Alex Chilton - Part Two

1
The Alex Chilton line I'm thinking about today?

"But you know you don't have to / you can just say no"

People like to talk about the "power of Yes", but that line from "The Ballad of El Goodo" expresses an incredibly empowering (that word has been abused, but I think it's the right one here) sentiment when you think about it.  And I think it's a sentiment that Chilton lived by, at least in terms of his post-Big Star career.  He did the Big Star reunion, even a Box Tops reunion (that I'm sure no one expected), but after Radio City, he never really played the fame/music biz game, except by his own rules.  

2
In reading all the tributes that have popped up today, I came across the word "sprezzatura" in one of Ben Greenman's pieces.  After I looked up the definition, I had to say, "yeah, Alex Chilton definitely had sprezzatura".  In spades.  And as someone who could rock the house en Italiano, I think he would've liked that description.

3
I'm with The Gurgling Cod on this one:
"...'Jesus Christ''s failure to get traction as a Christmas staple continues to baffle me."

4
I wrote a bit about Chilton's shambolic some-kind-of-a-masterpiece Like Flies On Sherbert here.