A Big Star is Coming to Riverbend

I have to be honest… I haven’t been to the Riverbend Festival in something like five years. Between the intolerable and sticky heat, the teeming mass of wall-to-wall drunk people, and that horrible smell of stale urine, sweat, beer and all things fried, I decided that it simply wasn’t worth the trouble anymore. But, when I heard that the Alex Chilton Trio and the Box Tops would be playing at this year’s Riverbend Festival, I was pleasantly surprised.

Oh, all right… I was as giddy as a schoolgirl. I mean, besides Roger McGuinn, I cannot remember the last time Riverbend has had someone as important, someone as cool, someone who has influnced a whole generation of artists as much as Alex Chilton. The man is literally a legend, forged into myth from the time he was twenty years-old by storming offstage in the middle of performing with the Box Tops because of creative differences with their record company.

For those of you who claim ignorance in the name of Chilton, who dare ask, “Why should I care about some has-been guy who my parents grew up listening to?” I humbly provide you with a brief lesson in rock music history. You say you’ve never heard of him or his music? I say you’re wrong.

Child Chilton and the Box Tops

Alex Chilton joined the Box Tops in the mid1960s at the age of sixteen. Originally from Memphis, Tennessee, the band shot to stardom with their #1 international hit “The Letter”, with Alex singing lead vocals. Originally called the Devilles, the Box Tops had other hit songs including “Cry Like a Baby” in 1968 and “Soul Deep” in 1969.




I’m a Big Star Now

In the early 1970s, Chilton joined the band Big Star, named after a local grocery store with fellow musicians Chris Bell, Andy Hummel and Jody Stephens in Memphis. Though they failed to score any big hits at the time, the power-pop quartet did manage to garner critical acclaim with their first album #1 Record in 1972. Bell left the band, dissappointed by their lack of success and for a brief time, Big Star broke up. Eventually reuniting, the band released Radio City in 1974. Several years before their third album Third (later renamed Third/Sister Lovers in its 1992 re-release) was released in 1978, they had again broken up, this time for good. Chris Bell, who suffered from depression, was killed in a car crash the same year. Big Star eventually reformed in 1993 with original members Chilton and Stephens, along with Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow of the Posies and released the album In Space in 2005.








Children by the Millions…

In the early 1980s, Alex moved to New Orleans after a brief solo career. He worked as a dishwasher and sat in with various bands. He eventually focused again on his solo career and fell in love with the smooth sounds of jazz, and rediscovered his early love of classic R&B.
Chilton now bides his time touring with his first band, the Box Tops, as well as his Alex Chilton Trio, recording and performing classic R&B covers such as “Never Found a Girl” and “Lipstick Traces.” You can see them on Thursday, June 12th on the Bud Light Stage at 7:45 p.m.

Along with his second band Big Star, Alex Chilton has influenced a number of famous musicians, including the Replacements, Jeff Buckley, Counting Crows, Susanna Hoffs, Wilco, Elliot Smith, R.E.M. and too many others to mention here.





If you want to learn more about this “man of myth”, just click on these links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Chilton
http://bigstarband.com/index.html
http://www.lastcallrecords.com/biographies/alexchilton.html
http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/alexchilton
http://www.frontlinearts.com/bigstar/
http://www.boxtops.com/