Why I Oughta...

There were plural Tweedys on the stage on Saturday night at the Salt Shed.  You could tell right away when they walked on the stage based on how they looked.  The hair.  And the way that Jeff Tweedy was smiling.  He was happy to be playing with his kids and other people (that he said) he knew since they were "little".  There he was - seemingly looking healthy - playing from his new thirty-song (yes...30 songs) album Twilight Override with a band backing him featuring two pairs of siblings (one of them being his two sons - playing drums and keyboards).  I don't know what anyone else was expecting, but (for me), the highlight of the night was the free water and cups from the hosts at the Salt Shed.  I had never been there before, but was really impressed with the place.  It is a big cavern and they have done a really nice job creating a unique venue.  We parked up the block about 10 minute walk (we went for pizza prior to the show and left the ...

A few nights ago, Wilco played on Late Night with Seth Meyers.   Their new single (is that still what you call it?) is pretty good.  Dad rock and all. The archives are full of Wilco-related posts all the way back to 2004.  Go ahead and nose around in there if you'd like. 

Nat scored us tickets to see Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy perform at a fundraiser for Chicago Mayoral Candidate Rahm Emanuel on Sunday night .  We had general admission tickets which didn't guarantee us a seat, but we arrived shortly after the doors opened and snagged GREAT seats at the counter by the bar.  Unobstructed views and close proximity to the bar plus a seat = suburban dad's dream concert set up. Rahm showed up a bit after six pm and went about greeting people.  I have to give him credit:  he worked the room - and not just the high dollar tables.  He was back by the bar where we were sitting (I even got to shake his hand!) and glad-handing with us mopes.  Total retail politics.   (shhhsh!  Don't tell him that we're not voters and we live in the suburbs!) Jeff Tweedy came out - disheveled as usual - and performed seven songs in just a bit under an hour.  He played one new song, a few recent songs, and a few older songs (New Ma...

A Cherry Ghost, that is... Well, I'm pretty tired. Guess who stayed up until midnight and then walked over to Discount Records on LaGrange Road at midnight to buy "A Ghost is Born" by Wilco this morning.... (***points both thumbs at self***) "This Guy". That's right. My brother-in-law Marc (not Camp) gave me a copy of it a few months ago. I have discussions with Marc about basically four things. Music, Sports, Religion, and Howard Stern. Good stuff, right? But he knows my 'anti-rip' stance on MP3's and internet downloads... I am against them because I think you loose so much of the work of art. That concept of the 'album' is starting to get lost. I'm a wax guy, but that's beside the point. Even when we had casettes, there were some choices. "What leads off the second side?" "What ends the first?" Those questions are enough, but there's even more. Album art. Enough said. When you burn a copy you don...

In the most recent edition of Paste Magazine , Wilco Frontman Jeff Tweedy talks about 'listening': I would love for more people to listen to music as a sole activity. I think it’s a really transformative way that that art form can touch you. Aside from live music, which I think is really important to being human-to be a part of a crowd experiencing music-recorded music is like literature when you allow yourself to sit and listen. I mean, you know. That’s all you did when you were growing up; that’s all you needed to do. You found friends that could sit and be quiet and not f-in’ ruin it; those were your friends, you know? If somebody couldn’t do that, you couldn’t hang out with them. I don’t care how cool they were; they were not cool. And...for all you lefties (like Nat), read his last quote. Snob that he is, he doesn't watch much tv, except for the Daily Show.

Yesterday afternoon, I cut out of work early (I left my desk...) and Maisy and I headed downtown to meet up with Nat. We were all set to head to the Jeff Twedy Show at the Abbey Pub . Good times, right? Turned out great! Well, I got there a bit early and Nat hadn't gotten home from work yet, so me and Maisy ran over to Barker and Meowsky for a new sweater and she dug it. It's a pinch big, but hopefully she'll 'grow' into it. (She's turning into a bit of a 'fatty arbuckle' as it is!!) We got back and Natalie was home. Outsmarting ourselves, we thought, 'Hey! Let's just get chow at the Abbey instead of SoupBox or Tomatohead . Irish Nachos and Ruebens and such. Well, as we're walking up to the Abbey, sure as shit, we run into Jeff Tweedy, his wife Sue Miller, their 2 boys, what appeared to be one of Jeff's cronies/guitar techs/friends, and a hot nanny. Jeff was carrying 2 clamshell carryout styrofoam containers and the kids weren't ...

It's coming pretty fast.  I just burned AGIB for one of my mates who is heading to the show on Tuesday with us. He has YHF, but didn't get 'Ghost' because it's not 'out on vinyl' yet. The good news about that is that it's coming March 8th with 'new cover (not the infamous egg)'. In other Wilco-related news, ' Golden Smog ' is set to record a new record . Attention all drummers: Golden Smog is getting ready to make another album.  Actually, former ZuZu's Petals drummer Linda Pitmon -- who filled the Smog's ever-rotating drum slot at October's Rock for Karl show -- will likely play on the new CD alongside the usual suspects: Jeff Tweedy (Wilco), Dan Murphy (Soul Asylum) and Jayhawks past and present Gary Louris, Marc Perlman and Kraig Johnson.  Manager Jake Walesch, who is Soul Asylum's point man, says the Smog plans to record in Spain in March. The fact that the gang is going overseas to make the album suggests ...

Are the critics heaping too much praise on Wilco? That's  Kevin 's  argument. Wilco has gone from a small band with a cultish following to a heavily hyped, critically loved behemoth. And rock critics are heaping praise -- a little more than is warranted -- on the band's latest album, A Ghost Is Born. They laud its mix of understatement and obstinacy, even while couching those accolades with qualifiers. Rolling Stone makes unsurprising comparisons to canonical figures such as Neil Young and the Band; it also calls Ghost "eerie." Spin labels it both "engagingly complex" and "willfully obscure"; The New York Times declares it "stunning" and "an evasive maneuver, intended to frustrate listeners." ...The media latched onto the story, and who could blame them? The David-and-Goliath angle made for great drama -- especially when, upon its release in 2002, Foxtrot became the band's most commercially successful album t...

I like to be righteous and support independent record stores and independent book retailers. I figure I should pay the extra couple of bucks to buy my records at Threshold Records than Best Buy. I mean, corporations control music enough, I don't want to give them any more profits than they already make from the distribution, concert ticket sales, radio station ownership, and bland cookie cutter artist development. But on June 22, I'm going to have to think long and hard about not going to Borders or Barnes and Noble. The whole 'books and music' concept hitting home for this guy. Maybe I'll even pose as a real upwardly mobile hipster and pick up a frappacino....Maybe not. Big Day. Wilco's new record and President Clinton's new book . A two-fer.

Where do I begin? Should I start with the new line-up? The venue? Tweedy's Salad? All of it was amazing. I kinda consider myself a hardened concert-goer. I see a lot of shows and enjoy a lot of stuff, but this was over the top. I went with my brother-in-law Marc out to Dekalb. We arrived at something like 8ish and headed over this cool bohemian coffee shop on the main drag in DeKalb. (I had a turkey panini and he had a 3 cheese... which to me is just a toasted cheese (or some of you may call them grilled cheese)) Anyway we get there and the security was really tight...... They had a granola girl sitting on a bar stool checking your name off a list. Sweet. $4.50 24 oz sodas. Which was nice. Otto's is tiny. Tiny stage. Ever been to Mabel's in Champaign? About like that. It was cool. We were near the soundboard and kind of on a riser. Could see everything except when Tweedy went down on his knees for one song.... Well they opened with "ashes of american flags...

You guys know that I am a Rod guy by default. I mean when you're surrounded by Rod guys all day you tend to wear some rose colored glasses. Some people tend to take him to task ( Mr. Miller and Arch ) I am looking in your direction. (Not to mention that pretty funny opinion piece in the Tribune by Rick Pierson.) Anyway....I have to give those guys a little credit for something. Someone over there is at least a little with it if they can do this.... I was watching the Channel 9 news last night and I saw a commercial for Illinois Tourism. Nothing spectacular about the commercial, except the music. That's right, this guy talking about music? Go figure, huh? When the topic of tunes comes up on some dates, that is probably about when the girl tunes out and chalks me up for being a turd. Anyway, on this commercial was "War on War" by Wilco . How cool is that? I know, I know. Commercialism and selling out. Blah Blah Blah. This isnt really commercialism. This is about pro...