Big Star Member Percentage Breakdown

It was Bell's band. Bell was not quite capable of cooling out, which is what Chilton brought to the table. I don't really think "Cosmos" and the Bell recordings are the equal of the Big Star stuff myself. Bell didn't quite know what to do about the rhythm section.

And if Dickinson doesn't like "Flies on Sherbert" (I've never seen this opinion in print myself), he don't like himself, because that album is the logical (illogical) extension of his '72 "Dixie Fried," except far more fried.

But yeah, the Memphis factor is the main thing. Contrarian as it is--America's most contrarian, ornery town by a mile and the only worthwhile place in my home state of Tennessee--you can't never count 'em out. Never.

i mean he's on it as a matter of fact (at least the munster vinyl jammie i got) but i think i read him say that he felt like chilton only last had his whole thing specifically really together there on "3rd." i love "like flies" and afterwards, but icant say i disagree, particularly as "3rd" is probably my favorite record alltime..
love chris bell too tho dont get me wrong
still would rather listen to pretty much any of these people than most anything else out there

*and just got into sid selvidge too*

if by "ornery" you interminably drunk...
jim Dickinson plays fat, white man blues now. Somebody stop his sons
Drop everything, go see the Tearjerkers.

that is all

Well, I used to see all of 'em when I lived there in the '90s. Monsieur Jeff Evans, I dunno, the '68 Comeback stuff always struck me as very smug shit, and you know, it's fun, no one could sing or anything. Impala did the ST for a movie in which I appreared for some vague reason, Mike McCarthy's fun but terminally inept "Teenage Tupelo" (I play a guy from Tupelo who gives up the kid for adoption, I think...). So, perfectly good instrumentals. Oblivions had their heart in the right place and their stuff w/ Mr. Quintron of New Orleans is fun. I guess the thing I found strange about Memphis music during this era was a certain inbred thing which of course is part of the Memphis ethos--it's about guitars and all that but me, I'm more of a pop fan myself. None of it ever really bowled me over, they were all into being such Memphians at the expense of actually trying to get something a bit more musical over to the People. Same thing w/ the Grifters, whose first few singles and several things after were amazing--"Corolla Hoist" and so forth. But again, they just seemed smug to me and they were almost always boring live. Memphis is so strange--in many ways that city is way ahead of everyone else, in many others it's so Middle American, lotsa bad local bands, people into prog-rock. Dylanologists everywhere, dumb old hippies into NRBQ. What a muddle-headed place and a place I dearly love.

Dickinson--well, yeah, there were times I saw him and Mud Boy and I thought, this is pretty good. Other times, well, just another bad local cover band. I used to see his sons back when they were doing something a bit less jam-band and Luther and Cody were amazing, Luther can really play man. But to what end in that stupid NMAS I have no idea, they've lost it. Jim D.'s last solo album "Free Beer" had some great moments and he's an entertaining guy with funny opinions, and he did produce two of the greatest Memphis Statements ever, the third Big Star album and the awesome "Sherbert." The Mud Boy track on the LP "Beale St. Saturday Night" is pretty great. I dunno, it's just hit-and-miss with that town's musical productions. Love the spirit, which pretty much doesn't exist anywhere else in the known universe, don't always think the actual excecution lives up to the "concept." That's rock and roll I guess.

Bell was never stable; Alex seems to have become fairly "normal" these days altho I miss the old crazed Chilton myself. Too many lame gigs at casinos with the Box Tops or something, one too many renditions of "Volare." But you know, I still think he's great. Most times I've seen him play, he really has tried to do something in-the-moment and cool, get something out there, and to do it so well with just his guitar is quite an achievement and one I respect immensely.

The Grifters came to my college town one night and invited some of us on stage with them. One friend of mine sat in a chair holding a keyboard while I did my imitation of Paul Westerberg falling on his back. Afterwards, we climbed up into the rafters and one of the bandmembers got me so fucking high that Seam's set seemed to only last ten minutes. I somehow made it down off of the ladder and passed out in the alley behind the club for four hours. I haven't seen the Grifters since.

But they sho' weren't smug. maybe only when they were in Memphis, but it seems like that happens to everyone once they get inside Mudville.

then again, Sister Lovers is my fave and Andy's not on it

putting OTM here bores me but i will say i know what you mean. some of my rocknroller friends were bummed by him live, and i then had to wonder if they understood at all what this thing is they felt they identified with, being that they didnt respond to THAT
but ive been known to be a fascist

as for the percentage thing, i've always figured early big star was roughly 50/50 chris and alex, whereas "third" was 100 percent alex. in the 50/50 days, it's quite possible chris wrote most of any given song and alex wrote most of any other given song, but it was the kind of relationship where the two of 'em pretty clearly made each other better. there are two stupendous songs on the chris solo record ("cosmos" and "you and your sister") and a couple pretty good ones ("look up"), but it doesn't have the energy of a big star record. i've always assumed alex was the one who brought the energy.

that's a big part of it. first he impersonated dan penn and made hits, later bell, nothing, and then later, a whole lot of people, and even less.

that dude had such a good guitar sound i didn't care what the hell else was going on onstage.

JMM is a great guy. I know what he's after in his films, but don't know or care if he actually gets it. He really believes. I mean, D'lana is worth filming any way, right? He's a true Memphian, don't care about received wisdom one bit. I did a little dialog for him for his "Elvis Meets the Beatles" film, right at the first where Elvis talks to Nixon in the words of Charles Manson. It's somewhat gratifying to know that people all over the weirdfilm world have seen my cameo turn in "Teenage Tupelo." "We're gonna adopt a kid...it ain't no big damn deal..."

And yes, D'lana is definitely worth filming. At least she was back during the Sore Losers shoot. As one of the shadowy FBI agents, I was privileged to witness her magnificence in person. Aiiieee, Papi! I haven't seen any pictures of her since then.

This thread has gotten so derailed...well, all things Memphis, I suppose. I know JMM didn't like hippies or the Beatles, but I think he appreciated Big Star. Anyway, I think I read somewhere there was a bit of controversy over how JMM was raising money or something? I think that must've been in the story about the E&H fundraiser. Shit, if I had the money I'd probably help him out, but I don't. He inspires such belief in a way. I guess now I need to see if I can e-mail him, we traded a few e-mails a couple years ago, but I haven't seen him or talked to him since I moved outta Mempho four years ago.

And to get things back on track, Chilton, Stephens and a couple of Posies (Stringfellow, Auer?) recently finished recording at Ardent as Big Star. A friend of mine helped engineer and couldn't say enough good things about the material. (I suspect he has some rough mixes in his possesion but he's like Fort Knox with that shit.)