As a big fan of early Grant Lee Buffalo, I was recently surprised and delighted to stumble upon Pistol Star, the work of GLB’s bassist/producer Paul Kimble. What a find! Apparently lasting only long enough for one CD (released in ’04), the band has apparently dissolved, and I am unable to find anything regarding what Mr. Kimble is up to these days. Hopefully something; the CD has some real gems on it, most notably the title cut Crawl, fortunately one of the four cuts available for a listen on their not-yet-defunct myspace page (the “official” band site is dead).

There is always something inexplicably heartbreaking to me about musicians/bands that produce great work but for whatever reason don’t quite receive the recognition/compensation they deserve. I wish there was a way to really (really) convey to them the impact of their work, the profound impact music can have on us. To let them know that despite the lack of over-the-top sales, etc., creating one great song, then performing and recording it well, is a life achievement they should be genuinely proud of.

I once saw a “one hit wonders” show, one of those where are they now?-type things. Several were predictably tragic (if only in that “now selling real estate” sort of way), but Thomas Dolby was the most memorable for me. The interviewer was some hip young ponce who kept pressing about how it felt to be a “one-hit-wonder.” Dolby was more gracious than he needed to be, pointing out that there they were, right now, interviewing him about something he did years ago. How many people can say that? Indeed.