Author Archives: Ralph Heibutzki

Photo: Ebet Roberts. Ten years have passed since Danny Gatton killed himself at his rural Maryland home. The reasons remain shrouded in mystery, yet his legacy is more visible than ever. Holly Gatton has no trouble believing her father’s dazzling chops and restless eclecticism left their mark. She receives regular correspondence reinforcing that fact. “The [...]

For most musicians, the road to success is like skipping stones: often arbitrary and elusive, just as the prize beckons within reach. However, when the subject being scrutinized avoids the fray by choice, the quest only grows ever more fascinating to outsiders. • Guitarist Danny Gatton gave that impression while being interviewed for a ca. [...]

Larry Reinhardt’s world nearly collapsed in 1991, when a car accident mangled his left hand. The former guitarist for Captain Beyond and Iron Butterfly hadn’t known anything else since the 1960s, when he’d barnstormed his native Florida with the Thunderbeats, backing “…everybody who didn’t have a band,” he recalls. Suddenly, however, the man recently endorsed [...]

what more must be said about the Stooges and guitarist Ron Asheton’s role in crafting the molten landscapes of their albums, The Stooges (1969), Funhouse (1970), and Raw Power (1973)? • Twenty-five years before “grunge” became an industry buzzword, the original Stooges – Asheton and his brother, Scott (drums), the late Dave Alexander (bass) and [...]

The reality is obvious to any aspiring musi-cian, especially when another gig’s not guaranteed: compromise adds zeroes to paychecks. But anyone who saw Danny Gatton on his Washington, D.C./rural Maryland stomping grounds knew that wouldn’t happen. In a music business long buffered against surprise, the late guitarist swam stubbornly upstream, roaming nightly across the musical [...]

Subway Rhythm is an apt name for Sylvain Sylvain’s music publishing company. The former New York Doll’s train of thought makes all the stops, a tendency he often acknowledges in mid sentence, “I’m trying to hit you with everything, a little bit. Sometimes, I kind of float around, but it’s only a natural thing.” Sylvain [...]