Magnetized

Reminder--tonight's the season finale on Parks and Rec. It's the big Unity concert. https://twitter.com/unity_concert/media Last chance to see Jeff the TV star for a while. And don't forget Yo La Tengo as Bobby Knight Ranger.

Vienna sausage. Or maybe potted meat.

Yeah, come to think of it, where the hell was Josh???

Yes. Pat on acoustic, embellishd by a computer soundtrack on several songs. I think he would have been smart to tell the crowd those backing tracks were all him. Assuming they were. His set was solid but the crowd was still in drinking/talking mode, except in the front. Weird to see him acting as his own roadie--thinking of the swooning that goes on at Wilco shows. Must be strange to be a performer and realize how contextual all that adulation is.

The Zombies with "special guest Pat Sansone" tonight at The Jefferson Theater in Charlottesville. I'm curious to see whether Pat will just be an opening act or will join the Zombies. He's also doing an in-store appearance for RSD at Plan 9 Records at 2:00, in case anyone else can make it. I'm going to do a little recon mission for Lockn' on the way up to C'ville, looking for housing possibilities. If I find anything interesting, I'll post on the Lockn' thread later.

I don't have time to do it now--at work and should be working!--but they've now announced Ryan Adams and--just today--Kurt Vile to the schedule at Newport. This festival needs its own thread! Edit: Oh wait, I guess this is the Newport thread. Never mind!

That's a good point. I remember reading the Warren Zevon biography and being a little disenchanted to find out what a selfish prick he could be. His personal life was a train wreck. I know you can chalk a lot of that up to booze, drugs and insecurity, and it doesn't diminish my enjoyment of his music, but on the other hand it doesn't elevate him in my estimation. As an aside, that's one of the reasons I love Wilco so much--pretty much everything I know about the personal life and values of Jeff Tweedy and the rest of the guys just reinforces my admiration. In Warren Zevon's case, it fights wit

Oh, fantastic! Good news for you limeys!

I have my pass but a friend has decided to come with me. The festival is officially sold out. I'm sure there must be something available on the secondary market, but I thought I'd check here first. Anyone bought tickets and now can't go? I'll take the pass off your hands and will pay immediately. PM me or text or call me at 757-287-9871.

Warren meets all the criteria, too, in terms of his influence as well as his own personal output. He was such a great songwriter, with a unique and immediately recognizable style. He was one of the few (Randy Newman is the master, I think) who could write so well from the standpoint of the unreliable narrator.

if you watch the little YouTube clip above you will see the only part of the show that had Jeff in it. Not that the rest of the show isn't good, but Jeff was only in that one segment.

And make sure Jeff doesn't know. Last time I saw Jay I got kidney stones. I'm convinced it was Tweedy's revenge.

Hey, does anyone want to share a room with me at a nice B&B very nearby? My plan was to stay with friends in Charlottesville which I could do for free, but it's 30 miles away. There's a room at a local B&B about a mile or two from the fest, and it would be approximately $500 in all for a 4-night stay. Nice room with a private bath and tub for soaking tired bodies. Problem is they are requiring a 50% nonrefundable deposit, and at the moment I don't have a roommate, so I'm leery of commiting that much on my own. I need a roommate!! Female preferred, but we could make it work if you're

I think Umphreys is exciting to the jam band contingent.

Oh, this IS exciting. Somehow I've never managed to see Ryan Adams, and I know how passionate many of my Wilco friends are about him. I have a few albums and I think he's good, but now I get to see him live and see what all the shouting's about. I definitely don't think it's too soon to start a Newport thread. We've already (sort of) got a Lockn' thread.

Wow, CBS just confirmed Stephen Colbert as Letterman's replacement. Didn't see that one coming, but brilliant choice. My prediction is that he will NOT do the show in character, although he'll probably figure out some way to not discard the blowhard entirely. This is exciting news! Maybe John Oliver will be succeeding Stephen. He did great as Jon's replacement.

Nice to see some love for American Idiot. I love it too--and even enjoyed the Green Day tour behind it. Going to see Shawn Colvin + two local singer-songwriters in a singer-songwriter festival here in Norfolk. Trying to go in with my mind open.

Not only did it make me smile, it made me think I want to dance with him!

I think it refers to two interlocking stages, which ensures there's never a break in the music. No overlapping choices so you don't have to miss anything and there's continuous music. They also encourage collaborations among the performers. It's kind of a perfect festival for Wilco in that respect. The comments on Facebook are a riot. I hope the boys have thick skins. It ranges from earnest, ardent Wilco defenders to completely clueless. One idiot even called them an emo band. There are some reasonable voices over there, though--people who may not be familiar but are not prejudging. And at

This is good, specific info to have from one who was there. Why a bike, though? My plan is to stay with friends in Charlottesville and drive to and from each day. (Unless more friends get together and we look for a house closer to the fest.) Any suggestions?

They're playing 2 nights at Lockn', but I don't know which two.

Get your passes now before prices go up. It's $249 now, going up to $285 soon. Definitely more expensive than Solid Sound, but take a look at that lineup--and they've still got more to announce.

HOLY SHIT INDEED!!!!

So the takeaway from this is that the diehard fans in the audience at the fancy venues have to show their enthusiasm in a particularly vociferous way. OK, I can do that!

You know, a friend said something about the ticket frustration that I'll bet is true, and it hadn't even occurred to me before. For shows like the Meyerhoff, there's probably a series that people in the Baltimore area have a subscription to, and maybe most of the excellent seats are already spoken for by these season pass holders ahead of time. Most of them probably haven't even heard of Jeff Tweedy, so when they find out they're holding tickets for a hot commodity, they put them up on Stubhub. That's a pretty likely scenario, I think, and it would account for why there are so few really close