombies
6. The In Crowd – Jimmy Page & First Gear
7. Nobody Wants a Lonely Heart – Arthur Russell
8. Kan inte sãga nej – Veronica Maggio
9. She Belongs to Me – Jimmy Page & The Masterminds
10.Incinerate – Sonic Youth
Bonus: Lion’s Share – Savoy Brown

Supreme I Preme – Finlay Quaye
Was It Worth It? - Pet Shop Boys
The No-No Song – Ringo Starr
It’s Five O’Clock – Demi Roussos
Tulumba - Ali Farka Toure
Cold Air – Natalie Imbruglia
Sailin’ Shoes – Little Feat
Walls – Beck
Uncle Jack – Spirit
Wear Your Love Like Heaven – Donovan
Bonus Track:
Assault On Babylon – Thievery Corporation

Europa and the Pirate Twins – Thomas Dolby
Quase Nada – Mo’ Horizons
Pennyroyal Tea – Nirvana
King of Bohemia – Richard Thompson
It’s Different for Girls – Joe Jackson
Fruits of My Labor – Lucinda Williams
Velvet – The Toadies
The Damned Blue Collar Tweakers – Primus
Now Get Busy – Beastie Boys
Regiment – Brian Eno & David Byrne

Bonus: Funnel of Love – Southern Culture on the Skids

Time to Fight to Ge Alex into The Hall of Fame!

Ashes By Now – Rodney Crowell
Dance Me To The End Of Love – Leonard Cohen
Armed To The Teeth – Abandoned Pools
Stepping Razor – Peter Tosh
Station Approach – Elbow
Head Over Heels – Tears For Fears
Dreams – The Cranberries
Dead Flowers – The Rolling Stones
Everybody’s Been Burned – The Byrds
Better Man – Pearl Jam

And: Stop Your Sobbing – The Pretenders