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Chris Bell: Waltz Across Memphis

Mark Rozzo, Oxford American, Summer 2003

IN MAY OF 1978, the first Big Star pilgrimage took place. Driving out from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, via Interstate 40, three guys obsessed with the band rolled into Memphis determined to track down their heroes. The three guys were Mitch Easter, Will Rigby, and Peter Holsapple, and they were about the only people in America who, while attending high school in the early '70s, were under the impression that Big Star – the hard-luck Memphis combo that disintegrated in 1975 – was a major big-deal band. For some reason, Winston-Salem radio loved Big Star, and had made 'When My Baby's Beside Me', from the band's mostly unheard #1 Record, a local hit.

Total word count of piece: 1114

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