Three dollars and 63 cents

You know, I like the poster a lot more than I did the night of the show. I may end up ordering one.

Well said, bjorn.

That was actually my first thought

I'll be seeing these guys open for Sonic Youth next Friday. They're one of those bands I've been hearing a lot about and have been meaning to check out, so I guess this will be a good introduction.

I got all excited. I thought you and Kim were making an announcement

I taught an essay by Naomi Klein last semester and have wanted to pick up one of her books. I've also been wanting to read something by Michael Pollan, if we're looking for more nonfiction suggestions. At some point when I'm not insanely busy, I'd love to lead a discussion on a book of poems, if enough people were interested. It seems like nobody outside of academia reads contemporary poetry, and I think that's a shame, since there's some great writing going on.

It sounds like Jeff has been extremely productive in terms of songwriting this year. That's enough to make me excited. The more songs they record, the more they'll have to choose from, which means a better chance for a strong album, and maybe even a completely different sounding bonus EP. A new Wilco album next year! I don't see the point in picking it apart until we've actually got it, and even then, I'll be more interested in listening to it than in reading the threads packed with people deconstructing every second of it the day it comes out.

Glad it's a Tuesday, since I teach Monday, Wednesday, Friday mornings this semester. I had a hard time getting my 10:00 class to get to work in time for me to sneak over to a corner computer to buy my Tanglewood presale tickets in the spring

Anything involving a Neil/Nels/Jeff guitar freakout would be amazing.

Jeff is very much in control of most aspects of the band. He decides on the set lists each night, he writes the songs, he seems to be the one to most influence the overall sound of an album. That's not to say that the other band members don't contribute, because they very much do, but if you want to point a finger and blame someone for Wilco's new "pedestrian" sound (and while I respect that you don't like SBS, I think you're way off base to call it pedestrian), it seems wrong to blame anyone other than Jeff. Jeff said in a recent interview that the recording process for SBS was very much b

I love all of you who want to read Underworld. I read parts of it for a class I took in the first semester of my doctoral program, and the professor told me two years later when I was doing a qualifying exam for her that she still hadn't managed to read all of it. It took me a good two months of reading every day, but it was definitely worth the commitment. It's by far my favorite DeLillo novel. I wouldn't mind going back to reread it, as I'm sure I had to have missed a lot. A possible compromise could be to read the opening separately. It stands on its own. DeLillo actually published it separ

Happy birthday! 30 is on the not-too-distant horizon for me, too, so let me know how it goes!

I doubt there will be Music Today presales for these shows. A few of the shows aren't listed on Live Nation's website yet, but it does seem like their presale is open to everyone, no password needed or anything. I'll keep investigating. Man, it's going to be weird seeing Wilco in a basketball arena. I hope it's the only time I do

I have no idea what you're talking about, and your link doesn't work, but I'm going to put in a plug for the Jazz Kitchen anyway. I saw Nels there with the Singers in June, and it was a great space. The food is very good, too. If I were local, I'd patronize it often.

Pretty much all of Carla Bozulich's work is criminally underrated. Her remake of Willie Nelson's Redheaded Stranger is wonderful, possibly even better than the original (which is saying a lot, since I love Willie Nelson and I love that album), and the first Geraldine Fibbers album is a classic, if not the second one, too. I think her most underrated work is Evangelista's latest album. It's dark and haunting but stunningly beautiful, too. Probably one of my favorite albums of not just this year but the last few years.

Philadelphia on a Friday

That Live Nation deal worries me, and I admit I've been coughing up the money for the fan club the last few years solely in the hopes that they dole out presale codes based on when you joined (to outsmart all the scalpers who join at the last minute). I worry they're going to do away with the relatively cheap GA tickets for the next tour and replace them with $200+ floor seats. If that's the case, I'm likely done going to U2 shows. Say what you will about the last few albums, U2 still puts on a great show. I actually think HTDAAB was better than ATYCLB. It was more of a cohesive whole, and I

Considering how much they've hyped the fact that the recording process has been so different, and that they've been drawing from a wider range of influences, I'll be disappointed if this album sounds similar to the last two. I liked How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, but All That You Can't Leave Behind is my least favorite U2 album. I actually stopped listening to them for awhile because I hated it so much. I think the days of U2 being my favorite band have passed, but I still have high expectations for them, because I think they're capable of at least one more brilliant album. Unfortunately, th

I've got to agree with M. Chris on this one. Even if everyone in the shed had been sitting, you weren't going to have much of a view from anywhere on the lawn. I've been there for the symphony and saw nothing from the lawn. If you wanted to see, you should've paid the extra $10 per ticket and gotten seats. The standing vs. sitting controversy has been going on for years, but it just seems like common sense to me that if you sit at a Wilco show, you're probably not going to be able to see. You can put on your big boy pants and enjoy listening, or you can whine about it, but that's not going to

I paid $3.93 yesterday. I'm glad I filled up before I drove to Syracuse, because it was more expensive there.

Can't Stand It was the first Wilco song I ever heard. I got sort of sick of it over the years, but in the spring I was listening to Summerteeth in the car a lot, and I played Can't Stand It a lot when I'd be driving to work, especially on mornings when I felt like I wasn't awake yet. I started loving it again, and it was great to get to hear live a few times this year.

The red peppers I bought earlier cost $3.63. They were obviously waiting especially for me.

East coast cities are a lot different than Illinois, though (with Chicago as the exception). The few blocks around the Grand didn't look bad, but as I was leaving, I drove through a neighborhood I was glad I wasn't walking in.