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poppydawn

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Posts posted by poppydawn

    Jeff Tweedy — 18 April 2019, Champaign, IL (Virginia Theatre)

    in After The Show

    Posted

    I was at the show and I'm still shaken/seething from that person in the front row. The initial request to play something for Jay was ... tone-deaf. But to keep badgering Jeff about it was just awful. It didn't do anything to honor Jay's memory - just dredged up the bad stuff. 

    Thanks for the update, Paul. I was 11th row, center, and couldn't hear what the woman in the front was saying. From Jeff's answers I assumed she was clueless and had no idea what was being discussed. The person who yelled the initial request was sitting fairly close to me. And some dude behind me kept yelling, "Jay Farrar!" over and over. To which I wonder why these people even bothered to buy tickets. 

    Rest in Peace, Bob Tweedy

    in Just A Fan

    Posted

    Thanks for sharing if Jeff is anything like his dad I'm sure he was an amazing person!

     

    Bob was, indeed, wonderful, and he'll be very missed around the neighborhood. About ten years ago he pretty much filled the underage section at a St. Louis show with kids from Big Brothers and Big Sisters. He always came out to Jeff's shows in St. Louis, and they'd always play "Casino Queen" for him because it was his favorite. Two years ago Bob was hospitalized when Wilco played here. He was so bummed to miss the show, so they made a soundboard recording for him. There were lots of cheers for Bob from the crowd through the night. At 81 and three decades into Jeff's career, he was still going to be at the show any way he could. 

     

    At the visitation I told the story about my first Bob encounter. It was ten years ago, right after I moved to Belleville. I was at Wilco show in Columbia, MO (2 hour drive from Belleville). About 10 minutes before it started, the crowd literally parted for this big, bright, smiling guy and what can only be called an entourage - all his family and friends who joined him for the show. I overheard that it was Bob, which made sense because they look so much alike. He absolutely loved that atmosphere and had so much fun, and took so much pride in Jeff (and all of his kids and grandkids). He absolutely beamed at the shows.

     

    My all-time favorite Bob story: he was a regular at the restaurant that's our neighborhood's gathering spot. I'm friends with the manager, who's also a fan from way back. When Bob found out, he helped her outfit the restaurant with signed Uncle Tupelo album covers, promo posters, and some of Jeff's solo show prints. A few years ago, when Wilco had Grammy nominations for "The Whole Love," he was having his usual Monday lunch at the restaurant the week before the show. He tried to give my friend his ticket to the Grammys. Of course she thought he was joking, but he was dead serious. She refused to take his ticket from him, despite much insisting that he wanted her to go and have that experience. 

     

    That's the kind of person he was - he'd give his favorite restaurant manager a ticket to the Grammys, just because he wanted her to have that joy and he had the ability to provide it. 

    Rest in Peace, Bob Tweedy

    in Just A Fan

    Posted

    It was an honor to be able to go on behalf of VC today. Bob passed surrounded by his family, who held him through the very end. In the days leading to his passing at home, he was visited by so many loved ones. Jeff and Spencer played music for him. He left this world knowing how very well-loved and important he was.  

    I was acquainted with Bob from living in the same neighborhood. He was a character, a hoot, and a very sweet person. He and I were regulars at the same neighborhood bar and grill. The year "The Whole Love" was nominated for a Grammy, he was adamant about giving the restaurant manager - a friend of mine - one of his tickets to the Grammy's. He was insistent that, because she was a fan, she should have that experience. Logistically, there was no way she could make it happen, but that's how he was. I'm grinning through tears while typing this. I love that story so much. From that, to the time he brought a huge crowd of kids in the Big Brothers & Big Sisters program to see Wilco in St. Louis, to how hard the Tweedys worked to support Jeff when Uncle Tupelo was first getting started ... he was a beautiful person, and it a beautiful soul. 

    (Also, I can't believe I somehow remembered my login info.)

    East Coast Spring Tour 2010

    in Just A Fan

    Posted

    How is buying from StubHub any better (morally) than buying from any other scalpers? I mean, there used to be posts all over VC decrying the scalpers for being slimeball assholes. I'm not trying to attack anybody, just wondering if people honestly see it as something different and why. I've never used them, but I'm not saying I'd be above it in a time of crisis if there were no alternative.

     

    Considering the experiences I've had with Ticketmaster over the past few days (yesterday they sent the wrong password, and today their software didn't recognize that yes, I had entered a credit card to cover the $14 not covered by gift cards), and the fact that they sold me non-existent seats to Springsteen last October, I've decided that scalpers and Stub Hub are more responsible and scrupulous.

     

    I've never used StubHub or bought from scalpers but at this point, I'm having difficulty seeing how Ticketmaster's any better on moral grounds. Between the jacked-up fees and increasing bad customer service, it's really not much different.

     

    I'm lucky that for local shows, my job sends me to just about any show I want to see and I don't have to deal with tickets at all. And because other options are becoming available (other ticketing agencies, venues selling tickets, being able to buy unwanted tickets from others at face value via VC or Craigslist), I'm not using Ticketmaster again. They're no better than the slimeball asshole scalping tickets on the street.

    Jay Bennett R.I.P

    in Just A Fan

    Posted

    You know, we should do something in honor of Jay. Any ideas?

     

    I know I'll feel better if I do something. Maybe I'll donate to the organization that helps musicians without health insurance. I gotta figure out what the name of that is. Anyone?

     

    Sweet Relief, the charity started in the early '90s when Victoria Williams was diagnosed with MS, is still helping uninsured musicians. Wilco is on their list of supporters, too.

    Jay Bennett R.I.P

    in Just A Fan

    Posted

    Has it been determined for sure that he had the surgery? It seems it was mentioned, and then nobody mentioned it again. Sort of unclear. I could have missed it, though, this thread is moving pretty fast.

     

    He did have the surgery. I talked to someone in the know the weekend of the Champaign Bottle Rockets show, and he'd had it then. He announced that he was having the surgery on his MySpace blog on April 24th, according to the NPR link.

    Jay Bennett R.I.P

    in Just A Fan

    Posted

    There will be a midnight screening of 8/16/99 here at the MB Compound. A wake, of sorts.

     

    Wish you folks could stop by. :cheekkiss

     

    Wish I could be there.

     

    I saw them a week after that show. It was an early wedding gift from my husband. Been thinking about that show a lot tonight.

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