A Man Called Destruction: The Life and Music of Alex Chilton, From Box Tops to Big Star to Backdoor Man (48 page)
Authors: Holly George-Warren
“All the other boys”
:
HGW interview with Adele Brown Tyler.
“Alex was nothing like”
:
O’Brien, written remembrance of AC.
“Alex had a big four-poster bed”
:
HGW interview with Bill Buffett.
“We stayed up all night”
:
HGW interview with Jobe.
“Alex was the person”
:
ibid.
“He had the kids”
:
HGW interview with George Klein.
“He was trying really hard”
:
HGW interview with Carole Ruleman Manning.
“Alex and I were amorous”
:
HGW interview with Leffler.
“I was renting a tiny”
:
HGW interview with Buffett.
“I kind of had a crush”
:
HGW interview with Adele Brown Tyler.
Chapter 5: From Moondog to Deville
“The first time I ever saw Alex”
:
HGW interview with Gary Talley.
“Ronnie was incredibly arrogant”
:
HGW interview with Russ Caccamisi.
“black as hell”
:
Cub Koda, “Alex Chilton: My Dinner with Alex,”
Goldmine.
“There was a dress code”
:
Jud Cost,
The Letter
liner notes.
“I didn’t care for”
:
Bruce Eaton interview with AC.
“We were as much wooing”
:
HGW interview with Caccamisi.
“enormous macho guys”
:
New Music News,
n.d.
“There was probably a group”
:
HGW interview with Pat Rainer.
“an explosive temper”
:
HGW interview with Danny Smythe.
“There were cliques”
:
HGW e-mail interview with Dixie Thompson.
“I was getting laid”
:
Koda, ”My Dinner with Alex.”
“We told Alex”
:
HGW interview with Caccamisi.
“due to his talent for gambling”
:
Jim Dickinson,
The Search for Blind Lemon.
“Everything I ever knew”
:
HGW interview with Wayne Carson Thompson.
“I wanted to produce a hit record”
:
HGW interview with Dan Penn.
“We worked out the chords”
:
Koda, “My Dinner with Alex.”
“I was a little hung over”
:
ibid.
“He was the darnedest thing”
:
Cost,
The Letter
liner notes.
“We had a big room”
:
HGW interview with Penn.
“We set up”
:
Koda, “My Dinner with Alex.”
“The guitar player”
:
HGW interview with Penn.
“After Dan got all the instruments”
:
Koda, “My Dinner with Alex.”
“Alex was one of the few”
:
HGW interview with Penn.
Chapter 6: America’s Youngest Hitmaker
“I guess my life”
:
Gina Arnold, “Ex Box Top Bounces Back as Rock Legend,”
San Francisco Chronicle
.
“When we cut it”
:
HGW interview with Dan Penn.
“The Memphis Strings were a little sloppy”
:
Roben Jones,
Memphis Boys: The Story of American Studios
.
“That was a big part”
:
HGW interview with Penn.
“We hadn’t really worked up”
:
HGW interview with Russ Caccamisi.
“never had to crack a book”
:
Cub Koda, “Alex Chilton: My Dinner with Alex,”
Goldmine
.
“We worried”
:
HGW interview with Caccamisi.
“Somewhere around that time frame”
:
HGW interview with Paul Jobe.
“I think he paid us $900”
:
Jones,
Memphis Boys
.
“Our manager”
:
Koda, “My Dinner with Alex.”
“We were talking about”
:
HGW interview with Caccamisi.
“I went in again”
:
Koda, “My Dinner with Alex.”
“Nobody was happy”
:
HGW interview with Caccamisi.
“My dad said”
:
Koda, “My Dinner with Alex.”
“We weren’t too happy”
:
HGW interview with Danny Smythe.
Management “was scared”
:
HGW interview with George Klein.
“It had a great feel”
:
ibid.
“We were driving”
:
Jud Cost,
The Letter
liner notes.
“Dan got pissed off”
:
Robert Gordon,
It Came from Memphis
.
“Dan was just very frustrated”
:
Koda, “My Dinner with Alex.”
“Tommy was a great guy”
:
Jim Dickinson,
The Search for Blind Lemon.
“My dad had played some gigs”
:
Koda, “My Dinner with Alex.”
“I was right up close”
:
HGW interview with Bill Buffett.
“I remember thinking”
:
HGW interview with Adele Brown Tyler.
“Sometime in August”
:
Bruce Eaton interview with AC.
Chapter 7: On the Road
“I liked the Box Tops”
:
HGW interview with Jerry Blavat.
“keeping me a little bit in line”
:
Parke Puterbaugh interview with AC, 1987.
“thought it was a regional hit”
:
HGW interview with Gary Talley.
“I’d never met any hippies”
:
ibid.
“He had a fifth of booze”
:
ibid.
“Jim Morrison turned around”
:
HGW interview with Danny Smythe.
“Suzi was a sweetheart”
:
HGW interview with Marc Benno.
“Suzi was part of the hippie commune”
:
HGW interview with Talley.
“This was my backdrop”
:
HGW e-mail interview with Chris Paul.
“We would tape it on Saturday”
:
Sarah Crump, “Noted Rock Agent, Radio DJ David Spero Shares Memories of His Entertainment Career,”
Cleveland.com.
“a giant cereal bowl”
:
Cost liner notes,
Nonstop
.
“I remember the first gig”
:
Cub Koda, “Alex Chilton: My Dinner with Alex,”
Goldmine.
“The Beach Boys liked us”
:
Parke Puterbaugh interview with AC, 1987.
“the recordings were so manipulated”
:
Koda, “My Dinner with Alex.”
“I didn’t go for that material”
:
ibid.
“As we were pulling away”
:
HGW interview with Talley.
“The phone rang at our hotel”
:
HGW interview with Louise Leffler.
“We discovered”
:
HGW interview with Smythe.
“We did all three”
:
ibid.
“We stayed in different motels”
:
HGW interview with Talley.
“The thing about Alex”
:
HGW interview with Smythe.
“Though Alex was the youngest”
:
HGW interview with Talley.
“By the time I quit”
:
HGW interview with Smythe.
Chapter 8: Nonstop
“People talk about 1968”
:
Bruce Eaton interview with AC.
“‘The Letter’ was upbeat”
:
HGW interview with Dan Penn.
“Dan called me one day”
:
HGW interview with Spooner Oldham.
“Alex and the musicians”
:
HGW interview with Penn.
“I was frustrated”
:
HGW interview with Oldham.
“It was laying around”
:
HGW interview with Reggie Young.
“When they got a real good song”
:
HGW interview with Penn.
“Ardent had a brighter sound”
:
Roben Jones,
Memphis Boys: The Story of American Studios
.
“a certain yearning bluesy quality”
:
Lester Bangs, “The Box Tops:
Dimensions, Nonstop, Super Hits
,”
Rolling Stone
.
“Memphis pop production at its best”
:
Jim Dickinson,
The Search for Blind Lemon
.
“At American, there was no clock”
:
HGW interview with Young.
“Whatever I asked him to do”
:
HGW interview with Penn.
“Dan didn’t have his finger”
:
Cub Koda, “Alex Chilton: My Dinner with Alex,”
Goldmine
.
“He and I always got along”
:
Jones,
Memphis Boys
.
“Dick Clark seemed really interested”
:
HGW interview with Gary Talley.
“They placed him”
:
Jud Cost,
Cry Like a Baby
liner notes (2000).
“The Box Tops”
:
Mark Lindsay,
Cry Like a Baby
original LP liner notes (1968).
“For years I tried to cut a song”
:
HGW interview with Mark Lindsay.
“I was just too busy for 1968”
:
Eaton interview with AC.
Chapter 9: “I Slept with Charlie Manson”
“Here I am at the top”
:
Gina Arnold, “Ex Box Top Bounces Back as Rock Legend,”
San Francisco Chronicle.
“I remember being amazed”
:
Michael O’Brien written remembrance of AC.
“I don’t know that anybody’s prepared to handle fame”
:
Parke Puterbaugh interview with AC, 1987.
“We’d get together”
:
HGW interview with Paul Jobe.
“It became the main hangout”
:
HGW interview with Gordon Alexander.
“I’d only known Alex”
:
ibid.
“This was when I was really starting to get serious”
:
Cub Koda, “Alex Chilton: My Dinner with Alex,”
Goldmine
.
Alex told one friend
:
Bruce Eaton interview with AC.
“I’d never seen that many groupies”
:
Puterbaugh interview with Thomas Boggs.
“I stayed at Dennis’s house”
:
Koda, “My Dinner with Alex.”
“the whole Manson family moved in”
:
ibid.
“got wind of that”
:
Neil Strauss,
Everyone Loves You When You’re Dead
.
“Suzi was laid-back”
:
HGW interview with Jobe.
“I never saw or heard them argue”
:
HGW interview with Alexander.
“Chips Moman came in”
:
Puterbaugh interview with AC, 1987.
“He loved this . . . Dylan song”
:
HGW interview with Wayne Carson Thompson.
“I think Chips saw that I had some potential”
:
HGW interview with Gary Talley.