One of the founding members of The Replacements and former member of Guns N’ Roses and Soul Asylum will take the stage this weekend in downtown Gainesville.
Tommy Stinson will play an acoustic set at 8 p.m. on May 18 at Loosey’s Downtown, 120 SW First Ave. The performance will feature his girlfriend, violinist and singer Karla Rose, who is also scheduled to open for Stinson.
Stinson, in an interview with The Sun, said he couldn’t recall if he had played in Gainesville and called his musical relationship with Florida “iffy.”
“The most recent place in Florida I found my niche, if you will, is St. Pete, and I don’t know why,” Stinson said. “There seems to be a lot of diverse music fans down there.”
Reflecting on his Replacement days, Stinson shared that while touring with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers in the late 1980s, Petty discussed his preference for studio time over touring.
“At this point, he’s got his family, he’s got this, he’s got that and has done it enough and I think I can relate this late in my career because it can suck sometimes, especially flying nowadays” Stinson said.
According to Far Out magazine, one of Tom Petty’s most famous songs “Into the Great Wide Open” from his 1991 album, “Full Moon River,” featured a Replacements-inspired lyric. Petty included the words “rebel without a clue” in the song’s chorus — part of a longer line from The Replacements’ “I’ll Be You.”
“A dream too tired to come true left a rebel without a clue and I’m searching for somethin’ to do,” sang Replacements lead singer Paul Westerberg.
Stinson this week traveled from Miami to the Bahamas for the inaugural “Little Steve’s Underground Garage Cruise.” He’s following that up with a short tour from Miami to Virginia due to his aversion to flying.
“That’s why I’m playing in Gainesville because I didn’t want to fly home,” Stinson said by phone from the cruise ship Monday. “I just thought, ‘Why don’t I throw some shows in the mix on the way home (New York) so I don’t have to fly in this f****** nightmare today and drive home safely.”
Stinson’s performance in Gainesville will include covers from various bands like Cowboys in the Campfire and Bash and Pop, along with music from his solo career.
When Stinson isn’t on the road performing, he’s at home writing. His inspirations include Bob Dylan, Sharon Van Etten, Brandi Carlile and several up-and-coming underground bands.
From playing in small dive bars to stadium tours all over the world during his tumultuous career, Stinson said he doesn’t have a preference as he likes switching it up and called himself a child of short attention span.
“In the grand scheme of things, I’m just out here doing what I can do to have fun and stay a f****** teenager in the rest of development at 58 f****** years old,” Stinson said. “I’m just looking forward to having a great f****** time down there in Gainesville and ready to get off this god**** boat.”
Tickets to the show at Loosey’s in Gainesville start at about $22 and are available by typing “Tommy Stinson” in the search bar at eventbrite.com.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Tommy Stinson, a founding member of The Replacements, to play show at Loosey’s in Gainesville
Reporting by Elliot Tritto, Gainesville Sun / The Gainesville Sun
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
