MountainGerbil

How do I figure that out?

I preordered the album at The Electric Fetus in Minneapolis. The one they initially gave me was moderately warped and dished. They had extra pink vinyl stock and the second one they opened is 99% fine. There’s a rough spot on the run-in but it doesn’t extend to the songs. So by all means, open the vinyl and check it out before you get home.

Yeah, it's very handy to be able to not only stream via WiFi in higher quality formats than Bluetooth, but also to use my phone as a remote. I don't think I've ever touched my volume knob. And being able to hook my TV sound up wirelessly to the stereo is nice.

I can't speak to Sonos, so I'll leave that to others. You basically need three things: 1) A receiver/integrated amp; 2) Speakers; and 3) A phono pre-amp. Some of the receivers/amps in your price range may have an included phono stage, but you may be better off spending $100 on a decent independent pre-amp, IMO. For many of the current models, the phono input isn't that great. That being said, if you run up against the budget wall, you can wait until later. A quick note: quality is all relative, some audiophiles (real and imagined) may come in here and say you can't get anything wor

I went through this process about a year ago. Like you, I had a half-decent (not fantastic) turntable and not much else worth a damn, and wanted to put something together for about $700-$1000. I researched the bejeezus out of it, so hopefully I can be of some (limited) assistance. It's gonna be alright. A couple of questions to get you started: 1) do you plan on using the stereo system for anything other than the turntable? Streaming? Connect to TV? 2) how much room do you have for speaker placement? Will they need to be right up against the wall, or can the speakers be placed even

Do you need speakers and a preamp, too?

There are plenty of food places nearby the Palace, ranging from a bar next door (Wild Tymes), to the Great Waters Brewing across the street (decent brewpub), to upscale fare like Meritage (french/oysters) and Kincaids (Steaks). If you're wiling to walk a few blocks, there's a good coal-fired pizza joint called Black Sheep and another brewery around the corner from there called Tin Whiskers. There's also a decent Thai place called Sawatdee there too; all about 5 blocks from the show. As for when to show up for the line, I can't help much, but I'd say try to get in before 7:30 if you don't

Anyone know why the second St. Paul show is sold out? And was sold out yesterday for the artist presale? Oops, nevermind. It's up.

Do you recycle?

I dunno. I thought their first go-round of reunion shows (Summer 2009, and Summer 2010, in Minneapolis) were very good. The problem is that they turned that into a full-blown tour, and the setlists stagnated aside from the stuff from the newest album. You could tell it went from being a one-off "This is fun, I remember this" to being a full-time endeavor, being "The Reunited Jayhawks" again. If Olson allowed Louris to play more latter-day Jayhawks stuff in the sets, it might be different. But you have to feel for Louris: he (and Marc Perlman) kept the Jayhawks up and running without Ols

Good show. Bob referenced being from Minneapolis for the first time in a long time, apparently.

So can someone clarify the times that bands came on, and the approximate length that they played for? From the looks of it, Bob Weir played for about 40 minutes, MMJ played for about 70 minutes, Wilco played for about 75 minutes, and Dylan played for about 80 minutes.

Well, there always seems to be the New Song That You Just Don't Want to Hear (i.e. the Pissbreak Tune). In the YHF/AGIB tour days, I felt that way about "Jesus, Etc." Good song, but it was always the one where I found myself looking around at the crowd more than the stage. Nowadays, I wouldn't mind hearing it.

Dylan's set looks pretty good, to me. You get (only) three songs from his most recent album, two "big hits" in Tangled Up in Blue and All along the Watchtower, a few well-known songs that even moderate fans should recognize in Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat, Ballad of a Thin Man, Simple Twist of Fate, and She Belongs to Me. Then you get a couple centerpieces of his latest career incarnation (i.e. the road-warrior troubadour) that he's been playing a lot of over the past 10-15 years in Things Have Changed, High Water, and Love Sick (and I guess Thunder on the Mountain). Seems pretty well balance

I sat in the 3rd row on Tuesday, right behind the pit. There were plenty of older people on stage left, and at least one of them was a man. Therefore, you had a chance. It sounds like you're just mad it wasn't you. He "lead you to believe". I see. But he didn't actually say that, now did he? Again, it sounds like you're just mad that you weren't picked and happened to see some young girls that did get picked. i.e. "I deserve it more than anyone who hasn't been to 20 shows! This is despite the fact that I've already had great seats while most other people haven't! I MUST ALWAY

One non-musical gripe: I was pretty disappointed with the show posters for both nights. 30% of the art was taken up by a representation of a window frame, and there was no clever/colorful integration of "Wilco". Just kind a muted design on both nights that were almost identical to one another.

Respectfully disagree. Although a good show, the set never took off like night 1. I felt like it wavered between contemplative and fun until the encore, when there was some continuity in tone.

oh well! Who's going tonight as well?

Great show! A fair amount of the mildly unexpected (full set list will be posted, I'm sure, in a little while), including "Box Full of Letters" (dedicated to their "home away from home", Minneapolis, where they played their first gig), "Magazine Called Sunset", "Sky Blue Sky", "She's a Jar", and "Pot Kettle Black." No "Jesus, Etc." or "IATTBYH" (which pleased me). Good crowd, everyone stood (at least on the floor, except for the right pit which, for some reason, sat en masse until Jeff heckled them to stand). Jeff was smiling a lot after the first 7 or so songs, which he noted were a li

I'm going to both Minny shows this week. If one of them (preferably tomorrow when I have 3rd row seats) has a set like this, I'll be more than content. I could do without IATTBYH. I think they've played it all 11 times I've seen them, and JEtc is usually a sit-down-and-rest/get a beer song for me.

Speaking of which, how are the shirts for this leg of the tour?

Touring with Mick Taylor again would probably be the only way that I'd be interested in seeing them (again).

What a crock of shit. The "Skip the popular albums by the Beatles, Stones, and Dylan" caveat just points to what this author's real agenda is. It's not about actually loving the best of what rock and roll has to offer, it's being definable to music snobs by your musical collection, which is something else entirely and not something I've been particularly interested in pursuing since I was about 22. What a bunch of pretentious crap.

"Heaven and Hell" is pretty good. I wonder if they listened to some of these in prepping for "No Line..." "Heaven and Hell" sounds a little bit like "Moment of Surrender," and I'm not sure of any other songs by them that have that soul quality. "Lady With the Spinning Head" (extended mix) might be my favorite U2 song ever, and is certainly the one I play to emphasize to non-believers what a shift "Achtung Baby" was from "Rattle and Hum." "...so you had 'All I Want is You.' And then, nothing for about 18 months. And then they start recording...this [click]"

That's a good point. It's like everyone that read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and became a journalist assumes that the key to writing like Hunter S. Thompson is to talk about your own experience. In fact, the key to writing like Hunter S. Thompson is be a really observant and insightful writer. IMO, Bill Simmons is the worst offender.