Writer Rich Tupica is a rock and roll archaeologist. Sure, his CV will tell you that he is a published author and the staff music writer at The Lansing City Pulse. What Rich Tupica really does is dive into the past and unfurl the music and the stories that most of us missed.
Rich’s book, There Was A Light chronicles the all too brief life of Chris Bell, half of the mercurial duo that founded the legendary band, Big Star. We talk at length about the trust that Rich needed to build to get people from Bell’s musical career and life to open up about their friend and former collaborator. The result is a new chapter in the Big Star story and a much deeper understanding of one of the main architects of the band.
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Somehow, a made for TV movie and a couple of early cassette purchases led to a life in music for Rich Tupica. Once he fell for The Beatles and Elvis, the rest was history; and history is where Rich sought to find new sounds.
I talk with Rich talk about our shared love for unearthing lost classic recordings, and the often fascinating back stories they carry. There are discussions of loner folk, garage rock, a recording studio and pressing plant in the Michigan pastures, and of course, Motown.
Detroit plays a central role in the cultural history of our state, but Rich has a special affection and abiding interest in the garage rock years around Lansing. Both of us opine about how fun it would be to put a Nuggets style collection together from Lansing bands of a given era. Most cities of this size have a musical story to tell, and Lansing is no exception.
Ultimately, for all of his digging and compiling and cataloging, Rich Tupica is using his Indiana Jones as rock archivist skills to grow our collective musical community. Whether he is writing a weekly column or researching a book, he is weaving lives and stories together through music. His passion for both the music and the stories that he coaxes into the public record are what make Rich a good writer, and a great researcher.
Join a pair of music lovers needing out on all of the things we have yet to discover.
Cheers,
Matty C
