Steve Wildsmith

Memphis indie-rock outfit Snowglobe is one of the stories you’ll find in this week’s edition of The Daily Times Weekend entertainment section; among other things, founder/vocalist/pianist Brad Postlethwaite talked about fellow Memphis musician Jay Reatard, found dead in January from an apparent overdose. (I interviewed Jay in July 2009, prior to his show at The Pilot Light.)

“Me and (fellow Snowglobe member) Jeff (Hulett) lived with him for a little while, right after Snowglobe started when we first moved back to Memphis,” Postlethwaite told me. “That was when he was with (band) The Lost Sounds, and it was an interesting period of time.”

Although the two hadn’t seen each other in a while, Reatard’s death was a blow, Postlethwaite added.

“It really sucked,” he said. “We were close friends during that period of time we lived together, but eventually we saw less and less of each other, to the point where it was once a year at South By Southwest or something like that. But it definitely really made me sad.

“I still think about him, at least once a week. It still seems surreal. The thing that I worry about is that I hope he had gotten well-known enough to where his name is going to continue to live on. I think that it is; I hope he got his name out there enough so that, years from now, people will know who he is and go back and find his music.

“It’s just incredibly sad to think about how much further he could’ve gone,” Postlethwaite added.

Snowglobe performs at 10 p.m. Friday, July 30, at Barley’s Taproom, 200 E. Jackson Ave. in Knoxville’s Old City, with The Carter Administration, a band that includes former Superdrag guitarist Sam Powers.

The good folks at publicity company Crash Avenue recently decided to share some of their favorite tracks, one of them being a demo of a song by Knox vets Superdrag that appeared on the band’s most recent album, “Industry Giants.” The song? “Live and Breathe,” and it’s a lo-fi demo by frontman John Davis.

Here’s what the Crash folks had to say:

We at Crash Avenue listen to a lot of music, and we’ve been trying to share it with everyone. Sure, during the day we try to share music with the writers and media we work with, but now it’s time to share some of our absolutely favorite tracks with absolutely everyone through the first issue of our monthly compilation!  Each compilation will not only feature songs from the artists we work with, but exclusive tracks from some of our friends and favorite artists, as well as bands that we’re just really digging right now. And each comp will feature a bad pun on an influential media outlet because, well, we’re immature, but it’s benevolent and with love. A couple of notable exclusive first-listens in this month’s compilation include Panda Riot’s Northern Automatic Music and a solo John Davis demo version of Superdrag’s Live and Breathe.

Click here to get the 10-song compilation album.

Speaking of “Funhouse” dudes in my aforementioned post, Mr. Senter gave me a tip about another upcoming Barley’s show, this one on Friday, Feb. 26. The Barley’s calendar simply lists the band as “Warthog: A tribute to the Ramones,” but a visit to the Superdrag website reveals some additional information:

“Back in March of 2009, Superdrag’s ‘Senator’ Tom Pappas, John Davis and Sam Powers enlisted the help of unstoppable drummer Joey Sanchez to put together a short set of Ramones covers for a Joey Ramone’s Birthday benefit gig in aid of lymphoma research at Nashville’s Mercy Lounge. They christened themselves Warthog for the occasion to honor the late, great Dee Dee Ramone, who penned the song of the same name (which also happened to be in the set that night). Anyway, they had such a great time playing, they’re bringing the Ramones tribute back for a couple more shows! They’ll be playing a half-hour set at The Basement’s fifth anniversary show on Feb. 6 in Nashville, and a proper headlining set at Barley’s Taproom (200 E. Jackson Ave.) in Knoxville on Feb. 26.”

Admission to that show will most likely be $5. Read last year’s cover story on Superdrag here.