Weekend Diversion: Night Of The Ponies
Pedway, First Store Open At Block 37
Around Town
Around Town
Red-Light Cameras Not So Special?
We just received word that Thax Douglas, rock and roll poet and friend of ours, passed away this morning. We, ah screw this third person thing. I just saw Thax a few days ago and can't quite believe what I'm typing. He will truly be missed and his passing will certainly throw a shadow over the city's music scene. He could be a divisive figure among audiences, but he should know, and I think he did, that he was truly appreciated by the bands he read for and those of us that thought he had a gift for turning ambiguous themes into solid imagery. We just lost one of Chicago's true treasures.
UUPDATE: Via Gapers Block, there was this posting on Thax's Facebook page: "This is Thax's Dad. Thax passed away this morning at about 10am. I know he loved the many friends he had in Chicago and I ask that you pray for him this evening." [M.G.]
UPDATE II: WBEZ is reporting that the coroner's office has no record of Thax's death, and since it appears he posted a poem on MySpace this afternoon, we're holding out hope this is some sick rumor via someone hacking Thax's Facebook account.
UPDATE III: Decider is reporting that Thax's dad has no knowledge of his son's death, so we're hoping this is all a hoax. Hopefully we'll be seeing Thax in Union Park Union Park in a few hours...
UPDATE IV: Thax is alive and well, and posted "wow--fwiw I have never attended much less read at Pitchfork- will write more tomorrow- thanks for the ♥ 's" on his Facebook page.
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I'm hoping this is not true... His Facebook page has a post that purports to be his dad saying he died at 10am this morning yet there is a new poem posted to his Myspace page at 12:29 today.... Can anyone confirm? This would be terrible terrible news if it is for real.
The poem on his myspace page is here:
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=822603&blogId=500768520
It was posted at 12:29 PM today...
According to http://twitter.com/deciderchicago, he's in fact still alive.
I'm not a big Thax fan at all but certainly hope this isn't true. I'm sitting here thinking it sure would be cool to see him stand beside Doug Martsch of Built to Spill and compare beards as he read something before they rock my face off.
either way, it seems irresponsible to report that someone is or isn't dead based off of calling the coroner here... who said he died in cook county?
I think it's more irresponsible to report someone's death from a facebook status. At least someone thought to try and ring the coroner in the city he actually lived in.
Personally I'm just holding out hope I;ll see him in a few hours and he'll be awfully amused at the attention.
Playing Schroedinger's cat with a dude? Classy move Tankboy.
Get it right is better than get it first.
In this case I'll be happy to have gotten it wrong.
myspace log in times can certainy be wrong, it can just be set to a different time zone
but apparently someone talked to his dad and he said he didn't make that post
does anyone know where he lives. just knock on his door for christ's sake
didn't the crazy dancing asian in wicker park do the same thing? Assuming this is a hoax.
yeah, gene lee "faked" his death via myspace a few years back. He's alive and well out west.
but lets not lump lax in with gene lee. thax actually is talented and well-loved. gene lee was just some loser trust fund kid.
Look, it's not that easy to hack into a facebook page, you have to know a password, so perhaps someone posted this FROM Thax's apartment when he was logged in (assuming he has a computer in his apartment). This is kind of scary. Someone must know how to get ahold of Thax and check on his well being.
Hey folks - just got a call from Thax. He is fine and still walks among us. He got all the messages on his machine and is somewhat bewildered. Someone hacked his account and played a cruel joke. ALL IS WELL!
Don't you just love journalism in the age of the internet?
Tankboy,
This is the problem with 'news' sources 'reporting' 'news' they hear from friends and Facebook entries! THIS IS WHY IT IS SAD blogs are killing real news. Real news would have done a little research... would have dug a little deeper... would have done ANYTHING except for going to print with such lame and weak information. It took me exactly 5 seconds to find Thax's dad's phone number on the internet to call and check with him. Like the Touch & Go Records reporting you did a month or two back, you get another F for your weak attempt at being a source of news. Boo!
Actually, we got the Touch & Go thing pretty right, eking out info along with the rest of the press.
And in today's environment, a status message on Facebook is becoming a viable means of communication. In this case it appears as if someone hacked Thax's account, but I'm not going to apologize for reporting on it.
In today's environment news is fluid, which is why we do stuff like the above. Instead of deleting the entry we updated it and struck through info that turned out to be incorrect.
The idea that news has only recently become fluid is something web people tell themselves to make themselves feel better about reporting rumor as fact. In fact, news has always moved quickly. In the days before "citizen journalists"--and I'm not talking Walter Cronkite here, I'm talking five years ago--there was more resistance to reporting something we heard from somebody else who saw it on a web site somewhere as fact before checking it out.
Of course, it's not just blogs falling prey to this ... mainstream media has done the same many times. I'm still mourning Jeff Goldblum's New Zealand death.
Poor journalism is one issue. The other issue is finding out who the deranged, dangerous person is out there that is doing stuff like this. It truly takes a sick mind to post a death announcement on someone's facebook page. I would imagine it's also illegal to hack into it like that, and this could also be viewed as a death threat, not the first death threat this week to arrive to a local poet. Use your professional journalism skills to uncover who the culprit is. I bet there is an IP address or something associated with the posting.
hmmm.... does anyone recall Thax's record label–Lottery Records–started with his modest but substantial Canadian lottery winnings?
No? Well I do. Had the local scene buzzing for a week or two until he fessed up.
buzzz...
please scratch "but substantial" Read "... modest Canadian lottery winnings"
there you go.
Tankboy,
"Eking out info" is NOT the same as reporting weak, flimsy, un-researched, un-substantiated rumor as news and updating it with the real story as you are proven wrong. Own it already... otherwise you are just a link a 'he said, she said' game of gossip.
As to Thax's Lottery Records... it was my understanding that it was more like fantasy football... his showcases would be made up of bands that he WOULD have put out records for if he ever won the lottery.
That was your understanding.
My understanding was that he had won the lottery and had decided to start a label. That is what he said. That was the story. One night at the CzarBar/RainboClub/EmptyBottle/LoungeAx, he said it was a prank, a goof, a gag.
Whats the rumpus? Why expect so much from a citizen blog site? Story straightened out in less than a day. Thax laughs.
handlord, I'm not sure where you got your info from but I helped book over 30 of those nights with Thax over the span of probably three years. I got to know many many of the bands and dealt with them on most of those nights. Never was one of them under the impression Thax was doing anything else beyond letting them play on his night.... and actually many liked being part of it as it was their way in to start playing some of the better clubs in town.... their foot in the door.
And you are right, I shouldn't expect much from things like the Chicagoist. The only problem is these crappy sources show up with equal weight in a google NEWS search... so their poor inaccurate reporting ends up being read as and alongside fact. Greg Kot at the Tribune was aware of this episode from the beginning but held off reporting it as he waited to find out the truth and for actual factual information to come in... so when friends and family of Thax looked for concrete info about the fast spreading rumor, all we got was inaccurate information dressed up as news by lazy reporters like "tankboy" Jim . THAT is a disservice and is avoidable by DOING A LITTLE WORK AND RESEARCH.
... and his Lottery Records wasn't as handlord describes as a "buzz for a week or two until he fessed up".... it was an ongoing semi-regular showcase of bands Thax liked that he booked together at various clubs throughout the city for years and years. There was nothing deceptive at all as handlord suggests.
ongoing? various clubs? years and years? Not my recollection.
This whole thing is transparent. Thax put this up himself so people would talk about him and he could redeem himself at Pitchfork where he was kicked out a few years ago. It's funny how on his Facebook page he doesn't deny he did this, but just talks about how it was the first time he'd been to Pitchford and was able to read.
Why would anyone hack into Thax's account? and if they would why put something up that would give him more attention? This only helps Thax. Laity you are right... it does take a sick mind to come up with this, but it's Thax's sick mind. Am I the only one who sees this...?
AM–
Bully for you.. were you there for the initial showcase, the first announcement? were you there in the beginning? i'm referring to the initial showcase, nothing else. The participating bands may very well have known the score–the same can't be said for non participants.. media, audience, etc. It was a prank. Where he went with it after that–various venues, years and years of shows under that name–doesn't matter, its beside the point. It started with a prank.
That goes to the previous comment and is the point of my original post.
It looks like rain.
Handlord,
I was there for the very first showcase... and most of the ones that followed.... and like I said, helped Thax through probably 30 or so throughout the next few years. I know of NOBODY other than you who took it seriously and is somehow upset by it. Did he promise something to you and not make good on it? I am confused why you are holding your grudge....
As for who actually posted the original false post, I am not sure who posted on FB pretending to be Thax's dad... maybe it was Thax... maybe it was one of his roommates who probably would not have had to hack anything... just had to sit down at his computer to do it... Either way I am thankful it was a false story.
Sweet creamery jesus... where do you get that i am/was upset and hold a grudge? I didn't give a shit. I don't give a shit. In fact, i gave him credit for the effort. You were obviously closer to the action and seem a bit sensitive to my take on it.
All i wrote was that Thax pulled a prank then, and may have now. Thats it.
I second your closing sentiment.
I have the same love/hate relationship with Thax that I had with Wesley Willis, and to a lesser extent Sharkula. It's pretty one-sided: I know who they are, they don't know who I am, I see (or saw) them a lot and often they were annoying, because to interact with them, I have to leave my world/thoughtspace and enter theirs and it's never up to me when I'm going to see them. Still, the city is a richer place to live in for having them around, so what's a little annoyance every now and then?
I booked Thax for a spoken word show years ago. I was inexperienced and wanted to put on the best show ever and I overstuffed the bill with too many artists. Some were more accomplished stage performers than others. They hit the crowd with a couple solid poems-funny, intense, poignant bursts- and left the stage. Thax was incommunicative to the point where I wasn't sure he was going to perform until he showed up midway through the show. He was one of the people who didn't know when to cut himself off, and read about half an hour's worth of poems at the end of a too-long show when a the audience's patience was wearing thin. Usually, you only hear him do one poem before a band. It's great, it's different, and he really is a talented writer, but his stage presence is awful (especially for someone who has performed for so long in front of such big, occasionally hostile crowds), and it's kind of hard to stifle laughs when he opens each piece with something like "I wrote this for Nash Kato".
I was on tour when he "left" Chicago and I ran into him in New York. I wasn't getting along with any of the other people I was with so it was kind of nice to see a Chicago face, so I ran up and talked to him. I was kind of galled to hear his excuse for leaving, something like "Chicago just doesn't appreciate live music as much as it used to" that struck me as complete, sour grapes bullshit (in regards to less clubs inviting him/allowing him to perform before bands). At the same time I was kinda charmed. New city, same Thax. Smart, and often warm, but not necessarily nice. I never got his explanation for coming back.
I don't want to think that Thax started the rumor himself to be manipulative. I wouldn't put it past him (or any weird person or poet in the public eye), but it's just as likely that he was checking Facebook at the library and didn't log out and someone thought it would be funny.
I love Thax. I hate Thax. I want to see him forever. I want to avoid him when I see him on the street. He's a living legend and a running joke. I'm glad he's still with us.
Randysnip. . .I am WITH YOU. . .
First, he WAS at what at Intonation festival the first year. . .which is what became Pitchfork (yes, they split into two festivals, but the ppl that put on Pitchfork are the ones that did the first Intonation. . its the same fest). . .he just created this b/c he couldn't get in.
Second, does everyone forget the big Fuck You email he sent to Chicago before he left for New York. . oddly its down now, just like his fake death. . .he had a ton of bands and people give him money to go to New York only to return in a few weeks and not speak a word of all of the money ppl give him.
Third, I watched him backstage at Lolla last year, he ran around from stage to stage, read a poem and not even watch a song of the bands he stole stage time from?? The man doesn't write poems for songs, he simply writes poems, scribbles a bands name down on top if he's going to read and uses the band to get a better audience. . .All he does is use bands for free passes, and then leaves without watching sets much of the time (usually with a lame excuse like there are photographers and what not).
I don't want the man dead, but I would be happy if he found his OWN outlet to read, and I could go own enjoying bands without having to see him perform.
The reason Thax gave the big F/U to Chicago was because of the Pitchfork festival. He had gotten in with the pretense of reading with a band and had gone back stage to the VIP room where the food was. There were instructions given to security that Thax could not go back stage... after it was found out he was back stage, the security took the food out of his hand and led him out of the festival.
I can see why he would have hate Chicago after that.
He should be given more respect than that.
So this new death hoax is just another chapter in the Thax legend... bless him... No body in this city does it better than him.
the bad thing is regardless if it was his doing or someone else, there were a lot of upset people because of this hoax. It's bad, bad Karma all around.