Did notice that there was a short piece on his passing during the Chicago NBC affiliate's news broadcast at ten.

Good to see that get a mention even if the reality of it did kind of hit all over again.

sending love to all y'all.

it's wild to think about how different my life (our lives) would be if Steve hadn't been around.
i didn't know him like many of you did. i think we only interacted once — at Borelli's — while he was taking a break from taking orders from our sweetheart Jake in the kitchen.
cooking pizzas for all of us.

no gods/ no producers, i know. but shit, it meant so much to this sap from indiana to see Steve Albini walk away from the merch table holding a rutabega CD.

the think i keep coming back to (other than that pan on the stove quote, which completely wrecked me earlier)... is that Steve showed the complexity of being human, and he also showed that people can truly change and grow. and that when you look back on your life and see some horrible shit that you did or said
the best thing you can do is acknowledge it and do everything in your power to grow and make things better.
it's never too late.

rest well, FM Steve

numberthirty wrote: Wed May 08, 2024 11:32 pm Did notice that there was a short piece on his passing during the Chicago NBC affiliate's news broadcast at ten.

Good to see that get a mention even if the reality of it did kind of hit all over again.

Yeah, WGN had a piece on him too during the afternoon and evening news. Surreal to see Patrick Elwood talk about him.

When I first heard Big Black on Peel I thought “this is how it is meant to be”, the “it” some refined intangible I’d been groping towards. I bought Pigpile, read his sleevenotes, and thought “this is how to say it”, a scarifying manifesto trailed by laughter.

I kept track, met him, once got his permission to pinch his words, saw Shellac around a dozen joyful times. 30 years on, we’re kinder, mostly. I learned some of that kindness from him. Of the handful of idols I chose in my teens, he is unique in that he matured into something greater as we aged: he was a role model for my excitable youth, and became one for when my oversights, ignorance and cruelties unintentional and meant humbled me - he reflected. He became gentle.

His bands are among my favourites, obviously, but he’s also one my foundational writers: first, the Big Black sleevenotes, the startling critiques, and that scabrous tour diary; later, I sought out bootlegs for his trippy improvised monologues during the Billiard Player Song or Wingwalker, or his ingenious hysteria over The End of Radio. At ATP 2002, I heard him say “she had eyes like a house on fire”, only better. A half-composed letter to him lies useless in my head suggesting he compile his writing, all of it, seen and unseen. I wish someone would do this.

I interviewed Shellac on my twentieth birthday, the only interview I’ve ever done. All three of them were tremendously kind and - that word again - gentle. As I walked up to the dressing room, I heard Steve, out of sight but instantly recognisable: “…he must have worn his dick down to a stump!” This trembling kid walks in, they pull a chair between Bob and Todd, noticeably softened, and answered my mumbles thoughtfully, humorously and clearly, answers far better than the questions deserved. I was so happy!

I hoped to one day take my son to see Shellac - he’s currently two - and give context to a clutch of values I will share with him. I’m so sad. We lost my youngest brother 11 months ago, and while this is of a different order, the unhappiness of the passing of irreplaceable good has decked me again. Some of my dearest friendships I owe to him. Many of you are old hands at this, I know.

I told my wife, this will sound weird, but imagine you had a public dad - that was Steve. My actual dad was one of the first to send comfort on the news, my mum too - a measure of how much I banged on about Steve.

He’s left a lot with us; we were lucky to have had him. Unlucky to have lost him so soon. Cheers, Steve, cheers to you all. Salut.

turnbullac wrote: Wed May 08, 2024 1:01 pm In a 2021 interview with the Sun-Times, Albini was asked if he considered himself successful.

“To the extent that I could care about that, I would say yes,” he told Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg. “I’ve lived my whole life without having goals, and I think that’s very valuable, because then I never am in a state of anxiety or dissatisfaction. I never feel I haven’t achieved something. I never feel there is something yet to be accomplished. I feel like goals are quite counterproductive. They give you a target, and until the moment you reach that target, you are stressed and unsatisfied, and at the moment you reach that specific target you are aimless and have lost the lodestar of your existence. I’ve always tried to see everything as a process. I want to do things in a certain way that I can be proud of that is sustainable and is fair and equitable to everybody that I interact with. If I can do that, then that’s a success, and success means that I get to do it again tomorrow.”

https://chicago.suntimes.com/music/2024 ... 1-obituary

Great quote. Hits home.

I'm not very active on the forum, but this time I need to write something. This is the first time the death of a "public person" whom I didn't know personally has really affected me.

It goes far beyond his bands, which I love, and his involvement with the production of some of the best music ever. In time I got kind of obsessed by his ideas, his approach to life and completely charmed by his clarity of thought and the way he could express himself clearly. I have tried to listen to all the podcasts and interviews he has taken part to. The conversations with Vish Khanna in the Kreative Kontrol podcast were highlights for sure, in particular this one with Ian MacKaye http://vishkhanna.com/2015/11/12/ep-223 ... ni-part-i/ which I will revisit as soon as I can.

turnbullac wrote: Wed May 08, 2024 1:01 pm In a 2021 interview with the Sun-Times, Albini was asked if he considered himself successful.

“To the extent that I could care about that, I would say yes,” he told Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg. “I’ve lived my whole life without having goals, and I think that’s very valuable, because then I never am in a state of anxiety or dissatisfaction. I never feel I haven’t achieved something. I never feel there is something yet to be accomplished. I feel like goals are quite counterproductive. They give you a target, and until the moment you reach that target, you are stressed and unsatisfied, and at the moment you reach that specific target you are aimless and have lost the lodestar of your existence. I’ve always tried to see everything as a process. I want to do things in a certain way that I can be proud of that is sustainable and is fair and equitable to everybody that I interact with. If I can do that, then that’s a success, and success means that I get to do it again tomorrow.”

https://chicago.suntimes.com/music/2024 ... 1-obituary

The quote above sums up really nicely his ethos that has fascinated me for many years, thank you for sharing it.

My earlier post failed to post.

So long Steve. Thank you for making the world an immeasurably better place. Thank you for making this place. Thank you for everything.

All of my love to all of you

Seby

In the chapter on the Minutemen in Michael Azerrad's OUR BAND COULD BE YOUR LIFE, there's a quote from Steve's journal after he learned that D. Boon had died. He wrote, "So there's nobody left who's been doing it since the beginning and doing it all the way right. Fuck. It's like Buddy Holly or something. Sure it's kind of pathetic to get all worked up over it but hell, they meant it and that means something to me."

That's how I feel right now. I think Steve's example was strong and pervasive enough that there are plenty of folks trying to follow his example as a musician, an engineer, and as a person who could grow and change for the better. But it's hard to imagine anyone else doing what he did as well, and with his degree of dedication and purpose. I didn't know him, but he was someone I honestly looked up to, and it's a punch in the gut to know we'll never read another smart, funny, righteously angry post from the man, or see him wrench more brilliant sounds from his Travis Bean.

He meant it, and that means something to me, and everyone else here. Good passage, Steve.

tallchris wrote: Wed May 08, 2024 10:05 pmI was doing a backing vocal in the control room, just getting warmed up so not even recording anything, and Steve came in to ask Scott about grabbing some piece of gear. He immediately felt terrible that he'd walked in while someone was tracking, and I brushed it off and told him it was no big deal. Ran into him again later in the kitchen and he apologized profusely again, and even when I said it was just practice he said no, that's all his fault for just walking in without checking first. Totally humble and apologetic in the house he literally fucking built.

I had a similar experience recording there in January of 2004. I knew zero people in Chicago then, so I was setting up a sleeping bag in the studio B control room. He walked in looking for something as he does throughout the day, but apologized several times after seeing my situation (it was also like 9pm and completely forgiveable). Kinda nuts they let a stranger sleep in a room with thousands of dollars in gear, but that's the level of generosity he, and by extension everyone he brought into EA, gave to unknown musicians.

I got to have several exchanges with him over the years and he was always like that. I was courteous back of course, but to be honest never got over being a little intimidated and awestruck around him. But I did my best to celebrate and contribute to the community he fostered and celebrated, convincing myself that he probably appreciated action more than having some drooling fanboy hover around.

Can't sleep. Still feels like a gut punch.

I don’t think crying is what you’re supposed to do listening to Kerosene.

BBC has done a tribute.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/live: ... are-mobile