SAN FRANCISCO HONORS GRAM PARSONS
Plans for the Gram Parsons tribute continue to speed forward. An increasing number of
books and tribute albums connected with the late country-rock pioneer are just a small
indicator of his flourishing cult appeal.
On Saturday, several bands from San Francisco -- including Mover, Dixie Star, the
Blood Roses, Four Fathom Bank Robbers, the Tyde and the Decans -- will pay homage to
Parsons at the first Sleepless Nights Haight-Ashbury Free Clinic benefit concert at
Slim's. Also appearing will be out-of-towners Convoy, Sex 66 and Beachwood Sparks.
Why are these young artists kneeling at the Parsons shrine, and why now?
``Because he brought together soul music, hillbilly music and outlaw music to create a
sound that has influenced many great songwriters, from the Rolling Stones to Beck,''
explains Sleepless Nights organizer and Mover front man Eric Shea. ``He continues to
move more people who discover his songs and his sound. He was from Waycross, Ga., but
he put so much soul in California.''
Each band on the bill promises to play at least two Parsons covers, followed by one or
two of their own songs that he inspired. At the end of the night Shea plans to show
some rare film footage of Parsons, his protege Emmylou Harris and his band the Fallen
Angels on the venue's big-screen video monitor.
Oddly, Shea never had any grand designs for the concert.
``I really just wanted to play the Cosmic American Music Festival at Joshua Tree. The
folks in charge of that never returned my calls, so I thought it would be fun to have
one here,'' he says.
``If it goes well, I want to have an acoustic one at the Joshua Tree Inn on December
31.''
Shea has already reserved room No. 8, where Parsons overdosed 25 years ago.
-- Aidin Vaziri
