Stupefied: The Holly George-Warren Playlist

We have a special treat today in the form of a new Stupefied playlist from one of my favorite writers, Holly George-Warren. As you hopefully know by now, her latest book, A Man Called Destruction, gives the bio treatment to Alex Chilton - songwriter extraordinaire, rock star at 16 with the Box Tops, and leading light of Big Star. And of course, I'd be remiss not to mention that the cover photo is by none other than our pal, Godlis. 

Already at work on her next book (a Janis Joplin bio), all things Holly can be tracked at HollyGeorgeWarren.com including some appearances this weekend in Carrboro, NC, and next month in Nashville, TN, and Brooklyn, NY. The paperback edition of AMCD will be available in 2015.

Alex Chilton & Holly George Warren by Dan Howell

Big thanks to Holly for the list!

1. Box Tops - The Letter
2. Box Tops - Neon Rainbow
3. Box Tops - Cry Like a Baby
4. Box Tops - I Shall Be Released
5. Box Tops - Soul Deep
6. Alex Chilton - The EMI Song
7. Alex Chilton - Free Again
8. Big Star - Thirteen
9. Big Star - Ballad of El Goodo
10. Big Star - September Gurls
11. Big Star - I’m in Love With a Girl
12. Big Star - Kangaroo
13. Big Star - Holocaust
14. Alex Chilton - Bangkok
15. Alex Chilton - Can’t Seem to Make You Mine
16. Alex Chilton - Hey Little Child
17. Alex Chilton - Alligator Man
18. Alex Chilton - Take It Off
19. Alex Chilton - Dalai Lama
20. Alex Chilton - Thing for You
21. Alex Chilton - Thank You John
22. Alex Chilton - Guantanamerika
23. Alex Chilton - Devil Girl
24. Alex Chilton - Dark End of the Street (with Teenage Fanclub)
25. Alex Chilton - Never Found a Girl
26. Alex Chilton - Never Found a Girl (with Teenage Fanclub)
27. Alex Chilton - You Can Bet Your Heart on Me (Electricity by Candlelight)
28. Big Star - Hot Thing

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

A biography about Alex Chilton 

+ writing by Holly George Warren 

+ cover photography by Godlis 

= GREAT 

Order here

Facebook page

New documentaries of note: Big Star and Wax Trax Records

I'm definitely late to the game posting this, but that doesn't make it any less deserving. I've been hearing great things about it.

Official Website

Read a great piece about the band & the film by Chris Morris over at the Oxford American: "My first encounter with Big Star was in the mid-’70s, when I worked as a disc jockey at an FM station in Madison, Wisconsin. In the manner of the day, it was a completely “free-from” outlet—its official handle was “Radio Free Madison”—and its programming was wide open. There was no playlist and just one basic rule, almost laughably righteous in the face of Top 40 radio’s constant repetition: if a song was played by one jock, another jock could not repeat it during a subsequent shift that day. To police this policy, each of the seven thousand or so LPs in the station library contained a log sheet; when a DJ played a track, they had to note the date on the log so that others wouldn’t spin the cut within the same 24-hour period." Continued here.

Also of note is a new doc about influential record store (in Denver), then record label (in Chicago), Wax Trax. It looks like it may be pretty good although I was never a disciple of their entire catalog. They definitely have their place though, and perhaps the story is interesting enough for a film. We'll see (hopefully)!

Official website

Wax Trax Chicago

Get more details over at Slicing Up Eyeballs.

Andy Hummel RIP

Andy Hummel - RIP. Read an interview with him at Perfect Sound Forever.

Just Kids, Sunday reading

I can't recommend Patti Smith's Just Kidshighly enough. I finished it last night and absolutely fell in love. I have too many thoughts about it to get into here, but I will say that it touched me in many ways. And I've never been the biggest Patti Smith fan, but whenever I've given her the time, I don't regret it. For anyone interested in a post-Exploding Plastic Inevitable/pre-CBGB New York City this is a must-read.





I also wanted to point out several good articles that appear in today's edition of the NY Times:

- The T.A.M.I. Show is finally available legally again this Tuesday, and here's why you should make an effort to see it.
- Paul Westerberg shares a laugh with Alex Chilton.
- Charlie Gillett's obituary.

Alex Chilton RIP

Alex Chilton - RIP. Wow...enough already! It's been a bad day.

“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.'"

Photo by Godlis. Lyrics by Paul Westerberg.