Warning: Use of undefined constant wpurl - assumed 'wpurl' (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in /home/y9gq09f5yym1/public_html/wp-content/plugins/add-to-facebook-plugin/addtofacebook.php on line 50
It was while working with the Posies in 1990 that the topic of Big Star, Alex Chilton and ultimately The Box Tops and their hit “The Letter” must have come up. The more I think about it, the more it amazes me that Ken Stringfellow remembered me telling him that I sang it as part of an Alex Chilton story on “Entertainment Tonight” in 1987.
The power of television is astonishing – it made an impact when it first aired and a similar one today via YouTube and Facebook. It’s possible it just arose in search too, but I think Ken’s as smart as any computer.
ET‘s 1987 story on Alex Chilton, featuring my television debut, follows after the jump, along with some further background!
It’s not a coincidence that the music industry’s most powerful person who is also Big Star and Alex Chilton’s greatest champion, Karen Glauber, saw the program when it first aired and was charmed. I had been stopped on the street around 68th and Broadway in New York and asked about the song. It was in front of Tower Records and across from Sleeping Bag Records at 1974 Broadway (the whole neighborhood was different).
For Ken to break it out during a box set release on Facebook is a real honor to me, and I hope it makes a big splash! I’m mostly posting it here so I don’t lose it again. It’s pretty funny to see this again 22 years later. It was my television debut!
