sweetheart-mine

this will be my first show, and i can hardly stand the wait! i became hooked on jeff tweedy and wilco's music last summer --

on nearly everything about it -- and am still into the exciting discovery of it all.

after being into the rock of the '60s and '70s for a long time, and then listening mostly to opera (yup) for the past decade,

these guys shook my world and woke me up in too many ways to count.

it doesn't look to me from setlists like they've done Less Than You Think live for a long time, but i'm hoping

after the residency shows . . . maybe they will play this one of their songs i love the most? it would be a BIG thrill for me.

i'm a hermetic visual artist, and not much would make me drive two states away for a concert -- but when the new

haven opportunity came up, i went into determination mode and scored a ticket online during pre-sale. the luck can

hardly be believed.

i love everything about Less Than You Think, and if i've been uncool by posting this request, just tell me and i'll flail myself

with a typewriter.

it sounds like they're not meant to be actual encores. maybe it just works best this way for the band, to have two "intermissions" for a quick pee and a sip of diet coke, you know? i mean, i've read the setlists, which i think are really generous, i've learned a lot about all kinds of other generous stuff they do, they give their fans a lot of leeway in exchanging music, they provide this terrific forum, they treat their fans well when they meet them and just about every other way i can think of. i could go on and on. oh, and on. (which IS a great song.) maybe it's because i'm a newbie as of august, but i couldn't care less whether the whole night is planned or none of it is. i'm going to my first wilco concert in new haven on the 24th, they're an amazing band and i've loved them since i first heard a sound out of jeff's mouth on "man in the sand," and to me whatever they do on the 24th will be a huge gift that i'll never forget. i do love an opera encore, but that's a different situation. how can one expect any encore from a band you guys have practically lived with to be a surprise? it can't be. however they format the concert, i imagine i'll be grateful for years and years. and years.

You can read reviews of the New Haven Hotel here:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g3...onnecticut.html

 

It gets more negative than positive feedback. But maybe it would be okay for a 1 night stay.

okayyyyy ... i'm really not picky, but might end up elsewhere after some of those reviews! thanks.

The Omni is a really nice hotel. That's about your only choice anyway.

is there anything wrong with New Haven Hotel? it's only a couple of blocks walking to the theater and is less expensive than omni.

it looks nice on the website. does anyone know it?

Who's going?

Who wants to join a VC pre-show gathering?

oh i'm still going ellen, my ticket is out where i see it every day, and i cannot believe it's real! i'd love to join a vc pre-show gathering and am glad you brought it up. i know nothing -- just give me a direction and tell me where to go and i'll be there. i'm going to stay with a friend i haven't seen in a long time on the way the day before and then go from there. (many many thanks for all previous invitations.)

can you believe this?: a month ago i apparently blew my ears out listening to wilco with my bose headphones; i kept cranking it up over the months and now have tinnitus almost constantly. seriously, it sounds like peepers or crickets forever. the first night i even threw the window open to listen for them outside, but hey, it's winter up here, heh heh, those would have to be mighty hearty toadlets. i never had this before and wish of all times it hadn't happened now, but it looks like it's here to stay. for a while i wondered how i could get through a concert with this thing, but decided there is no way in hell i'm going to miss this show. actually i meant to write about the tinnitus in another thread because i have some questions, and will do that soon, so never mind now.

once i get to new haven i'll be wandering around and would love to meet ya'll!

cars can't escape

i missed the appeal of the videos totally, never could get it. the phony lip-synching, the bad acting, the stiltedness of it all -- it just

seemed pathetic to me. also, didn't anyone besides me not want the intrusion in your brain of some marketing exec's visual interpretation

of the music? once you see a video, the magic is gone. you can't use your imagination. someone else's trendy idea comes screaming into

your mind with guns blazing every time you hear a song. "can't stand it"!

Yes, we do.

A pizza place in my old Poughkeepsie 'hood used to sell this interesting pizza with thin, square crust with Parmesan cheese on top. It was different, but good.

oh my god, i have to ask this. was it ever called joe's pizza? was it a walk-up-to-the-window-like-you're-ordering-ice-cream kind of place?

was it near a small baseball field? i suppose it's all a walmart or some other prison by now. but that square pizza was one of a kind.

whoa, almost forgot "i should've known better," another early favorite.

1. "i'll be back again"!!! i played it so many times my dad almost left home.

2. "you can't do that"

and you've gotta put "imagine" on there, even though it's lennon alone.

well in that case, how about george's "beware of darkness" too -- magnificent song.

Btw, one of my oldest friends from home here now resides in Holland, and one of my favorite I.P.A.s is from there. Here's to Mad Hatter!

and my husband was born and grew up in holland, michigan. it's a nice place in many ways, but he couldn't wait to get out of there.

the lawns were too neat, the population was not diverse (has improved, i think), and his family was fundamentalist baptist whereas

he didn't like groupthink.

not that this has anything to do with wilco, but there, i just mentioned them.

Like I said, old people.

 

I'm Joking, I do appreciate seats. Nice to be able to rest a bit here and there when you feel like it.

yep, and seats are also good for people with bad foot tendons and claustrophobia. i had those by age 19.

but i still love a great time, and great music, and i probably would have hung upside-down from the rafters

to see my first wilco performance.

very nice, lamrod -- i listened just now and enjoyed it, thanks for posting! you have a good and friendly voice.

here's the link to numerous shots of the inside of the shubert: http://www.cinematour.com/tour/us/24284.html

we have 1st row of mezz section? should be good but i read in someone's post that they might be obstructed

i've got first row of mezz too and at first, from the charts, thought the stage view might be obstructed. but there's more info than i thought on the chart: only the 2 far-over left (A28) and far-over right(A27) seats at mezz level appear to be somewhat obstructed by a few box seats along the walls. the theater looks gorgeous! built in 1914. i saw numerous photos of its inside on a google find today about someone's architectural tours of historic theaters, which included the shubert. it looks like there are very few bad seats. it's a pretty small-size and intimate-looking venue. after seeing the photos, i don't think anyone is ridiculously far from the stage, and front row mezz looks way closer than i imagined.

i can't sleep tonight, because i can hardly wait!

i've had two best moments:

1. discovering jeff tweedy & wilco for the very first time, by accident, when i turned on the ovation tv channel one day this summer and the "man in the sand" documentary was on. the first thing i saw and heard was jeff beginning "when the roses bloom again." i stopped walking toward the couch and froze, listened to the whole song, and then screamed to my husband "I LOVE THEM! WHO ARE THEY!"

2. getting my ticket this morning to what will be my first wilco show, in february in new haven. i can't calm down. it's past 3 p.m., think i'll have a glass of wine or three and toast all the helpful posters here at via chicago who encouraged me.

bobfrombob, tthhaannkk yyoouu! i was ready to give up . . . but because of you i've got a ticket to my first wilco show! i'm in happy shock.

people who know the shubert: i'm row A seat 13 in mezzanine. in looking at the theater chart, i can't tell if my view is obstructed or not. don't think

so, but not sure. does anyone know?

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say you're really close, but wrong.

looks like you win the prize, cal. i'll let you know when i decide what it is.

maybe bjorn knows this standup citizen!

_o__y pee_les (same letter missing in all three spaces)

i lived in kingston from age 5 to 8. we had our very own teenage sicko living right across the street. he shot my older brother in the head with bb's every chance he got; made my younger brother lick the bottom of his shoes; trapped me in a room in their house and put a bumble bee under the door to freak me out (he succeeded). these are just minor examples; i'm sure he went on to have a full-fledged adult sicko career.

i'd never take my wipers to kingston, and you shouldn't have either.

And she's not EXACTLY going alone...WE'LL be with her!!!

that's right -- no way will it feel like walking into a theater full of strangers or, say, serial killers!

i'm still going to pm you, after i actually get a ticket and figure out what's what logistically.

I'm flying to Chicago to see Jeff's solo show....solo.

I have 2 tickets in case I decide to invite someone else, but if not I'll be fine alone.

There's nothing like sharing something wonderful with someone who shares your joy. The pleasure of the experience seems to grow exponentially......but wouldn't you rather be alone at the concert than alone at home? Enjoy!

thanks, yes, i too would rather go alone to the concert, and also in this way: no one i'm close to gets jeff or wilco at all, whereas i'm an addict.

after thinking about it more, i'm not going to drag one of them there and then worry about whether she's having a good enough time. (there's

a show-wrecker for ya!)

I am a 48 year old man with two teenage kids.

 

I rarely attend concert anymore (make exceptions for Springsteen).

 

I am reposting this as I think you might find it of interest.

you first posted this shortly after i came to this board -- i loved it then and i love it now, thank you for reposting!

your story is 100% engaging, witty, inspirational in many ways. one is that i'm with ya re: claustrophobia, i have the same.

it's so great that you included it in your write-up and makes me believe that if you can do it, so can i. from what you wrote and

everyone else is saying, a wilco show is more than worth dealing with a fear or two to get there, and i'm finding that pretty easy

to believe.

by the way, you have a lucky son.

Yep, it was hit or miss.. I had the same problem with Charleston. If I chose more than one ticket, it would say no tickets available. And then eventually I couldn't get any.. But I'm hoping I can still land some decent seats when they publically go on sale Sat. And I hope you can too.

thanks -- yah, i was trying for 1 ticket, so when it told me to enter a lower number, that didn't seem like a good idea!

there WAS a 0 (zero) option, which is pretty funny. it was reassuring to come here and find i wasn't the only one freaking out.

anyway, i'll try first thing saturday also. i hope you get good seats, too.

orchestra center row A? wow. i was in the new haven ticket-buying process at 10:01, kept trying for at least half an hour, getting the same message most of the time (no more reserved seats available) and then "sold out" toward the end. it was a lot of fun, i wish i could start every day that way.