Vic Chesnutt

GO TO VICCHESNUTT.COM 2009 NORTH AMERICAN TOUR



10/23 Ottawa ON CA Mavericks

10/24Montreal QC CA Ukrainian Federation

10/25Cambridge/Somerville MA US Somerville Theater

10/26New York NY US Bowery Ballroom

10/27Brooklyn NY US Music Hall of Williamsburg

10/28 Philadelphia PA US First Unitarian Church

10/29 Baltimore MD US Ottobar

10/30 Washington DC US Black Cat

10/31Wilmington NC US The Soapbox

11/01 Atlanta GA US The Earl

11/02Athens GA US 40 Watt Club

11/04 Newport KY US Southgate House

11/05 Chicago IL US Lincoln Hall

11/06 Detroit MI US Detroit Institute of Arts

11/07 Toronto ON CA Lee's Palace

11/19Minneapolis MN US Cedar Cultural Center

11/20 Winnipeg MB CA West End Cultural Centre

11/21Sasktoon SK CA Amigos

11/22Edmonton AB CA McDougall United Church

11/23 Calgary AB CA Knox United Church

11/25Victoria BC CA Lucky Bar

11/26 Vancouver BC CA Red Room

11/27 Seattle WA US Crocodile

11/28Portland OR US Mississippi Studios

11/30San Francisco CA US Great American Music Hall

12/01 Los Angeles CA US Echoplex

12/02 Tuscon AZ US Club Congress

12/04 Denton TX US Hailey's

12/05 Austin TX US Central Presbyterian Church



VIC'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY



born jax fla. 1964

adopted

moved to georgia age 5

favorite song kawliga

started writing songs

maternal grandfather played country guitar and wrote songs and grandmother wrote lyrics

favorite song garden party

started playing trumpet age 9

mentor band director randy edgar

favorite song night the lights went out in ga. and delta dawn, and night chicago died

age 13 felt the need to listen to rock’n’roll

ordered 8tracks for a penny, styx, kiss, doobie brothers, taped steve martin over kiss

went to town to buy a rock’n’roll record

sgt. peppers

bought a uke from sears catalog age 15

learned beatles songs

leonard cohen

bob dylan

age 16 playing trumpet in cover band called sundance with 30 year olds

parents gave guitar for christmas 1980 to help vic get over lennon’s murder

sang whip it on stage with sundance

velvet underground

king crimson

coma

tape to tape home recordings

age17 meet johnny cash

just before graduation discovered the new music, elvis, jam, nick lowe, clash, pistols, rem, replacements

gordon junior college

play rhythm guitar in new wave band called random factor

open for baby and the pacifiers in atl.

fired because refused to tuck in shirt

start a new band with todd from dashboard saviors

plays keyboards in proto-industrial electronica duo

sees pil 1982

car crash

can’t play guitar or trumpet but discovers a whole new understanding of music

sells trumpet buys arp synthesizer

writing vacuous pop songs

starts strumming

coma

shoplifts norton anthology of modern poetry it’s footnotes were eureka

stevie smith, wallace stevens, etc.

kafka, great gatsby, salenger

“art feeling”

songs take on adult form

moves to athens to study english

meets the bohemian types

sings at a party where deanna varagona hears him, gets him a gig the next night before the band’s soundcheck

suddenly a solo artist

opening for local bands

listens to the roches

goes to nyc for the first time

hands and legs go numb

after operation can’t play guitar

learned maternal grandfather dies

forms folk-rock band la-di-das

listens butthole surfers, husker du, local bands

free form hard rock jamming

bass in acid rock band angle lake

quits la-di-das

athens folk music and dance society

records “little”

father dies

off to california

meets harry dean stanton, victoria williams, giant sand, bob neuwirth, van dyke parks, etc.

marries tina

paternal grandmother dies

opens 100 shows for bob mould

band with tina and drummer jeffrey(hazeldine)

“west of rome”

speed racer documentary

tours with victoria williams

opening tour for soul asylum (and goo-goo dolls)

“drunk”

allen ginsberg calls vic an idiot

opening tour for live (and angelfish)

mom dies

"brute" with widespread panic

tours europe with giant sand

“is the actor happy”

funny conversations with james dickey

coma

"slingblade"

more european tours

sees nina simone perform

signs with capital

meets joni mitchell

sweet relief

“about to choke”

from the edge, BBC

the end of violence soundtrack duet with michael stipe

"salesman and bernadette"

meets kevin coyne

sessions at w.54th street

conan o’brien

“merriment”

soundtrack for "rough south of larry brown"

“left to his own devices”

coma

"Josiah Meigs and Me"

meets wim wenders

"co-balt brute"

“silver lake”

The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn

produced liz durett’s first record, "husk"

hal wilner’s randy newman tribute project

meets bill frisell

re-released first 4 albums on new west with 28 extra tracks

"ghetto bells"

produced liz durett’s "mezzanine"

blogged on huffingtonpost.com

undertow orchestra

open shows for rickie lee jones

daniel johnston tribute queen elizabeth hall concert

cowboy junkies trinity session 20 year anniversary project

conference for the book, Ole Miss

song on "Just One More, A Musical Tribute to Larry Brown"

dropped from New West

"North Star Deserter"

"Dark Developments"

honored to play guitar and Turkish pop songstress Nazan Öncel's album 7'n Bitirdin

composed soundtrack to director Sebastian Schipper's "Mitte Ende August"

Carnegie Hall R.E.M. tribute

on Dangermouse/Sparklehorse album "Dark Night of the Soul"

"At The Cut"



VIC BIO FROM 2006



Vic was born in 1964 in Jacksonville, FL and was raised in Zebulon, GA. He loved music from an early age and, in fact, started writing songs when he was only five years old. He played trumpet in a high school cover band. As he got older and began buying records, his first favorites were Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan and The Beatles. After a car accident in 1983 that left him partially paralyzed and the recuperation period that followed, Vic came to "a whole new understanding of music. The first results were what he describes as vacuous pop songs But when he discovered a book called The Norton Anthology Of Modern Poetry (its footnotes were eureka!) Vic had, for the first time, what he describes as that art feeling. It was then that his songs began to take on adult form. In the middle 80s, Vic moved to Athens, GA to study English. He formed a group called The La Di Das and began playing the clubs around town. In 1988 he quit the band and started playing solo shows, including a summer-long residency at The 40 Watt. It was then that Michael Stipe saw Vic, repeatedly, and was moved to invite him into a recording studio. They recorded the songs that became his debut album, Little and Vics career effectively began. Vic has made 10 albums to date as well as 2 albums in collaboration with Widespread Panic under the name Brute. He was the subject of a documentary in 1992 entitled Speed Racer directed by noted indie filmmaker Peter Sillen. In 1995 he had bit part in Billy Bob Thornton's film Slingblade. In 1996, Columbia Records put together Sweet Relief II: Gravity Of The Situation - The Songs of Vic Chesnutt, a benefit album to assist musicians with medical and financial hardship. It featured Vics songs covered by the likes of Madonna, Smashing Pumpkins, Soul Asylum, Garbage & R.E.M. In 2000, The Georgia House Of Representatives passed a resolution, honoring Vic for his off-beat musical genius and other purposes. In 2001 he wrote and performed the music for Josiah Meigs and Me, a puppet play done at St. Annes Warehouse in Brooklyn. In January of 2004, Vic participated in the Randy Newman Tribute at UCLAs Royce Hall along with Victoria Williams, Bill Frisell, Rip Torn and many others. In June of this year, he was invited to share the bill with Rickie Lee Jones for two concerts at the prestigious Century Of Song Festival in Essen, Germany. Over the last few years he has also been speaking on songwriting and creative writing at Berklee School Of Music, Brown University and The University Of Georgia. Vic continues to tour extensively all over the world and has shared stages with the likes of R.E.M., Laura Nyro, Patti Smith, Lou Reed, John Cale, Mo Tucker, The Jayhawks, Allen Toussaint, P.J. Harvey, Wilco, Billy Swan, Giant Sand, Calexico and The Sadies.

Reference: 2006 New West Records LLC. http://www.newwestrecords.com/vicchesnutt.php



Debriefing live in Munich (thanks francepo)