Still kind of stunned by the news. Tom was an incredibly sweet human being, and had this almost childlike fascination with (and enthusiasm about) music that I really connected with. Even though his record knowledge was seriously deep, there was never a trace of the kind of one-upsmanship or superior attitude you get sometimes with uber-collector types. There's a reason the term "collector scum" exists, but it didn't apply to Tom in the least. He loved listening to music, not being an expert about it. And when he loved something, he wanted to share it with everyone, because maybe it would make them feel the same way.
I first met Tom when I was working at Mystery Train in Amherst. He would walk in, usually announcing his arrival with a "meow", and lugging an armload of LPs to sell. Josh did all the record buying, so I would loiter around the counter and look over his shoulder while he went through them. The stuff he brought in was always interesting; not always "good", but never boring, and occasionally amazing. I knew he played for NRBQ, but I was more interested in talking to him about the song-poem compilation he had put together, which wrecked my mind the first time I heard it.* Whenever we'd bump into each other after that - inevitably at a record store, thrift or flea market - he would always stop to say hi, and we'd talk about our latest finds.
*If you don't know what a song-poem is (or even if you do), check out this documentary. Tom makes an appearance at 13:23 & 31:38).
*If you don't know what a song-poem is (or even if you do), check out this documentary. Tom makes an appearance at 13:23 & 31:38).
One day he came in clutching a pile of CD-Rs with hand colored covers, and passed them out to everyone working. Wildroot is where I first encountered Nora Guthrie's spellbinding "Emily's Illness", there's a couple unclassifiable and great 45 tracks by Gary Knight, some obscure girl group stuff (the resignation of the Sugar Plums' "Doing What I Have To" is a highlight), a general feeling of things being slightly off, and lots of humor. The overall experience is like hanging out with Tom while he rummages through piles of thrift store records and says "oh, you gotta hear this one!".
I listened to that Spacemen CD-R again last night. It sounded so much better than I remembered that it sent me on a hunt for more. As it turns out, it's called eleki, and there's tons of it to investigate. The more music I uncover, the more bottomless it seems, and I wish Tom could still be around to share it with. I don't know if he believed in an afterlife, though I do know his dad was a man of the cloth (witness the hilarious track on Tom's Unknown Brain lp, where he catches him drinking beer and playing cards in the church). I'm not a believer myself, but it's nice to think of him in the kind of heaven you see in old cartoons; floating on a cloud, surrounded by cats and piles of weird records, the likes of which us poor earthbound record nerds can only dream of.
Rest in peace Tom, and thanks.
DOWNLOAD WILDROOT HERE (320kbps MP3/147MB)
