Radio Galaxy

Vic Chesnutt: Runnin', jumping', flyin' in heaven.

Vic Chesnutt sings “Very Friendly Lighthouses,” on the somewhat available Left to His Own Devices, and by request on NPR.

The artist who was capable of writing that song right there died yesterday. Vic Chesnutt, 45, overdosed on a muscle relaxant earlier this week and then lingered in a coma until the Christmas twilight. Chesnutt already had a seat on the train, as they say, having made several active suicide attempts in a life defined by more passive ones.

Chesnutt was a brilliant person — a humanist, a cynic, a believer, a “sub-realist,” as he once sang. And my goodness, could he write a song.

It hurts to think that an artist with so many successful friends, not to mention so many people who loved his music, could fall into despair over $70,000 in unpaid medical bills. In this, Chesnutt was twice a casualty of our country’s health care system. He should never have faced those bills to start with, and if we’d had better care to offer maybe we’d have caught his depression in time to save him, one more time.

His friend Kristin Hersh has set up a donation page for his family, to help them cover his last expenses. You can buy his newer music from Constellation and the rest elsewhere. If you’re new to Chesnutt, just close your eyes and pick a record: They’re all good.

All Points West at Liberty State Park/ckenney

I apologize in advance for the lateness of this post, but it has honestly taken me a few days to recover from the exhaustion of this three day music festival. Overall, I really enjoyed APW — the music and the scenery were amazing, but as Jacob mentioned in his post there were definitely some issues.

Friday

We got to Liberty State Park around 4:30 PM, after what felt like an unbearably long walk from the Light Rail to the concert site in the middle of the park. There were modest crowds at the gate, and we headed in to find some friends over at the Blue Comet Stage where the New Pornographers were performing. We caught the end of their set including a sweet cover of “Don’t Bring Me Down” originally by Electric Light Orchestra. After that we headed over to Girl Talk, aka Gregg Gillis, who I never would have heard of if it wasn’t for the great assisted listen we did on the BPP.

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88BoaDrum at sunset: drumming and standing

The big New York-area musical event of the weekend – the inaugural All Points West festival – went off with more than a few hitches, if you go by reports of those who attended. If you leapfrogged Manhattan on Friday night around the time Radiohead was taking the stage at Liberty State Park, there was another show that was drawing a fair bit of attention. It was the 88BoaDrum concert on the waterfront in Williamsburg, organized by the Japanese band Boredoms, hosted by the Brooklyn band Gang Gang Dance, sponsored by a shoe company (a major one), and featuring the talents of 88 drummers arranged in a spiral. And even though 88BoaDrum was heavy on gimmick (it took place on 8/8/08, started at 8:08pm, featured 88 drummers and lasted 88 minutes), it had plenty of genuine disappointment of its own to offer.

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