Pavement Nearly Reunite At Nashville Wedding Party

Fans clamoring for a Pavement reunion since the seminal indie-rock band parted ways in 1999 almost had their wish fulfilled this weekend as four of the five members descended on a Nashville club to celebrate the marriage of former percussionist Bob Nastanovich, the Nashville Scene reports. The sorta-reunion took place Saturday night, February 21st, at the city's 5 Spot venue.

Rumors began circulating among Nashville indie fans that members of Pavement would reunite at the club that evening. At first, fans who went to 5 Spot were treated to wedding band performances of "Bennie & The Jets" and "Proud Mary' by members of the Silver Jews. As the crowd swelled to 250, Stephen Malkmus took the stage to sing Redbone's "Come And Get Your Love" and the O'Jays' "Love Train."

And then the unlikely happened: Malkmus was joined onstage by Pavement drummer Steve West, bassist Mark Ibold (now of Sonic Youth) and Nastanovich, as well as dozens of partygoers, for what has been reported as a rendition of "FCC Party," a song by West's band Marble Valley. Although four fifths of Pavement were onstage together, no Pavement songs were played. According to one commenter at Nashville Scene, Pavement guitarist Scott "Spiral Stairs" Kannberg was also in attendance but didn't partake in the fun onstage — although photographic evidence has yet to be produced.

It's been 10 years since Pavement called it quits following the release of Terror Twilight, but reunion talk has reached fever pitch this year, especially after Kannberg said "Coachella keep asking our booking agent, but our booking agent's pretty strong, you know, he's waiting for the right number." The Coachella lineup was announced sans Pavement, but there's always Lollapalooza.

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Song Stories

“Piano Man”

Billy Joel | 1973

Billy Joel’s first hit, “Piano Man,” was – ironically – an autobiographical lament about how his first album wasn’t a hit. When Cold Spring Harbor didn’t take off, Joel briefly became a lounge pianist in Los Angeles, and this song, about that experience, expressed his frustrations and fears at the time: “And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar/And say, ‘Man, what are you doing here?’” “It was all right,” Joel said later, about the gig. “I got free drinks and union scale, which was the first steady money I’d made in a long time.”

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