PAUL WESTERBERG REMEMBERS ALEX CHILTON

This weekend at South By Southwest, a Big Star reunion show was necessarily, and tragically, converted into a Big Star tribute: the band's leader Alex Chilton died just a few days before the show was to take place. Mike Mills of R.E.M., John Doe of X and M. Ward were among the artists who performed. But no one ever paid tribute to the man like Paul Westerberg, who wrote the classic Replacements song "Alex Chilton." This weekend he wrote about the man in The New York Times.

THIS WEEK ON OUTQ: ELVIS, JENNY, RANDY AND TODD

After last week's metalfest, I'm gonna chill a bit on this week's show. If last week was a tight pants show, this week is a loose pants week. We're going to talk about Elvis Costello's recent Momofuku, Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley's new solo album Acid Tongue, Randy Newman's Harps and Angels and Todd Snider's Peace Queer EP which comes out next month. I don't know if there's really a theme here, other than all four of these folks are people you wouldn't want writing a song about you, particularly if you pissed them off.

I was also going to talk about the next wave of Replacements reissues, but I haven't gotten them yet.

MORE REPLACEMENTS REISSUES

In September, Rhino is going to release reissues of the final four Replacements albums, Tim, Pleased To Meet Me, Don't Tell A Soul and All Shook Down. In April, they reissued their first four releases. I bought them all for my brother, who became a huge fan from the moment we saw them open for Keith Richards & The X-Pensive Winos. I wasn't as big of a fan, but over the years, I've definitely grown to appreciate them. I know I enjoyed seeing them, I may just have been an immature contrarian because my brother wouldn't be quiet about how great they were. But he was right about that one.

THE REPLACEMENTS ALMOST REUNITED

This week, The Replacements reissued their first four albums - Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash, Stink, Hootenanny and Let It Be.

In an interview, Paul Westerberg and Tommy Stinson mentioned that they actually considered reuniting and decided against it.

I think it would be pretty impossible for these guys to live up to whatever expectations people have for them. On the other hand, they're both still alive and well. Paul does his solo thing, and Tommy does his solo thing and also plays in the Guns N Roses machine. Maybe they should just tour as "Paul Westerberg and Tommy Stinson," it would allow them to do Replacements songs without having to be The Replacements.

I first got into them when I saw them open for Keith Richards & The X-Pensive Winos. My brother went crazy over them and didn't shut up about them for, like, two years, which made me not like them. But these days, I have to admit they were a great band.