poppydawn

I looked for you. Where were you standing?

 

Especially since Columbia was the last show I saw. A similair type venue, but seems much better managed.

I was directly behind the VIP section, in front of John and Pat. I was at the entrance fence during Andrew Bird's sound check and saw three gals in Wellies. I thought about making an ass of myself and seeing if it was you and your gang, but decided to be shy and demure, for once in my life.

Sorry, don't agree. Great fucking show. Casino Queen made me jump out of my shoes. The band seemed to be enjoying themselves during the show, and so was I. That's really all I care about.

Did you happen to have lunch at Po's on 39th? There was a couple at the table next to us, and I overheard them talking about being in town from Tulsa.

How 'bout the screamin chick? (my wife) She really needs to get into filming horror movies. I thought Tweedy was truly shaking, then came to his wit and conceded then told her to zip it. We had a good time SINGING and DANCING. This is rock n' roll, not church.

The scream cracked me up! I was recently clocked at 109 dB; I was willing to challenge her to a scream-off.

Hooray for people being willing to express their joy at a show! Granted, there's a time and place for everything, but I'd much rather be at a show where people are so into the music that they're singing, dancing, and having a good time. That's a part of what creates the awesome energy and connection that can exist between an artist and an audience. If I didn't want that, I'd stay home and listen to my CDs. Yeah, I've experienced my share of shitty audiences, but I honestly can't complain about last night's show. A few people crowded me and butted in front of me. Such is life in GA. The guy next to me was throwing a hissy fit because his wife/girlfriend was only 5" tall and couldn't see. Sucks. I'm 5'3", and I know it sucks. But it comes with the territory.

I thought I noticed some terseness from the band early on, and it was great to see them come out of it. They definitely seemed to feed off the audience's energy, which created such a great build-up through the show.

I grew up a little over an hour away from Kansas City, and I make it back every few years. Last time was in August, '05 for a Ben Folds/Rufus Wainwright show at City Market. That venue makes Crossroads feel like Radio City Music Hall. My only complaint about the venue was the VIP area.

As far as KC is concerned, the recent growth is amazing. It was great to see downtown beginning to thrive, and to see money being invested in the arts and revitalizing the great old buildings. I hope they continue on this path. We spent a chunk of the day on 39th Street. A childhood friend of mine is married to one of the owners at Prospero's Bookstore. We paid them a visit - awesome bookstore. I also found a yarn shop owned by a former IT geek. Fascinating, fun woman with a wonderful shop. It's been a few years since I've been in that part of town. I always liked that area, and I was thrilled to see it thriving.

I kept tripping over a giant stick in the mulch, which I pondered throwing, javalin-style, at the announcer.

Otherwise, awesome show! Andrew was fab. I got the impression from the beginning of Wilco's set that they weren't in the finest of moods, but that certainly changed through the show. It was a lot of fun to see them transform from being rather terse to fully rocking out. One of their best shows.

Not happy about the VIP area. At least the people in there got into the show. Had they not, some of us directly behind them were planning a brawl.

We're at my parents' house in Sedalia, getting ready to hit the road in the next hour or so.

I take full responsibility for the rain. This happens every single time I make plans to go to an outdoor venue in KC. Oh well. We'll just have to get all Woodstock tonight.

I'm hitting Prospero's Bookstore on 39th first thing to see an old friend of mine. Thinking about dinner at Oklahoma Joe's. Meeting up with another old friend at the show. And hoping to somehow recognize a bunch of you people!

We taught my three-year-old to say "Diarrhea Pockets" when we walk down the frozen food aisle at the grocery store, so deep is the admiration for Jim Gaffigan at our house.

If you like. We're eating at 2. PM me.

Thanks, but I was joking. Don't want to intrude!

Can't wait to meet you, chica!

Does that mean I'm invited for pork?

Mmmmm .... I want the pork with a side of the curry. Maybe some chili for dessert.

I'm in the process of going back to work (catering director for a small restaurant) after a two-year maternity leave. Therefore, the old rules apply: I don't cook unless someone's paying me to do so. I think we're going to Fletcher's in a bit. Great food, plus this wall:

(That would be the Uncle Tupelo/Son Volt/Jeff Tweedy Wall of Fame).

I saw Andrew Bird last spring. Awesome. Absolutely love him! Here he is on Letterman from a few months ago. I think he's going to be without his band this Saturday. Either way, I think he's a great match for Wilco.

At the Columbia Wilco show, they did sound check from 4-5 PM. That sound check was completely open, and we got to watch the whole thing from in front of the stage. My KC contact told me that sometimes Crossroads sets up extra fences during sound check to prevent looky-lous. Bastards.

Thanks for the head's up regarding the mulch. No cute shoes for me that night.

If any of you see a big gal with candy apple red streaks in her hair, that's me! Come say hi; I like attention.

i will be there and i am so pumped even though this will be my first show alone. boo. ps... so many better places to eat in kc. grinders has the worst service in town. blah.

And believe me, there are places I'd much rather eat during a rare trip across the state. It's been two years since I had a burnt ends sandwich from Arthur Bryant's and I'm hurting for one.

Hello all. First post for me. I'm from Tulsa and my girlfriend and I are driving up for the show. I bought us V.I.P. tickets, but not because I am rich. In fact, I am a social worker, so you know I sure as hell am not rich. My girlfriend just cannot handle crowds. On two separate occasions, including the Wilco show recently in Dallas, she has literally passed out when in a crowd at a show. Well, let's just say that I don't want to miss this show on account of her passing out, so I did what I had to do to keep her out of the crowds. Also, there's the issue of it being somewhat dangerous to have her passing out like that.

 

Anyways, if I'm at the front of the stage I sure as hell won't be sitting on my hands.

 

Look forward to being there and seeing a great show. This will be in essence the first time I have seen Wilco live because I spent most of the Dallas show watching on a TV at the back of the venue because of the above referenced passing out incident.

 

Cheers everyone.

I can empathize. I once keeled over at a U2 show. Spent 13 hours outside in the freezing cold to get close to the stage, only to be so dehydrated and overwhelmed (I've got some claustrophobic and panic issues) that I wound up missing more than half the show. So disappointing.

The little VIP holding pen looks doable for those of us with GA. I'll bet that was a fun place to be during the Gwar show. Maybe the people who paid more for their tickets got splashed with more slave urine.

I didn't get in touch with my KC friend tonight, but I did remember something she mentioned last time we talked: there's a restaurant (Grinder's) that's a part of the Crossroads complex. I think we're going to grab an early dinner there before getting in line. Anyone planning to do the same?

I've got a friend who's been to a few shows at Crossroads. I'm going to ask her tonight if this VIP thing is typical for the venue and how it works. If I learn anything useful, I'll let you know.

It seems terribly unfair to charge $50 extra for wheelchair access.

There seems to be a Dead Milkmen resurgence in my life this week. I heard "You'll Dance to Anything" at a party on Saturday. Last night, my husband mentioned that he was going to get some of their stuff from his peer-to-peer network. And here they are again.

I've always been partial to "Going to Graceland" and "The Badger Song".

I am!

Best,The Cotillion and The Blue Note

Worst,The Pageant

I agree with the Blue Note; absolutely love that place. Gotta disagree about the Pageant, though. I thought their 3/06 show there was excellent. It was one of the few times I've been to the Pageant when people actually seemed to care about the fact that there was music being played. It's usually too full of drunken yappers for my liking.

My worst: St. Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, 10/06. It was a small gym. Wilco plays the prom! The acoustics were about as good as you'd would expect from a large room that smells like socks.

Even weirder, after hiking all the way up a huge hill in the rain from the parking lot, we were told that purses and bags weren't allowed inside. I've never heard of such a thing. One member of our group was nice enough to run all the purses back to the car while we held a spot in line. As my friend said to the security guard/hall monitor: "What if I have my period? Do I need to tuck a spare tampon behind my ear for later?"

Once we were in the building, the first thing I did? Bought a Wilco tote bag, just for spite.

It was really obvious that this isn't a place that gets many shows, if any, and the school had no clue how to run it.

Yay! It seems that SBS is winning over lots of new fans of might not have liked the "noise" factor of the previous CDs. I gave a copy to a friend's 17-year-old son. He loved it (no surprise; he's a guitarist), and insisted that his James Taylor-loving mom have a listen. Now she's hooked.

I love converting people.

Generally, I don't like reunions of any sort. However, I'd love to see little hometown reunion UT show. Just one; not a tour. Shut down the streets in Belleville around the town square, set up the stage, and make for one hell of a fun night. Free tickets. Make money off the gazillion cans of $1 Stag that would be sold.

Jay's brother John is a jazz guitarist who lives in Belleville. He's got a standing gig at my favorite restaurant. I get to see him for free all the time and honestly, I enjoy his live performances more than his brother's. Not that I have anything against Jay (who's doing quite well for himself in St. Louis).

I drink Stag.

Goose Island's 312 Urban Wheat might be to your friend's liking. Their Matilda's a bit pricey, but good.

Another vote for Boulevard. Their unfiltered wheat is one of my all-time favorite beers.

I consider myself a professional auntie... Though I can't really recommend baby toys (baby toys are baby toys...), when the tyke gets older, please introduce him/her to Laurie Berkner and Justin Roberts, two of the best "kids" artists that are good enough they won't make you crazy like Raffi or Veggie Tales.

We definitely dig Laurie Berkner around here. Also, Dan Zanes. He was lead singer of the Del Fuegos way back when, and now he does "family" music. Some of his songs are definitely kids songs, but he also does lots of classic folk - Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, etc. His band contains a huge variety of instruments; it's because of them that we had The Great Accordan Obsession of 2005 at our house. Still, the music's excellent, and it won't drive parents nuts. He's done duets with people like Lou Reed, Debbie Harry, Aimee Mann, Blind Boys of Alabama, Loudon Wainwright III, and Roseanne Cash. Really good stuff.

It's kind of hard to find musical toys for infants, other than plastic shit that plays electronic music. You might go with some CDs. My daughter's 3.5 and she still loves a lot of the CDs she's listened to since birth.

For when she's a little older, you'll win the Best Uncle Ever award if you get her a Little Tykes jungle band kit. It has a turtle-shaped drum, a giraffe bell, two monkey maracas, and a panda-shaped tambourine (or, as we call it, the pandourine). My daughter got her set a few months before she turned two, and it's amazing how much she figured out about music with it. Still loves it.

As a parent, I don't mind toys that let my daughter make music, whether it's the stuff listed above, or the bongos she made on our front porch with little citronella candle buckets. No matter how noisy she gets, at least she's learning about music. The stuff I can't stand? The electronic stuff that makes tons of "musical" noise for no reason. I want some cause-and-effect, at least. Leapfrog has some decent toys along those lines. They have a musical table that's good for kids who are old enough to stand on their own. It has several instruments represented, so they get an idea of what different sounds instruments can make, scale, rhythm, etc.

If you're looking for clothes, there are lots of great band shirts and onesies out there. My daughter's had several Wilco shirts already. Last year she was obsessed with "Come Together" by the Beatles. Target had a Beatles shirt in her size, and she wore it to death.

Congratulations on becoming an uncle!

Damn. What else would you expect from a person whose gone through life with the name "Sharts"?

Yeah, that was too easy.

Oh so many ...

Wilco & the various side projects

The Clash

White Stripes

Springsteen

Johnny Cash

U2

Andrew Bird

Ramones

Pixies

Arcade Fire

Ryan Adams

Weezer (prior to their last album)

The Smiths

REM

lots and lots of obscure garage stuff

lots and lots of classic girl group stuff (although not crazy about Motown)

lots and lots of classic rockabilly

I love Ryan, but I've given up on seeing him live, just for this reason. I don't understand musicians punishing the audience when they have tech problems.

During the St. Louis White Stripes show in '03, Jack White had horrible sound problems and was obviously frustrated by the situation, so much so that he gave an intermission to get things fixed. Once they were up and running, he apologized profusely, then provided a super-long, ass-kicking encored filled with rarities. When I think of that show, I don't really think about the disappointment and frustration; I remember how awesome that encore was, and how Jack and Meg took a bad situation and made it right. Ryan could take a cue from this.

Smokey Bones sucks. I heard they closed a bunch of those. All of the ones in Memphis(yes they put chain BBQ restaurants in Memphis) closed.

I'm amazed Smokey Bones even dared to try in Memphis. How long did that last? An hour?

There's still one in Fairview Heights, IL ... a half-mile up the road from the restaurant Bon Apetit magazine recently chose as the second-best ribs in the country. Rendezvous was first, of course.

And yet people still go to Smokey Bones!!! When I drive by I want to hang my head out the window and yell, "Dude! Second-best ribs in the country are over there!"

That's awesome! Thanks for being brave enough to use your voice (shaky or not) to speak for those who can't speak for themselves.

Ahhh Olive Garden... all the subtle culinary nuance of your grocery store's freezer section combined with the authentic Italian ambiance of Orlando, Florida!

Years ago, someone sent me a "copycat" recipe for Olive Garden's breadsticks. Take rock-hard frozen bread dough, melt it, fashion it into a phallic shape, spray the top with butter-flavored Pam and garlic salt, bake. Seriously. That's an Olive Garden breadstick.

I'm a culinary snob, and the existence of the entire Darden Restaurants family (Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Bahama Breeze, Smokey Bones) makes me want to do horrible things with my 12" chef knife.