Steve Albini lived a few blocks from me. I only ever saw him once in the 19 years I’ve been in Chicago. Still it feels like the neighborhood Superman died.

He was relentlessly brutal in his art, brilliant in his craft and so funny/smart. He gave out full-size candy bars at Halloween and has led a longtime yearly drive to answer letters to Santa for Chicago kids with his wife.

He would have hated all the nice things being said about him as much as he hated reverb on drums.

Chicago punks give a fuck.