A Man Called Destruction: The Life and Music of Alex Chilton, From Box Tops to Big Star to Backdoor Man by Holly George-Warren Page A
Authors: Holly George-Warren
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stoned before the show and didn’t even bother trying to lip-synch “The Letter”; instead, hestared off into space, then laughed, showing what he thought of the set, with its ridiculous-looking cardboard post-office-window prop. At the point where the jet plane takes off on the record, Alex sauntered away from his mic to the PO window and handed a “letter” from his pocket to the DJ host peering from behind it. Mumbling something about taking “the letter” with him everywhere he goes, Alex then pulled out a gag correspondence that unfurled to about three feet in length.
While in Atlanta they met more female fans; one of whom later was featured in the documentary
Groupie
, in which she claimed a member of the Box Tops was the first of her rock star conquests. The band also signed their new booking agent, the large and jocular Rick Taylor, part of the nationally known Arnold Agency, based in Atlanta. The alliance was covered in a
Billboard
news brief, reporting that the bookers were “arranging an extended tour for the Box Tops, covering one-nighters, college and promotion dates, and TV appearances”—nearly nonstop touring for the next two-plus years.
The first stop was Cleveland, where the Box Tops were booked to appear on
Upbeat
, a teen show that originated on Cleveland’s WEWS-TV, Channel 5. Started in 1964, the groundbreaking program featured as many as fourteen artists during its hour-long time slot on Saturdays at 5 p.m. The show featured touring acts ranging from the Cowsills to Johnny Cash, the Velvet Underground to James Brown, as well as locals like Eric Carmen (whose band the Raspberries would begin its string of hits around the time of Big Star’s formation).
Syndicated in more than one hundred markets,
Upbeat
helped promote acts’ records nationally. “We would tape it on Saturday afternoon, rehearsal started at nine, took a break at noon, came back at one thirty and shot the show and hopefully it was done by five o’clock when you had to see it,” recalled Dave Spero, son of the program’s creator, Ray Spero. “The videotape of each one-hour
Upbeat
episode would be copied nine times, sent to a station in each of the top ten markets, played, and then that station would send it to a station in the next lower market size, shipped or ‘bicycled’ from market to market. An artist like Tommy James and the Shondells, they put out a song like ‘Mony Mony,’ well, all of a sudden they’re on in ten cities. Next week they’re on in ten more. They could follow the show with live performances and get hit records, which a lot of them really give
Upbeat
credit for.” In the days before MTV, shows like
Upbeat
promoted records to an eager audience of teenagers.
For the Box Tops’ first appearance on
Upbeat
, on September 23, they lip-synched “The Letter” much more professionally than they had on
The VillageSquare
, having been warned by Roy Mack of the show’s importance. The producers arranged for a special gimmick just for them: “They told us to act like we were ina giant cereal bowl,” Danny Smythe recalls. “Then they superimposed a bowl and a milk pitcher for everybody at home to see.” Over the next two and a half years, the Box Tops would appear on
Upbeat
twenty times.
After a series of one-nighters, the group’s first mini-tour was with Alex’s heroes, the Beach Boys, making seven or eight stops. As much as Alex could laugh off regional TV shows, playing for massive audiences of Beach Boys fans terrified him. “I remember the first gig we worked with [the Beach Boys] was Indianapolis,” Alex said. “[We went] right [from] the dressing room, didn’t have time to even scope out the hall or anything, then right out onstage, and there’s 15,000 people there. Just closed my eyes and sang the song, you know? Got through it okay, but that was quite a moment in my life, the biggest gig I had ever done.”
As “The Letter” stayed firmly at #1 during the first half of October,
While in Atlanta they met more female fans; one of whom later was featured in the documentary
Groupie
, in which she claimed a member of the Box Tops was the first of her rock star conquests. The band also signed their new booking agent, the large and jocular Rick Taylor, part of the nationally known Arnold Agency, based in Atlanta. The alliance was covered in a
Billboard
news brief, reporting that the bookers were “arranging an extended tour for the Box Tops, covering one-nighters, college and promotion dates, and TV appearances”—nearly nonstop touring for the next two-plus years.
The first stop was Cleveland, where the Box Tops were booked to appear on
Upbeat
, a teen show that originated on Cleveland’s WEWS-TV, Channel 5. Started in 1964, the groundbreaking program featured as many as fourteen artists during its hour-long time slot on Saturdays at 5 p.m. The show featured touring acts ranging from the Cowsills to Johnny Cash, the Velvet Underground to James Brown, as well as locals like Eric Carmen (whose band the Raspberries would begin its string of hits around the time of Big Star’s formation).
Syndicated in more than one hundred markets,
Upbeat
helped promote acts’ records nationally. “We would tape it on Saturday afternoon, rehearsal started at nine, took a break at noon, came back at one thirty and shot the show and hopefully it was done by five o’clock when you had to see it,” recalled Dave Spero, son of the program’s creator, Ray Spero. “The videotape of each one-hour
Upbeat
episode would be copied nine times, sent to a station in each of the top ten markets, played, and then that station would send it to a station in the next lower market size, shipped or ‘bicycled’ from market to market. An artist like Tommy James and the Shondells, they put out a song like ‘Mony Mony,’ well, all of a sudden they’re on in ten cities. Next week they’re on in ten more. They could follow the show with live performances and get hit records, which a lot of them really give
Upbeat
credit for.” In the days before MTV, shows like
Upbeat
promoted records to an eager audience of teenagers.
For the Box Tops’ first appearance on
Upbeat
, on September 23, they lip-synched “The Letter” much more professionally than they had on
The VillageSquare
, having been warned by Roy Mack of the show’s importance. The producers arranged for a special gimmick just for them: “They told us to act like we were ina giant cereal bowl,” Danny Smythe recalls. “Then they superimposed a bowl and a milk pitcher for everybody at home to see.” Over the next two and a half years, the Box Tops would appear on
Upbeat
twenty times.
After a series of one-nighters, the group’s first mini-tour was with Alex’s heroes, the Beach Boys, making seven or eight stops. As much as Alex could laugh off regional TV shows, playing for massive audiences of Beach Boys fans terrified him. “I remember the first gig we worked with [the Beach Boys] was Indianapolis,” Alex said. “[We went] right [from] the dressing room, didn’t have time to even scope out the hall or anything, then right out onstage, and there’s 15,000 people there. Just closed my eyes and sang the song, you know? Got through it okay, but that was quite a moment in my life, the biggest gig I had ever done.”
As “The Letter” stayed firmly at #1 during the first half of October,
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