Home > Austin Music Source > Archives > 2011 > March > 19 > Entry
Scene report: So I’m talkin’ to Peter Buck…
Guitarist Peter Buck of the up-and-coming pop combo REM was at the Ginger Man Friday afternoon playing with Steve Wynn, the Baseball Project and other pals. Speculation was high that REM singer Michael Stipe might pop over to see Flash to Bang Time, which includes his sister, Lydia, ex of Oh OK. Bassist Mike Mills had been spotted around town Thursday and the buzz was that “most of” the members of REM would play…somewhere…sometime.
So after Buck was done he hung out in the alley behind the beer garden and listened to Mike Watt. I said hello and asked if the band was playing. He was noncommittal. Then Stipe walked up and said hey to Buck. By this point a quiet hysteria was taking over the crowd, with folks betting they were in for one of the coolest super-secret shows ever. Then Stipe left, then Buck and his REM road cases.
Hours passed. People, including Lydia Stipe, started assembling on the roof. (There was a light projector up there.) Then — look! up on the roof! it’s Stipe! He’s at least going to sing with his sister, right? And then Buck will come back with Mills and they’ll play “Radio Free Europe” for the first time in 20 years and everybody will expire of happiness, right?
Not so much. Stipe just hung out and listened. Kudos to the guy for not bigfooting his sister’s moment. But come on, they’ve got a new record out this week and Buck, Mills, Stipe are all in town. If The Drummer Who Isn’t Bill Berry is spotted at the Jackalope they’ve got to be playing somewhere. Right? Or how about this: I heard from somebody who heard from somebody else that Matthew Sweet was spotted at Whole Foods, meaning there’s a possibility of an Oh OK reunion…somewhere, sometime. All you have to do is show. But don’t get your hopes up.
Follow Austin Music Source on Facebook and Twitter.
Permalink | | Categories: SXSW 2011
