Journal: News & Comment

Garage rock fame

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Okay, this is weird. I was at a party for my cousin's two-year-old today, and one of the people there, a guy named Ernie Culley, is a pastor at a church.

But, as the conversation turned, I discovered that back in 1965–66, before he enlisted in the U.S. Navy, he was the bass player for a band in his native Texas called the The Spades, which renamed itself as The 13th Floor Elevators, and apparently had a small hit.

"Hey, I know that name," I said. "What was the song?"

"You're Gonna Miss Me," he said. "But I never went on tour—the other guys in the band kept getting busted for dope, back when it was still a big deal. So the cops kept following me around, even though I didn't smoke it, and I decided I had to get out of town."

I was a bit blown away. "You're Gonna Miss Me" is one of my favourite garage rock tunes of all time, in part because of the bizarre "electric jug" one of the guys on it plays. It was featured on the original Nuggets album and later box set that I own—it is, in its own way, totally legendary.

What blew me away is that HE HAD NO IDEA. "You've heard that song?" he said. I sang him a bit of it. So I sent him the MP3 today, and linked him to the newly-released 13th Floor Elevators: Going Up "Very Best Of" collection that was just released this year.

Who cares if I've never met Bob Dylan or Paul McCartney or Gene Simmons? I met the original bass player for the 13th Floor Elevators!

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