Magnetized

Update: Now I feel kind of bad. (No, that isn't true. . . ) Just got a response to my most recent correspondence with the scalper. He/she said: "I didn't realize it was a benefit. I am not in the area. If you want a pair you may have for $250 which covers my costs Ebay Paypal and FedEx. Offer $250 and I will accept." I'm posting this just to close the circle on my little story above. I'm going to refrain from continuing any kind of dialogue with this person, and of course I am declining their very generous offer.

Even though I was lucky enough to get in for both nights, I got to thinking about the assholes who buy up all the tickets and resell at a premium. With apparently too much time on my hands last night, I went onto eBay and found tons of sellers with these tickets at, usually, double face value. So I decided to pick on one of them--someone who had two gold circle tickets for Saturday at $299. I submitted a question on the item, as follows: "Just a question, which you can ignore if you want, but this is a charity event that Jeff Tweedy puts on every year on behalf of Montessori schools. How can y

Such a great site. I'm listening to the Jeff solo show at Abbey Pub from June 12, 2002 right now. I've always wanted to hear this show and it does not disappoint. It seems to be one of the first times Spiders (Kedsmoke) was played--he introduces it as a new song and the crowd seems unfamiliar with it. There's some great banter in this show as well.

That's the second time recently that I remember someone saying how lucky they feel to be a fan of this band and part of the extended community. I agree completely. That was such a good post.

I'll be coming in from out of town too and just thought I would pass along a tip for those of you who might not have heard of this service: www.airbnb.com. I have used it once before and had a great experience, and it is a really good option for anyone willing to consider non-traditional accommodations. Basically, it's people renting out anything from an air mattress in their living room to a full luxury house. Just sign up (I think you have to link to Facebook, so you and your host can find out about each other) and there are numerous search options. Bottom line: I just reserved a private roo

Same for me. So happy to have gotten both nights, since I'll be coming from Virginia, and super thrilled about gold on the first night. See you there! By the way, anybody who was shut out, keep trying. It seems to fluctuate between saying unavailable and having a ticket pop up. No gold ones, but I was just able to see an adult one available a minute ago.

Just finished listening, and I loved it. It really felt more like a conversation than an interview. Some might find the fact that the other guys did so much talking to be annoying, but to me it was more intimate and revealing because of that.

I'm listening now too. I assume this is pretty recent, right?

Oh shit, I'm going. I gotta.

Thanks, and after a search, I found out that the Tweedy solo show I was thinking of was the Door County Auditorium on 7/8/11. The problem for me is that unless a show is in mp3 form, I can't seem to get it to download. Or rather, I can download but I can't seem to convert to mp3 so I can actually play it and move it to iTunes, etc. I'm sure it's some technical stumbling block that a more tech-savvy person than I could fix, and when I finally get around to upgrading my old Dell to a snazzy new Apple, it'll probably be easy. But for now I've beat my head against that brick wall too many times.

Hallelujah, I am in at home! No more late nights at the office! Seriously, what you are doing is wonderful beyond belief. Thank you so much for everything!

It's pretty new so you probably don't have it yet, but the Santa Barbara show (2/10/12) sounds like it was great. And Oakland on 1/3 was a dream setlist. The Norva (Norfolk, VA) on 9/27/2004 is a sentimental favorite of mine, too. Personally, too, I'd love some Tweedy solo shows. In particular, he did an acoustic Bull Black Nova sometime within the last year that I would love to hear. Anyone know when that was?

Well, for what it's worth, Rolling Stone said that the odds were on Wilco, 8-5 I think. Which is the only thing that got me thinking they might actually take it. Even despite this, though, I thought it was a long shot. You know what? Who cares! Obviously I did last night, but I'm over it now. The boys got to go to the grammys, ride in limos and ogle the boobs and sequins on popstars. Maybe it will all inspire some Hotel Arizona-ish lyrics, or at least give Jeff some good banter material.

Dammit. Here's what the LA Times blogger had to say: And proving Grammy voters have the most boring rock album colletion of all time, the Foo Fighters won best rock album for "Wasting Light." The award should have gone to Wilco's "The Whole Love," a far more adventurous collection.

Spencer Tweedy put up a great blog post, by turns hilarious, insightful and typically wise-beyond-his-years:

Yeah, as I said before, I have tried pretty much daily on my home computer using Firefox (my default browser), Chrome, Safari and IE. I still can't get in at home. I also have Sony's internet TV that uses Chrome as a browser and that doesn't work either. BUT my work laptop, which uses IE as a browser, loads the site beautifully and I've been listening to the shows at work constantly. This seems really bizarre, since the firewall at work blocks many sites (like ebay and music downloading sites). I'm so happy I can still listen at work but I'm afraid "the man" is gonna get wind of this and block

He has a new documentary coming out about A Tribe Called Quest, and in connection with that Pollstar had him pick his six favorite films about music, in order of preference. Read the article here.

Thank you, Paul! It was driving me nuts that there wasn't a thread, too. I almost started one that just said Spokane--WTF?

Ooh, this sounds really good. In addition to Wilco and Jack Black, there's Mavis Staples, Flaming Lips, Randy Newman, Dr. Dog, Gogol Bordello, and M. Ward. And those are just the ones I'd be excited to see.

It doesn't work for me at my home computer or my internet TV, either. Not with Chrome, Explorer, Firefox or Safari. But it didn't work at my work computer (Explorer) until yesterday, and then yesterday it magically opened. So maybe it just takes a while for the URL to get recognized? I have no idea, but maybe just continuing to try at a particular computer will help it get recognized eventually.

If I were you, camelhead, I'd write a letter describing just what happened and send that to Tony Margherita Management (click around on wilcoworld.net), along with the CD and a self-addressed stamped mailer. I have no idea whether it will work and I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for it to come back to you, but I'll bet it does, eventually. I would bet that Jeff will appreciate your giving him some space that day. And if it doesn't ever get returned, well, what are you out? $20? You can always buy another CD. And you've got a story!

I finally was able to get in and all I can say is. . . WOW! Thank you so much! I'm going to be totally useless at work for a while.

Getting a little off topic here, but I just have to say that is so perfectly stated. I absolutely love interviews with Jeff because of that very quality. He kind of stumbles around but you can just see the gears turning in his head as he finds his way through his thoughts and formulates his response. His intelligence and humor come through in a very natural way. It's clear that he's fundamentally very confident--so much so that he doesn't feel the need to have smooth, canned responses, like he trusts that we'll "get" it. (Either we will or we won't--either way. ) I love it in the Ashes DVD whe

I'm in Norfolk, VA. Not exactly a rock 'n' roll town, but it never ceases to amaze me how few people recognize Wilco around here. Although I did have this couple hunt me down in the grocery store parking lot once. They had seen the license plate in the parking lot and went into the store on a search for the most likely looking candidate to be the owner of the car. It was kind of late and they were a little buzzed, but they were lying in wait for me as I walked to my car after checking out. We had a fun conversation and I actually see them at various shows and stuff around town now. Speakin

I've had my Wilco plates for a couple of years now. I rarely get any comments but when I do it's always a treat, since it's invariably from another fan. (Except for the one time at a Wilco/Hess gas station where somebody asked if I worked for the gas company or was just a really big fan of the gas stations.)