Tommy passed away last Wednesday in his sleep despite being in really good health. The papers said he was 59. Wow! He could’ve fooled me since I had the honor of seeing him open for Matthew Sweet (twice) this Summer and had a brief conversation. The latter was great because Tommy had a new record almost done with plans to tour with a full band and Austin was on the list of stops. As for his show, he was great and a complimented Matthew Sweet perfectly. Matthew even had Tommy on stage to sing/play “I’ve Been Waiting.”
Despite having very brief big-time fame in the mid-Eighties, Tommy was very respected by many artists/band who were his contemporaries who had him on their records: Goo Goo Dolls’ Dizzy Up The Girl, Robert Pollard (aka the lead guy behind Guided By Voices, if that isn’t Indie Cred, I don’t know what else is), Don Dixon, T Bone Burnett, Richard X Heyman and Paul Westerberg.
After I saw him, I did clean out Waterloo Records of any CDs they had. Now I will need to bug my friend Chip for additional material.
Thanks Tommy! You were a treat to listen to, a pleasure to speak with and you will be missed by all us Power-Pop fans.