A year of Big Star remembrance — as well as the 2013 edition of Indie Memphis’ Summer Concert Film Series — culminates this weekend at the Levitt Shell, where a filmed document of the legendary Memphis power-pop band’s 1994 Memphis concert at Beale Street’s New Daisy Theatre will be screened for the first time.
This isn’t Big Star proper, of course. It’s the reconstituted version of the band — with bandleader Alex Chilton and drummer Jody Stephens joined by alt-rock-reared acolytes Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow, of the Posies — that took the classic ’70s sound to concert audiences around the country and overseas in a manner the doomed original incarnation of the band never could. Captured at the New Daisy, the band performs Big Star classics (“September Gurls”) and favored Chilton covers and pays tribute to founding member Chris Bell (“I Am the Cosmos”).
Coming a few months after the current, comprehensive Big Star doc Nothing Can Hurt Me got a local theatrical run, consider this screening something of a coda. Big Star: Live in Memphis screens at the Levitt Shell on Saturday, August 24th. The screening starts at dusk and is free.
Mystic Bowie at Bar DKDC
Fitzroy Alexander Campbell from Accompong Town, Jamaica, isn’t an easy artist to pin down. The producer, philanthropist, and recording artist also known as Mystic Bowie is a road warrior who left home to go on tour in Peru when he was 13, and he’s never stopped gigging.
Mystic’s roots are in reggae, but he’s based out of Connecticut these days and may be more recognizable as a frequent collaborator with the new wave band Tom Tom Club, a longtime project for husband and wife musicians Tina Weymouth and Chris Franz of the Talking Heads.
Tom Tom Club is still probably best known for the ’80s-era club hits “Genius of Love” and “Wordy Rappington,” as well as a cover of Hot Chocolate’s “Sexy Thing.” Mystic joined later, and if his sunny, energetic stage presence isn’t the inspiration for the song “Bounce,” it certainly could be. He is also featured on the Club’s remake of the Jimmy Cliff classic “Many Rivers To Cross” and “Who’s Feelin’ It,” which was featured in the title credits of American Psycho.
Mystic’s exuberance and dedication to positive messaging isn’t confined to the stage. In January of this year, Mystic broke ground on a library he’s building in his hometown in Jamaica. He plays Bar DKDC on Friday, August 23rd.
Jo’zzy Comes Home
A couple of weeks ago, Memphis-bred R&B singer K.Michelle released her debut album and helped launch it with a local homecoming concert at Minglewood Hall. This week, locals have a chance to see another potential homegrown rising star in the R&B/hip-hop scene when songwriter/performer Jo’zzy takes to the Hi-Tone stage.
The young Memphis native relocated to Miami last year and entered into a songwriting partnership with producer Wizz Dumb, a protégé of ’90s hip-hop heavyweight Timbaland. With Timbaland and frequent collaborator Missy Elliott taking an interest in Jo’zzy not only as a songwriter/producer but as a potential solo artist, Jo’zzy has been pursuing her own music of late, recently releasing a seven-song digital mixtape, Twenty90s, which features Timbaland on the track “Tryna Wife.” The sound — rubbery production under a blend of both rapped and sung vocals — is firmly in the Timbaland/Missy school.
After doing a “Backstage Pass” event for the Memphis Music Resource Center last month, Jo’zzy returns this week for a show at the Hi-Tone on Friday, August 23rd, with local rapper Pat24Seven. Showtime is 9 p.m. Admission is $10. Learn more about Jo’zzy at dopebyaccident.com.
