Chris Knox has stroke

http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/music/2498700/Chris-Knox-may-not-walk-again-after-stroke

Hopefully not so bad. We'd talked about it a bit on the Tall Dwarfs thread but it does deserve more attention.

Bad news. And just as the Tall Dwarfs were about to hit the road again here.

Well, the story at this stage does not look good, Ned.

Which it could well be -- friend Emily posted this on my Facebook note on this a little while back:

"We went to the Chills show last night in Auckland, and Martin Phillips announced that (Knox) was slipping in and out of consciousness at the moment but that he was stable and he'll be fine."

Sad, hope he recovers.

oh no! this is awful

man this sounds horrible :( e

Glad to hear he's gonna be fine! He's got a pretty fun and charming little TV show I've been watching whenever I can catch it. Such an enthusiastic guy.

Which it could well be -- friend Emily posted this on my Facebook note on this a little while back:

"We went to the Chills show last night in Auckland, and Martin Phillips announced that (Knox) was slipping in and out of consciousness at the moment but that he was stable and he'll be fine."

― Ned Raggett, Sunday, June 14, 2009 8:07 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Heh, I missed this show cuz I forgot to buy tickets before they sold out. Neither Emily or my other roommate mentioned anything about this to me...Kinda funny hearing her words second hand via Ned! lol

Get better, Chris!

well, the latest newspaper stories say he is unable to speak, has had surgery, and may not be able to walk again.

:`(

his is one of my favourite voices to listen to - speaking or singing.

damn, that's terrible! hope he recovers, he's a funny guy.

so sad.

Saw him playing a couple of times in London, great performer and seemed like a funny guy. The incredulity around the venue when he asked people to put their hands up if they're not a kiwi was lolworthy (about 10% if I recall). Hope he makes a decent recovery, 57 is young to be having a stroke so hopefully he'll have the strength to pull through it to whatever extent is possible.

Reports suggest he's smiling but still can't speak, and that yes he may be in a wheelchair for life. Nothing is entirely clear, though, as this is coming through the rather sketchy NZ media, which only seems to work at one register: hyperbolic.

Definately a funny guy. He was doing a poorly advertised record store appearance/gig outside DC once and I hurried over there from work, dressed in a suit and tie and sat down in a chair. There were 6 people there in the audience. He decided to come into the audience and sit down on my lap and sing one song (I think he said he liked my suit).

It's seems fitting that, from center of his own tragedy, Chris is smiling before anything else.

Updates from the family for those interested: http://chrisknox.blogtown.co.nz/

Looks like a tribute album (star-studded!) is in the works: http://pitchfork.com/news/35985-jeff-mangum-will-oldham-yo-la-tengo-contribute-to-chris-knox-covers-comp/ Cool stuff, hopefully it'll get more people aware of Chris's music!

i saw him open for Yo La Tengo way back when I was in high school, great stuff and very funny. He called Georgia Hubley up onstage to play with him and introduced her as "my very own low-rent Moe Tucker," haha.

"low-rent"? damn, chris.

I think Ira later retaliated, calling him the low-rent Ray Davies or something ...

Chris Knox repeatedly has written more good songs in single 24-hour periods than the Tengo will have throughout their entire career, whenever they mercifully put it to sleep. And he's wittier. I'd pay to listen to him trash-talk indie rock's most overrated band.

alrightee then ... (fwiw, they were playfully kidding with each other)

Even playful, his wit has a barb, or maybe I should say hook. And his Barb has a wit...

"Stroke - Songs For Chris Knox’ – Album Credits

YELLOW DISC (disc 1)

Track 1 – Pull Down The Shades (Bathgate, A./Knox, C./Dooley, M.) – Jay Reatard
Track 2 - Rebel (Bathgate/Dooley/Kean/Knox/Walker) - The Checks
Track 3 - Ain’t It Nice (Knox, C./Dooley/Bathgate/Walker/Kean) - The Bleeding Allstars
Track 4 – Don’t Catch Fire (Bathgate/Dooley/Dawson/Knox/) - Peter Gutteridge
Track 5 - Luck Or Loveliness (Knox, C./ Bathgate, A.) – The Chills
Track 6 - Nothing’s Going to Happen (Knox, C./ Bathgate, A.) - David Kilgour
Track 7 - All My Hollowness To You (Knox, C./ Bathgate A.) - The Crying Wolfs
Track 8 - Beauty (Knox, C./Bathgate, A.) – Stephin Merritt
Track 9 - Nostalgia’s No Excuse (Chris Knox) - Portastatic
Track 10 - Crush (Knox, C./ Bathgate, A.) The Mint Chicks
Track 11 - I’ve Left Memories Behind (Knox, C./ Bathgate, A.) - Jay & Sam Clarkson
Track 12 - Burning Blue (Knox, C./ Bathgate, A.) - Sky Green Leopards
Track 13 - The Slide (Knox, C./ Bathgate, A.) - Shayne Carter
Track 14 - Grand Mal (Chris Knox) – Pumice

BONUS TRACK
Track 15 - Knoxed Out (Chris Knox) - Hamish Kilgour

BLACK DISC (disc 2)

Track 1 - Not Given Lightly’ (Chris Knox) – Boh Runga
Track 2 - Bodies (Knox, C./ Bathgate, A) - Red&Zeke featuring Bill Doss and Neil Cleary.
Track 3 - Lapse (Chris Knox) - Bill Callahan
Track 4 – Growth Spurt (Chris Knox) – Genghis Smith
Track 5 - Coloured (Chris Knox) - Yo La Tengo
Track 6 - Dunno Much about Life But I know How To Breathe (Chris Knox) - AC Newman
Track 7 - Glide (Chris Knox) - Alec Bathgate
Track 8 - Inside Story (Chris Knox) - Don McGlashan
Track 9 - The Outer Skin (Chris Knox) – Sean Donnelly
Track 10 - What Goes Up (Knox, C./Bathgate, A.) – Lambchop
Track 11 - Brave (Chris Knox) – The Mountain Goats
Track 12 - Round These Walls (Knox, C./ Bathgate. A.) - The Tokey Tones (and friends)
Track 13 - Just Do It (Knox, C./ Bathgate. A.) - The Bats
Track 14 – My Only Friend (Chris Knox) - Will Oldham
Track 15 - It’s Love (Chris Knox) – The Finn Family
Track 16 - Becoming Something Other (Chris Knox) – Jordan Luck
Track 17 - Driftwood (Chris Knox) – The Verlaines
Track 18 Song of the Tall Poppy (Chris Knox) - Lou Barlow

BONUS TRACKS -

Track 19– Napping In Lapland (Knox C., Martyn R., Neville S., Mulholland J.) - The Nothing
Track 20 – Sunday Song (Knox, C./Bathgate, A.) – Tall Dwarfs"

Weird mix of overseas indie types and NZ pop-radio types. Boh Runga and the Checks, really?

I want one.

Oh hell yes, that's a lot of talent in one place, much of which I love, for a great cause. What's the availability/order info?

I had no idea there were so many famous Rungas!

for some reason i REALLY want to hear mint chicks doing 'crush'

rad that so many ppl got involved

listening to Knox' Croaker - awesomeness.
could it be it;s even better than Tall Dwarfs' records?

I saw him do a solo show in NY about 10 years ago, at Tonic before they got their liquor license, because I remember him commenting about the unavailability of booze. Just him and his drum machine. There was endearingly ragged quality to the performance. My favorite parts were when he would break a string, because then he would tell some hilarious story about some little-known local band while he restrung - checking first to see if they were in the audience, of course.

This just in: Roger Shepherd curated compilation of Knox videos: http://www.nzonscreen.com/collection/chrisknox

Picked this up yesterday & it's nearly uniformly excellent save the terribad, toothless Checks versin of "Rebel" and the Verlaines phoning it in slightly.

Bleeding Allstars = David Pine & Martin Durrant from Sneaky Feelings/etc.
the Crying Wolfs = George Henderson from the Puddle, Graeme Humphries from the Able Tasman/media personality-ism + Duncan Brunce (noize!)

the Boh Runga track has Fiona McDonald singing backing vocals etc (!), the Tokey Tones + Friends has members of the Brunettes, the Gladyes, Bressa Creeting Cake/Pie Warmer and the Nudie Suits, & the Pyjama Party = Neil/Sharon/Liam/Elroy Finn.

I guess anyone outside of NZ cld pick one up from SmokeCDs?

has this already been posted somewhere? Holy fuck, Pearl Jam plays in Auckland, invite the Split Enz bros up to play, and they all perform "Not Given Lightly" in tribute to Chris Knox ... super cool :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhbrZDtVkTo

Just listening to the "Stroke" compilation now... some good, some not so good as with almost all tributes but overall it's fun and for a great cause.

Shout out to our illustrious John D for his great voice-n-guitar contribution along with words of support for Chris. Yer a class act and if you need a place to stay the next time you're in Boston, I'm your man.

so confused--are john d. and john darn1e11e different folks?

Aren't they the same guy? Anyway, "Stroke" has a US release on Merge, 2/23.

Good on Merge! altho I just ordered this and the second The Nothing CD from Smoke already.

That first Chris Knox & The Nothing Cd is really good, like best since Seizure/Croaker

but there's a john d. who posts and who people have told me is NOT john darnie11e. very confused.

Strong new piece.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/music/70903606/Chris-Knox-Not-giving-in-lightly

Thanks for the heads-up, Ned.

Thought I'd posted about this compilation-of-compilation-tracks somewhere, but no:

https://thokeitapes.bandcamp.com/album/chris-knox-knoxtraxfine

Brand new: we are very privileged to be able to publish a conversation between Gareth Shute and Chris Knox from early 2007, 2 years before the stroke that left Knox with very limited verbal abilities. We are publishing this transcript in full...

— AudioCulture (@AudioCultureNZ) March 29, 2022

Full transcript of a lengthy 2007 interview.

https://aucklanduniversitypress.co.nz/chris-knox/

Biography coming in October from Auckland University Press.

Bio's out - haven't seen any reviews yet.

25min doco from 1995's been uploaded to YT last week, too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQjvic02S8M

thanks, just scored a copy of "Louie Likes His Daily Dip" which was the last one on my must-have list

oh wow, thanks etc! love that era of Chris!

I'm super excited for the book but will probably have to settle for the kindle version.