- 8Ball & MJG headlined the Memphis Music Foundation showcase at SXSW.
SXSW 2010 was frenetic, a mix of almost frantic hype over up-and-coming talent and recognition of established artists from Smokey Robinson to Hole to Stone Temple Pilots. But the sudden passing of Big Star’s Alex Chilton on the opening day of the festival cast a pall over the weekend. Reverberant excitement from the festival, at events like the Memphis Music Foundation showcase at Barbarella, and the Goner Records show on Saturday afternoon, couldn’t alter the poignant emphasis on Memphis music’s loss, embodied in Big Star’s Chilton-less reunion show.
The Memphis Music Foundation event at Barbarella offered a strong line-up of local talent, starting off with Harlan T. Bobo, shrouded in darkness save for one electric blue light. Then the effervescent, dreamy, and sweet Star and Micey took the stage, encircled by white string lights and a row of cardboard green grass. The two started the show with a short lead-in from Big Star’s “Thirteen”. Big Star drummer Jody Stephens played alongside the Ardent Music group, and said a few words in Chilton’s honor.
