hh44

Say it's your birthday...well it's my birthday too, yeah Lorne Michaels finally got a Beatles song on SNL, or at least the chorus of Hate It Here aping the Birthday riff, but if you gotta rip someone off it may as well be the Beatles. 'Twas still a great performance.

I was fortunate enough to see them in the summer of '98 in Seattle/Redmond, WA for the WOMAD Festival. It's certainly one of my top concerts of all time. Wilco opened for Bragg and played a mix of UT, AM, BT, and MA I. It was really raw and exciting. After Wilco exited and Bragg took the stage, however, Tweedy and Co. rushed the stage with Jay doubling with Ian McLagan on organ and Jeff on harmonica. They actually seemed like they were having a bit too much fun and Tweedy knocked a mike stand over. After that they were politely encouraged to leave the stage and afterwards Bragg commented,

A new album in '08/'09 would be good. A new album with a new lineup would be great. Stirratt can stay, of course.

Would it be okay to slap a big VW sign on the Mona Lisa if it meant more exposure for that work of art? It wasn't just one song for the kiddies sake that was licensed, but nearly half of a complete work of art. In a sense they didn't alter their art one bit. It's just, to me, art is in the perception of the beholder; and my perception, right or wrong, has been altered. Maybe it's just arguing semantics at this point, but I'm still grateful to have this band around.

"Happy" by the Wrens or pretty much the entire Gentlemen album by the Afghan Whigs