Jonathan Caws-Elwitt
I think it was Jack Jordan who first introduced me to the special world of The Silly Pillows. Calling forth the best in pop, lite rock and even Brazilian music, Jonathan and Hilary Caws-Elwitt created a sunny, refreshing and totally engaging type of home recorded pop. Hilary dropped out for a spell and was replaced by, among others, Linda Smith. Jonathan also released his own solo tapes and is still active today.
My earliest tape trades were with my brother Sam, in the years
subsequent to our first joint band venture (and many years before he joined the Silly Pillows). Trading tapes made me feel (a) that I wished there were no such thing as generational decay, and (b) that I hoped Sam’s tape deck played at the same speed as my own. On a less mundane level, I felt a sense of interest in our sometimes parallel, sometimes divergent DIY solo trajectories. Brothers! So alike, so different.