“I started hanging out”: ibid.
“song that later became ‘Feel’”: Bruce Eaton interview with AC.
“we played a few things”: HGW interview with Keith Sykes.
“About the summer of ’71”: Parke Puterbaugh interview with AC.
“Alex and I respected”: Max Bell, “The Big Star Story.”
“It was pretty close”: Puterbaugh interview with AC.
“we’d just show up”: HGW interview with Jody Stephens.
“were a good match”: Hoskyns interview with Rosebrough.
“Chris was a very driven”: Daniel Coston interview with Andy Hummel.
“Chris would show up”: Puterbaugh interview with AC, 1993.
“my knowledge of music theory”: Cub Koda, “My Dinner with Alex,” Goldmine.
“I went by the studio”: Hoskyns interview with Rosebrough.
“We were doing our own thing”: HGW interview with Poag.
“Big Star grocery store”: ibid.
“Chris and I were smoking a joint”: Puterbaugh interview with AC, 1993.
“feeling really uncomfortable”: HGW interview with Stephens.
“Chris was really into recording”: Ken Sharp and Doug Suply, Power Pop! Conversations with the Power Pop Elite.
“I can remember first working up”: HGW interview with Stephens; Sharp and Suply, Power Pop!
“Chris and I did all the harmony vocals”: Koda, “My Dinner with Alex.”
“my almost-good songs”: Dawn Eden, “Mr. Postman,” The Bob.
“A lot of the time”: Martin Aston, “Alex’s Wild Years,” Melody Maker, 1985.
“represent the real Alex Chilton”: HGW interview with Terry Manning.
“We weren’t big stars”: Puterbaugh interview with AC.
“a mythical album number”: Max Bell, “The Big Star Story.”
“We were always threatening”: ibid.
“I was depressed”: Eaton interview with Andy Hummel.
“John Fry was a genius”: Sharp and Suply, Power Pop!
“We had to really work”: Rob Jovanovic, Big Star.
“improper language”: ibid.
“I knew everyone in the band”: Michael O’Brien written remembrance of AC.
“Looking back at #1 Record”: Puterbaugh interview with AC, 1993.
Chapter 13: #1 Record
“Vera was not in the background”: HGW interview with Robert Schiffer.
“They were so volatile”: Drew DeNicola interview with Diane Wall Smith.
“They were all kids”: Barney Hoskyns interview with Richard Rosebrough.
“Then when I came out”: ibid.
“Chris persuaded John”: film, Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me.
“That live recording”: Frank Gutch, “The Story of Cargoe,” http://www.rockandreprise.net/cargoer&r6.html.
“Chris was too high and mighty”: Eaton interview with AC.
“100 percent certainty”: Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me.
“Some of the larger independent labels”: HGW e-mail interview with Seymour Stein.
“All of a sudden”: HGW interview with Peter Jesperson.
“We were not a big company”: Frank Gutch and Wade Anderson, “The Ardent Records Story,” Bomp.
“I was disgusted”: Rob Jovanovic, Big Star.
“Chris was a very troubled person”: HGW interview with Robert Schiffer.
“Chris complained about them”: Jovanovic, Big Star.
“There were problems with friendships”: Hoskyns interview with Rosebrough.
“Alex Chilton’s voice”: Robert Christgau, Rock Albums of the ‘70s: A Critical Guide.
“Led Zeppelin and all those bands”: Parke Puterbaugh interview with AC.
“Depression can come on”: David Bell, I Am the Cosmos liner notes.
“He was taking some drugs”: Epic Soundtracks, “Alex Chilton,” What a Nice Way to Turn Seventeen.
“I remember Chris coming to me”: Bruce Eaton interview with AC.
“the emotional turmoil”: Jason Gross interview with Andy Hummel (Perfect Sound Forever).
“He and Fry”: Jonathan Valania interview with Dickinson.
“I got a call”: Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me.
Chapter 14: You Get What You Deserve
“Chris Bell was somebody”: Martin Aston, “Alex’s Wild Years,” Melody Maker, 1985.
“If you’re writing anything decent”: ibid.
“We had played the songs”: Bruce Eaton interview with Andy Hummel.
“Most of the lyrics”: Martin Aston, 1985.
“I don’t care for those words”: Epic Soundtracks, “Alex Chilton,” What a Nice Way to Turn Seventeen.
“it was so popular”: Michael Finger, “When It Was Hip to Be Square.”
“We weren’t popular”: Parke Puterbaugh interview with AC.
“Alex began the lyrics”: Rob Jovanovic, Big Star.
“We never did have”: HGW interview with Vera Ellis Poag.
“the most popular Memphis party”: John Beifuss, “‘Golden’ Years: Documentary Recounts Overton Square’s Days as Nightlife Mecca,” Commercial Appeal online, August 4, 2011, http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2011/aug/04/golden-years/.
“Alex really loved his cocktails”: Jovanovic, Big Star.
“drunk and drugged out”: ibid.
“Alex was a perfectionist”: HGW interview with Danny Jones.
“We cut that at Studio A”: Bruce Eaton, Radio City.
“All the words were stolen”: Eaton interview with AC.
“All the rock writers”: HGW interview with Ross Johnson.
“The sound was much more driving”: Metal Mike Saunders, “Big Star at Overton Square, Memphis,” Phonograph Record.
“one of the most electrifying rock & roll performances”: Barney Hoskyns, “The Great Lig.”
“We played that gig”: Eaton interview with AC.
Chapter 15: Radio City
“The important thing is to make a good record”: AC interview at New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, 1992.
“We had a bunch of material”: Bruce Eaton interview with AC.
“I don’t recall it as being an uneven”: Bruce Eaton interview with Andy Hummel.
“We kept up the tradition”: Eaton interview with AC.
“Alex really started getting great on guitar”: Eaton interview with Hummel.
“bring his tack piano”: ibid.
“great musicians”: Eaton interview with AC.
“There were versions”: Bruce Eaton, Radio City.
“I probably was sedated”: Barney Hoskyns interview with Richard Rosebrough.
“lost weekend”: HGW interview with Clifford Hill.
“Alex and I were hanging around”: Rob Jovanovic, Big Star.
“I’d never had an easy relationship”: Sandy Robertson, “Alex Chilton: Getting the Cramps,” Sounds.
“piano went through a compressor”: Eaton interview with Hummel.
“John would spend an hour or two”: Eaton interview with AC.
“You would tag things”: film, Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me.
“I wanted the design”: Jovanovic, Big Star.
“We drank a lot”: ibid.
“pointed at me”: HGW interview with Gail Elise Clifton.
“more than a little disillusioned”: Jovanovic, Big Star.
“Alex could be pretty cruel”: Drew DeNicola interview with John Dando.
“I went to Max’s”: HGW interview with Robert Schiffer.
“Stax didn’t have any control”: DeNicola interview with Dando.
Chapter 16: Sister Lovers
“Lesa didn’t want her teeth fixed”: HGW interview with Gail E
lise Clifton.
“Lesa’s mother was extremely liberal”: HGW interview with Amy Gassner Starks.
“You really had to”: HGW interview with Elizabeth Hoehn (Lesa Aldridge).
“They’d been hanging out”: ibid.
“I don’t think I’ve known”: David Cavanaugh, “Oh My Soul.”
“Her parents were pretty remarkable”: HGW interview with Jody Stephens.
“When I was learning the songs”: HGW interview with John Lightman.
“The distribution never worked”: HGW e-mail interview with Robert Gordon.
“You know how it is”: HGW interview with John Fry.
“When Big Star got onstage”: HGW interview with Stephens.
“going to get a hernia”: HGW interview with Lightman.
“Alex says, loudly”: ibid.
“Big Star had a buzz going”: Written remembrance of AC by Binky Philips.
“need a second guitar player”: HGW interview with Jon Tiven.
“Dando had locked”: HGW interview with Paul Jobe.
“I remember the first set”: HGW interview with Stephens.
“The first set was awful”: HGW interview with Lightman.
“The house hors d’oeuvre”: DeNicola interview with Dando.
“She was just really cool”: HGW interview with Lightman.
“Most of the night’s repertoire”: HGW e-mail interview with Dave DiMartino.
“absolutely nobody in the club”: Drew DeNicola interview with John Dando.
“I don’t know why we did that tour”: HGW interview with Lightman.
“Big Star was like the black sheep”: HGW interview with Kent Benjamin.
“just totally blew us away”: ibid.
“He was always writing”: HGW interview with Hoehn/Aldridge.
“You have to sing a song”: ibid.
Chapter 17: 3rd
“Instead of coming after”: Rob Jovanovic, Big Star.
“It was so horrible”: HGW interview with Elizabeth Hoehn (Lesa Aldridge).
“We at Ardent”: Frank Gutch and Wade Anderson, “The Ardent Records Story,” Bomp.
“I have a file”: ibid.
“The halls of Ardent”: HGW interview with John Lightman.
“John would let Alex drive”: ibid.
“Alex even taught me”: HGW interview with Hoehn/Aldridge.
“In ’74, I had the key”: Parke Puterbaugh interview with AC.
“It’s just another tune”: Jonathan Valania interview with AC.
“He encouraged me”: HGW interview with Hoehn/Aldridge.
“Alex and Lesa made history”: Barney Hoskyns interview with Richard Rosebrough.
“moth to a flame”: HGW interview with Hoehn/Aldridge.
“Holliday was like a little puppy”: HGW interview with Lightman.
“Holliday was the quieter sister”: HGW interview with Jon Tiven.
“I always had to work”: HGW interview with Jody Stephens.
“When I was in my twenties”: AC at New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, 1997.
“Alex always bristled”: HGW interview with Lightman.
“I was so nervous”: Jovanovic, Big Star.
“Alex liked to stay wasted”: ibid.
“said that for shock value”: HGW interview with Lightman.
“I’d always been interested in Alex”: Valania interview with Jim Dickinson.
“talked to him at his mama’s house”: Hoskyns interview with Jim Dickinson.
“When I asked him why”: Valania interview with Dickinson.
“I was living kind of progressively”: Valania interview with AC.
“I had heard this recording”: Hoskyns interview with Dickinson.
“shoot Demerol down his throat”: ibid.
“Alex was getting close”: Hoskyns interview with Rosebrough.
“He’s a real significant part”: Hoskyns interview with Dickinson.
“Getting involved with Dickinson”: Valania interview with AC.
“Alex came in one morning”: Hoskyns interview with Dickinson.
“Alex as a collaborator”: Valania interview with Dickinson.
“to torment Lesa”: Hoskyns interview with Dickinson.
“a big confrontation”: HGW interview with Pat Rainer.
“Jim getting out that basketball”: ibid.
“R&B things”: unreleased film, The (R)evolution of Big Star’s Album “Third/Sister Lovers.”
“Cropper was doing”: Hoskyns interview with Rosebrough.
“I like [Holocaust]” : Puterbaugh interview with AC, 1993.
“physical abuse of Lesa”: Valania interview with Dickinson.
“I wasn’t doing anything”: Robert Gordon, It Came from Memphis.
“We were together every day”: HGW interview with Danny Graflund.
“You better tell your friend”: Gordon, It Came from Memphis.
“His eyes rolled back”: HGW interview with Lightman.
“His mother was so upset”: HGW interview with Hoehn/Aldridge.
“‘Dream Lover’ is the furthest”: Valania interview with Dickinson.
“That’s an imitation of Graflund”: ibid.
Chapter 18: The Walking Dead
“I was just living this very unsettled”: Sandy Robertson, “Alex Chilton: Getting the Cramps,” Sounds.
“Mixing is half the record”: film, Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me.
“I was just throwing ideas”: Jonathan Valania interview with AC.
“would never have been finished”: Valania interview with Jim Dickinson.
“The record broke John’s heart”: Russell Hall interview with Dickinson.
“I worked with engineers”: Valania interview with Dickinson.
“Everybody’s kind of down and depressed”: Frank Gutch and Wade Anderson, “The Ardent Records Story,” Bomp.
“deteriorating relationships”: Valania interview with Dickinson.
“Every song has a geographical”: ibid.
“had its moments”: HGW interview with John Fry.
“not sure we were calling ourselves Big Star”: Parke Puterbaugh interview with AC, 1993.
“That scene was disturbing enough”: Rob Jovanovic, Big Star.
“shopping of it was a nightmare”: Valania interview with Dickinson.
“Karin Berg”: ibid.
“people at these conventional record companies”: Stamey interview with Fry, UNC.
“I tell my victims”: Valania interview with Dickinson.
“The best songs don’t get recorded”: Robert Gordon, It Came From Memphis.
“After the split”: Barney Hoskyns interview with Richard Rosebrough.
“This is gonna be mine”: Valania interview with Dickinson.
“Fry and I sort of fell out”: Valania interview with AC.
“Alex . . . sent me some tapes”: Hoskyns interview with Jon Tiven.
“They look like they’ve just come out”: David Cavanaugh, “O My Soul!” Uncut, May 2012.
“It was a total rock & roll love letter”: HGW interview with Rick Clark.
“Alex was using a different vocal personality”: HGW interview with Tiven.
“I was in the studio playing drums”: Hoskyns interview with Rosebrough.
“We tried to get everybody out”: HGW interview with Tiven.
“Alex couldn’t really find”: ibid.
“During the backing vocals”: Jovanovic, Big Star.
“a very vivid memory”: HGW interview with Tiven.
“Most of the people around Ardent”: Valania interview with AC.
“I made a deal”: Gutch and Anderson, “The Ardent Records Story.”
Alex “was always thinki
ng”: Gordon, It Came from Memphis.
Alex “introduced them”: HGW interview with Mary Lindsay Dickinson.
“‘My Rival,’ I thought”: Martin Aston, 1985.
“Alex was at a juncture”: Gordon, It Came from Memphis.
“It was love/hate”: HGW interview with Pat Rainer.
“When it was the two of us”: HGW interview with Elizabeth Hoehn (Lesa Aldridge).
“Alex was as down”: Valania interview with Tommy Hoehn.
“I was very frustrated”: AC interview at New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.
“I thought it was”: Daniel Coston interview with Andy Hummel.
“I remember walking into my den”: Valania interview with Tommy Hoehn.
Chapter 19: Shakin’ the World
“I began sorting things out”: Martin Aston, “Alex’s Wild Years.”
“It’s a great description”: Jonathan Valania interview with AC.
“I decided to quit taking drugs and did”: Ralph Traitor, “Wildman on the Edge.”
“and sank further into dipsomania”: Cub Koda, “Alex Chilton: My Dinner with Alex,” Goldmine.
“I was getting to the point”: Epic Soundtracks,“Alex Chilton,” What a Nice Way to Turn Seventeen.
“at a big art-type function”: HGW interview with Vernon Richards.
“orgone energy life force stuff”: Aston, “Alex’s Wild Years.”
“I think I realized”: Soundtracks, “Alex Chilton.”
“I said, ‘I was in Memphis,’”: HGW interview with Jon Tiven.
“He seemed a little reserved”: HGW interview with Chris Stamey.
“I was trying to figure out”: ibid.
“the most gregarious guy”: Richard Hell, I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp.
“He had a drinking problem”: Rob Jovanovic, Big Star.
“He was kind of beguiling”: HGW interview with Jamie K. Sims.
“opening a door”: HGW interview with Stamey.
“was hardly very polished”: John Rockwell, “Alex Chilton, Rock Legend, Back.” New York Times.
“Alex would do things”: HGW interview with Stamey.
“Love . . . makes people grow”: Bernard Kugel, “Alex Chilton,” Big Star.
“I remember him telling me”: HGW interview with Stamey.
“The first night the place was packed”: Koda, “My Dinner with Alex.”
“It’s real easy to run through New York”: Kugel, “Alex Chilton.”
A Man Called Destruction: The Life and Music of Alex Chilton, From Box Tops to Big Star to Backdoor Man Page 46