A Big Star Fan's Dream....

While visiting with Perfect Sound Forever publisher and editor Jason Gross at this year's SXSW, we got to talking about Big Star (as we often do). When Jason and I met for the first time in person at 2010's SXSW--I've been writing for him since 1998--Alex Chilton had passed away only a few days before. I then mentioned at our present meeting that Andy Hummel passed away only a few months after that, and now the only original member left is drummer Jody Stephens.

"I've heard from so many people that Jody Stephens is one of the nicest guys in the industry," I told Jason.

"Oh, he's a sweetheart," Jason replied enthusiastically. "A GREAT guy."

"He personally sent me an email once about an Ardent reissue on vinyl," I said. "I plan on saving that email forever."

A little while later, after Jason and I said goodbye, I received a text from him that said: "Check your email for a surprise." When I got home, I had to search around--Jason had emailed it to my old AOL account by mistake--but here it is. That's Jason and Jody Stephens from earlier that day. I'm sure Jason was barely suppressing a smile the whole time.

Big Star with John Davis of Superdrag--7" vinyl release

I just received an email from Jody Stephens of Big Star concerning the "final show," which will be available from Ardent on June 21. Here's what Jody said:

"For our last performance as Big Star, Jon, Ken and I had some very good friends join us to celebrate the music and lives of Alex, Andy and Chris on May 15, 2010. The performances really tell the story of what happened and how we all felt about that evening at Memphis' Levitt Shell. The idea of trying to release the show in its entirety was overwhelming in the sense of time and effort needed for all performance clearances. So I thought, first artist first: John Davis was the first of many wonderful guest artists to join us on stage. He wailed on three songs: "In The Street," "Don't Lie To Me" and "When My Baby's Beside Me." These were just the right amount songs (and time) for an EP release. So with mastering engineer Larry Nix and Big Star's engineer, John Fry, and our Neumann cutting lathe all residing in the Ardent Studios building how could we not cut vinyl? Click on the following video link for an idea of what the evening was like."

http://youtu.be/GOxemhgiSsA