Francis Joseph (Joe) Chithalen (November 17, 1967 – May 1, 1999) was a
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
musician. He was a
bassist
A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a Bass (instrument), bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboar ...
for a number of bands in the
Kingston music scene of the 1990s, most notably
Weeping Tile
A weeping tile (also called a drain tile or perimeter tileGradwell, John B., and Malcolm Welch. ''Technology--shaping our world''. South Holland, Ill.: Goodheart-Willcox, 1991. 116. Print.) is a porous pipe used for underground water collection ...
,
The Mahones
The Mahones are a Canadian Irish punk band, formed on St. Patrick's Day in 1990, in Kingston, Ontario.
Biography
The Mahones were formed in 1990 by Dublin-born Finny McConnell, as a one-off band for a St. Patrick's Day party. Encouraged by a ...
, Bucket, and Wild Blues Yonder.
On May 1, 1999, Chithalen died in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
shortly after a Mahones concert, said to be from ingesting food containing
peanut
The peanut (''Arachis hypogaea''), also known as the groundnut, goober (US), pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible Seed, seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics, important to both small ...
s. His former Weeping Tile bandmate
Sarah Harmer
Sarah Harmer (born November 12, 1970) is a Canadian singer, songwriter and environmental activist.
Early life
Born and raised in Burlington, Ontario, Harmer gained her first exposure to the musician's lifestyle as a teenager, when her older sist ...
wrote "You Were Here", the title track from her 2000
solo album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records coll ...
, in memory of Chithalen.
After his death,
The Joe Chithalen Memorial Musical Instrument Lending Library (JOE'S M.I.L.L.) was established in Kingston, Ontario by some of his friends, family and past bandmates (including the late Wally High). The Library loans instruments to aspiring musicians who can't afford them. Some of Chithalen's own bass guitars and other stringed instruments sit in the lending Library, and are occasionally loaned out for performances.
1967 births
1999 deaths
Canadian rock bass guitarists
Musicians from Kingston, Ontario
Canadian alternative rock musicians
Alternative rock bass guitarists
20th-century Canadian guitarists
{{bass-guitarist-stub