TJ O'Pootertoot

Someone mentioned in a prior thread they didn't recall credit cards being usable at the Massey Hall merch table.

Anyone have any issues with this is or is it cash only?

Also, isn't the curfew in this town 11:00 for some reason? I never understood that and I DEFINITELY don't understand 10:30. Where did that come from? I don't recall ever hearing that before.

What time did Nick Lowe go on?

Going to Toronto Saturday night and don't want to miss him.

So, my dad just bought himself a shiny, new turntable and been throughly enjoying the vinyl re-releases of The Joshua Tree and the Traveling Wilbury's. He's not a massive Wilco fan but I think he likes them that he would enjoy and appreciate the 180-gram Sky Blue Sky - but I've never ordered from the Wilco Store before.

I wanted to find out if anyone up here in Toronto (and/or Canada) had ordered from there to see how much shipping was, if you got nailed for duty, how long it took etc. If anyone knows of a good source up here for getting vinyl, that'd be great to know too.

Thanks!

TJ

Well, in fairness, the $150 seats are on the floor. You can get seats in the balcony for $50, I think. And, these days, you can easily spend $150 (or more) on tix to any Broadway show or a Madonna/Springsteen/Stones concert at MSG. So, it's not THAT crazy, as a concept. But you are right -- this is Calexico, Yo La Tengo, Joe Henry, etc. I love most of those bands, but $150 seems bizarre. But there I go rationalizing again... Also, in fairness, there are about 20 bands playing -- so the overhead for a show like this has to be pretty heavy, right?

Just to defend my man, Bruce Springsteen. The tickets for this latest tour have been under $100. (They were over $100 here in Canada but that's because you Americans are having trouble adjusting to the fact our Monopoly money is now worth more than your prescious greenbacks.) He should not be in the same category as money-grubbers like Madonna, the Stones and (shiver) The Eagles.

Anyway, this sounds like a show worth paying for so go for it. Maybe not the $150 seats, though.

But don't do it on the condition that you'll be disappointed if Dylan and/or Tweedy don't show. (Heck, maybe the surprise is Cate Blanchett doing Dylan!)

And I've been at a show like this, and been backstage. Don't ask me HOW they do it but these guys know how to do it. It sounds like there will kinda be a house band so they probably will use the same drum kit(s). In other instances I've seen they will have the drums mic'd and on risers that can just be slid right on stage. It's tricky, I'm sure, but the pros can do these shows pretty seamlessly.

TJ

Albums that took me away from "Pop" music and "saved" my life.

That's a good criteria. I'm trying to think of some unlikely ones in my own collection.

Of course so much of it dependent on your age and even where you live...As for me....

The Traveling Wilbury's Vol. 1 - Already liked basically everyone in the band but this fun, superficial li'l album took me so much deeper into Petty, Dylan, the Beatles and Roy Orbison. Soon I was listening to Full Moon Fever, Mystery Girl and a host of great albums.

U2 - Achtung Baby - I was a casual U2 fan. Then I heard The Fly and hated it. Then I heard the album and got the whole thing. My top three 90s albums are probably this, Wildflowers (Tom Petty) and Automatic for the People. Each is underrated in its own way but they're all transcendent for me.

Rheostatics - Whale Music and The Lowest of the Low - Shakespare My Butt: Two great Toronto albums that took me into what would have been called "alternative" music in those days

Being There - Really, I guess I heard Mermaid Avenue first and then went to Being There and Summerteeth at the same time so it's kind of a tri-fecta. Of course these lead to Uncle Tupelo, Ryan Adams, The Replacements and a zillion other things.

The Last Waltz - Not the album as much as the film which I didn't see until it came out on DVD. The performances are so fierce - The Night they Drove Ol Dixie Down and Caravan in particular - that they gave me a deeper appreciation of the artists involved (especially the ingenious but usually dead-on-stage Van Morrison) and of rock and roll itself.

Another Toronto album, Blue Rodeo's Five Days in July. I don't know if people here listen to Blue Rodeo at all but they were really doing alt-country before it would have been called that. (And Jeff and Jay did a vocal cameo on the solo album of one of the band members, Jim Cuddy. And Bob Egan is now in the band...you guys must know Blue Rodeo).

Anyway, that's just an amazing album that's really of its time and place.

Also, about two years ago the band put out a retrospective DVD which contains an amazing monologue by author Paul Quarrington about the band, about what makes rock and country etc great and really, IMHO, gets to the core of what makes music so darned awesome.

There is a line that moves outwards from The Band to connect Blue Rodeo and Wilco and a bunch of great stuff, none of which is "worthy" of radio/video play in this era.

It's hard to think of a single Dylan or Beatles album that had particular impact...I guess Blonde on Blonde and Revolver are the obvious respective choices. Can't think of a single Neil Young album either since so much of his stuff is just out there, on the radio, in the culture. No Stones album on the list, sorry to say (same reason, basically).

That's enough rambling for me.

I'm pretty sure that it's Glenn-Jeff-Mikael (top) and Pat-Nels-John (bottom).

 

By the way, can anybody please answer my question?

Damn...I'm getting confused. I assumed there was a consensus and I was the only one who didn't have it figured out.

I think you're right, Marjin but I dunno anymore.

And as for your Q, Marjin...I don't have previous shirts so I can't compare. But I used to get concert XLs (cuz they shrink, I guess) and bought a L of this shirt and it fits great (I'm like 6', 180 for what that's worth...)

Oh hell yeah!

 

This just made a very shitty day end on a good note!

 

Thanks for the heads up!

Here's my stupid question...

Clearly it's Glen, Jeff, Mikael across the top.

And that's Nels in the bottom middle. But I cannot, for the life of me, figure out which one is Pat and which one is John. I think Pat's on the left (more hair!) but I'm putting myself out there, admitting my ignornance...

2:33 Eastern and I'm hearing "Either Way". Has this just started?

2:35 and he is doing intro for Tweedy...and there's Jeff.

It'll be online in a few days, in the show's archive.

 

Or catch it live in like, 10 minutes.

 

CBC is also on Sirius, ch.137 I believe.

The show just started and the Tweedy bit will be on "sometime in the next half hour."

http://www.cbc.ca/listen/streams/r1_toronto.html

Comparing neil young to ryan adams in this way is specious. They both have high outputs, but NY's duds are forgiven in the spirit of their experimentation and the solid catalogue of proven quality. Adams has released 1 good solo album, several lesser duplicate versions of that album and was in the poor man's jayhawks. Maybe he has it in him to be good on a more consistant basis but he has not shown it yet. Their output amount really has nothing to do with anything.

Opinion, of course, is subjective but I think it's very specious (if you will) to suggest that Adams' other albums are duplicates of Heartbreaker. If anything (like Neil Young, as I said) Adams has a habit of putting out albums that veer all over the stylistic map. We can call forgive something like "Trans" in its spirit of experimentation but I doubt any of us are going to slip in the CD player on the way home from work today. You can't "forgive" young for it just because he also did "Tonight's the Night" (or "Harvest" or "Ragged Glory" or whatever your personal version of Vintage Neil is).

As for Adams and the idea that he duplicates himself, here is my summary of his discography:

1) Heartbreaker - singer/songwriter countryish rock

2) Gold - pop/rock in the Tom Petty vein

3) Demolition - a little of both

4) Love is Hell - dark, alt-country, sorta

5) Rock n Roll - alt rock and a bunch of other things with no country influence at all

6) Cold Roses - Grateful Deadish country rock with some guitar noodling

7) Jacksonville City Nights - Nearly a pure country record

8) 29 - Long, mainly piano ballads

9) Easy Tiger - back in the alt rock vein...kinda #2 + #7

Did I miss one? I like some of these albums more than others but no two are the same. That much is indisputable. (There's also at least 5 other albums of outtakes etc. floating about which fill in a lot of the stylistic gaps and transitions.)

And I have nothing against the Jayhawks but Ryan Adams, whatever his faults, is not a poor man's anything. And just when the "bad boy of alt country" thing was getting way tired he cleaned up. He doesn't have to be to everyone's taste and - no, he ain't in Neil Young's league quite yet - but he's still the real deal.

A hell of a good songwriter and great singer with a bit of a self-editing problem.

Opinions are like assholes...

Fine, then don't listen to his records.

I'm with Cryptique - like Neil Young, Ryan Adams puts out a tonne of stuff so sometimes you have to work to separate the wheat from the chaff.

That said, I don't think it's possible to listen to something like Heartbreaker and not see the talent there. Everyone one of his albums has some redeeming qualities even if, as a whole, they're indulgent. Either way, his music always heartfelt and honest. Sometimes its musically a bit tooo country or mopey for me but when he is on he is on.

I don't expect everyone to like the guy but I'd think someone who has dug deep enough to find Wilco would appreciate Adam's authenticity and heart.

Oh, and I'm a Springsteen fan and I don't hear very much of him in Adam's music at all. Not that much Dylan either. I'm sure little bits and pieces and that are in there but so are bits of Hank Williams and The Clash so....chacun son gout.

sorry ction, going to have to throw down w/ the 'spunky backpack' awesome screen name rule. 'TJ O'Pootertoot' may fall i nto the same category and cannot be disagreed with.

Is that a compliment? If so, thanks.

I had a friend who, way back when, was seeing Paul McCartney at SkyDome. Turned out they were filming and needed his seats on the 500 level for cameras. So they gave him lovely seats on the 200 level. THAT is how you do it.

If Wilco is filming or something...well, that is still upsetting, I think. But if they actually took your purchased tickets and gave them to some suits while telling you some bullshit about 'production changes' or whatever...that's low. I'm sure the band doesn't even know it's happening - unless, being such experts in Krautrock, they wanted some VW guys bopping up front. I'm guessing that's unlikely.

The 'good news' is that unless you're behind a pillar or way up top there really isn't a bad seat in the house at Massey.

The good news is that you can walk up to where your original seats were. If it's some VW douche sitting up there...well, you can accidentally spill beer or something on him.

In the meantime maybe we can hope (as someone said above) it means they're videotaping the show or something. I'm in Row S (or T?) on the floor so I haven't heard anything but I AM curious...

I've tried to buy Wilco shirts the last 3 times I've seen them and thought they were sucky every time...like the one with the moonbuggy they're still trying to unload on their website.

I'm hoping they have something decent this time...

I saw the band on the first leg of the AGIB tour in a general admission club.

Every 2nd person on the floor kept sticking their cell phones up in the air to take their crappy pictures.

I must confess I wanted to give each of them the beats.

You already have 10 blurry pictures of Mikael Jorgensen! Can't you take a break now so I can watch the show...?

People just need to use common sense...that's my rant on cameras.

I'm no drummer, but I always thought that Ringo was underrated.

It's not just you.

Listen to TICKET TO RIDE.

Listen to A DAY IN THE LIFE or GOOD MORNING.

Listen to COME TOGETHER.

I could go on. Ringo was the perfect drummer for The Beatles and no one needs to apologize for his perceived lack of ability. John Bonham might be able to "outduel" him but since I have no desire to listen to either play a 10 minute solo that hardly matters to me...

I know from last years show I ordered through the Musictoday pre-sale and I didn't receive tickets until 11 days before. Worst comes to worst scalp them.

Even though I'm on the Wilco mailing list somehow I TOTALLY missed hearing about the concert dates.

Went to TM and they were sold out.

Waited a few days and managed to pick up decent floor seats on the Massey Hall website....and I got those in the mail already.

For what that's worth...

And if I can add my general drummer thoughts quickly - it's all about the right guy for the right band.

Carter Beauford IS amazing (whether you like DMB or not) but he wouldn't fit in Wilco or, say, The Beatles.

Ringo Starr, Charlie Watts and Max Weinberg are all pretty straightforward drummers who are nonethless crucial parts of their bands' sound. Ultimately this is like a high school debate about who rocks more...Kotche is awesome and (obviously) exactly what Wilco needed for what Tweedy was hearing in his head.

I already mentioned Don Kerr who I love and I'll throw in Glenn Milchelm of Blue Rodeo - another Toronto guy but if you like Uncle Tupelo and Wilco you should certainly like Blue Rodeo who were doing "alt country" five years before anyone had a name for it.

That's it for my flag waving.

There aren't too many bands where I stop and especially watch the drummer but Wilco, Blue Rodeo and DMB are three of em. I love Steve Ferronne who has been playing with Tom Petty for the last few years but he's more of a steady guy than a flashy guy. Semi-little-known trivia: Dave Grohl was asked to join the Heartbreakers (he played with them once on SNL) but that whole Foo Fighters thing was taking off....would have been interesting.

do you know his name? sounds very interesting...

I TOTALLY spaced on that and didn't realize I hadn't typed it.

I meant Don Kerr though Wojewoda is also pretty great (he produced the Barenaked Ladies' first album and some other great Canadian albums too.)

Anyway, apparently Don Kerr has a Myspace page (he plays cello too, for what that is worth).

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fusea...iendid=83566826

I would guess no one on this board has really heard of him but there's a guy up here in Toronto who is awesome and similar in style to Kotche. He also rarely stands out but uses the kit and found objects as more of an insturment than a simple rhythm provider. He produces records and now tours with Ron Sexsmith but for a long time he was in a great local band called Rheostatics who recently played a farewell show after 20 years in the biz...

Where men are men and sheep don't have disc drives.

This has been Tweedy's MO for a while.

I believe it's in Kot's book where Jay Bennett talks, with some frustration, about Tweedy cutting great songs because they don't fit the album - I have to say I agree with him, though I 100% acknowledge and accept Jeff's desire to create a coherent whole.

I don't know about "mainstream radio airplay" these days but IMHO it's impossible to listen to this song or "Magazine Called Sunset" and not think "these guys should be huge!" These are just great songs.

I mean, I don't expect your average FM listener to dig on, say, "Hummingbird" or even "Impossible Germany" but it seems like Jeff Tweedy almost dislikes it when he composes an accessible pop tune and he kinda shoves them to the back.

The GOOD news is that Wilco has done an amazing jobs putting these songs out - usually as "enhanced" content" - so they aren't lost songs. Beyond loving their music, I am PROUD to be a Wilco fan because of how they show trust by streaming albums and rewarding those who have bought the records.

Still, I'd kinda love to hear a straight-up album that plays into the fun/pop side of Wilco that all the fans know is there...this song would have certainly fit well on an album alongside Walken but c'est la vie...we have it either way, I guess...

1060 W. Addison. Sorry if its against the rules to put that out there...

How did the thread go so far with no one using the words "Blues Brothers."

I'm not from Chicago but as soon as I saw the address my brain processed that I knew it and immediately presented me with pictures of the displeased Illinois Nazis.

You can call it a mess-up in that he does not nail the note but that doesn't mean it's not conscious, stylistic choice. Obviously he could have rerecorded the vocal, punched in that one word or fixed it after the fact in Pro-tools.

You Americans probably never would have seen this but right around when the Brits did "Do They Know It's Christmas" and the Americans did "We Are the World" the Canadians did a song called "Tears are Not Enough."

There's a wonderful scene in the documentary they filmed where Neil Young is recording his bit and the producer (David Foster) tells him he's singing flat. Neil looks at him and half-joking-half-annoyed says, "Hey man, that's my style."

The point? Those "vocal mess-ups" are what mark the difference between real artists and polished pop crap. You'll never hear a "mess-up" on one of Celine Dion's albums, that's for sure.

I printed the target webpage with it for 19.99 and went to best buy. They price matched it for me.

 

I always do that. I hate going to my local Target and Circuit City because they never have what i want. Best Buy does and even if they dont have it the cheapest they will price match.

 

I would go to a local indie store and pay more but i'd have to drive into atlanta to do that...... and i avoid that for quick trips.

Toronto rules.

I got the 'deluxe' at Future Shop (a Best Buy competitor, oddly owned by Best Buy) for $18. The normal edition was $14. And that's Canadian money (so about $16/$12 US or so)

I think the Beatles ref is the most on.

They're just having a laugh and I don't think it means anything at all.

IIRC, on the commentary track on I Am Trying to Break Your Heart Sam Jones says something like, "Well, now everybody can tell what you're saying on the backing vocals!" because they show Stirrat while rehearsing the song.

I STILL couldn't tell what it was for a while but it's definitely "smoke pot" and I'm pretty sure it's just the boys being silly.