mpolak21

In high school and college I probably watched the I Am Trying To Break Your Heart documentary as much as I've watched any other film. My buddy John and I spent a lot of time parroting Bennett's lines and making fun of him but we always acknowledged his talent. There are certain people that lend themselves very easily to parody, and Jay, God love him, was one of them. Doesn't everyone have a high school teacher you or your friends could do a wicked impersonation of? It doesn't necessarily constitute being mean-spirited, for instance would you consider Phil Hartman a hypocrite for doing Ronald R

I copied that CMG review in on my way out the door this morning, and didn't have time to add my own thoughts. CMG is one of the six or seven music websites I go to regularly to keep up, they're really good at uncovering under the radar acts, but when it comes to established bands at times they can be even more contrarian than Pitchfork. A lot of their reviews seem to be written for the other writers in the magazine (Chet is one of the staff writers, bleedorange), and some of them even break the fourth wall to air out the arguments the writer of the review had with his other CMG staff writers a

And thankfully unlike Walken the lyrics of SF don't sound like they were written in five minutes. --Mike

Here's the first negative review I've read about the record (Actually it's a track review of You and I, but it touches on the entire piece). He's pretty savage here, so feel free just to skip it, but if you like me are the type to peal back a scab too early, here's what Coke Machine Glow had to say. You And I --- Wilco f/ Feist :: "You and I" From Wilco (The Album) (Nonesuch; 2009) And so Jeff Tweedy’s chopping away at Wilco until it’s a tyrannical utopia of dad rock and feel-good summer festival wistfulness, until the last vestiges of all that once made Wilco seem exciting is absorbed

I had a similar reaction to Two Weeks when they did last year on Letterman. I love Others as well, the recorded versions don't disapoint. Yeah, I picked up the real thing yesterday and it's light years ahead of the leak. I didn't really think the 256 was that bad, at least until I heard the original, but I think unfortunately my ears have gotten a little lazy in the ipod era, and I kind of expect the bass to be buried and the quality to be a little off. --Mike

Jim O'Rourke's contributions to the band both as an instrumentalist and a producer and his solo work particularly Bad Timing, Eureka and Insignificance make me swoon the same way Sunshine swoons over Pat. However, I think Pat is the answer to this question, because ultimately you want someone in your band who first and foremost wants to be in your band, and Pat Sansone clearly wants to be in Wilco. I think if Jim O'Rourke wanted to be in Wilco right now, he'd be in Wilco. He could have replaced Jay in 2001 or he could have replaced Leroy in 2004. After Jay's dismissal, I don't think it's a

This is one of my favorites as well, and one of the first shows I reached for when I heard the news. I love Leroy's song Special Day, and Kamera sounds wonderful. --Mike

Along with everything Charlie recommended... The April 20-21 1999 New York shows are among the best of the Summerteeth tour nearly everything on the album is played, the DVD is excellent, and the keyboard innerplay between Bennett and Leroy is superb. The Lounge Axe Funeral is spectacular as well. Jay's playing is all over the place in the best possible way during the show, and the band's loose and exciting sound of this era really comes across well on this set. There's a soundboard of the September 19, 2000 show from the Irving Plaza available, that's pretty amazing. I prefer it to the

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Yeah, same here. Though I became a fan of the band in the spring of 2002 after he had just left, the first two Wilco albums I had and fell in love with were Foxtrot and Summerteeth. I am not interested in the trivialities of whether or not the band was better with or without him anymore, all I know is that he played a huge role on five (including the M.A's) of the most important albums to me as a listener. --Mike

There actually was a pretty good rip of it-- I think it was 256-- that circulated right after the first leak (that's what I still have). The original leak sucked in part because the songs first leaked on Youtube and that leak was a rip off of the youtube audio. I had completely forgotten that this wasn't out yet, I must admit now that I'll download leaks I hardly follow street releases anymore. --Mike

Nice tribute, I know how you feel, it's been a rough one for me as well. I have actually had to stay off the computer most of the day so I could get some other work taken care of, but I was thinking about it all day, and I played a lot of Bennett related Wilco stuff I had on my ipod, I could only make it halfway through Summerteeth, I just about lost it at Pieholden and at his and Jeff's cover of "True Love Will Find You In the End" from the 7/25/1999 show. Though over my years here I have made some jokes at Jay's expense, I have nothing but the utmost respect for him as a person and his c

It was weird when I first saw the thread and in the first page there was understandably a lot of doubt I just kept getting these eery flashbacks to reading the woxy boards the day Elliott Smith died, and how it all started as rumors and then four or five pages in it got confirmed. I just had this awful feeling in my stomach, that it was going to turn out to be true with both Elliott and sadly with Jay as well. I am still really broken up about it. --Mike

Yeah. he hooked me up with a lot of shows a few years back, a few Bennett/Tweedy and a really good Bennett/Burch show as well. Thanks to both you and Donna for taking care of that. --Mike

Amen. Truer words have never been spoken. --Mike

Did someone get ahold of Basil II? I'm thinking of you buddy, hope you're doing as well as possible under the circumstances. --Mike.

Great plan. I've got the July 4, 2001 show on now. I'll be pulling out my April 20, 1999 JHamm DVD soon as well. --Mike

Just spent a somber half an hour talking with one of my closest friends and fellow Wilcophile John about the news. We watched I Am Trying To Break Your Heart together quite a few times and saw a lot of ourselves-- desperate to be understood, not always able to find the right words to communicate how we felt-- in J.B. The three albums he made with Wilco had an extreme and profound impact on my life, and I felt he had an excellent talent for melody and fine taste in vintage keyboards. My heart goes out to his family, all his friends and bandmates, and all of us fans affected by his passing.

Does anyone know Basil II (Robert) well? He's a huge fan of JB, is there a fast way to contact him? --Mike

Fuck seems to be the only word coming to mind at the moment. What awful news. --Mike

Yeah, I just went out to dinner with my family and I was really hoping to come back to this thread and find it was all a hoax, but it doesn't look good at all. --Mike

Good eye, I didn't think to look for that. All right, so now I am leaning on the side of this being bullshit, I certainly hope it is. --Mike

This isn't in anyway a confirmation but as of 6:58 eastern his wikipedia page has news of his death: Jay Bennett. --Mike

I haven't been able to track anything down, but when I get back to Minnesota in a few weeks, where my copy of the DVD is, I can rip the audio from the DVD's and link people to it. --Mike.

Using Jesus etc's idea... 1.) Screen Door 2.) Watch Me Fall 3.) Wait Up 4.) We've Been Had 5.) Pick Up The Change 6.) Pecan Pie 7.) Sunken Treasure 8.) All The Same To Me 9.) One By One 10.) How To Fight Loneliness 11.) Remember the Mountain Bed 12.) Someday Some Morning Sometime (yeah, I know that gives me two songs from MA II.) 13.) Poor Places 14.) Chinese Apple 15.) Muzzle of Bees 16.) Diamond Claw 17.) Wreckroom 18.) You Are My Face 19.) Solitaire --Mike