Hoodoo Man

Back in my youthful days of youth. Way back before Wilco was born, I listened to a lot of blues. The use of the term hoodoo man intrigued me. A hoodoo man can be a practitioner of hoodoo/voodoo, an evil human or even Satan himself. The definition that fit me best was someone who brings bad luck. So I started calling myself the Hoodoo Man in one of my bands because I felt like my surname was far too Teutonic. I could easily be mistaken for a member of The Scorpions with my name. Anyway, light years later I discovered Wilco and subsequently the song "Hoodoo Voodoo". So my actual real nick name fit in with a Wilco message board. It was destiny. Or not.

I think I may change my handle to Thread Killer. I'm pretty good at that.

I like Wilco.

A lot.

I just missed meeting the Southaven tornado in person. I was driving home from work and was about 5 minutes ahead going through the intersection where it hit hardest and destroyed a warehouse. As I got to the Southaven exit, I could see the storm moving in from the west, then had it in my rearview mirror all the way home. We were very fortunate. No damage at all. Just 2 hours in the closet under the stairs with 2 adults, 3 kids and a dog.

5-8 Hoodoo MAN

When I was 2 years old the doctor told my parents I'd be over 6-0. They've never forgiven me.

They must have collections of songs that get sent to the stores to be played. I was in BB&B in Memphis 3 years ago and heard Kamera. I was never so happy to be shopping with the wife & kids at "that smelly store" as I was that day.

Incidentally, this past Friday night I was in a Walgreen's and heard The Ramones' "Blitzkrieg Bop". I have declared that store, "Coolest Store in the World".

Blue Coua - Human Knowledge Is Moonshine

U2 - Achtung Baby

Cheap Trick

Cheap Trick

(Joey loved "He's A Whore"!)

Outstanding show! I thought it was better than the last time they came to the Memphis area. The last show was more of a spectacle with the video screen in the backgroung, but this show topped it for performance, song list and overall vibe. The band was either really into it, or they've gotten really good at acting like they're into it. I thought the crowd was great, cheering the new stuff and the old and I think the band appreciated us standing in the rain and giving them such a warm reception.

I was also glad Jody Stephens got such a loud welcome. Jeff introduced him as a member of rock-n-roll royalty. The band cheered him onstage and Glenn even bowed down to Jody. I thought that was really cool. Seeing him behind the kit for "Box Full Of Letters" was another highlight. And for whoever asked before, it was just Jody drumming and Glenn watched from behind. I don't really know what else to say about the show. Everyone who has seen Wilco perform knows how great their shows can be and this one was masterfully planned (songlist) and executed (performance). You can't ask for any more.

I'll be there. 3rd row. I sure hope it doesn't rain. At my window it doesn't look too good right now. But given our weather lately, it could be sunny and 90 by 5. We'll see. I too am a little worried about falling between two killer shows. Only thing we can do is let Wilco know from the start of the show how much we appreciate them visiting us.

Michael Ian Black even sounds a little bit like Glenn:

Glad you posted this. I didn't know this dude's name, but always thought "that guy from The State" looks like Glenn. Or vice versa. I saw The State years before I saw Glenn. Good call.

FWIW, I think that Jeff's knowledge of theory is similar to that of other great songwriters in that what he has learned has come mostly from listening to hours and hours of music. I think great musical minds absorb what they hear and then can use it when it's needed. This may not be a nuts and bolts knowledge, but as someone stated earlier, theory is the study of what sounds good. Therefore, if the artist has been exposed to music that reinforces or presents "proper" theory, he can dig a sound, progression or scale from his mind that in his ear fits into the song that is being written. I think The Beatles are possibly the best example of untrained musicians who drew upon the theory they learned through listening to create their own masterpieces.

I've heard brilliant, trained musicians who were boring as hell and I've heard self-taught, passionate musicians who couldn't write a song with a gun to their heads. I think a little of both is the best situation.

Incidentally, I think the reason most popular music sucks is because the people listening are uneducated musically. As long as they continue to buy the crap the record companies put out, popular music will continue to suck.

PTI.

Let me just say that I'm damned excited about Wilco playing in Southaven, MS. This venue is about 5 minutes from my house. I'm just all, you know, really. I just can't...

Okay, ya'll can talk about Madison and Dallas again.

I've always thought the song was about Jeff Tweedy's personal anguish over his lack of connection to the world around him. Actually, I've always thought that was the theme of most of YHF. But the beauty of great songwriting is that everyone can take something different from the songs and make it their own.

Whoa, was that a new song, or "You Were Wrong" from the first Loose Fur record?

See, I'm not sure about that. I'm ashamed to admit that I don't own Loose Fur's first. That very well could have been the song he played. Sorry if I got your hopes up!

That was a fantastic show! I could have used some more songs, but I was too busy laughing to have any reason to complain. I'll do my best to add something so here goes:

Glenn opened his set with "Where The Wild Things Are", then a song he said he adapted for drums. He played "Mobile" and I believe next was "Monkey Chant For Drum Kit" (I'm really not familiar with the song titles so some are just close). But for this song he unleashed boxes of radioactive crickets from what I could tell. One of which he had trouble wrestling back into it's box at the end of the song. I know he did a song called "Promises of What Might" or something along those lines and at least one more song from his new album. I really enjoyed his set but I believe a lot of people were getting kind of restless towards the end of it. Percussive music is certainly an acquired taste, but I give the crowd credit because everyone was very respectful and let Glenn do his thing without interruption.

Jeff as stated before was VERY talkative. He said it was the easiest show he'd ever done because he only played about 4 songs and talked the rest of the time. The highlights of the banter was the poop talk, poop band name game, favorite sides and his re-enactment of him decking the meth head who jumped on stage in Springfield. Jeff was at the top of his game with his banter. He couldn't shut up and kept the crowd laughing the whole time. He also compared himself, negatively of course, to Glenn. While Jeff was in Mexico laying on the beach being lazy, the talented, beautiful Glenn was building a school in Guatemala.

To the music: I apologize for not know the order, but the show was interrupted so often by Jeff's banter, that I lost track. Sunken Treasure, IATTBYH, Jesus Etc., ITMWLY, Theologians, Ruling Class, Laminated Cat, Wait Up, Acuff-Rose, Lost Love, Remember The Mountain Bed, California Stars and 4 new songs. One of the new ones must have been Patient With Me (which was outstanding). One had the lyric, "You were wrong to believe in me". Sorry, but I haven't heard many boots of the new tunes. I do know that he did not play "Walken" so that wasn't one of the new ones. I think he may have played "Lost Love" for Jody Stephens. I don't know for sure, but I believe he was in the audience. But Jeff said he recorded "Lost Love" in Memphis, or at least played it with a guy from Memphis (Jody). So I don't know if that will be a regular in his sets or not. Jesus ETC was a request from the audience. He was about to play something else and said he would try to play Jesus and see how it went. It was incredible! I thought his playing and singing was great. His voice got stronger as the night went on. The only song he really fumbled through was "Wait Up". I could tell by the smirks/frustrated smiles on his face that he was not happy with his playing on that one, but it was enjoyable all the same. He kind of chastised somebody for giving him a "WHOO" when he punched the echo on that song because he said he felt like a special needs person who was being cheered for doing something simple. The mood never really got heavy. Jeff teased the audience and complimented them just as much. I don't think there was anybody who didn't enjoy themselves. Except for maybe that one dude, but that wasn't too big a deal. Acuff-Rose was mesmerizing. The theater was so quiet while he played. It was a definite goose bump moment.

This was an incredible opportunity for us fans who don't get chances to see Jeff solo. I'm glad he decided to hit a few more cities and am grateful for one of the best shows I've ever seen.

I'll be there for the show, but my pre-show engagement involves hanging out with my 3 kids. Have fun, but do be careful in G'town if you're not familiar with the area. The cops are not drunk-friendly.

I grew up a Van Halen fan and even though I eventually grew out of that stage, I think a lot of people overlook Eddie Van Halen's songwriting abilities. He wrote a bunch of great rock songs and was a riff master in his day. And despite is incredibly annoying personality, I give credit to DLR for having an ear for melody. They mixed over the top riffs with good melodies and lots of harmony backing vocals and came up with their own sound. Unfortunately most bands that followed in their footsteps picked up more on the obnoxious singer/front man and fast guitar player parts than the actual music part. So if there must be a RRHOF, then Van Halen belongs in it.

Having said that, however, I think the RRHOF is total bullshit.

Oddish family names:

Great-grandmother - Rowena

Grandmother - Melvin

Aunts - Rilla, Hazel

Uncle - Ballard

Of course this was sometime around the turn of the century (last one, not this one) so those names probably were pretty hip at the time.

There was a time in my life when weird crap kept happening that I could never quite explain. I was still living at my parent's house and my bedroom was upstairs kind of away from the rest of the bedrooms. For a while, every time I walked past my clock radio, the radio would turn on. I figured it was just because I always leave my alarm on and I was either causing the floor to move and jolt the radio or I had some weird electric field around me that triggered the radio to come on. So it was mostly just an annoyance. I'd climb into bed and the radio would immediately turn on and I'd just have to turn it off. Then one night I woke from a dead sleep. Had no idea why. Never heard anything. But I sat up in bed and looked across the room and the lamp on my desk turned on by itself. I never found out why these things happened but I do know they started happening right after someone, a musician, I truly admired had died in an accident and I was in a real funk about it. Eventually, the radio stopped turning itself on.

The "grunge" era came about during my early 20's so I didn't exactly have the self-pitying, woe-is-me attitude which unfortunately was attached to the music of that time, but I did enjoy the hell out of that music. Radio/MTV had gotten very stale at that time so it was exciting to have a bunch of new bands getting some air and actually playing rock. Not over produced metal bands singing lousy pop songs over heavily distorted guitars, but actual rock bands. So "Nevermind" is still relevant to me. I don't listen to it very often, but it is still a vehicle which takes my mind back to the days of a life I don't live any more. To me that means it hasn't aged poorly. It still does what music is supposed to do.

On a related note, this reminds me of one of my greatest irritants during the "grunge" era. The "alternative" vs "classic" arguement. People spent so much time trying to figure out if something was "alternative" enough to be cool. Who gives a shit? If it's rock and you dig it, why worry about further labeling it? People ended up closing their minds to great music just because it didn't fit into what their niche was being told it should be listening to. I'm afraid this trend still exists today but for me I saw the origins back then. Oh well, I'm rambling.

I have the cd this is on - came with some magazine that I can't recall the title of it.

I believe that would be the Oxford American. That's where I got my copy.

For the Music Fan:

Rock and Soul Museum (located at the Gibson Guitar plant) - been there; very cool if you are interested in the history of rock and blues

http://www.memphisrocknsoul.org/visitus.htm

Stax Museum of Soul Music

http://www.soulsvilleusa.com/plan-visit/

Where The King stayed - never been even though I grew up about 5 miles from here

http://www.elvis.com/graceland/

Where Rock and Roll all started

http://www.sunstudio.com/index.aspx?bhcp=1

For the More Cultured and Sophisticated Person:

National Civil Rights Museum

http://www.civilrightsmuseum.org/default.asp

Memphis Zoo

www.memphiszoo.org

For The Gamesman

www.grandtunica.com

http://www.tunicamiss.org/

What do the two of you enjoy? Museums? Night clubs? Gambling? History? Daytime stuff or nighttime stuff?

Hundreds of years ago

before the dawn of history

there lived a strange race of people...the Druids.

No one knows who they were

or what they were doing

but their legacy remains

hewn into the living rock

of Stonehenge!