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.

If you've not yet caught Peter Holsapple and Chris Stamey playing live on their current run of shows, I'd highly recommend doing so. They're playing Wednesday night in Durham at Duke Gardens,  and here's some possible incentive to get you to go -- some really terrific performance footage of a recent show in Nashville, shot by Steve Boyle for his "Return To Comboland" video project. Check it out.

It's a shame you can't be two places at once, which would've come in handy on Saturday night. That's when Peter Holsapple and Chris Stamey were playing Cat's Cradle, but I was in Austin, Texas, for another reunion show by the Reivers. I've got no complaints, though, because it was pretty great, although it was less emotional than last year's reunion show (which marked their first performance since 1991). And it took place outdoors in the midst of an overpowering heat wave that felt more like the deepest dog days of August than June.

Still, there were warm feelings of fondness all the way around, from first song ("Warehouse Jam," an instrumental from the band's first single back in 1984) to last ("Ragamuffin Man," a Reivers signature since the late '80s). The vibe was very casual, a band playing for friends and family, which is basically what it was. And just for the occasion, they offered up a homage to the recently passed King of Pop, a cover of "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough."

At one point, I was missing my pal Peter Blackstock and wishing he'd been there -- he's one of the few people who is even more of a rabid Reivers fan than I am. Alas, he couldn't make it to Austin this time. But he called during the show, and I was able to let him listen a bit by cellphone. Even better, he was calling from that Holsapple/Stamey show at the Cradle.

It was the next best thing to being there, for both of us.

Nowadays, Chapel Hill underground-pop icon Chris Stamey is probably better-known as a producer than a performer. But it would be wonderful if that changed with "Here and Now" -- his new album with longtime collaborative partner Peter Holsapple, and a terrific record (although not everyone agrees). "Here and Now" closes with an ode to the agonies and joys of working in a recording studio, "Tape Op Blues," which describes what it feels like to stand at a microphone and try to sing with everyone watching.

"I like to get the singing done during the initial recording, when possible, then shape everything around that," Stamey says. "Often records start with the instruments one by one. The singing is done only at the very end, after weeks or months of work, when everyone is exhausted by the process, and waiting for the singer to make it all work somehow at the last minute -- and discovering, sadly, that all that work was done at a tempo or in a key that really makes it hard to sing. And the rest of the band is often crowded into the control room, impatient and inattentive. The singer sees lips moving but only hears bits of the conversation when the talk-back button is held down. It's easy for paranoia to set in. I try to avoid this scenario, but it is one that is familiar to me."

For more talk from both Stamey and Holsapple about "Here and Now," see the interview in Friday's paper; and for more about Stamey's production methodology, check this feature from 2004. Then go see their show at Cat's Cradle on Saturday.

See, vinyl! It's like that table over there, only much smaller and it makes noises like that. Oh, never mind, you'll catch on when the next vinyl revolution hits.

-- Chris Stamey at Carrboro's Open Eye Cafe Saturday night, pointing at a round table immediately after trying to replicate the pops and scratches of a stylus on a vinyl record with a guitar pick on a microphone, at the end of the song "Broken Record"

More than two years after the regrouped dB's played a series of reunion shows, there's still no sign of a new dB's album. But here's the next best thing -- an official release date for the new album by dB's co-leaders Peter Holsapple/Chris Stamey, titled "hERE aND nOW," which is due out June 9 on Bar/None Records. It's a sequel of sorts to the duo's previous album, 1991's stellar "Mavericks" (which has one of my favorite songs ever). And it feels like this album has been in the works for decades.

"It does seem like we've been working on this forever," Holsapple says. "But it's only been a few years, although it has been through a lot of different areas to get to where it is now -- finished, mastered, with a cover -- all those things people do with records. Now we'll see if it sells, which is something else people do with records. Although I'm not so sure about that nowadays."

Guests on the album include the other two dB's, Gene Holder and Will Rigby; Superchunk drummer Jon Wurster; Chatham County Line's Greg Readling; and, most intriguingly, Durham resident Branford Marsalis, who contributes saxophone to two songs. There should be a live show around the time of the album's release, probably at Cat's Cradle. Stay tuned.

UPDATE: That Cradle show is on the schedule now for June 27.

So I just heard "Ask For Jill" on Comboland Radio, and it reminded me that I'd been meaning to pass along word about The Weird Girls -- the pure-pop duo of Julia Stamey and Sofia Dimos. Yes, Julia is Chris Stamey's daughter, and it should come as no surprise that she seems to have inherited her father's way with a hook. Julian and Bella Lambert (children of Kitchen Mastering proprietor Brent Lambert) also contribute to the thoroughly charming tracks on the Weird Girls' Website.

Good to see that Comboland torch passing to another generation.