And as mentioned earlier, this is an ongoing concert series by a diverse community of musicians performing the whole of Third/Sister Lovers, working from scores re-created by composer Carl Marsh. Chris Stamey (the dB’s) provides additional orchestration and serves as the series producer.
This video captures the performance at the historic Playmakers Theater on the University of North Carolina campus, February 2011.
The next performance of Big Star’s Third/Sister Lovers will be on Saturday, March 26, at Mason Hall in NYC, 8 p.m.
The NYC concert will include the rhythm section of Jody Stephens (the only remaining original Big Star member), Mike Mills (REM), Will Rigby and Charles Cleaver. They will be joined by Stamey, Michael Stipe, Matthew Sweet, M. Ward, Norman Blake (Teenage Fan Club), Ira Kaplan (Yo La Tengo), Mitch Easter, Tift Merritt, plus special guests Lost In Trees, with Jane Scarpantoni, Django Haskins (The Old Ceremony), Brett Harris, Sidney Dixon and Matt McMichaels.
Video by CreatoDestructo Imagery; Jerry Stifelman directing, James Hyatt 1st AD and Shay Stifelman, camera par excellence.
This is a passion project. This is a labor of true love.
This is the song “Holocaust,” from Big Star’s Third/Sister Lovers album, performed recently by a group of local and nationally-known musicians coming together because of a shared love and shared inspiration.
Time has proven Third/Sister Lovers reputation as a beautiful, haunting masterpiece – and a fitting tribute to the talents of songwriter, Alex Chilton. The group’s influence has continued on, to this: “Big Star Third,” a ongoing concert series by a diverse community of musicians performing the whole of Third, working from scores re-created by composer Carl Marsh. Chris Stamey (the dB’s) provides additional orchestration and serves as the series producer.
This video captures two separate performances, in December 2010 and February 2011. Players included Big Star’s own Jody Stephens, Mike Mills (R.E.M.), Mitch Easter (Let’s Active), Stamey, and members of the Love Language, Megafaun, The Rosebuds, Lost in the Trees, The Old Ceremony, Birds and Arrows, Mayflies USA, the Tomahawks and the NC Symphony.
Video by CreatoDestructo Imagery.
The next performance of Big Star’s Third/Sister Lovers will be on Saturday, March 26, at Mason Hall in NYC, 8 p.m.
The NC core group from the Cat’s Cradle show, complete with the rhythm section of Jody Stephens, Mike Mills, Will Rigby, Charles Cleaver, and Mitch Easter, will be joined by Tift Merritt, Matthew Sweet, M. Ward, Norman Blake (Teenage Fan Club), Ira Kaplan (Yo La Tengo) and others to be announced shortly.
But the REAL story is we shot this in North Carolina, late one January evening, hoping we’d get some great nighttime footage, illuminated by just hand-held lights, lanterns, candles, etc.
Our first set-up was around 6pm. It started snowing about 6:30. And not just “North Carolina snowing” — these were real, fat, heavy flakes coming down in a hurry.
So we thought about that, and discussed it for a while. Our options were to either stop, because there’d be NO WAY to match any snow scene on any other day or night in North Carolina; or keep going that night until we had everything in the can. Yes, continue shooting in a snowstorm.
…So we went for it, with the full support of the band. I believe we wrapped up about 11pm that night; wet, shivering and frozen. But heck, Ari did most of the shoot without a jacket (he wasn’t wearing one during the first scene, so…) , a lot of the band members had to keep holding their instruments (including a very large, cold, snow-covered tuba), and people had to keep running up and down a very dark trail just to keep up with the set-ups. In the snow. Did I mention that?
And personally, I think it looks great. The snowfall looks fantastic and has production values we couldn’t have bought with Jay-Z’s platinum card.
Hats off to Jerry and Ari for making that call and sticking with it, and for the creative vision we now have with this music video.
For even more background, here’s Jerry’s description:
“The concept of is simple — Ari leaves his cabin in the night, walking through the forest, picking up members of the band along the way. Unlike many music videos, this one was as much about mood as concept. We wanted to convey a vibe that was appropriate to the song and the band. There is a feeling of timelessness to Lost In The Trees’ music. We wanted to be true to this by shooting under the light of the full moon supplemented only with candles — and by keeping the band dressed in simple vintage clothing. The idea was to make the “walk” to feel like it could have taken place 100 years ago. This made things hard for band members, many of who had to carry both their instruments and a candles while walking in the freezing snowfall. (This was especially hard for Mark, since he had a tuba to carry around). Another aspect of Lost In The Trees that makes them special is the genuine sense of family. Filming the whole group singing the song was an important part of this, and it turned out so special that we added the live audio of the band singing to backing track of the final video. If you listen, you can hear Ari laughing as he sings. The extreme cold and snowfall made even the most simplest things, like turning cameras on and off, became a challenge, but everyone hung together. Originally, we were going to film Ari actually walking into the lake, but it was so cold, we were afraid he might not come out alive. But ultimately we think the video’s open-ended finish is better leaving it up to the imagination of the viewer.”
James Hyatt 