Alex is OK

September 4, 2005 6:44 PM

Unconfirmed good news: In case you were really, really, worried, like I was after reading this, it looks like Alex Chilton survived the hurricane after all...
posted by lilboo (26 comments total)

Great news!

(I know it's a Chris Bell song, but I was hearing "I Got Kinda Lost," in my head as I read this)
posted by jonmc at 6:50 PM on September 4, 2005

What's the opposite of the "."?

what jmc said.
posted by mwhybark at 6:57 PM on September 4, 2005

A friend of mine said, on hearing that Chilton was missing, 'I'm sure he'll be found safe and sound... inside a 14 year old girl.'

Er, sorry. Good news, indeed.
posted by jack_mo at 7:14 PM on September 4, 2005

Classy jack_mo. Mike, I believe the hypen to be the period's opposite, so:

-
posted by tomharpel at 7:43 PM on September 4, 2005

Don't need to talk to my doctor / Don't need to talk to my shrink

at least now i don't. a little bit of good news, indeed.
posted by joe lisboa at 7:44 PM on September 4, 2005

!!

That is what we can use.

My second thought was of a particular snippet of Replacements lyrics, sending me directly to hell.
posted by furiousthought at 7:55 PM on September 4, 2005

o!o
posted by R. Mutt at 8:10 PM on September 4, 2005

This Alex Chilton, does he vibrate?
posted by snsranch at 8:11 PM on September 4, 2005

Thanks - in odd coincidence, I just saw the video for the Replacements' "Alex Chilton" a few minutes ago.
posted by jessenoonan at 8:25 PM on September 4, 2005

This reminds me of a musician friend who once said of Alez Chilton:

"He was standing RIGHT THERE MAN, ....I mean .... RIGHT NEXT TO ME.... I mean .... I coulda touched him .... I DIDN'T, of course .... but .... I coulda."
posted by R. Mutt at 8:28 PM on September 4, 2005

You know that lyric is "sing with" not "sleep with," right furiousthought?
posted by keswick at 8:44 PM on September 4, 2005

This is kind of weird. I know Alex Chilton as a local Memphis semi-celeb. I didn't realize he had such a following. Glad to hear he's okay. Big Star was the name of a local grocery store chain. I think that's where they got the name for the band. The drummer from the Box Tops (I believe that was the first band Chilton was in) in now a sucessful Memphis resturant owner.
posted by Carbolic at 9:01 PM on September 4, 2005

I didn't realize he had such a following.

Are you kidding? The guy's one of the gods of indie rock, and has been for decades.
posted by mediareport at 9:04 PM on September 4, 2005

hope the good news from wednesday is still true today! (sorry for being a bit underreassured...)
posted by jann at 9:07 PM on September 4, 2005

Next thing you'll tell me is that Elvis had a following outside Memphis. I heard AC play in local clubs (the Antenna Club with Tav Falco seems like the last time I saw him) and heard him on local radio I just didn't realize the same was going on outside our general area.
posted by Carbolic at 9:23 PM on September 4, 2005

I was thinking of the village.
posted by furiousthought at 9:37 PM on September 4, 2005

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*grabs jon, starts dancing ecstatically to Radio City*
posted by scody at 10:18 PM on September 4, 2005

Carbolic, when I was at college in 1987, there was this freshman girl in my circle who was a running joke, largely for unattractive (um, juvenile) personality traits, but also for gushing endlessly about ALEX. CHILTON. Like she'd never heard any other musician ...
posted by dhartung at 11:25 PM on September 4, 2005

well, you know, children by the millions DO dream of Alex Chiton!
posted by scody at 11:28 PM on September 4, 2005

That's promising news, but I'm still waiting for actual confirmation, given how screwed up things have been.
posted by insomnia_lj at 11:53 PM on September 4, 2005

Thank goodness.

On a side note - Jim Monaghan was the owner of Molly's on the Market up until his death in December 2001. I discounted the linked report due to that factual error... but it appears that it was merely a misunderstanding (a poster on the board getting the current manager of Molly's mixed-up with the former owner). Regardless, looks like Chilton is alive.

Excuse me, I'm gonna go reminisce about drinking at Monaghan's on the day of his death. (I got there very, very late, but friends told me that, earlier in the afternoon, they were serving up free shots every time the WWL news ticker announced his death. They announced his death every 8 minutes. My friends were very drunk.)
posted by suckerpunch at 7:48 AM on September 5, 2005

!
posted by Vidiot at 8:10 AM on September 5, 2005

insomnia_lj (and others): The Chilton/Big Star boards have had further emails/posts this morning confirming (via conversations with relatives) that Alex was indeed rescued! He is now safe in Houston.
posted by scody at 10:25 AM on September 5, 2005

ALEX? Phone home please....
posted by R. Mutt at 5:43 PM on September 5, 2005

Pitchfork has a good rundown of all the current music-related relief efforts, including concerts to raise general funds as well as efforts aimed specifically at helping displaced musicians.
posted by scody at 12:08 PM on September 6, 2005

I got an e-mail from someone who's not a MeFi member and was anxious to stay anonymous. To quote:

Regarding the sighting of Alex Chilton at Molly's prior to his evacuating....Someone who says she called the bar yesterday to check on what suckerpunch said on Metafilter about an owner named Jim Monaghan having died in 2001 says that the current owner is the son of the deceased one. They have the same name.

posted by Vidiot at 8:34 AM on September 10, 2005