Just for starters: This can’t rightly be called a “review,” since I was the master of ceremonies (and momentarily a performer!) at the in-store show at Amoeba Music on Nov. 8, celebrating the release of the Flying Burrito Brothers’ Live at the Avalon 1969. A review would require some objectivity. So let’s just call this a record of the event.

Nov. 5 would have been the 61st birthday of Gram Parsons, the lead singer and principal songwriter of the Burrito Brothers, who died in September 1973 at the age of 26. On Nov. 6, Amoeba – after years of negotiations – released Live at the Avalon 1969, a two-disc set containing two sets by Parsons’ great band, recorded at the titular San Francisco ballroom. (You can find more information about the album on this site.)

Amoeba launched the album with a whooping 90-minute set at the Sunset Boulevard store in Hollywood, not far from Gram’s old stomping grounds on the Sunset Strip. The repertoire from the evening was drawn from Parsons’ work with the Byrds and the Burrito Brothers and his solo works.

Though she was under the weather with the flu, Gram’s daughter Polly Parsons flew in from Austin, Texas to welcome the crowd and introduce the house band, the Sin City All-Stars. This great group – including bassist/musical director Dusty Wakeman, drummer Dave Raven, guitarist Easy Pickens, keyboardist Carl Byron, and vocalist Bryson Jones – held down the fort for years at the monthly Sweethearts of the Rodeo hoe-down at Molly Malone’s, and was the house band at the star-studded 2003-2004 Parsons tributes in London, Los Angeles, and Santa Barbara. The All-Stars kicked off the night with a rockin’ reading of Dave Dudley’s “Six Days on the Road.”

The night’s first special guest was singer-guitarist Dave Gleason, a former San Franciscan (and Amoeba employee!) now based in Ventura; Gleason, whose album Just Fall to Pieces was released earlier this year, ripped through Bobby Bare’s “Long Black Limousine,” George Jones’ “You’re Still On My Mind,” and Gram’s “A Song For You.”

Amoeba Music’s other recording artist, Brandi Shearer, was up next. Brandi – whose Amoeba album Close to Dark you ought to own – performed Gram’s “Hickory Wind” and the country-soul classic “The Dark End of the Street”; she sang George Jones’ “She Once Lived Here” as a duet with her guitarist Ted Savarese. Her appearance was highlighted by a guest shot on bass by original Flying Burrito Brothers bassist Chris Ethridge.

L.A.’s goddess of the groupies Pamela Des Barres, who contributed liner notes to Live at the Avalon 1969, offered her memories of Parsons and the band, and displayed a Western shirt she made for Gram. She introduced Los Angeles’ current king of the honky tonkers Mike Stinson, who played Gram’s “In My Hour of Darkness,” Buck Owens’ “Close Up the Honky Tonks” (with Chris Ethridge returning on bass), and the late Porter Wagoner’s “Green, Green Grass of Home.”

Quincy Coleman, one of L.A.’s most gifted songbirds, wrapped up the show with Dan Penn and Chips Moman’s “Do Right Woman” and the Everly Brothers’ “Brand New Heartache.” Then it was all hands on deck for a show-closing “Gram finale” of “Wild Horses,” the song the Rolling Stones donated to the Burritos’ album Burrito Deluxe. It was at that point that your genial host accompanied Bryson Jones’ lead vocals with some backup harmonies; happily, no one threw anything, and I was not escorted offstage by Amoeba security.

The bottom line:  It was a lovely remembrance of Gram Parsons’ formidable contribution to country music, and everyone seemed to enjoy this generous shot of “cosmic American music.” If Amoeba’s Dave Prinz has his way, this won’t be the last time we raise a glass to Gram. Chris Morris hosts “Watusi Rodeo” every Sunday at 9 a.m. on Indie 103.1 in Los Angeles. He considers himself “an O.G. Gram Parsons fan.”