mpolak21

Yeah I didn't think it get much worse than 2004 but somehow they've managed... --Mike

. Mrs. Peel, I'll have you know that as long as the Democrat proudly carries around his or her NRA membership card, we are allowed to vote for that candidate. Actually the significant majority of West Virginians are Democrats (we even went with Dukakis in 1988), but Bush was been able to appeal to a lot of the swing voters in 2000 and 2004. --Mike

From my understanding and this comes from a five minute lunchline discussion with my republican friend Brian, the McCain supporters were actually encouraged to vote for Huckabee who had a better chance of beating of Romney (at that time McCain's biggest rival), to block Mitt from winning the delegates. Dems don't get to vote until May, so I had to sit this one out, I've actually never voted with anything line before in a primary, looks like that might change this year. About what I expected today, it's disappointing Obama lost California by such a margin and I was surprised he didn't come cl

The way this was being built up, I thought this was going to be even better than the Colbert vs. Decemberists guitar duel, but it fell way short of that. It was pretty enjoyable though. But yeah I miss the writers. --Mike

Chickens don't clap GOB! Oh and yeah this is amazing news. --Mike

I finally picked up How I Quit Smoking after having it on my wishlist for ages and it's incredible. Anyone have any recommendations on where go next? I am going to have to grab that show on owl and the bear as well. --Mike

Yeah, you're right. Steam-Powered Aereo-Takes is a collection of demos and jams recorded during the sessions of Aereo-Plain. Steam Powered. I saw Hartford play at Mountain Stage tribute for him a few months before he passed in 2000, great song-writer, great musician, even better guy. --Mike

I might try to swing this date, Leroy Bach has been touring with Iron and Wine on guitar and keyboards, hopefully he'll still be in this tour's lineup, btw if you're an Iron and Wine fan there's a whole concert streaming at fabchannel, highly recommended: http://www.fabchannel.com/iron_and_wine_concert --Mike

I think you brought up some great points here. My feeling is that O'Rourke was kind of the "this idea sucks" guy with Tweedy for awhile. I think O'Rourke really brought a lot to the table mixing YHF and was a great asset in the making of A Ghost is Born (I happen to love this album, though I feel I may be too emotionally attached to it to really judge it). I also love both of the Loose Fur records. I understand your points about Ghost, there are a couple of songs that I feel they didn't quite get as well in the studio as they did when they were playing them live in 2002/2003, but in a strange

Happy birthday A-Man --Mike

Yeah damn shame as his third album was Pitchfork's #2 of 1703, thankfully his ancestor Leroy restored a lot of good will for them name. --Mike

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/music/2007/05/encore_encore.html

Yeah, I know what you mean. A Ghost is Born was also a "breakup" album for me as well, as was Summerteeth-- people say the way to listen to Dark Side of the Moon is stoned out of your mind, well a great way to listen to Summerteeth is driving around in the backwoods of West Virginia after you'd just been dumped for the second time by your ex. When you add in the fact, that we were driving from a house party in the middle of nowhere where a really shitty jamband was playing (the bass player of this band was the guy I was being left for). She was silent the entire way back, and I was over her by

I get what you mean about SBS, I think the lack of tension/conflict on the record was what made it a bit hard to adjust to for me when I first heard it. On every Wilco record beforehand there were always a few immaculately sequenced songs that might not have been instant classics, but came right after one of the heavier "experimental tracks." Like Far, Far Away coming in after Misunderstood. ELT following Via Chicago. Heavy Metal Drummer after Ashes, and the definitive example The Late Greats after Less Than You Think. Sky Blue Sky is basically an album full of those songs. Even the places whe

Kalle, I'm so happy you were able to find some solace in the record. While nowhere near on the level of what you went through, a friend of mine was killed in a car accident a couple of weeks after Ghost is Born came out. I was 18, jaded and confused as all hell, and Ghost is Born got me through one of the toughest times of my life. Even the drone made sense. As you said it was the right record at the right time, and it's probably my favorite record because of it. I don't know if it's necessarily better than YHF, Summerteeth or Being There, but it probably means more to me than any other Wilco

Hmm... I could maybe swing either the D.C or Philly show. --Mike

I don't quite listen to Wilco as much as I used to, for awhile I was almost entirely AWATT . Particularly when I started trading the live shows and got ahold of the YHF demos. From 2005 to 2006, they were my definitive favorite band but I got heavily into stuff that I discovered through Wilco, like Sparklehorse, Califone, Jim O'Rourke, Edith Frost, etc and started listening to them less and less. I liked Sky Blue Sky quite a bit when I downloaded the leak of it in March, but I never really obsessively listened to it like I did with Ghost is Born and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Still, live they

Yeah when I saw them in Pittsburgh in October with my girlfriend-- this was not just her first Wilco show, but likely her first rock show-- I had to explain to her that the show wasn't over after the main set, and wasn't over again after the first encore. She said "How do you know they're coming back?" "Because the lights aren't on and they always do two encores." I only really cheered after the end of the second in hopes we could pull them out for the rare third encore. That said, I kind of like the way the band breaks up the set and the encores are usually something really special (particula

At the moment it's Eels: Things The Grandchildren Should Know

This changes every couple of weeks... 1. The Beatles: Revolver 2. The Talking Heads: Fear of Music 3. Nick Drake: Bryter Layter 4. Wilco: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot 5. Van Morrison: Astral Weeks 6. Neutral Milk Hotel: In The Aeroplane Over The Sea 7. Eels: Electro Shock Blues 8. Sparklehorse: It's A Wonderful Life 9. Jeff Buckley: Grace 10. The Beach Boys/Brian Wilson: Smile Plus records that just missed the cut... 11. Velvet Underground and Nico: s/t or Velvet Underground 3 12. The Beatles: Abbey Road, White Album, Sgt. Pepper 13. Mazzy Star: So Tonight That I May See 14. Grandaddy: Sumday 15

Yeah Blinking Lights reminds me a lot of the White Album, certainly not on the same level of quality, but there are some great songs, some songs are pretty good and then ones that don't work at all. The one you really need to check out is Electro Shock Blues, now downloading albums for free off the internet is illegal and immoral and you certainly shouldn't check your Personal message inbox for a link to Electro Shock Blues. --Mike

Yeah I love the majority of Blinking Lights but there probably are a few songs that could have been scaled back, I feel that way about several Eels albums actually with the exception being Electro Shock Blues. I also enjoy their bootleg concerts quite a bit and I have yet another link worth checking it out if you have the time/motivation/hard drive space Eels Tour Collectons --Mike

I've actually never smoked pot, but I do enjoy Phish, particularly Billy Breathes which I listened to exclusively the summer in between my freshman and sophomore year of high school. Good disc, and I do enjoy their cover of the White Album.

6'2. A couple of vinyl, but enough CD's to fill a walk-in closet. --Mike