Report: Alex Chilton Tribute @ SXSW

"Those he touched, he touched immutably": On Saturday, March 20 at Antone's in Austin, the surviving Big Star members and a host of musicians who loved and were influenced by Alex Chilton demonstrated just how immutable that touch was. Among the guests: John Doe, Mike Mills, Chris Stamey, Evan Dando, Kirk Kirkwood and M. Ward.

By Rob Patterson / Photos by Randy Harward

It may seem contradictory for any number of reasons that the SXSW closing night tribute to Alex Chilton was both bittersweet and celebratory. Yet that fits what the music he made with Big Star was all about: reveling in the propulsive chime and harmonic pleasures of pure pop while singing about the double-edged sword of young love.

Earlier in the day at the Chilton panel, Ardent Studios owner John Fry mentioned (via webcam feed from Memphis) "Alex's reputation for being a curmudgeon." But it seems to this writer - who knew Chilton in his late 1970s New York City days - that such a rep was only the result of his being an idealist who had learned to live (very much in his own way) as a realist. As Big Star drummer Jody Stephens reported in a note from Paul Westerberg, "Alex was Alex all of his life." Chris Stamey of The dB's, who played bass in Chilton's first NYC band, echoed that by noting, "He didn't lie," though panelists did also discuss how he could often be circumspect and even quite cryptic.

"He let you figure him out," concluded Posies/latter day Big Star bassist Ken Stringfellow. But the appeal and almost incalculable influence of Chilton's Big Star legacy needed no figuring out as a number of his notable musical followers and admirers made clear in the 18-song salute to follow that night at Antone's. Performing numbers from the three 1970s Big Star albums, they all wonderfully locked into the openhearted emotionality of his lyrics and the eternal melodic pleasures of Big Star's rocked-up pop sound.

MVP honors were handily earned by the Big Star v.2 survivors Stringfellow, Stephens and guitarist Jon Auer (pictured above), who backed the guests and began the show with a faithful take on "Back of a Car" that channeled Chilton so effectively it was almost a bit hard to believe he wasn't there - but for the mike stand at center stage where he should have been. That rich evocation of the Big Star vibe continued as Meat Puppet Curt Kirkwood joined them on guitar for "Don't Lie To Me" and "In The Street" followed by Stamey on Chris Bell's "I Am The Cosmos" and "When My Baby's Beside Me." In those moments one certainly felt the "invisible man who can sing in a visible voice," as Westerberg termed Chilton in his Replacements song about him.

(Curt Kirkwood)

(Chris Stamey)

The entire set was a marvel, and surprisingly free of any notable bum notes or glitches, given how quickly it had to be assembled. Every number and singer was like yet another high point, though a few marvelous stunners stood out.

John Doe wrenched the deepest feelings of youthful amorousness and longing within "I'm in Love With a Girl," and was then followed by Norwegian popster Sondre Lerche for the night's most reinterpreted number, "The Ballad of El Goodo," within which his impassioned singing opened up delightful new facets. A midpoint reading of "Thirteen" with Auer singing lead provided a touching moment of repose and reflection on Chilton's crystallization of the very essence of being a teen. And with just his voice and an acoustic guitar on "Nighttime," Evan Dando nonetheless wowed the assembled with the impassioned tremors of his delivery.

(Sondre Lerche)

(Andy Hummel)

Original Big Star bassist Andy Hummel jumped up to harmonize as Stephens sang "Way Out West," and such others as M. Ward (doing a somber "Big Black Car"), R.E.M.'s Mike Mills ("Jesus Christ") and Chuck Prophet (who rocked "Thank You Friends" out of the park) underlined how vital the band's inspiration was to them and so many others. The show closed with harmonic bliss as Dando, Auer, Stringfellow and Amy Speace delivered "Try Again," and then Susan Cowsill, The Watson Twins, Hummel and Mills with the Big Star players roused "September Gurls" into a perfect grace note of celebration.

(M. Ward)

(Mike Mills)

At the daytime panel a letter from Chilton's Memphis scene compatriot Tav Falco was read where he noted of Alex, "Those he touched, he touched immutably." Everyone on stage that night showed just how eternally he affected them, and what they sang and played surely had its immutable impact on everyone listening. The musicians came not to bury Chilton and not merely to praise him either, but rather show just how life-enriching the music he created with Big Star was to them, and then prove that with spirit and love to all the souls in the room. Even without Chilton's human presence now on Earth, his music will no doubt resonate eternally.