poppydawn

In case you were all wondering, I am not going to these shows afterall

 

Just too much going on to add this to the general confusion....

Aw, bummer.

Oh, this might be a long one.

"war on war" is one of his best and i love it in a million different ways. the only reason i didn't put it in the panic/depression-related list is that he sings it with such spirit, i feel completely uplifted by it and take it as a positive message, or at least mixed messages with positive results.

I was listening to it today and noticed something new. Even though it's so spirited, I get a real sense of anger from it. Sort of a white-knuckling against ... well, whatever. Glenn's drumming is downright militant.

can you (or anyone contributing here) listen to the songs we're talking about every day? ever since i first heard them (last summer) i felt compelled to listen to them, over and over, every day. i loved them and had to do it. eventually it got so i couldn't tell anymore if they were making me happy/uplifted, sad, or both plus contemplative of course. a couple of friends recently thought they were making me more melancholy and suggested a hiatus. so i've forced myself not to listen to them the past few weeks, but it feels like something elemental, primitive, or fundamental to life is missing. maybe my friends were wrong . . .

I tend to not gravitate towards the songs that conjure up the memories of panics and such. For the most part, I just pull them out when I need them.

Waaaaaaaaay back when I was in college, I went through my first really bad depressive episode. I latched onto the "Little Earthquakes" album by Tori Amos. It articulated so much of what I was feeling, and I would listen to it ad nauseum. Once the depression passed, I couldn't listen to it for years because it reminded me of laying in the dark in my room, trying to decide if I wanted to live or die. I sold the CD. Next depressive episode, I bought it again. I must have bought and sold that CD ten times over the course of five years before it finally started to lose its effect. But even now ... This weekend I was watching "120 Minutes" on VH1 Classic and they played "Silent All These Years". I had to turn it off. The sad thing is, I really liked that album and I feel like I ruined it by using it as a crutch.

wow, poppydawn, you have the courage of jeff tweedy -- to say exactly what you mean.

Thanks, but not quite. I only dump my guts to a few hundred people, not millions.

what you wrote does worry me some. i'm not consciously depressed, but if i'm not, why have i for many months been pulled into those songs so deeply that they practically seem to make up my life? on the other hand, i think your listening to AGIB that day because it expresses your state was wise, and that not letting yourself listen to it more than once that day was even wiser.

Learned my lesson from the Tori Amos debacle. Seriously, though, just because you've connected with music created by an artist with mood issues that strongly resonates with lots of other people with mood disorders, doesn't necessarily mean you have a mood disorder, if that makes any sense. There are a lot of interviews with Jeff out there where he talks about how songs (and any art form, really) has a combination of meanings that come from what the artist had in mind and what the listener brings to it. Using "Theologians" as an example, one person might connect with it for the anxiety/depression themes it invokes. Another might respond strongly to the message about religion. Another might respond to that wonderfully jangly piano riff.

Having come from a similar upbringing as Jeff, in the same part of the country, I know I first connected with a lot of the regionalism in is writing. That still draws me in, too. It's hard for it not to, when I drive past the fountain from "New Madrid" almost daily.

It's nice to talk on this level about music. It's hard to find people who you can face to face explain this kind of thing too and they'll not only understand, but sort of have a similar viewpoint and experience and can relate. I could get into a lyrical disscussion about pretty much any of the songs that were mentioned here and more.

Same here. It's good to know that other people are hearing what I'm hearing, and maybe I'm not just projecting my own thoughts and feelings onto the songs. A little validation never hurt.

Thanks for the link.Just this afternoon I started to cry,in my car ,in my fight (with my daughter),listening AGIB.

 

Now,I

Yeah, no shit. Amy and I are going on Thursday and only me on Friday. The tickets are in her name, do you think I can get my friday ticket at will call on thursday?

I'd call the Pageant and start begging now, if I were you. I've never done will call at the Pageant before; only Mississippi Nights. They pretty much let anyone walk in.

We'll meet up for sure, I want a table on first riser in front of sbd. Best sound in the house.

That's my usual spot. Great sound, great view, and a lot more comfortable than hauling my old ass into the pit.

This is the first time I've ever planned this big of a trip for a show. I haven't flown in a few years, either, so this is shaping up to be quite an adventure! I'm definitely going to show up early in the day to line up. It will be fun meeting some VCers!

Give me a yell if you need any help navigating the city.

I tried to get my friend Kristina (Lady Lemon from Interference) to come down for the shows, but her schedule's booked.

I don't know, I haven't shaved or showered in a few months!

That'll make you blend in around here.

I promise I won't punch you in the face. I just do that at White Stripes shows. And almost once at Chuck Berry. And very-nearly at Interpol because the idiot in front of me was wearing a light-up plastic tiara and that's just asking for a beat-down.

It can be quite a mess outside of that place come show time. We aren't to bright around these parts!

I actually punched someone in the face at the Pageant once. I was pregnant at the time, so I like to blame the hormones. That'll learn 'em to use the pregnant lady's shoulders as a springboard during a White Stripes show.

no

 

I guess with these we get in first I take it. These were fan club, right?

Ha! I know what you look like now so prepare to be accosted.

I'm not shy. Everyone post pictures and I'll find you.

I think they should let us in first just because we're tenacious enough to endure presale hell. That deserves a special prize.

In for both!

Are you actually going to introduce yourself to me in line this time?

can you (or anyone contributing here) listen to the songs we're talking about every day? ever since i first heard them (last summer) i felt compelled to listen to them, over and over, every day. i loved them and had to do it. eventually it got so i couldn't tell anymore if they were making me happy/uplifted, sad, or both plus contemplative of course. a couple of friends recently thought they were making me more melancholy and suggested a hiatus. so i've forced myself not to listen to them the past few weeks, but it feels like something elemental, primitive, or fundamental to life is missing. maybe my friends were wrong . . .

I wrote about this, to an extent, about a year and a half ago when I was fighting off a depressive episode. It's here, if you're interested.

Ditto for me. I even forgot my password and had to have it emailed to me, so I figured I was doomed. Now I just have to figure out how I'm going to pay for the rest of the trip

Yay! I was hoping you'd get in today and wouldn't have to worry about it during your road trip.

I've got tickets for Thursday and Friday! :dancing :dancing :dancing :dancing

I've never gotten through on the presales, nevermind getting through for two at the same time! I'm a little stunned.

You nailed most of them on the head that get me too. Even "War on War" with the lines "You have to die if you want to want to be alive" and "You're gonna lose. You have to lose." are just, well I don't know. Something about the way that's said digs deeper than any passing person might think. There is something about the way he accepts those things as he sings them, that makes them tragically, heartbreakingly beautiful.

Exactly! I latched onto "War on War" when I was going through cognitive behavioral therapy for my panic attacks. The idea that a panic attack feels like you're dying and the line, "You have to learn how to die if you want to want be alive" basically summed up the entire therapy experience for me. I've got this condition that makes me feel like I'm dying, and it's ruining my life. It's not until I learn to how to deal with these "deaths" that I'm going to be able to really live, instead of being trapped in this terrified, agoraphobic world where my emotions dictate my actions.

Am I getting ahead of myself? Am I getting too specific? Weirdly specific?

Nah, I think you just saved me having to write a really long post, because you said most of what I was thinking.

I will add that "Ashes of American Flags" also has a lot of panic parallels, for me. Maybe because I listened to it a lot when I was in therapy, too.

I'm down on my hands and knees

Every time the doorbell rings

I shake like a toothache

When I hear myself sing

That verse absolutely nailed what my ever-present anxiety felt like. The entire song, for me, is a description of the loneliness and isolation these conditions bring. And that chorus, "If all my lies were always wishes/I know I would die if I could come back new" ... yeah.

Musically, I also agree with what you said, Sgt. Pepper. AGIB came out at a time when my conditions were starting to get way out of control. I remember the first time I listened to the drone on "Less Than You Think", the day the album was released. I sat there with my mouth hanging opening, thinking, "My God. They've managed to set a panic attack to music. This sounds the way an attack feels."

Funny thing is, I didn't get into Wilco because of these connections. I started out as an Uncle Tupelo fan, when they were just a local band that played the little clubs and frat parties when I was in college, then moved directly into Wilco and Son Volt when they formed. This sounds really nuts, but sometimes it almost feels like divine providence that Jeff's music has been a huge part of my life for so long, and that his music would wind up mirroring my own dealings with depression, panic and anxiety. Corny as hell, I know, but I feel really lucky to have had his music with me all this time.

I'm slow tonight. Thanks Mel!

There is another presale on thursday if that helps?

Who's doing the Thursday presale?

It's going to be insane, and it's going to be a blast! I've got my sitter arrangements made and I'm rarin' to go. Just need some tickets.

No freaking out tomorrow regarding the presale. It's just a few hundred tickets and not nearly the capacity of the venue. Yep, it's going to sell out and it'll happen fast. But there's room.

Oh yeah. The Cale version's amazing. I just wanted to throw in two of my favorites that didn't get a nod in the article.

Plus my boy just opened a pizza joint, Pi, across the street. (Note: shameless plug.)

Is that where Mirasol used to be? A pizza joint seems much more fitting for that area. And will he deliver to the GA line?

I moved to the St. Louis area in 1999, and it's been exciting to see all the growth in that section of Delmar. I'm friends with the owner of Fifi's and one of her main clothing suppliers, and I've got connections involved with the new yarn shop. The GA line-up for the Wilco shows should be a lot of fun, just because there's now interesting stuff to do, literally a few steps away.

The versions by Rufus Wainwright and k.d. lang absolutely slaughter me.

A few years ago, I was even left teary-eyed by a mediocre coffeehouse singer performing "Hallelujah". The song's just that powerful.

The snob in me cringed upon seeing the song on "American Idol", even though the kid who did it did a decent job with it. It just didn't strike me the way every other version - including that one in the coffeehouse - of that song has. On one hand I would hate to see such a beautiful and power song get watered down. On the other, it's good that people are finally hearing it, and branching beyond the somewhat karaoke-ized "AI" version by seeking out the other versions. I don't buy the "It's not special if it's everywhere" business. It's everywhere because it's special.

I love Lantern Moon's stuff! Unfortunately, I have a hard time using anything but titanium DPNS because I have a death grip. I love them for regular and circulars, though. Good to know they're doing something good.

I'm trying to finish a sweater for Clara Jane in time for Thursday's Wear a Sweater for Mr. Rogers Day. Just have the seams left, which is the part I hate.

Agreed. However, over here in the Czech Republic, the real original Budweiser Budvar is an entirely different proposition (much stronger, much better).

I've heard that several times, and would love to try it sometime.

That's not to say that the USA is entirely devoid of good beer (as tends to be the consensus of opinion in Europe, unfortunately). There are truly great micro-breweries all over the US in my experience, and Kansas City, which sticks in my memory (but only just!) for some reason, is just a fantastic night out on the beer!!

Boulevard Beer from Kansas City! I grew up near KC. Boulevard's Pale Ale and their Unfiltered Wheat are two of my favorite beers. I tend to gravitate towards the small microbreweries, which often make some excellent stuff. Schlafly's in St. Louis is another one of my favorites.

Hell, I'm not above drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon and Stag out of the can. No beer snobbery from me.

Sure, Megaupload do ya?

Sure! That'll work!

Guinness remains very popular here as does Beamish in Cork. Heineken and Carlsberg are popular too. Budweiser draft sells very well. Bulmer's is the only one for me.

My turn to say, "How can anyone drink that swill?" in regards to Budweiser. I live near St. Louis, which is the Budweiser world headquarters. My theory is they have all those Clydesdales because it takes a lot of giant horses to create enough urine to keep up with the world's demand for God-awful beer.

I'll have to look for Bulmer's next time I hit the local liquor store with the huge import and microbrew section. I don't think I've seen it before.

Harp!?!

 

 

You would be seriously hard pressed to find a pint of that in any pub in Ireland now. Maybe the midlands, it was popular there and maybe some Dublin bars. Jeez, that was horrible shite too ha ha!

Just drinking what's available in the States. How about you send me a real Irish beer sample pack?

Wow you named it Prettytown? Why didn't you name it Wilcotown Shantytown...wouldn't that be more appropriate?

When we were getting ready to move here, I nicknamed Belleville "Prettytown" and still slip into it occasionally. Especially since it sounds so good with "shantytown".

Well we will have to have some of the guys distract the coppers and put them off our scent...erm i mean Shantytown. lol!

Public drunkenness won't work. That's encouraged around here.

You can't offer a shantytown and then TAKE the shantytown away...

 

I'm just warning you of the potential problems of the Prettytown Shantytown. The cops around here are pretty bored and are always looking for stuff to do. Like bust up shantytowns.

I am glad somebody enjoys that vile drink. Very small share of the market over here. Is it a big seller in Amerikay?

In my region, it seems to have just recently popped up. Guinness' marketing department seems to be pushing Smithwick's a lot more vigorously. At my local Irish(esque) pub, they no longer do black and tans, but do "blacksmiths" - Guinness and Smithwick's. I prefer Harp, but when it's poured into a chilled pint glass, I'll gladly take a Smithwick's. Out of the bottle, I'm not crazy about it.

I'll definitely take it over the fake Irish beers that are made by big American breweries. Yuck!

Mmmmmmmmmmmm ... Smithwick's.

I'm lobbying for St. Patrick's Week.