Author: Chris McCoy

In the mid-’70s, as Elvis Presley drew his last breath, a friendship revolutionized and revitalized Memphis music. It started when former Box Tops and Big Star frontman Alex Chilton saw a young art freak named Tav Falco take a chain saw to a guitar onstage at the Orpheum Theatre.

“We started hanging out together and playing,” says Falco, now living in Europe but back in town this week for a rare local show. “And Alex said, ‘Let’s start a band. I got a drummer, Ross Johnson, a renegade librarian. All we need is a name.'” Falco had heard about the legend of Panther Burn, Mississippi (a plantation named for an incident when an escaped circus panther was burned alive in a canebrake) which was a hotbed of country blues, and it stuck as the name for the rotating cast of bohemians who, led by Falco and Chilton, became the center of a bacchanalian Midtown scene.

“Alex was a towering artist and a complicated man,” Falco says. “He was not only one of the great guitar players of the 20th century — he kind of poo-pooed his guitar playing, but I think he was one of the best, and I have seen a lot of them — but as singer, there was none better. He could sing with a thousand different voices. He opened doors for me as an artist. He convinced me to play rock-and-roll, which was something I never really thought about doing. I never thought I could do it. When I met him, I was listening to country blues on the one hand and Karlheinz Stockhausen on the other. It was the end of the psychedelic period, and I wasn’t interested in rock-and-roll any more. But it became more than just rock-and-roll with Alex. He could play anything he wanted to play, from classical to rock to Latin. After a while, I wanted to treat other kinds of music with the Panther Burns beat, like samba and tango. Alex jumped on that with ease. Anything I would bring to the table, he would say okay, and we did it our way.”

Panther Burns shows of the late ’70s and early ’80s featured not only guitars, drums, and bass but also insane synthesizer racket, trumpets, and whatever else was handy.

“The president of Rough Trade Records saw us at Danceteria in New York,” Falco recalls. “We went on at about 4 o’clock in the morning — bands those days went on rather late. It was kind of a nutty scene. Robert Palmer from Little Rock, the music writer, played clarinet with us on that show. It was a completely wild clarinet. After the gig, Jim Fouratt, a famous alternative band booker in New York, who was managing Danceteria at the time, came backstage and said, ‘That was the worst-sounding, noisiest, most hideous thing I have ever heard at this club. But there’s a guy name Geoff Travis from a record label in London who wants to come backstage to talk to you. Should I let him in?'”

The resulting album, 1981’s Behind the Magnolia Curtain, which was recently reissued by Fat Possum records as a double album with 1983’s Blow Your Top, is one of the defining documents of the rockabilly-infused strain of garage punk that would eventually lead to such acts as the Oblivians and the White Stripes.

After a decade of relentless touring and groundbreaking recording, Falco moved to Europe in the early 1990s, settling in Paris and eventually Vienna. Only recently, after the death of Chilton and some of his other early collaborators, has he broken his self-imposed continental exile.

“Cordell Jackson wanted me to come back to Memphis and perform with her at her last show, but I didn’t know it was going to be her last show. I had vowed I would never come back to Memphis until I had a new album. Well, finally I did it, after nine years — all original songs, no compromise. We recorded that album, Conjurations: Séance for Deranged Lovers, in 2010 at a secret studio in Paris. Through my obstinacy and stubbornness, I didn’t come back and perform with Cordell. And then all of a sudden she was gone.”

Tav Falco’s Panther Burns will perform at Minglewood Hall’s 1884 Lounge on Sunday, October 14th. The show will also serve as a fund-raiser “orientation” for the upcoming documentary Meanwhile in Memphis: The Sound of a Revolution by director Richard Allen Parker, which traces the wild, DIY strain of Memphis music that can be traced in part back to Panther Burns and includes footage of Falco’s infamous Orpheum chain-saw incident.

Falco remains a Memphis original.

“There is a persona in our work that pervades everything we do,” he says. “Sure, we reinvent ourselves, and we embrace different styles of music, but it’s all infused with the persona of the Panther Burns.”

Tav Falco’s Panther Burns

With Jack O & the Tennessee Tearjerkers and

Michael Hurtt and his Haunted Hearts

1884 Lounge at Minglewood Hall

Sunday, October 14th

8 p.m., $10

Since 2004, Chris Milam has lived the life of the itinerant musician, playing more than a hundred dates a year, traveling, in the words of his song “Any Day Now,” “From California/To Carolina/Surfing couches/And chasing gold.” But, right now, Milam’s thoughts aren’t of the road. He is anxious for people to hear his new EP, Young Avenue.

“I’m just chomping at the bit,” Milam says. “I’m very happy with it. I’m really proud of it. And I am thrilled with the job that everybody did on it.”

The five songs, which were written over the course of a year, mark a significant transition for Milam, from solo singer-songwriter to bandleader. “I was doing a lot of stuff solo acoustic, and I guess it was folky. But now, I’m playing with a full band, and things are a little more rock leaning,” he says.

Milam refuses both the folk and rock labels. “I consider myself a pop singer,” he says. “In my mind, pop’s not a dirty word. When I say pop, I’m thinking music from generations past — melody-based music.” His musical imagination is firmly rooted in the music he grew up listening to: Simon & Garfunkel, Motown, Stax, the Beatles, and Bob Dylan.

Young Avenue features an all-star Memphis lineup, including bass ace Mark Stuart, Kevin Cubbins (who also produced) on guitar, Chris Thomasmeyer on drums, vocal support from the Memphis Dawls, and Al Gamble on keys.

“I love coming in with a song thought out and executing it. That’s a great feeling,” Milam says.

“But the best feeling in the studio is when I come in with an idea of how it’s going to be, and we get started, and somebody else has a better idea, and we let the song grow. There’s nothing like getting a really talented group of musicians in a room and just letting them go.”

Chris Milam’s Young Avenue record-release party will be Friday, September 21st, at the Hi-Tone Café. Mark Stuart, Al Gamble, Kait Lawson, and the Near Reaches open. Doors open at 9 p.m. $5.

Introducing the Gloryholes

Punk has always been the music of the outcast, but it has not always had a comfortable relationship with homosexuality. Gays have always had their own subculture and didn’t need or want to wear safety pins and mohawks.

But none of that matters to the Gloryholes, Memphis’ first all-gay punk band.

“We would like to show that the LGBT community can rock with the best of them,” says guitarist Harry Manhole, who, along with bassist Gaycey Slater and drummer Tripod Rod, has set out to change that with ragged, raucous punk.

“I get asked a lot if I like certain acts that are popular with the gay community,” Manhole says. “And when my response is no, I usually get, ‘But why not? You’re gay. You should like it.’ I don’t get why I have to like certain things because I’m gay. Why would anyone want to be a label or stereotype? I just wanna like what I like and do my own thing. I don’t think I should have to be up with what others tell me.”

The Gloryholes’ meat-and-potatoes punk ranges from fast, Memphis-y garage to Bad Religion-inspired hardcore chunk.

“We try to have fun,” Manhole says. “That’s where it all really comes from. We’ve been accepted very well by the LGBT community, which has been awesome. Without their support, we wouldn’t have gotten as far as we have in some aspects. We’re glad we’re an act that can entertain most any audience,” Manhole says.

The Gloryholes play at the Hi-Tone Café on Thursday, September 20th, with Special Victims Unit, singer/actress/tattoo artist Ivy McLemore’s new band, and the Bombay Alleys. Doors open at 9 p.m. Admission is $5.

Although it does not get as much attention as music, Memphis has its own thriving comedy scene. One fruitful strand of local comedy started about five years ago at the P&H Cafe, when Brandon Sams organized an open mic night. “It was weird, but it was very fun,” he says. “Those were wild times. It attracted a certain sort of person. An enthusiast.”

“The first night, a whole bunch of us went who had never done comedy before but had always wanted to,” Michael Kline says. Among those trying out their comedy chops was Randall Holcomb. “As far as my memory works, Randall was there from the beginning,” Sams says. “He was very, very funny. He had a darker sense of comedy.”

Word soon spread. “We were putting on a good enough show that we were attracting a crowd,” Sams says. “We became close, as friends and co-entertainers,” Sams says of the group of comedians that included Kline, Katrina Coleman, and Andy Fleming. “Memphis is a city that tends to bind people together. That’s something unique to Memphis. A lot of cities don’t have that.”

“I used to live next door to the P&H, and Randall lived across the street,” Kline says. “We both had slacker jobs, so we would both be at the P&H at like 3 in the afternoon drinking beer and writing. He was really into Brian Eno, and I’m really into Brian Wilson, so we would have these big debates on who was the better Brian.”

Holcomb became one of the standout stars of the scene.

“His stuff was very esoteric,” Kline says. “It was very dark, but it had an element of fun attached to it. It was silly but disturbing. He would bomb sometimes, but you still couldn’t take your eyes off of him. He was riveting.”

Sams recalls a typical Holcomb joke: “I put a banana peel in front of my bean bag chair, because I want to slip into something more comfortable.”

Like many in the scene, Holcomb was also a musician, playing with the band Community Bubble as well as on Beale Street and dabbling in noise experiments. Coleman says he was also a friendly, open person who attracted talented and strange people. “He was the kind of guy that you never knew who was going to get out of his car,” Sams says.

But like many good things, the P&H open mic night couldn’t last. “I think we were doing it for so long, week after week, just punching it out, that it couldn’t sustain itself,” Sams says. “The closing show was amazing. It was standing room only. I cried four times.”

For his part, Holcomb struggled with his demons, eventually moving to Nashville and seeking a fresh start. Then, on December 30, 2011, he was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. “Did he do it on purpose? Who knows?” Sams says. “He was alone there. Nashville can be a very isolating city, especially when coming from the camaraderie of Memphis.”

His friends in the comedy scene were crushed. “Losing someone like that, someone so close to you… there’s just no comparison,” Sams says.

With the comedy scene looking for a way to honor their friend, Kline hit upon the idea of throwing a comedy and music show at the New Daisy Theater, where the two friends worked.

“Mike Glenn, the owner, is really supportive of local talent, so I knew I could get the room and have his full support,” Kline says.

The evening will begin with music from Holcomb’s former band Community Bubble, along with Oracle and the Mountain, Hi Electric’s Neal Bartlett, and the Near Reaches’ Jason Pulley and J.D. Reager. Then, for the second half of the show, the comedy scene will be out in force, including performances by Sams, Kline, Josh McLane, Jane Haze, the Running Gag improv group, and many others.

“All of the Memphis comics will be there,” Kline says.

Proceeds from the show will benefit the Church Health Center, an institution close to Holcomb’s heart. Sams says it’s the least they can do. “We are all poor. We don’t have a lot of discretionary income, but we have talent.”

Coleman says it’s a fitting tribute to her friend: “I know he touched a lot of people — more than I realized.”

A Special Tribute to Randall Holcomb, featuring multiple local bands and comedians, is at the New Daisy Theater on Friday, August 24th, 7 p.m., $10.

It’s the holidays, which means it’s also the season for holiday parties. If you’re already worn down by the thought of force-feeding with relatives or office get-togethers that require you to pretend to like your co-workers on your off-hours too, the good news is that there are other, better options for revelry. Memphis musicians — many of whom are on the road for much of the year — have made big shows a Christmas tradition in the last few years, and there is a good slate of them over the next couple of weeks.

Saturday, December 17th: Shangri-La Christmas Party with Magic Kids and Fraysia

“Every year we just try to have some good music and try to pair up different types of bands,” Shangri-La Records’ Jared McStay says. “It’s a big party that we throw for all of our customers and for anyone else who wants to come. We try to make it appeal to as many different people as we can. But it’s mostly just about music.”

McStay is not sure how long this holiday show has been going on, as it was already established when he took over from Shangri-La founder Sherman Willmott. “It’s at least 13 years, probably more like 15,” he says.

This year’s show at the Hi-Tone Café features Magic Kids, the smooth, Bennett Foster-fronted Midtown indie-pop band whose 2010 album Memphis garnered national attention. Also on the bill is Fraysia, featuring McStay, Impala guitarist John Stivers, Tripp Lamkins of the Grifters and Dragoon, and Andy Saunders from Glorie.

“It’s kind of a new thing we’ve been doing,” says McStay, whose band the Simple Ones was a mainstay of the ’90s Memphis alt-rock scene. Between sets, DJ Buck Wilders will keep the party rocking with his blend of vintage soul and contemporary rock. Admission is $5 plus a can of food, which will be donated to the Memphis Food Bank.

Sunday, December 18th: Goner Christmas Party with Peach Kelli Pop, True Sons of Thunder, Sharp Balloons, and Toxie

The next night, Goner Records will take over the Hi-Tone for their annual Christmas shindig. Like McStay, Goner Records owner Eric Friedl is not sure how many years Goner’s been throwing down for the holidays. “I remember the Barbaras played one year,” he says. “We try to keep it underground — keep it street.”

This year, Friedl says the show will be based around a girl group from Canada called Peach Kelli Pop. In addition to the fun, uptempo Nuggets revivalism of the headliners, Friedl’s own noise maestros, True Sons of Thunder, have worked up a set of Christmas tunes that must be heard to be believed. “It’s gonna be pretty different from what we usually do,” Friedl says.

Goner co-owner Zac Ives’ punk band Sharp Balloons will also be playing, along with Toxie, featuring Goner’s own Madison Farmer and Magic Kids’ Will McElroy. “I think we’re saying it starts at 6 p.m.,” Friedl says. “It’s a post-dinner, stretching into the late night kind of thing. It’ll go from a family Christmas kind of party to a big night out.”

Thursday, December 22nd: Lucero with Amy LaVere

Minglewood Hall will host two of Memphis’ biggest road warriors as they return home for this Christmas extravaganza. Lucero needs no introduction to Memphis audiences. The alt-country band has been one of the most successful Memphis acts of the 21st century, both artistically and commercially. Their first annual Christmas show last year was packed, and this promises to be even bigger.

Joining the boys will be Amy LaVere, fresh from touring Europe in support of her acclaimed third album, Stranger Me, which will be at the top of many people’s lists for best Memphis record of 2011. Portions of the proceeds from the show will benefit MusiCares, a Grammy Foundation-run program that assists musicians in need.

Sunday, December 25th: Snowglobe’s 9th Annual Christmas Show with the Pirates

After you’ve finished opening your presents, head to the Hi-Tone for the return of Snowglobe. “It’s totally a tradition,” drummer Jeff Hulett says. “Christmas is not Christmas without the Snowglobe Christmas show.”

It’s something of a reunion and not only for the band members, who, due to distance, other musical obligations, medical school, and new babies, have not played live since last year’s show. “Some people miss it, because they’re out of town, but the great thing is that there are a lot of our friends, family, and fans who have scattered across the country but are back in Memphis and come to the show,” Hulett says. Even though Snowglobe appearances are rare, that doesn’t mean they’re inactive. They have almost completed a new album with local producer Toby Vest.

“I’m pumped about where it is,” Hulett says. “It’ll be a fun record. It’s a lot more electronic and poppy.” Will we get a preview on Christmas night? “I hope so!” he says.