castaway

1. Drums and Wires - What other band sounded like this in 1979? Not to mention the coolest album cover of all time.

2. Mummer - My first XTC purchase in 1984. Maybe not their greatest but very dear to my heart.

3. Go 2 - Barry Andrews on the keyboard. Very cool.

4. 25 o'clock - Still blows my mind 27? years later.

5. Skylarking - Gave me a reason to gloat to all my friends that they were late to the party.

6. Oranges and Lemons - Lots of airplay @ WRFL. Pop perfection.

7. Nonsuch - Virgin killed them off at the height of their song writing skills.

8. Apple Venus vol 2 - One last hurrah. No Dave G but the songs are great. Could have been spectacular.

9. English Settlement - Their country album?

10. White Music - This is Pop and Radios in Motion. Come on can't beat those.

Wilco and XTC not all that different maybe? XTC was always my favorite band. But they are to never be again, Colin has said so.

Wilco you are the one now. Lets keep it that way for a while.

Art of Almost will become their concert calling card. Move over Via Chicago. TWL over SBS by a nose. Side with the Seeds makes it go to the wire.

Best show of the three that I have seen this summer, Geneva and Louisville. The Geneva show was one I didn't think could be beat but I had a great time at the LC. I even had some asshole in front of me that wanted to hold his camera above his head and record most of the show and I still had a great time. They played a good mix of songs and I felt that they had a good time on stage. The crowd maybe didn't pick up on a lot of the sing alongs like they did in Chicago but I don't think that dampened the mood any. As hot as it was we were all pretty damp.Alot of the people I talked to was attending their first Wilco show anyway. Only my fourth show and I felt like a seasoned vet although I know I am only getting started. How many I can get to next year? As many as I can.

Just got home after great Forcastle Fest. Suprised to see no thread started yet. I caught JTE's show, Dr Dog , Andrew Bird, and MMJ Saturday. Had to get through a couple of regional acts to get to Deertick on the wall. Neko Case was not my usual fare but she and her band were good. Then Wilco from the front row right in front of John.

I had traveled to Geneva last week to see them play such a fantastic show that I was worried that the Forecastle show might be somewhat anticlimatic. I was wrong. They were on from the get go. It also helped that they played my son's request of "You are My Face". We had talked about it the week before and I didn't think that song kind of fit the vibe of the summer festival scene but again I was wrong.

Only downer of the evening was the 11 o'clock noise ordinance. Got to give them credit for cramming their set full for the 90 minutes they had to work with. They should have had the Saturday set as MMJ's set went on and on and on and on and on.....ect. I was really looking forward to seeing MMJ but they failed to sway, me then the George Michael cover for their encore put the nail in the coffin for me. I was done.

Crowd got their money's worth with the Wilco set. Next up is Columbus for us.

Geneva w/ Andrew Bird

Louisville @ Forecastle Fest

Columbus

Maybe try to add the Wolf Trap Shows and Camden. Have to see how the money holds out.

Forecastle has a great line up this year. Deertick and Wilco Sunday!

One Sunday Morning...Before the Beirut show in Cincinnati couple of weeks ago.

My first Wilco show last night and just wanted to say thanks to the band and the crowd and the Ryman staff. I couldn't have been happier when it was all said and done. The band was hot. Everyone looked to be at the top of their game and I think the crowd was able to feed off that. The momentum of the show just seemed to snowball to the fantastic encore set.

I meet the nicest fans around me. It was a very comfortable crowd. Relaxed, happy folks to be around.

The staff was also friendly and inviting.

Already trying to formulate a plan to attend Soild Sound next summer.