 Panel and performance featuring Big Star’s Jody Stephens plus North Carolina Big Star Third ensemble members Chris Stamey, Skylar Gudasz, Jeff Crawford and Django Haskins to follow screening. DURHAM, N.C. (Press Release) — Building on a concept that started with a tribute concert in Chapel Hill in 2010, a score of talented musicians — including sole surviving Big Star member Jody Stephens, Mike Mills (R.E.M.), Jeff Tweedy (Wilco), Robyn Hitchcock, Mitch Easter (Let’s Active), Chris Stamey (the dB’s), Dan Wilson (Semisonic), Kronos Quartet, Skylar Gudasz, Brett Harris, Django Haskins (The Old Ceremony) and more — came together in California in April of 2016 to play songs from the 1978 album Third by Big Star in honor of the band’s late guitarist/songwriter Alex Chilton. The resulting film of that event, Thank You, Friends: Big Star's Third Live ... And More, to be released by Concord Bicycle Music on April 21st, 2017, had its world premiere at the annual South by Southwest Festival in Austin last month. Rolling Stone proclaimed it one of “20 Must-See Movies at SXSW.”  The cast of Big Star's Third Live Thank You, Friends: Big Star's Third Live ... And More will make its North Carolina premiere at the Carolina Theatre of Durham on Friday, April 21 at 8 p.m. A Q&A discussion with Stephens, Gudasz, Stamey, Django Haskins and Jeff Crawford, moderated by WUNC-FM’s Eric Hodge, will follow the screening. A special musical performance will follow.
Tickets for this special screening, discussion and performance are $15 and go on sale on Friday, March 31 at the Carolina Theatre Box Office, http://www.carolinatheatre.org and at Ticketmaster. The 90-minute film will be available in stores April 21 as a 2-CD/DVD or Blu-Ray combo pack, as well as a stand alone 2-CD set. Liner notes by GRAMMY® Award-winning writer Anthony DeCurtis and Stamey round out the package. Big Star’s devastatingly beautiful third album has long been revered by artists and critics as one of the most influential records ever produced. Written and recorded when the legendary ’70s band was primarily a studio project consisting of Chilton and drummer Stephens, Third (or Sister Lovers, as it was alternatively known) had never been performed in public with the original string and wind arrangements. That changed in 2010, following Chilton’s untimely death just two days ahead of a much-anticipated Big Star performance at SXSW. That December, famous friends and fans assembled from far and wide to play a fully orchestrated Chapel Hill, N.C. gig in Chilton’s honor. From there, the core players (including Stephens, Mills, Easter, Stamey, plus the Posies’ Ken Stringfellow and Jon Auer) took the show on the road internationally, enlisting guest stars and orchestras in each city, and performing not only songs from Third, but also material from Big Star’s first two albums, #1 Record and Radio City. That core ensemble, along with a star-studded cast of guest artists, assembled in April 2016 at Glendale, Calif.’s Alex Theatre for the epic concert seen in Thank You, Friends. Directed by Benno Nelson of Yes Equals Yes, the film includes performances by a who’s who of indie rock, including Jeff Tweedy and Pat Sansone of Wilco, Ira Kaplan (Yo La Tengo), Robyn Hitchcock, Dan Wilson (Semisonic), Benmont Tench, Jessica Pratt, Brett Harris, Haskins, and Gudasz as well as a full chamber orchestra helmed by San Francisco’s acclaimed Kronos Quartet and conducted by Carl Marsh, who wrote the original orchestrations for Third/Sister Lovers. Much like Nick Drake, the Velvet Underground, and other critically esteemed artists whose work only gained commercial traction long after its initial release, Big Star let loose their trademark mix — shimmering jangle pop with a side of elliptical melancholia — into a world that just wasn’t ready for it. Formed in 1971 by singer/songwriters Alex Chilton (1950-2010) and Chris Bell (1951-1978), drummer Jody Stephens (b. 1952) and bassist Andy Hummel (1951-2010), the Memphis-based band is now considered to be one of the most influential in modern music, having inspired some of the biggest alt-rock artists of the ’80s, ’90s and beyond. An underground core of fanatical enthusiasts kept the fire burning. The Replacements famously released “Alex Chilton,” a song that paid tribute to Big Star’s songwriting genius. R.E.M.’s Peter Buck says, “Big Star served as a Rosetta Stone for a whole generation of musicians.” Over the course of their time together, Big Star recorded three LPs with producer John Fry at his Ardent Studios. 1972’s #1 Record included the power-pop anthem “When My Baby’s Beside Me,” the dreamy “Thirteen” and “In the Street,” famously performed by Cheap Trick for the theme of That ’70s Show. Radio City (1974), recorded after Bell’s departure, featured “September Gurls” (covered by likes of the Bangles and Superdrag). In the fall of 1974, not long after the release of Radio City and the departure of Hummel, Chilton and Stephens recorded a new album that was shelved until 1978, after the group had disbanded. That mythic album was released as Third (later reissued under the name Sister Lovers), and has long been revered by artists and critics as one of the most influential albums ever produced. Third is included as one of Rolling Stone magazine’s “500 Greatest Albums of All Time." Show Information: Cat’s Cradle and the Carolina Theatre Present: Thank You Friends, Big Star’s Third Live … and More Movie screening with Q&A afterward featuring Jody Stephens, Skylar Gudasz, Django Haskins, Jeff Crawford and Chris Stamey. Moderated by WUNC-FM’s Eric Hodge. Special musical performance to follow. Date / Time: Friday, April 21, 8 p.m. Info: General Admission. No reserved seating. All seats $15 plus tax and fees. About Carolina Theatre: Carolina Theatre of Durham, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that manages the city-owned Carolina Theatre at 309 W. Morgan Street, Durham, NC 27701. Carolina Theatre of Durham, Inc. is dedicated to presenting vibrant, thought-provoking film and live performances that contribute to the cultural and economic vitality of downtown Durham and the Triangle Region. Website: http://www.carolinatheatre.org
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