35 Comments

Jeff, I was still a teen when I discovered your music and I came across Jason's shortly after. I had similar thoughts when I heard both your songs "someone else feels the way I do". I think, for big music fans at least, the music we listen to (especially in our formative years) helps shape us. So, what I'm trying to say is I think I owe a lot to both your music and Jason's music.

I saw Jason play in August 2007 when I was in college. I was planning on saying hi to Jason after the show. I was there by myself and felt self conscious around all the people older and much cooler than me, so I bailed after the encore and thought "I'll talk to him next time". Alas, there never was a next time. I wish I could have told him how much his music meant to me.

Thanks for covering this song, beautifully done.

Expand full comment

this is sweet I hope you are reminded of this every time you may doubt an instinct moments like this constantly show me what matters and to speak up , i used to be so shy now im the opposite 🤣 ps he hears you now I'm glad you shared that here so we all could remember

Expand full comment

same deal for me. it was 2008-ish at the Empty Bottle. i showed up early and alone and when i walked in there was one guy in the little game area in the front room sitting there with the cat. i realized it was Jason and spun around and walked out to go chain smoke outside. i thought i would tell him how much his music meant to me the next time, and ya, next time never came

Expand full comment

also saw Jeff at Lifetime Fitness sometime around this time but he was working out with a trainer and getting swole with his kid so i'm glad i didn't distract him, haha

Expand full comment

Love your generosity—thank you! Although anything from Magnolia Electric Co. send me into sobbing fits. Our already-small generation has already lost so many awesome and talented folks. Thanks for keeping their memories alive. Viva la Albini!

Expand full comment

Not sure how I came across him, but Jason Molina’s songs have been breaking my heart on a regular basis for some time now. All his music comes from some sweet but dark place. Uniquely lovely. The documentary showing him recording his final album with Steve Albini at Electric Audio is even more poignant since Steve’s untimely passing.

Expand full comment

I don’t mind when certain people die, true enough, but then there are others whose passing just hits harder and that’s true of both Steve and Jason. To think that people like those guys (and also Martin Phillipps of the Chills) are no longer with us when they had so much more to give is tragic and hard to accept. Thanks for sharing some thoughts about both of them, and for the musical tribute to Molina as well. It would have been great if you guys had managed to collaborate at some point, but it’s totally understandable why the timing just wasn’t right. You do the best you can.

Expand full comment

I’m really sad about Martin Phillipps passing as well. So glad we saw The Chills in Portland a couple years ago when we had the chance. I felt a special connection to that band after living in Dunedin for 7 mos in 2019.

Expand full comment

I had the privilege to open a show with Jason down here in FL years ago and I brought him to a local pub for dinner pre-show. Could not have been a more gracious human. Wide open in every way. We had a blast and an amazing show. I LOVE this tribute, so thank you for the reminder Jeff!

Expand full comment

Fantastic, thanks Jeff! Jason’s posthumously released cover of Solitude by Black Sabbath is gut wrenching. Grateful for all he left us.

I always identified with the Forever Paradise chapter in the book relating to the record store loitering. In the mid 80s our shop of choice was Shattered Records. My friends and I consumed as much hardcore, punk, thrash, proto-metal, early black metal, and obscure NWOBHM as we could get our hands on and would just linger in the store hoping he’d play something new we hadn’t heard yet. Before we had our teenage jobs and some money to spend we’d say “we better pool our money to buy a 7” or a magazine or he’s not gonna let us back in”. So I always liked that story in the book because I lived that exact thing, as I’m sure many on here did.

Expand full comment

I was just relating to my son the influence of music magazines in the pre-internet era,although I would say that you were gifted with a more adventurous ear than many of us from that era

Expand full comment

I’m always reminded of Jason in peak summer, when the air is thick and still. You did him proud. Thank you for the tributes, cap. <33

Expand full comment

Thanks for these. Your vocal on Doing Something Wrong felt totally unique to me, which I didn't know was possible after 30 years. I'm thinking of you and the family and loss and all that. Grateful to be seeing you at The Guild in October (3 nights!) xo

Expand full comment

You just provided me with the incentive to buy tickets for the 3rd show. I had committed to only 2 out of 3. Thanks Mary! Don't know what I was thinking.

Expand full comment

Andrew - Awesome! Maybe we'll run inyo each other

Expand full comment

Sounds good, Mary. I'll be the upper-middle aged guy in the audience.

Wilco fans are the best.

Expand full comment

Thank you for sharing through the grief. Steve’s memorial service was emotional yet strengthening as you expressed. Bravo Lounge Ax community.

Incredible Undertones record indeed! So wish me and my brothers could have seen the Undertones / Clash shows.

Expand full comment

Hold on Magnolia

Expand full comment

Thank you Jeffy, love your singing and playing of both songs, and being an elderly member of Starship Casual.

Rose in Sydney (recovering from broken hip, so lots of time to listen to your amazing music and poetry)

xox

Expand full comment

Off topic. Most nights, when I settle into bed I listen to music while my wife reads. Being a somewhat anxious person, I rotate songs that speak to my spirit. Lately, Belle and Sebastien’s Song for Sunshine and Today (This Army’s for Peace), REM’s Around the Sun, and always Wilco’s Theologians. Thank you for that! And if there is a rock star network, could you ask Stuart Murdoch to start a substack like this? That’s a pretty big ask on my part, for sure.

Expand full comment

Thank you for sharing these beautiful songs and the stories behind them. Your openness and reflection is always an inspiration and often times sparks the same in me. Thank you Captain.

Expand full comment

Yeah, the Undertones were Ireland's punk-pop, and Stiff Little Fingers were the ones to sing about the Troubles. Both incredible bands. It doesn't surprise me you are drawn to Paradise, it is so 'you' musically or seems to be to me, if you don't mind me saying so! I love your cover of it. Wonderful. I will have to look into Jason's music. Thank you so much for sharing bits of your voice, your talent, and life.

Expand full comment

Thank you for the thoughtful comments and beautiful musical performances.

Expand full comment