Central Scrutinizer

Show started about 7:55 ... 25 minutes late. Savannah is a slow crowd to show up

Setlist:

Wilco (the song)

Bull Black Nova

You Are My Face

I am Trying To Break Your Heart

One Wing

Shot in the Arm

Side with the Seeds

At Least That's What You Said

Company In My Back

Pot Kettle Black

Deeper Down

Handshake Drugs

Impossible Germany

California STars

Poor Places (interesting segue into acoustic set during "noise"

Acoustic

Spiders (Kidsmoke)

Forget the Flowers

At My Window Sad and Lonely (I padded the request with this one, along with ....)

Laminated Kat (dunno if this was already on the list, but I posted "blank" and typed it in)

Wishful Thinking

War On War

She's a Jar

Airline to Heaven

Ashes of American Flags

Heavy Metal Drummer

Jesus, etc. (he said Clearwater and Miami were better but the people still get to live in Savannah ... meh)

You Never Know

Via Chicago

I'm Always In Love

Hate It Here

Walken

I'm the Man Who Loves You

Hoodoo Voodoo

I'm a Wheel

E: Thank You Friends

About 2:45. Not a lot of talk from the stage, but some serious performing. Not as must thrashing, but some inspired playing by Nels -- one of the most melodic leads to Impossible Germany i've heard.

I was concerned after the show, about two-thirds of the way through, something didn't seem right about Nels. Standing stiff as a board, not a lot of movement, leaning back. one time when he was playing lap steel, he lifted his legs and leaned back like he was trying to stretch.

We ducked out towards the end of Thank You Friends and wandered over by the bus. Jeff came out rather quickly, escorted by someone. He muttered a bit as he brushed past. After about a half-hour, a policeman shooed everyone away.

It was an incredible show. Can't speak enough about it. Because it's part of a Savannah festival, there were a lot of "patrons" in the audience. Some exited before the acoustic set. Others stuck it out. There was a gaggle of fraternity/sorority types who seemed to be turning it into a mixer. But there was a lot of hardcore Wilco fans and they were in full throat.

I hope the band is alright. I was pretty boorish about stuffing the request line, but they played every one; plus the other songs requested were incredible. They are giving it all for the fans. They are setting an incredible pace with a solid slate of shows ahead.

This is how I became a fan, and I know I'm not the only one. I bought the CD a week or two after it was released. I'd been trying to pick a Wilco album to start with and was overwhelmed by all my options. I think I had done too much research. I don't normally start with a live album, but in this case it seemed like the right choice.

 

Coming from the point of view of someone who had never heard a single Wilco album previously, Kicking Television sounded huge,dynamic and exciting to me. I was blown away on first listen.

 

I bought Summerteeth a couple weeks later and was totally confused as to how this was the same band. Luckily I stuck with them and it didn't take long before I was in love.

Cool. I guess I started some of the squawking, because I thought $70 is a little stiff. If you're a collector, then it may seem a bargain. To each his/her own!

I'm off to Savannah!

Sorry,my post isn´t a answer,haha.The answer was,more or less,take a look near to the venue a couple of hours before.

And good luck.

It was a great answer! Thanks!

Eh, I just don't like the way Wilco Mach 6 treats a lot of the older songs - Ashes, IATTBYH, VC. It does 6-piece stuff just great, but KT was all pre-6-piece.

I think if you're looking to introduce someone to Wilco, though, this live album is the best way to do it. It's an easier entrance over any of the studio albums. The current lineup definitely gives a spin to things, but its a coherent approach to a catalog that to describe would be like a group of blind people describing an elephant. If they're not familiar, then YHF, and then let them wander based on their tastes that bring into listening to the band. Get them in the door and let them walk about and explore.

Speaking of rock photographers, Jim Marshall died the other day. You may not know the name, but you have seem his photographs.

I am very saddened to hear that. I think someone was using his image of Johnny Cash flipping the bird as an avatar. Some incredible stuff.

http://www.marshallphoto.com/

I am taking my family to the Savannah show, and my daughter wants to try to meet the band. In the times I've seen the band, part of me would like to try to get an autograph, but mostly I would feel, 1) like a dork, and 2) that the attempt would somewhat taint the experience; that there's value in the distance between artist and fan.

I've gone back through the archives and didn't have much luck (great stories about meeting band members before/after concerts and other settings). So I ask here: what is the approach for, err ... approaching the band after the show? Is there usually an area roped off where they stand (beyond protective glass)? Is it an impromptu situation based on the show and venue? Are they approachable at/before/after sound check (which I"m guessing is about 5-5:30)? Should I tell them not to get their hopes up?

I can't fucking believe the band isn't on here discussing this for us to add our input

Fortunately, they don't have to worry about their health care plan.

True, and they're not getting any younger. Right now, they make their money on the road. At some point (hopefully not any time soon) they're probably going to want to, or have to, spend less time on the road, and will need more of their income to come from product sales compared to concert ticket sales.

It's been mentioned in Kot's book and oodles of other places, but both Uncle Tupelo and Wilco were out on the edge of the alternative wave as far as making money primarily on the road, and became a blueprint for other alternative bands to follow.

Whether Wilco ...

The band is definitely at a crossroads. But going independent vs. finding another label becomes an issue of overhead. If the band goes it alone, they become an employer beyond just Tweedy and five bandmates and the direct hirings. It would require more hands on management of all facets -- certainly much would fall on Tony's shoulders. But each band decision begins to directly affect a growing number of people and their families. (I can't remember where I read it, but that was arguably one of the many issues that weighed upon the Grateful Dead as they became more commodity than performers). At this point in time, Tweedy may want less hanging over his head, rather than more.

But again, I'm just thinking out loud. It could be, too, that Jeff got a taste of a broader industry role when he worked with Mavis Staples. Maybe a label, artists, a broader role is in store.

As I mentioned to sexual napalm, this time in Wilco's history could be as significant as YHF, in how it impacts the music industry.

what I meant by my post is that wilco is at a point where a major label could invest a bunch of money in marketing and make them bigger. But a label takes a lot to all of the money from a band's record sales. And they have strong demands in terms of both artistic, production, and implementation. They aren't currently and have never seen a lot of hardcore marketing, but they have continuously built a fan base by their own hard touring work.

 

Not having a label will allow them to make more money from their releases, and will let them have the control they want. The marketing will continue because everyone in the music industry is interested in the band. Writers write about wilco because they like them, and they will be in music magazines. They would have to set up a side distribution deal to get their records out to the walmart in the middle of Alaska, etc (you get my drift) but the terms would be much more favorable. The label just has to use their contacts to deliver cds, so it is cheap for them.

 

The major major labels, warner group and sony, have the big distribution. Other labels basically rent this from them. Wilco is currently on Nonesuch, an arm of warners, but they are paying Nonesuch for all the services a record label provides. They could form their own label and ink a distribution only deal instead.

 

being independent would work well for them.

I understand what you're saying and thanks for being patient with me in your response.

From a business standpoint, when an artist reaches a critical mass, there are decisions he/she/they have to make that create a whole new set of decisions based on the one (like a "subset" of heavy metal contract negotiation). Big label takes big slice of pie. But a slice of a 500K pie is different than a smaller slice of a 5M pie. And they require a choice in oven sizes.

Just so we're clear, the guy who wrote this:

 

 

 

Also wrote this:

I am just musing, thinking out loud. Dismiss it.

Music is a business. Tweedy and the band have issues to debate as they continue to grow an audience. That's my point.

But it's not repitition if that's the first article about Wilco you've ever read, is it?

You can say that again.

from reading other recent threads around here, it may have to do with people filming the band rather than photos. unfortunately, with new phones and cameras it's hard to police who is filming and who is just snapping a photo. Jeff supposedly got on someone in Miami, read about it in that thread.

It's anyone's guess -- and I certainly was making a WAG, but this sounds plausible -- especially if, as people have noticed, Tweedy got P.Oed and started down people taping.

The band gives away so much, in terms of fan access, Road Case material and album extras that they could ban farting at shows, for all I care.

I'll have to hold it in? The methane in the lobby would contribute to global warming.

Central Scrut: I'd agree with you if this were Paste Magazine or Glorious Noise, but this was in a large daily newspaper and it ran in a spot where we have a review of something the night before almost every morning. And it was at a concert hall where a lot of "patrons," not Wilco fans, were present. It sold out a little suburban art theater. It drew some local curiousity.

Maybe. In publishing they call it a nut graph, a shorthand or rehash of largely known information. However the repetition among writers is something I trip over.

that is between me and my death panel

I'm having our rec room redone in death paneling.

I dont really think wilco's recent success has much to do with the label. It is them consistently playing killer shows and winning over fans one at a time on the road, who come back and bring more fans.

 

The standard contract with a record label is a 90%/10% split in favor of the label. All expenses must be paid out of the band's ten (recording costs, etc.) before the band makes any of the 10%. I dont know if Wilco's is like this, but the vast majority of contracts are. The main benefit of having a label is for physical distribution, marketing and as something like a bank. Since wilco to me seems like they have never been really marketed too much (I dont know how they get songs in movies and commercials, but I believe it has to do more with the fact that it seems like every real music fan is a wilco fan and the music directors for movies and commercials are probably music fans so they like wilco) they only really benefit from a label's distribution. They could start releasing their own records for the band and all of their projects themselves. This would mean they wouldnt be able to get any money to make a record or pay their bills, but since they own their own studio and it seems like they arent probably borrowing against future revenues to fund things, they probably dont need it. If they released their own stuff, they would get a MUCH larger cut, and they could work out a distribution only deal with a larger label like most indie record labels have and their records could make it to stores.

 

If I was a betting man, I would bet that is what they are going to do. I think it would be a good thing. They have developed a rabid fan base through decades of hard work. Music magazines and reviewers pay attention to every move they make, so they dont need a team of people to get the word out about their new records, WE do that for them. A record label really doesnt offer any of services that wilco needs and could net get elsewhere.

There is a tier of marketing and distribution that all but the largest labels can't touch. There comes a time when an artist is approached as commodity as opposed to performer, however talented or essential the artist may be. Nonsuch couldn't handle that. It could be Tweedy and the band expected more out of W(TA), and it didn't come.

A DIY approach makes sense, but not from a distribution standpoint. There's not much to be gained moving from Nonsuch to this, because a label would probably demand more of a cut of distribution because they're not getting a taste of the other aspects. IMHO

It may be over-analyzing, but I wonder if it isn't a product of the band planning to jump labels. Trying to rein in all of the imaging etc. to protect brand.

My coworker just posted this fine review in today's St. Petersburg Times and Tampabay.com. He admits to being nervous writing about Wilco cuz the fans are so, well, he says "smart."

 

I think he did a fine job.

 

http://www.tampabay.com/features/music/wilco-is-shaggy-but-sharp-at-clearwater-show/1082351

I don't mean this as a criticism of his review -- or of other reviews -- but it begins to grate that 20% of any review or story on this band requires a retelling of Wilco's most common, obtuse history. "from alt-country ashes" art rock, "genre-defying," "record-label-fighting" yada yada yada . If the reader doesn't know any of this, why on earth would they be reading? Anyone with the musical basis to consider listening to Wilco would know this already.

Did the Clearwater venue have a curfew? That might explain the lack of an intermission. Or Tweedy has brought back the bucket offstage for a different purpose.

They could also be shopping for a more mainstream label, figuring the fan base is reaching critical mass for a major release.

If you are implying that I would ever touch Mitt Romney, then I am offended.

... I was referring to the turd. [edit: unless that's redundant]

HR 4038, HR 2520, and S 1099. Just because you are not aware of the other bills doesn't mean they didn't exist. I watched a little over half of the summit, and they brought up allowing insurance to be bought across state lines (allowing more competition without restricting the types of plans that people must purchase), increasing health savings accounts, and tort reform.

Fair enough. And I generalized. I remember a few cases where issues were brought up and Obama acknowledged they were plausible options.

Mitt Romney is a turd. Now that we've cleared that up, who wants chocolate chips?

Did you wash your hands?

Well, whether he's right or wrong, it's pretty hard to rail against a healthcare bill as "undemocratic" if you agreed with Cheney in May 2008.

I mean from a political standpoint, if you're working from ideology, that has to be your primary focus over opinion polls. Certainly war with Iraq and health there were no surprises for supporters of either politician.

And yet we're supposed to believe that "Americans" oppose expansive health reform?

Lies

Damned Lies

Statistics

CHENEY: No. I think you cannot be blown off course by the fluctuations in the public opinion polls.

In many respects, he's right. This single fact creates much of the inaction in politics.

A recent story in our magazine cites a book on governance by William Eggers and John O’Leary. In it they quote Michael Keeley, the former deputy mayor of Los Angeles. It's an indictment against bloated city government, but it could just as easily apply to public opinion polls (or becoming the Party of No®.

“Think of city government as a big bus. The bus is divided into different sections with different constituencies: labor, the city council, the mayor, interest groups, and contractors. Every seat is equipped with a brake, so lots of people can stop the bus anytime. The problem is that this makes the bus undrivable.”

Assuming we can trust the polls (which I don't) that would mean that the Republicans would have to vote 54% to 41% against the plan to accurately represent the American public. Seeing as how they voted 100% to 0%, they are very far from representing the opinion of the American people. The Democrats, having cast both yes and no votes are, mathematically speaking, infinitely closer to representing the public at large.

One of the greatest things politically about the Republican party is its ability to publicly stay on message, to keep it simple, and to maintain strict party adherence. They maintain a devotion through a few core issues which, when you break down what the individual politicians represent, it is far more broad and divisive than party voters would be comfortable with -- not that it's questioned. It is only recently that there's been any chink in that armor, but it's a sizable one in the character of the tea party. Again it's a case of a political unit holding sway over an obedient following that falls into line as long as the message is simple.

One of the worst things politically about the Democratic party is its inability to stay on message or reach consensus or maintain strict party adherence because it is a broad and divisive bloc of voters. For voters, the elected have open and diverse views on the core party issues. The one core rallying cry is being not-Republican.

This is an over-simplification, but it does explain how Democrat is the largest political affiliation, yet it struggles against itself. It raises the question which party serves its constituents best.

Of course, with the thread subject, Independents are not-Democrat and not-Republican.