Wednesday's sudden death of Big Star and Box Tops singer Alex Chilton cast a pall over the South by Southwest Music Conference (SXSW) as Wednesday blurred into Thursday.
Chilton, 59, was supposed to perform a SXSW showcase with a revamped Big Star lineup Saturday, and the 24th annual festival had also planned a panel discussing the band's widespread influence. Instead, there's now talk of an all-star tribute, and in some ways it has already begun.
"He was a major influence on so many of us," said Jakob Dylan, in Austin promoting a new album with alt-country singer Neko Case as his singing partner. "My band before the Wallflowers played a lot of Big Star covers." Twin Cities music vet Grant Hart of Hüsker Dü finished off Wednesday with an impromptu 2 a.m. sing-along of "The Letter," Chilton's hit with the Box Tops.
Coincidentally, Wednesday's most high-profile showcase -- by Broken Bells, the new band featuring Gnarls Barkley wiz Danger Mouse and Shins singer James Mercer -- also added a downbeat tone to the SXSW fun. Their live debut outside Stubb's BBQ was loaded with spacey, serene, Beatlesy pop on a stage darkly lit with black-and-white video images.
But right afterward, Austin's own hip heroes Spoon put the oomph and mayhem back in the fest, and the conference is abuzz with curiosity over how rock's most notorious mom, Courtney Love, will come off at her Stubb's set with her new Hole lineup at Friday's Spin magazine party.
Chris Riemenschneider • 612-673-4658
