Requiem for a Stooge

Ron Asheton changed my life forever when I turned on the TV the summer when I was 13 and saw the Stooges playing at the Cincinnati Pop Festival. The cameras focused on the shirtless guy in the elbow-length silver gloves doing his audience-walking bit, but the guy I was watching was the kid behind the Stratocaster in the sunglasses and the Ed Roth T-shirt, who made it _sound_ as lethal as it needed to for Iggy's act to be something other than a topic for snide commentary by the TV sports guys that NBC had providing the play-by-play. I feel incredibly fortunate to have had the opportunity to interview him, to meet him in person and hear him play _those songs_ (in 2000 at SXSW and in 2002 in his hometown of Ann Arbor). I'm especially glad that he got a nice "victory lap" the last five years, which will culminate in the Stooges' probable induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year. I hope he checked out with a horror movie on the tube and a smile on his face. Goodnight, Uncle Ronnie. Much love and many thanks.