Meeting Alex Chilton

(I've been meaning to revisit an old article from Motion magazine, as part of promoting the upcoming "Big Star's #1 Record at 50" tribute. It took me quite a while to dig it up, but I finally found one copy. Being a pack rat does pay off, at times.)

Motion magazine was one of several great publications that Deone Jahnke helped create in the 80s and 90s, and not long after I moved to Milwaukee, I was bugging her to let me contribute as a writer. 

I *think* this article was the first piece that I wrote for Motion, and writing it was a complete stroke of luck. I was living in Milwaukee, but I traveled south one weekend to visit a friend in Bloomington Indiana, where I had gone to college for a year. 

We were considering things to do, and I saw that Alex Chilton was playing the famed Second Story. I had been introduced to Chilton’s band Big Star in Bloomington—at the tiny record store Gulcher Records, owned by Bob Richert, who became a bit of a mentor to me. Richert had recommended the “#1 Record/Radio City” double album re-release to me, and as the cliche goes, that record changed my life. 

I was eager to go to the show, and on an impulse, decided to call the club and ask if I could interview Chilton for Motion. It was by far the most productive use of the line, “I’m a music writer from Milwaukee” in my lifetime. The club asked Chilton, Chilton said yes, and I dashed over to meet with him in the club’s dressing room. 

 

Chilton’s cynical side is something he was known for, but I have met famous musicians with *far* more attitude than Alex Chilton. If anything, he was very polite and generous with his time. He answered my questions and seemed to enjoy talking about music. He mentioned The Replacements as one of his favorite bands at the moment. Well, more accurately, he said the Replacements were one of the few currently-popular bands that he could stand...

So, here is the article I wrote for Motion, based on that interview with Alex Chilton, in a bare-bones nightclub in Bloomington, Indiana. It was never digitized, so I’m just providing a photo file of it, with a favorite anecdote at the end. I have been sharing this story lately, and I realize that in my re-tellings, I have said Chilton played solo. The story says he had a trio--I wish I could remember who was playing with him that night. As with so many things, time has made those memories a little blurry. 

But man, am I glad I met him. 

(Blogger is not allowing me to recreate the article in a form that's very readable. Contact me directly (I suggest Facebook Messenger) if you want to see a jpg of the article.)