I’m such a bad fan. Such a bad fan. Not only did I not realize that Haruki Murakami was speaking at Tufts, I didn’t realize he had taught at Tufts. And more than that, he apparently wrote the last part of Wind Up Bird Chronicle while he was teaching there. Which means that part of one of my favorite novels was probably written within three blocks of where I currently am sitting.

In the late 90’s, Salon ran a regular feature called “Brilliant Careers” which had a great premise: why wait until someone remarkable dies to give them a tribute? The idea had promise, but the actual execution ended up featuring a lot of people who are well-profiled elsewhere. And it was long enough ago that you’ll notice some of their subjects have since gotten their tributes in real obituaries (Fred Rogers) or in the tabloids (Phil Specter).

Anyway… I wish I had gotten to read this Providence Phoenix tribute to Charles Rocket before he committed suicide.

To his thousands of friends and fans here in Rhode Island, Charlie was the kindest and most generous type of person. We loved him without reservation, and he gave us that love back. He was a towering figure in the underground arts scene in the Providence of the 1970s. He heavily influenced Talking Heads, the Young Adults, and dozens of other bands. Those who were active then will tell you that Charles Rocket, in many ways, helped create the template for the underground/hipster/bohemian art scene here and elsewhere.

You may know him from his memorable stint as David Addison’s brother in several episodes of Moonlighting, as noted here. He was sort of a huckster selling “Rich & Thin” pills, and Terri can probably recite you most of his “rap”.