Alex Chilton passed away on the eve of an appearance by Big Star at Austin’s South by Southwest in 2010. On Thursday, March 15, Big Star and Chilton will be honored at SXSW when an all-star lineup will perform the band’s Third (also known as Sister Lovers) album. The tribute will coincide with a work-in-progress screening of the feature-length documentary Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me. Proceeds from sales of a signed poster commemorating the night will benefit the New Orleans Musicians’ Clinic.

The film will open the night at the Paramount Theatre in Austin, and will be followed be the performance, which will include some of the musicians who played the impromptu Big Star/Chilton tribute at Antone’s in 2010: Big Star drummer Jody Stephens, Jon Auer and King Stringfellow of the Posies (half of the Big Star band in later years), R.E.M.’s Mike Mills and Chris Stamey. Peter Buck, Mitch Easter, Charles Cleaver and the Tosca String Quartet will also perform, as will Memphis sax player Jim Spake, who played with Chilton and took part in OffBeat’s tribute to Chilton at the Best of the Beat 2011. A number of guest vocalists that have yet to be announced will also participate.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7SK2yeqR_4[/youtube]

The show is open to SXSW film, music, gold and platinum badge holders, those with SXSW film passes and music wristbands, and t here will be a limited number of advance single tickets available for $25 from the theater’s box office online. Advance ticket sales will end at midnight the day before the screening, but tickets do not guarantee entry into the theater. Badge holders will have priority entry, followed by those with wristbands then those with tickets. Unused tickets will be refunded within 20 minutes after the start of the movie.

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