lost highway

Huge upgrade by the Autumn Defense on that one.

I disagree with half of that, I think The Whole Love benefits hugely from Nels' inimitable style. But I also think that when Tweedy has to step up as a lead guitarist he brings something very unique and human to the six strings. Nels and O'Rourke have been quoted saying as much about Jeff's guitar playing. When we listen to the record we'll hear Jeff on lead. He's the only guitar player (bass player, keyboardist?) on there.

I've gone out on a limb here to state that I'm not particularly devoted to the current extent of my 2nd amendment rights, and that I'd be willing to limit them severely in exchange for the mere probability of reducing some homicides, but I recognize that there is something more than access to firearms going on in this country. I think what's hard is identifying that "thing" before even attempting to treat it. It's not the cheap scapegoats of violent music or video games, it's not some lack of religion. It's something more nebulous, but still cultural. All I can detect is it has somethin

You're right, but the catch is this is a socio-political judgement, not a personal-psychological judgement. It's not particularly important if I personally have a hypocritical stance of support the troops while not doing anything to help them except rally for pointless wars. What is important is the conversational consensus at large. The way the issue is presented, talked about, and understood at a glance. I think our symbology- the shared mythology around the topic- can be deterministic.

It's hard not to conclude that the pomp/circumstance, hawk rhetoric in this country comes with a lack of authentic caring for the people who served, or the legitimacy of the pentagon's call to action. I wasn't trying to make you feel bad. The greater half of the last century of U.S. foreign policy is littered with military entanglements that were not initiated in good faith and left foreign lands as well as U.S. soldiers in ruins. There comes a point where we need to start talking about more than taking our hats off. At some point people will get wise to the fact that pundits and politicia

We have made countless swaps to get our soldiers back in the last several military quagmires we have gotten ourselves into. This one got controversial because it is close to election season, Obama stamped his name on it, and Berghdal is a Muslim, or at least a Muslim sympathizer who grew disillusioned with a very nasty and pointless war. As far as I'm concerned the bed wetters on this one are just spewing party-line rhetoric conjured to excite the base. The most interesting thing here though is the fallout right after Memorial Day. How many damn baseball games did these folks take their h

Yeah, it kind of makes sense that he's playing acoustic all the time at this point. Other than the drums, all of the instruments on the record were played by Jeff, so he really could approach the band interpretations of what they recorded from whichever instrument and teach everyone else the parts from the record. The acoustic is probably the simplest way for him to hold down the chord progressions, follow the blueprint of the new songs, and focus on singing. I wouldn't be shocked if an electric guitar comes out more as the tour goes on. Meanwhile you get to hear a very competent electric

It's OK. I don't usually respond all that strongly to a single, until I hear it in the context of an album. I didn't love "Hey Chicken", or "I Might" until I heard them next to other songs. The production is definitely cool.

There is a somewhat nebulous distinction in the musical content of the record. If there are some spare arrangements to augment some chord strumming and lyric singing then it feels like a solo record. If there are some complex arrangements, and key instrumental sections that seem to have a ton of fingerprints from all the band players it starts to feel like a different band/side project. Maybe the name Tweedy, itself is a compromise between those two ideas. We won't really know the character of the album from these signs until it's actually out there for people to hear. Speculation continu

He did. I think he produced part of their album. I hadn't realized that they'd already broken up. They had a ton of hype and lasted about one hot minute.

Fender and supro amps. SG (I think) through an RX Overdrive and a Crowther Prunes and Custard. I think most of the tone is the little Supro getting smacked with volume. I don't really hear the Prunes and Custard as much on "At Least That's What You Said" but there could be an extra track of it- that pedal is more prominent on leads for "Hell is Chrome" and "Spiders". I'm pretty sure the album and the love of its guitar tones made that Crowther guy over in NZ a lot of sales. Prunes and Custards were popping up everywhere- I know I was excited to get one. I think some people were surprised

This is my favorite of his since The Giant Pin. "The Wedding Band" is near-perfect. Probably my favorite Cline song ever.

I don't get it.

I'm going to see him in a couple weeks!

You'd think there'd be more word on a release date seeing as its done and Wilco is on some combination of recess/ recording. I imagine it'll be on Drag City like the last two.

But- total devil's advocate here- can't you just call that an infringement on constitutionally guaranteed free speech? Like the Koch brothers can speak (i.e. donate millions) to candidates in any county, district, or state?

I think the free speech angle is bunk because it's being used to defend corruption. We need to look for another legal precedent to define the financial ethics of it. For example, you can not call giving a police officer money "free speech", it's a bribe. You can't pay a principal of a public school to put your child in your favorite teacher's classroom (or to hire or fire a teacher). I realize both of these analogies are problematic, but I feel it's a good time to brainstorm. Perhaps the best angle is not that it's illegal for the Koch brothers to donate millions, but that it's illegal f

I saw it. First quarter of the film I thought it was almost exhaustingly ornate. Anderson's perfectionist set design has reached occasionally distracting heights. Maybe it was sensory adaptation, or the story picking up, but the last half of the film it gave me a grin that would not go away. There were some really sharp sight gags that had me chuckling while the theater sat silent (maybe they didn't get it). Think of the wittiest Marx Brothers moments and then line them up one after another. I have a friend who criticizes Anderson for having an endless run of films that have a problemat

The one thing that often gets missed in the perennial GOP vs. Democrats, who makes unreasonable arguments and has more biased media in their favor etc etc thing is this: Underlying both sides of the aisle is a corrosive financial influence. Corporate interests and lobbyists have removed the federal political mechanisms from the will of the people. The most significant difference I see is that the right wing is brazen about who puts money in their pocket and the left is embarrassed about it. Sometimes it feels like Obama carefully makes statements that could compromise the big oil agenda,

I keep meaning to sit down and woodshed this beat until I can do it, but somehow the 3-4 hours it might require never come up. The strength of Glenn is that that beat is incredibly busy but it doesn't sound like it in context. If he was playing it with a tiny fraction less skill it would make the song sound pretentiously technical, but instead he grooves that shit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_herring Edit: 66rebilac. I only just now realized that you had your own cheeky turn for the argument, while I had another: sarcasm mis-referencing ironic comedy... oops Meanwhile, is Hixter convinced of either a. the proper homonym usage, or b. logically sound basis for an argument? Or c, will Al Gore selling a fish bicycle to stop carbon emission help people find their way to the facts?

The greenhouse effect is a fact. A character judgement on the people trying to help you understand it won't change the data; they indicate that the temperature has been steadily rising by significant levels, the sea levels are rising, and the glaciers are shrinking. Debate over. Where you're getting lost on the issue, is simultaneously why there is so much willful ignorance channeling disinformation: the reality of this problem challenges almost every aspect of modern life. It's easy to criticize geologists in SUVs, but that's not really grounds for taking apart their scientific work. Mo

Animal Boat, an allegory about creationist politics.

I was listening to a story about how from a banking confidence perspective Russia is still considered a "failed state". Their politicians and tycoons do most of their banking through the U.S. So, yeah, a lot of assets could be frozen. Money talks. Maybe that's the best step.

My heart goes out to the Ukranian people who seem to be stuck choosing between their own ousted leader and foreign invasion. That said, the western powers' military engagement may have factors beyond "balls". A general assurance of benefit is subverted in complexities beyond our wildest imagination. The thought that an outsider presence would stabilize things domestically for the Ukraine is assuming an awful lot before you even consider a stand-off with Russia.