Back in December, you might recall that I was urging you to catch the live performances of Big Star's "Third/Sister Lovers." Fortuitously, there's an encore performance tonight in Chapel Hill. It's a pretty elaborate production and there's no telling when or if they'll stage it around these parts again, so check it out.

Before the show, there will be a multimedia program this afternoon on the life and works of the late great Jim Dickinson, producer of "Third/Sister Lovers" and a legendary Memphis raconteur; plus some yackety-yack about the album and the project from ringleader Chris Stamey and friends. That starts at 2 p.m. at UNC-Chapel Hill's Wilson Library. More details on that are here.

ADDENDUM (3/4/11): "Holocaust."

SECOND ADDENDUM (3/29/11): New York performance.

If you're not otherwise occupied Friday night, you really should head for Cat's Cradle and night two of Big Star's "Third/Sister Lovers" live performances. Thursday's opening-night show was truly spectacular, a wonderful night of music and warm communal vibes. Chris Stamey showed his usual attention to detail in overseeing the proceedings, which saw scores of great singers and players coming and going to bring the cult-classic album to life.

Highlights included a seasonally appropriate "Jesus Christ," sung by R.E.M.'s Mike Mills; Stu McLamb from The Love Language on "Stroke It Noel"; Brett Harris singing a lovely and moving encore version of the Chris Bell classic "You and Your Sister"; and most of all "For You," sung by Big Star drummer Jody Stephens and with a string part so beautiful it induced chills.

Go. Seriously.

If you put together a pantheon of most cult-ish albums of all time, Big Star's "Third/Sister Lovers" would have to land somewhere near the top. The album emerged from somewhat sordid circumstances, sat on the shelf for years and never sold much when it was finally released. But "Third" nevertheless left quite a vapor trail, profoundly influencing R.E.M., The Replacements and most of the rest of the American underground rock generation of the 1980s.

One of those descendents, Chris Stamey, is overseeing a live performance of "Third" next week, dubbed "Stroke It, Noel: A Fully Orchestrated Performance of Big Star's Third Album," which should be amazing. See some thoughts from Big Star drummer Jody Stephens in the preview from Sunday's paper.

ADDENDUM (12/9/10): Cool pics from rehearsal.