mpolak21

--Mike

I agree if we're referring to the last days of the Bennett/Coomer era, the 2000 shows are a little difficult for me to get into. But the very last shows Jay did with the band after Glenn joined are all great, particularly the July 4, 2001 show. I know these threads get repetitive, but since we do get new fans here all the time, who don't necessarily have the time/patience to search through all the old threads, Bennett threads still have a function. His departure was a pretty big moment in Wilco, and as new fans get into the band and find out about it's history it's something that lends i

The voice comments are slightly more relevant than the fat jokes though. That said I did laugh at Jules' original post, and for the most part this thread has been one of the more productive conversations I've seen about Bennett on VC in my time here. People tend to be very passionate one way or the other on Bennett and usually these devolve into pissing contests quite quickly. Thankfully the worst offenders have stayed away thus far. I hadn't considered the possibility that Bennett would have caused the band to split, I'm pretty sure if he'd had continued to be a problem (in this hypothetic

Owen reveals the source of "on the run from Johnny Law," "they'll never catch me because I'm fucking innocent," and "how does an asshole like Bob get such a nice kitchen?" And Wes at one point says "sometimes you just need cheerleaders not just people who will tell you the truth." In other words, it's everything you'd want in a Bottle Rocket commentary. --Mike

Oh what the hell, I'll actually try to answer the question at hand... Once I finally "got" A Ghost is Born, and it did take about a year. I was pretty convinced Bennett had been more than adequately replaced. The songs were as good as anything Jeff had ever written. Tweedy's guitar lead guitar style was better equipped for the material than Jay's. Jim O'Rourke's production and mixing were also upgrades. As a musician, it's hard to miss him. I prefer Jeff's guitar playing to Jay's. I prefer the post-Jay shows because they tend not to be dominated by one instrument (Bennett must have been

I was just about to quote that line. Not only is Spencer funnier than most of the people in my MFA writing program, he's also incredibly tech savy. Thanks for the link. --Mike

I usually have a better feel for a year in music a few years after it's happened where have had a longer to sit with all of the records and find anything I missed. I think my 2006 list is now officially good to go, but at gun point I am not still not sure I could put Joanna Newsom, Califone, Midlake and Grizzly Bear in order. Anyway with that being said here's my attempt at a list. 1.) Fleet Foxes: self-titled 2.) Sun Kil Moon: April 3.) Bonnie "Prince" Billy: Lay Down In The Light 4.) Grouper: Dragging a Dead Dear Up The Hill 5.) Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! 6.) Brian

Some of my favorites of the decade: The Faces: Oh La La Steely Dan: Reelin In The Years Bill Fay: Be Not So Fearful Nick Drake: Pink Moon Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band: It's Hard to Be A Saint In The City The Rolling Stones: Wild Horses Brian Eno: On Some Faraway Beach The Talking Heads: Psycho Killer David Bowie: Starman The Clash: Police and Thieves Bob Dylan: Tangled Up in Blue John Lennon: Imagine Paul McCartney: Maybe I'm Amazed George Harrison: Isn't it A Pity John Cale: Paris 1919 Grateful Dead: Box of Rain Lou Reed: Walk on The Wild Side The Who: The Song is Over Led Zeppe

Exactly. I don't really have a rooting interest in the Big 12, both Stoops and Brown seem like stand up guys who run really good programs, so I was kind of pulling for an OU/Florida championship. Question for the Texas fans: Would you rather see Oklahoma beat Florida and hope for possibly splitting the national championship with them by winning the AP poll (which really doesn't count anymore, but it would still be a split title in some regards) or would you rather see Florida bomb Oklahoma, like USC did four years ago, and finish second to the Gators in both polls? Feel free to insert yo

Good line up this year actually, but I would be a lot more excited over an eight-team playoff with the six BCS conference winners, the highest at-large team from a BCS conference, and the highest ranked non BCS-conference winner. Under the Big East/ACC corollary in my dream system: a conference winner must finish in the top fifteen or else it must play an in-game against the next highest at-large team. Virginia Tech won its conference and should at least get a shot to play for all the marbles, but I can't put them in over Alabama. Yes, this diminishes the regular season a little bit, but ev

I cracked up when I saw that. I saw Beamer pop a wideout upside the head on purpose when Virginia Tech got blownout by WVU in Morgantown in 2003. The OU thing is funny, but Texas beat them head-to-head and they deserve a shot. --Mike

Turner should get a BCS level job this year, last year I was really hoping WVU would give him a look after Rodriguez left. He just won a conference title at freaking Buffalo, he tutored all of the great quarterbacks at Nebraska in the nineties, he's an excellent prospect. If Missouri had any semblance of a defense, I'd think they'd have a shot at an upset, but they don't so I think the game will be a lot like the OU/Okla. St game was last week, back and forth in the first three quarters, Bradford pulls Oklahoma away in the fourth. Bama is way too big an underdog for an undefeated team in

Either Tweedy or Farrar, I forget how exactly the story goes, chucked Nevermind out of the window of the Uncle Tupelo tour van. They claimed it sounded like Whitney Houston. --Mike

Yeah, I agree. And Penn State blew out the team, Oregon State, that USC lost to. Yet, USC is ahead of both Penn State and Utah, who also beat Oregon State in all of the polls. Maybe the regular season doesn't mean that much afterall. In the first two months of the season I thought Penn State was playing as good as anyone, they faded a bit down the stretch, but if college football had a playoff I could certainly see the Nittanys as a possible darkhorse. --Mike

Eight team playoff: six major conference winners, one at large from a non-BCS school if it finishes it in the Top Ten, one at large to the highest ranked non BCS conference winner. Regular season is still relevant because teams have to win their conference. It can be done over the three weeks of the bowl season. Doesn't seem to difficult to me. --Mike

I love this band, there was a brief period in the winter of 2007 where all I could listen to was this song... Mockingbirds --Mike

The Purple Chick discs are multiple disc sets based on every Beatles album in the same vein as the Pet Sounds sessions. While they have a lot of commercially unavailable outtakes on them, they are primarily made up of the original releases. I thought it was a little easier/safer just in case anyone took issue, particularly because EMI/Apple can be pretty uptight about the Fabs catalog (not that they have a representative on VC, but I have seen links to these yanked pretty frequently) to just handle it all via PM. --Mike

Due to board regulations about linking to commercially available material, I am pretty sure I can't post direct links to where you can get the Purple Chick Beatles records in this thread. However, if you're looking for it shoot me a PM. Anthony and Junkiesmile, check your inboxes. --Mike

My American Politicial Process professor will be proud of me, I remembered a lot more from that class than I thought I would. I got a 30. --Mike

I've got a feeling we're going to see a pretty chaotic ending to this ending. Something insane like Florida State knocking off Florida or Auburn upsetting Alabama or maybe even both seems almost destined to happen. I'm the world's biggest Syracuse fan this week, as WVU needs them to knock off Cincinnati to re-take the lead in the Big East-- provided WVU takes care of business against the hated Pitt Panthers and South Florida. Still, if Cincinnati does pull it out, I'm not going to be too bent out of shape. They certainly deserve it, and Cincy fans are among the coolest I've met in my variou

Some random thoughts... Across The Universe was originally recorded in early 1968 as a potential single, the nod eventually went to Lady Madonna/The Inner Light. It's pretty amazing that they left a song wonderful in the can, and I've always felt the pre-Spector version really fits alongside nicely with the songs on the second side of the first album. George Harrison also really came into his own on this record. Long Long Long is one of my favorite cuts, and While My Guitar Gently Weeps is among the best songs of the band's catalog. Sour Milk Sea and Not Guilty are strong outtakes. I

My Dad and I saw him in a small theater in Nelsonville, Ohio earlier this year. He was a little spacey in between songs, but his voice still sounds great, he closed with an amazing cover of "We Don't Get Fooled Again." --Mike

The story is certainly horrific, yet that was one of my first thoughts as well. It's quite terrifying when something like this happens and the first thought it is at least he didn't shoot his school up, yet sadly that's where we are. --Mike

Few of my favorites.. Handshake Drugs Soundstage --Mike

I think I could manage without Wild Honey Pie, but different strokes for different folks. --Mike