Pitchfork

[Posted Friday, November 7th, 2003 06:00:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

The Los Angeles-area edition of this year's All Tomorrow's Parties festival (dubbed ATP Pacific 2003 by its organizers), which takes place this coming weekend aboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA, has announced that a tribute to Elliott Smith will fill the spot left vacant by the late artist. The tribute, which will be led by Folk Implosion /Sebadoh /all-around-indie-rock-drifter Lou Barlow, takes the stage on Sunday between sets from Mission of Burma and The Mars Volta. In addition to Barlow, the tribute band will consist of musicians who had played with Smith in the three years since Figure 8 including Goldenboy's Shon Sullivan on guitar, 764-HERO's Robin Peringer on bass, Sense Field's Scott McPherson on drums, and Earlimart's Ariana Murray on keyboards. They plan to cover six Smith tracks and a Minders song. For the latter, Minders frontman Martyn Leaper will join in (the Minders were one of Smith's favorite bands).

Lou Barlow was also among a handful of musicians who paid tribute to Smith Monday night at a memorial benefit at the Henry Fonda Theater in Los Angeles. Barlow performed an acoustic version of "Division Day" at the show; Beck performed "Ballad of Big Nothing," "Clementine", and "Alameda"; Rilo Kiley's Jenny Lewis sang an acapella version of "I Didn't Understand" from XO and was joined by the rest of her band for a rendition of "The Biggest Lie" from his self-titled record. Also appearing were Beth Orton, John Doe of X, Papa M, Radar Brothers, and Alaska!. The concert was recorded for a possible tribute album.

Proceeds from Monday's tribute were donated to the Elliott Smith Foundation For Abused Children. If you couldn't count yourself among the lucky few who witnessed the event and therefore contributed, you can donate via check or PayPal. The address has changed since our last story: 4470 Sunset Blvd. #305, Los Angeles, CA 90027. Online donations can also be made via PayPal using the e-mail address linked below.

.: Elliott Smith:http://www.sweetadeline.net
.: All Tomorrow's Parties:http://www.atpfestival.com
.: Elliott Smith Foundation:esmfund@yahoo.com