Spiegel: Steve Albini was a kind man, one whose passion for baseball and poker matched his love for music

(670 The Score) Steve Albini was f****** hilarious.

Outrageously quick, fearless, acerbic about powerful idiots and successful buffoons and also fiercely playful when he’d found kindred spirits.

Count me as one of thousands who hoped to be welcomed in and then didn't expect what they found.

So much kindness.

I thought he’d be a punk snob, with his well-known moralistic and professional ethos giving him a veneer of cool to wear like some shroud of honor. Nope.

That was just me projecting my own insecurities, wondering whether I was hip enough to be in the room, etc. Steve himself was so welcoming and fun and exhilarating to be with.

Many listeners to The Score knew he and I were friends through his appearances on the station. In 2019, he came by and did an hour on Hit and Run. You can hear that here . His thoughts on and passion for baseball were awesome.

He sponsored a baseball team called the Winnemac Electrons of the Chicago Metropolitan Baseball Association. Steve would sometimes play second base, in “the late innings of a blowout.” He spoke of the team in an interview with The Heckler here.

His body of work as a music engineer is stunning, and what he consistently drew out of musicians was raw and honest and terrifying and powerful. I cranked Surfer Rosa and Rid Of Me and Pod and others a lot Wednesday, when Albini passed away at 61.

Know this about Steve: No one railed more gloriously about the inequities and ugliness of the music industry.  And no one treated every band that came under his influence with more respect and dignity.  He lived every inch of the ethos he espoused.

I saw some of those bands as they’d walk through Electrical Audio’s top floor between studios and sleeping rooms, while 10 or 20 of us played poker deep into the night. They always seemed pumped, with good reason.  They were making music with their hero.

Steve Albini was a terrific Tuesday night poker game host. He made incredible, elegant homemade snacks.  Something had always been pickled. The MC5 was frequently the Pandora station of choice, as that musical genome would spray across genres but yield consistently amazing guitar sounds. His billiards table could hold about 12 of us, another eight or nine often filled a standard poker table. We all hoped and angled and dreamed of sitting near him. He was of course a table talk god.

Steve’s gravity brought an incredibly odd and interesting mix of humans, so some of my favorite conversations of all time took place there. Baseball trivia and music stories and bad beats and shit-talking and god knows what else. Some would smoke, JSP made fluffy coffees, some brought beers and I became the guy who brought celebrity wine. I’d pour, and he would make the jokes.

The Dave Matthews vineyard made a red that was “too jammy.”

“That wine hits too many notes," Steve said.

The ACDC vineyard?

“I love that one vintage they put out every year,” he added.

The band Train made a pinot grigio called Drops of Jupiter.

“This wine is intentionally banal," he said. "It is relentlessly designed to be fit for absolutely everyone."

My last text interaction was a picture he sent, a red wine bottle titled “Hosmer.” The caption was “When you’re looking for a bottle of Mientkiewicz but want something slightly more assertive.”

Narrowcasting for first basemen afficionados, he knew his audience.

My last email interaction was about this 7" vinyl record that just came out , something Steve played guitar on and engineered. It’s baseball, it’s rock and roll, it’s absurd and silly. I wrote that “90s Matt Spiegel has an aesthetic and psychological chubby to be on a record with you.”

God I hope he read that.

For almost 30 years, he and his wife, Heather Whinna, have run an amazing thing called Letters To Santa. You can learn all about it on letterscharity.org . They intercept genuine, desperate letters to Santa and supply needy families with an outrageous amount of toys, clothing, electronics and cash. Fundraising events have featured tons of musical involvement from Albini friends in music like Dave Grohl, Jeff Tweedy and many more. Tons of comedy people have been involved via Heather’s connection to Second City, like Fred Armisen and John Mulaney and more. There’s a 24-hour event every year that I hope continues and is always absolutely amazing.

Then on Christmas Day, Steve and Heather along with their great friend Tim Midyett (of the band Silkworm and Mint Mile) would drive to these families’ homes on Christmas Day in a big van, delivering 15 households all of the goods. Changing lives. Filling hearts. Steve called it his favorite thing to do every year. He wrote about it exquisitely here .

I will miss my friend. I will miss trying to impress him, trying to conversationally connect our various threads together, and I will miss listening to him speak. Oh my god, could that man speak. Efficiently but voluminous. Earnestly heartfelt while righteously dismissive. It was a game at poker nights to try and set him off, to get him rolling on something, then to all sit back and cackle.

Thank god he left so many amazing records that he engineered, and thank god he left so much incredible writing and speaking.

It should've been more.

Matt Spiegel is the co-host of the Parkins & Spiegel Show on 670 The Score from 2-6 p.m. weekdays. Follow him on Twitter @MattSpiegel670 .