More notes, furiously thumbed while watching, but I’d like to hang on to these:
- Brief appearance by Paul Weller at the opening.
- The songs of mother Molly Drake, as played by siseter Gabrielle on homemeade cassette, are quite haunting.
- Long sepia shots of the streets of Cambridge, where he studied the poets.
- Much discussion of the purity and preciseness of his guitar playing.
- Didn’t perform live after a brief club tour in which audiences wouldn’t shut up.
- Moved back home with his parents, took some antidepressants, determined the world was harsh and futile. He felt a failure.
- Last four tracks on last album he could not sing and play guitar at once.
- Overdosed on tryptizol in his parents home one night. Did not wake the next morning.
- Now AT&T and others are ripping him (and others) quite despicably. I don’t know, maybe the estate is making out nicely. But I’m swept in the irony of a company whose mission it is to connect people using the music of one who felt so alone. At least the VW ad had a creative iconoclastic feel.
- Once told his mother that if only he knew his music had helped someone it would have all been worth it.