Wendy

Yeah, this one is goooood.  I haven't seen Dallas Buyers Club yet, but Matthew McConnaughey is spellbinding in True Detective.

New Eels album (April 22, 2014) - "The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett" - and tour!

http://www.eelstheband.com/

(Some good listening* and viewing to be had over there!)

Track Listing:

1) Where I'm At

2) Parallels

3) Lockdown Hurricane

4) Agatha Chang*

5) A Swallow in the Sun

6) Where I'm From

7) Series of Misunderstandings

8) Kindred Spirit

9) Gentleman's Choice

10) Dead Reckoning

11) Answers

12) Mistakes of My Youth

13) Where I'm Going

Bonus Disc (with Deluxe Version):

1) To Dig It

2) Lonesome Lockdown Hurricane

3) Bow Out

4) A Good Deal

5) Good Morning Bright Eyes

6) Millicent Don't Blame Yourself

7) Thanks I Guess

8) On The Ropes (Live WNYC)

9) Accident Prone (Live WNYC

10) I'm Your Brave Little Soldier (Live WNYC)

11) Fresh Feeling (Live KCRW)

12) Trouble With Dreams (Live KCRW)

13) Oh Well (Live KCRW)

TOUR DATES:

May 16, 2014 Austin, TX Paramount Theater ON SALE FEB. 27

May 17, 2014 Houston, TX House of Blues ON SALE FEB. 28

May 19, 2014 Dallas, TX Strauss Square TICKETS

May 21, 2014 Denver, CO Gothic Theater ON SALE MARCH 1

May 23, 2014 St. Louis, MO Sheldon Concert Hall ON SALE FEB. 28

May 24, 2014 Chicago, IL The Vic Theater ON SALE FEB. 28

May 25, 2014 St. Paul, MN Fitzgerald Theater ON SALE FEB. 28

May 27, 2014 Toronto, ON Winter Garden Theater  

May 28, 2014 Montreal, QC Virgin Mobile Corona Theater ON SALE FEB. 28

May 29, 2014 Boston, MA Berklee Performance Center ON SALE FEB. 28

May 30, 2014 Philadelphia, PA Keswick Theater ON SALE MARCH 7

May 31, 2014 Washington, DC Lincoln Theater ON SALE FEB. 28

June 1, 2014 New York, NY The Apollo Theater ON SALE FEB. 28

June 3, 2014 Detroit, MI Royal Oak Music Theater TICKETS

June 4, 2014 Madison, WI Barrymore Theater ON SALE FEB. 28

June 7, 2014 Seattle, WA The Moore Theater ON SALE FEB. 28

June 8, 2014 Portland, OR Aladdin Theater TICKETS

June 10, 2014 San Francisco, CA Palace of Fine Arts Theater ON SALE FEB. 28

June 11, 2014 Los Angeles, CA The Orpheum Theater ON SALE MARCH 1

June 15, 2014 Oxford, UK New Theater ON SALE FEB. 28

June 16, 2014 Manchester, UK Bridgewater Hall ON SALE FEB. 28

June 17, 2014 Glasgow, UK Royal Concert Hall ON SALE FEB. 28

June 18, 2014 Cambridge, UK Corn Exchange ON SALE FEB. 28

June 19, 2014 Bexhill, UK De La Warr Pavilion ON SALE FEB. 28

June 21, 2014 Linz, Austria Posthof

June 22, 2014 Vienna, Austria Konzerthaus TICKETS

June 24, 2014 Berlin, Germany Tempodrome TICKETS

June 25, 2014 Amsterdam, Holland Het Koninklijk Concertgebouw ON SALE MARCH 1

June 27, 2014 Rotterdam, Holland Concertgebouw De Doelen ON SALE MARCH 1

June 28, 2014 Eindhoven, Holland Muziekgebouw Frits Philips Eindhoven (Naked Song Festival) ON SALE MARCH 1

June 30, 2014 London, UK Royal Albert Hall ON SALE FEB. 28

July 1, 2014 Dublin, Ireland Olympia ON SALE FEB. 28

July 4, 2014 Werchter, Belgium Werchter Festival TICKETS

July 5, 2014 Groningen, Holland Koninklijke Stadsschouwburg Groningen ON SALE MARCH 1

July 7, 2014 Zurich, Switzerland Kongress Haus ON SALE MARCH 6

July 8, 2014 Luxembourg Grand Theatre TICKETS

July 10, 2014 Paris, France Days Off Festival ON SALE MARCH 6

July 11, 2014 Toulouse, France Bikini TICKETS

July 12, 2014 Barcelona, Spain Teatre Grec  

July 14, 2014 Madrid, Spain Circo Price  

July 17, 2014 Florence, Italy Teatro Romano di Fiesole TICKETS

July 18, 2014 Milan, Italy Auditorium di Milano TICKETS

On a Beulah kick!   All ...  you ... need ... is a gun and a car !

The Coast Is Never Clear

When Your Heartstrings Break

Yoko

Yoko Demo

... and high praise at Pitchfork as well.  Congrats Kalle!

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/19046-kalle-mattson-someday-the-moon-will-be-gold/

Thread merge!

(I hope ripthisjoint doesn't mind that I merged the only older thread about Joe Henry I could find into this one thread - I appreciate that a new one was started today.)  

Got to see Joe Henry perform at The Ark in Ann Arbor a few years back.  Soooo worth the 3-hour road trip each way, and would do it again in a heartbeat.  I love him. 

And I thank Ms Yvon for turning me onto Joe Henry all those years ago.  In particular, I love her comment above about just being happy to have more Joe songs -- no ranking or comparisons necessary.  Just more, please.  I feel this way about Wilco, too. 

Wilco over? No. They just formed dBpm and they have cycles of production and touring. All the band members have myriad other gigs. The only people looking for temporary gigs in this tour lull might be the sound and road crew.

On Dec 17th, Jeff mentioned he was working on an album (with son Spencer) during his remote performance from LA, which was skyped into the Second City Chicago Letters to Santa 24-hour fundraiser event.  That, in turn, was web-casted to anyone who wanted to watch from home (me!).  So, yes, it's true!  He did say that. 

No date of release was mentioned though. 

viachicago.org/topic/49497-letters-to-santa-dec-17-13-tweedy-via-video-chat

New Neil Finn, new Beck -- both highly anticipated here!

Rosanne Cash - First listen on NPR - "The River & The Thread"

http://www.npr.org/2014/01/05/259143273/first-listen-rosanne-cash-the-river-the-thread

So true, Brianne.  When you have road trips involved in most of your live music choices like you and I do, in the winter months you push the "buy" button with full knowledge that you might not be able to get on the road!  So it does hurt less when your dollars go to a charity you care about.  It is possible the donation helped someone have their heating bill paid for a month.  Imagine that not happening right now.  Much gratitude to Jeff & Susan who give so much of themselves to help others.

Well, let's get past Feb 14 & 15 at The Vic without Mother Nature's interference, then we'll talk about next year! 

And I can't make it from 150 miles away due to this crazy cold snap.    Giving away my ticket ... anyone in Chicago near Second City want to brave the elements and go?  PM me here.  (Edit:  Ticket gone)  Jeff will play 20 songs solo after the SNL alumns do some opening comedy bits. 

I, too, saw them with Simon & Garfunkel.  So happy I had that opportunity then. 

Here's a live hour's worth from the 1983 reunion show at Albert Hall.  It speaks to their brilliance.

Happy New Year! 

Resolution?  Listen to more new music!  I've been a slacker this past year, and this has got to change. 

Nah, he didn't steal the idea! A lot of musicians do living room show tours for a living. I immediately thought of the musicians at Undertow, and sure enough, there is your buddy listed. I have seen David Bazan in a LR show, and twice I had tix for Will Johnson and both times could not make the trip. Someday!

I love small shows, and nothing beats a house show!

But it would be really awesome if more high-profile musicians did it for charity like Jeff has done. Jeff and Susan have been so kind to do it for the Chicago charity for a decade or so, but this year, with free time at a minimum, he is doing one small show at Second City (along with some comedy) this coming Monday, a few tix still available here.

Thanks Diane!

Far Far Away

You And I

Jesus Etc.

How to Fight Loneliness

News:  Jeff and son Spencer are working on an album together.  !!!  No completion timeline to announce at this point.

Speaking of Spencer, don't forget that his band the "Hungry Pilgrims" are performing live on the Second City stage at 4:30.  I've seen them, they are really, really good.   

... in 25 minutes!

http://letterstosantachicago.com/

Please consider donating to Letters to Santa.      It's a really worthwhile charity, important to the Tweedys for many years. 

Yep - at about 12:15 or 12:20, gold showed up for both nights in my queue, so I'm good!  Whew!  Nervous making, this ticket stuff. 

No gold!

No increase (or decrease) out of pocket for me for 2014.  My employer did change us to a different health insurance company for 2014, but otherwise offer the exact same plan options and prices as 2013.   However, for most years in the past, we had a lot of price increases and quality of coverage decreases. 

Is it weird that Sunday will be my first solo show and I am honestly considering trying to get tickets to these shows?

Not weird at all.  Don't miss out on tix, especially since they are weekend dates.

http://www.ifc.com/shows/portlandia/blog/2013/12/portlandia-returns-feb-27

Season 4 starts Feb 27th.  Lots of guests:

 

Get excited: Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein are coming back to IFC on Thursday, February 27th at 10/9c and they are bringing some incredible guest stars to the fourth season of Portlandia.

 

Joining Fred and Carrie this season are Tunde Adebimpe (TV On The Radio), Jello Biafra (Dead Kennedys), Vanessa Bayer (Saturday Night Live), Kirsten Dunst (Melancholia, Spider-Man), Joshua Homme (Queens of the Stone Age), singer-songwriter k.d. lang, Duff McKagan (Gun N’ Roses, Velvet Revolver), Silas Weir Mitchell (Grimm), Michael Nesmith (The Monkees), Mark Proksch (The Office), Maya Rudolph (The Way, Way Back, Bridesmaids), columnist Dan Savage, Nick Swardson (Reno 911!), jazz duo Tuck and Patti, Jeff Tweedy (Wilco) and Olivia Wilde (HER, House). Paul Allen and members of the Portland Trail Blazers also stop by this season.

 

Returning this season are Ed Begley Jr. (Arrested Development, Pineapple Express), Steve Buscemi (Boardwalk Empire), Annie Clark (St. Vincent), Jeff Goldblum (The League), Kumail Nanjiani (Newsreaders, Franklin & Bash), Jason Sudeikis (Eastbound & Down, We’re The Millers) and director Gus Van Sant (Promised Land, Milk). Kyle MacLachlan (How I Met Your Mother, The Good Wife) will also be back as Portlandia’s Mayor.

I can't wait!  Nothing may beat awesomely great music, but comedy is definitely my next favorite thing.