smells like flowers

Donna, I LOVED Dave Eggers' last book, "Heroes of the Frontier." Maybe you will too!

That was fun!

The next-to-the-last paragraph slays me. To paraphrase, the song is about how it sounds. Which describes the ineffable power of music itself; specifically, the ineffable power of Wilco's music. Damn.

I'm also reading The Oregon Trail, and really enjoying it. It is both warmly personal and highly informative. Very cool that your brother-in-law wrote it!

Okay, that's the best thing that happened to me today! (And this is after eating a bowl of salted almonds and chocolate chips.)

The intimacy of the venue really blew me away! Smallest place I've ever seen Wilco play, and 30 mins before the show was able to walk right up and enjoy an excellent view from about the 5th row. I really enjoyed Girlpool. Their voices are terrific and I loved that the way they present themselves -- no adornments of makeup, casually dressed (albeit, a little strangely for the redhead)-- really put the focus on their music. They were doing what they love without also trying to be sexy or glamorous-- at all. I found it refreshing and think their mothers must be proud. Also, I like their songs. T

Chrissie Hynde has a memoir just out, too! So many books, so little time...

Started listening to one called "The Sporkful." The first episode I downloaded had an interview with Amy Sedaris on holiday entertaining. What's not to love?

I'm reading Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle (The Mountain Goats). It's dark and eloquent, like his lyrics. His singing voice is hard for me to enjoy, but the man can write. Fans of Willy Vlautin would enjoy this. Next up, M Train by Patti Smith.

The bots are winning.

I guess I'm naive, but don't the scalpers and secondary market people have to get tickets at the same time as the rest of us? How do we end up with only single tickets or bad seats and they get bigger blocks of good seats?

Finally pulled 2 somewhat crappy seats for DC. What an ordeal!

SERIOUSLY!?!?

Yes, sadly, no luck for DC. Will try again tomorrow. Today I was thinking about how you wrote that you were going to buy a whole bunch of Norfolk tickets for whoever may want them, and thinking how freaking awesome that is. Seriously, who does that?! That is just so nice. I was going to try to make a surgical strike of the DC show-- since it's on a Sunday night and I could make it happen without really missing work. Would love to make it a two-fer if I can swing it. I'll be in touch, and thank you!

Remember that post by Diane/Wilco Me/Magnetized that was a rant from some guy, a music industry insider who said Wilco would never make any new fans? Or something to the effect that if you weren't already a Wilco fan, it wasn't going to happen? I think that guy was dead wrong. Great for the band! Sucky for anyone trying to get tickets. The jig is up.

Well that was a pointless waste of time. Took 15 minutes to get site and then not even 2 seats for DC. So much for CrowdSurge being better than Frontgate! Glad it worked for at least some people. I guess Ticketmaster Friday, unless anyone knows how to get TM presale tomorrow. PM me if you do! Please and thank you.

This makes me nervous. Is there any way to confirm your user name and password on Crowd Surge to get ready for the presale? Or just wait for the link to go live in the morning? I don't remember changing mine when they switched from Frontgate, but who knows.

Great minds.... When Wilco played LA in August, I did send an email to WTF suggesting an interview! Didn't hear back, of course, but if others follow suit it could plant a seed....The other week, I listened to two episodes of WTF in a row where Jeff Tweedy's name came up. Fred Armisen and Richard Thompson. Maybe it's only a matter of time (and scheduling). Fingers crossed!

I'm late to the podcast revolution but I LOVED Serial (who didn't!), also really enjoy Invisibilia, Love + Radio, and Criminal. For laughs I like Sawbones. And the old stand-bys: Fresh Air, This American Life and WTF. Wonder what is the likelihood of Marc Maron interviewing JT?

Funny that you say that.... early in RNG, there is the line "I ran away, eternal instigator.... I was cold." This line stood out to me from the get-go, but I hear "I was OLD." Every single time.

That festival sounds great, just love the line-up. Unfortunately, the airfare from my neck of the woods is prohibitively expensive at this point.

I think we all agree it's an "apples and oranges" comparison, but still fun to consider Pat playing the IG solo. As far as Pat's guitar moves being cliché rock star styling, I think they are executed in a fairly tongue-in-cheek manner and as an homage to guitar god Pete Townshend. Pat doesn't bust out the windmill unless he's really feeling it. I've been at a few shows where he is subdued to the point of looking almost bored.

I think it would be fun to hear Pat play it. IG is played so frequently (and it's never been high on my list) that a little shake-up would be welcome -- for me, anyway.

Dance your heart out and have a blast, Courtney S! But maybe the aisle will give you a little more freedom to move around. I personally can't wait for the opportunity to hear the Star Wars songs live, and it might not be pretty, but just try to stop me from moving to the funked-up groove of Cold Slope/King of You. Plus, how many times have Jeff et al said they feed off the audience's energy? How they gonna feel the love if everyone is sitting still?

God, what a great song. Glad they played it for you!