brownie

I find it odd that there would be such heated discussion regarding masterpiece/non-masterpiece for an album that was released just four days ago. I have only been able to listen to the album a few times because I did not have early access, and it was a busy holiday weekend. What seems to be happening with me is that the album is slowly revealing itself to me over time. There is no way I can have any opinion at all about it yet, let alone decide if it’s a masterpiece or not!

I spoke to two teachers today. One who still works in the district I worked in ten years ago when Sandy Hook happened, where there was an emergency faculty meeting in the very early hours before school where everyone was distraught. The other works in the district I retired from 7 months ago. Both teachers told me their districts completely ignored the recent events in Texas. I was shocked, although I probably shouldn’t be. It did cement in my head that retiring from public education was a very good decision. Best of luck to all the teachers here. You will need it.

I was a teacher when Sandy Hook happened. They called us all into school very early in the morning the next day for an emergency faculty meeting. Everyone was beyond horrified and thought for sure it could never happen again. Ten years later and here we are again. I’m retired now, but am guessing there will be emergency faculty meetings again this morning. And, more local to me, where I go, and how I travel, there’s the man who was randomly shot dead on the subway in the Canal St. area of NYC while on his way to brunch on the other day. Ten people gunned down in

I never heard of Kevin Morby until @kidsmokementioned him here some time ago. I listened to this album today, which is the first time I ever listened to any of his music. This is a very good album!

Dean Wareham

I see there are even substantial fees on the Solid Sound live stream tickets, e.g. $50 + $11.85 fee for a stream of the three Wilco shows. I rolled my eyes. Nope, not paying it.

$240 for a ticket before fees is pretty insane as well. So that’s a 21% add on fee. I paid a 37% add on fee for a Kurt Vile ticket recently, and a 50% add on fee for a Calexico ticket. Face value of each were less than 15% of the face value of your Wilco ticket, but it’s the principle of the thing. It’s all insane. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen my last Wilco show. I am priced out.

I just didn’t go to many shows for 20 years before I retired. When I was younger and had a corporate job, I could pull it off, but older and teaching? I did it a couple of times early on, and quickly learned “no way.”. Now I have eight shows coming up over the next six months, most of which are on a school night, so if I was still teaching, I wouldn’t have been able to go!

No, it doesn’t. My mom died 16 years ago, and I still miss her. We were best friends as well as mother and daughter, and did all kinds of things together. I could have used her shoulder to lean on these past few crazy years.

That really is a terrific interview. Thanks so much for posting!

I thought the new Nicolas Cage movie, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, was hilarious.

I have seen Neil Finn many times. I have traveled the world to see him! But I’m not crazy about Dreamers Are Waiting, or about the current incarnation of the band. I have tickets to 6 other upcoming concerts this year, all $25-$60 total including fees. I have always had a close seat for a Neil Finn show, but $315+fees is insane. That’s more than 3X what I paid for first 10 rows in the same theater when Crowded House last came through 12 years ago. I also don’t want to spend $90-$100 for a lousy seat. It’s a dilemma.

My Finn concert buddy and I are still waffling about going because of the absolutely insane NYC prices. We’ve looked at two pre-sales in two days and still haven’t pulled the trigger. I guess we’ll decide tomorrow.

I saw this on Friday. It’s definitely worth seeing, but it’s so fast-paced and exhausting that you don’t have time to think about anything, and it’s difficult to form attachments to any character. I wouldn’t say I found it deflating, but when I left the theater, I couldn’t say for sure whether I liked it or not. As time has passed, I’m leaning more towards saying I liked it. Michelle Yeoh was the best thing about it. She was mesmerizing. And Jamie Lee Curtis was unexpectedly hilarious!

85 years old! Have a great time.

I am resurrecting this ancient thread to tell anyone who loved pre-Garden Ruin Calexico to listen to Sinner’s Shrine by Dean Owens. Calexico is the band. It sounds like old Calexico, but with a different lead singer, who’s not that far from what Joey Burns sounds like, and Joey sings backing vox on many songs. This album hit me from out of left field, and I think I’m going to have a hard time finding a better album this year. It’s like the Calexico I loved has been reborn on this album.

Have a great time and let me know how the show(s) are! I was so disappointed when they only scheduled shows in Brooklyn this time.

This was really great, by the way. Their records do not do them justice at all.

I’m expecting them to be kind of like The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, but with an Indian twist. I really don’t know what to expect. But it gets me out of the house.

Red Baraat

The situation in Ukraine is horrible. I’m not ignoring it, but I can’t talk about it. This is just one contemporaneous terrible thing too many for me. I am only checking the news once a day at this point because I just can’t take nothing but bad news any more, after two years of nothing but bad news. I hope Putin is brought to justice soon, but that is as much as I can say.

It’s been a long time since someone posted in this thread! I have been listening to Kurt on and off for the past few months and his music just keeps growing on me. I like the laid back vibe, and the songs are pretty strong, I will probably buy a ticket for one of his upcoming NYC shows.

If I had to choose from the 6 films I’ve seen of the nominees for Best Picture, I would definitely choose Belfast. I thought it was great. I mostly saw it as a character study of a family just trying to live their lives.

Yes, that was the ticket I had in my cart: $65 face, $85 total with fees for the balcony. Tickets way down front were $175 before fees. There are shows I’d be willing to pay that price for a balcony seat. For a combination of reasons, this wasn’t one of them. I am not generally a fan of shows that focus on one album, or play an album its entirety, so that was part of it.

Or perhaps, the ticket prices were too high. They were for me. I had a ticket in my cart, and ultimately decided I wasn’t willing to pay that much, so I released it.