On November 21st, me and a group of friends drove to Chicago to see The Pixies on their “Doolittle” tour at the Aragon Ballroom. The opening act that night was Jay Reatard. He stormed the stage wearing lime green high tops, white t-shirt with a cat on it, and his long curly hair covering his face. He played one of the loudest, fastest, and most energetic sets I have seen, set down his guitar with feedback blaring, and stormed off the stage just as he had come on. The next day, I got his “Blood Visions” and “Watch Me Fall” records and have listened to them religiously ever since. Unfortunately, I won’t get the opportunity to see him play again, as he was found dead in his home early this morning at 29 years old. He is gone far too early.
Among this era’s garage rock community, Jay was and is a legend. He had just recently decided to take a break from music for a while for personal reasons–as he put it, to focus on Jay Lindsay (his real name is Jimmy Lee Lindsay Jr.) for a while– and it saddens me that he was never given this opportunity.
Here is a link to a recent addition to Pitchfork:TV. It is a 12 song set from 2007, played in NYC at the Cake Shop.
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