BigWheeledWagon

. . . and not to be a forum ettiquette Nazi, but this was all discussed previously here: Friday Night Lights Perhaps the powers that be can merge this in with the original thread. Regardless, I'm glad to see that some people are watching this excellent show.

I don't know if I'd call it training, but I was an English major in college (though with an emphasis on creative writing). At the time ('95-'99), there was a great deal of discussion about metafiction (the literary prominence of metafiction from earlier decades seemed to have really taken root in popular culture, and at the same time, serious literature seemed to be embracing pop culture on some level). David Foster Wallace was my literary hero (okay, still is), and a lot of the young profs were really pushing the question of whether irony was dead (or should be) in American literature. Goo

I've thought about this some more, and here are those thoughts. I would compare "Being There" to any book in which the author writes about a protagonist who is also a writer -- like say "The Shining" (or pretty much any Stephen King novel). This doesn't necessarily make the book self-reflexive or metaficitonal if the character just happens to be a writer and the book deals with his attempt to write, technique, etc. . . . but if he is, say, a writer with the same name as the actual author, as in "Lunar Park," where Bret Easton Ellis has a character named Bret Easton Ellis who shares the autho

. . . and they concluded the show by playing "Sky Blue Sky."

Not sure if that was meant as a dig at Wilco's "selling out" (please, let's not start that conversation back up again), but in case it was an honest question -- no, it was played as part of the show.

While "Being There" certainly examines themes about the importance of music in Jeff's life and the role of rock in culture in general, I'm not sure the album is self-reflexive in nature in the way the books you mentioned are. While it does incorporate references to other music in a very post-modern way, it doesn't really comment on itself or call attention to itself as a work of "fiction" in the way that certain works of literature such as say, Barth's "Lost in the Funhouse" or some of David Foster Wallace's work. I guess what I'm saying is that while it's about rock music and even the rock

"Either Way" played on Friday Night Lights a minute ago. Earlier this season they featured "Muzzle of Bees" (there was a previous discussion about it). EDIT: I see someone also posted this in the "wilco out and about thread" a few minutes before I started this topic -- someone feel free to delete this thread if it seems redundant or otherwise unneeded.

Congrats -- it's a good-looking axe. I think you made the right choice.

Okay, so I've narrowed it down to two options for the meantime: 1) going with a power boost like the MXR Micro Amo; or 2) getting a little Fender Champ for recording purposes (I'm leaning toward this option) I've got a nice little coupon for Musician's Friend due to a little warehouse mix-up that took place over the summer that I can use before the end of February, so it would make either option relatively inexpensive. So, does anyone have any experience with the Champ? At the low price, I may even be willing to try modding it eventually (for example, Torres sells a tube rectifier ki

The Champ uses solid-state rectification -- the Atomic Space Tone has tube rectification. EDIT: I didn't mean that to sound dismissive or smart-assed -- it does seem they have a lot in common, but of course the Swart justifies its expense by dispensing with any solid state parts, not being mass-produced, and having tube tremolo, and reverb. The Champ appears to be a pretty good recording amp -- I'm considering one as a stop-gap measure until I can afford a nicer amp. Plus, there are tube rectifier kits out there, so for just a little extra cash, one could mod the Champ to be much more lik

My guess would be "It's Just That Simple" -- his bass playing would allow John to play guitar and sing. EDIT: ah, the previous poster beat me to it while I was posting -- sorry for being redundent.

What's wrong with wearing a tie? With the advent of casual Friday and its expansion into pretty much every day of the week, it now seems that wearing a tie is (in a truly unexpected turnaround from the old image of being a cog in the corporate machine, etc.) the nonconformist thing to do. Instead of wearing the standard rock n' roll outfit of jeans and a rumpled t-shirt, Jeff's rocking out with a tie -- I applaud him. He's dressing up by choice -- it's not like he's heading into the office where he works in ad sales or something. On a side note, I find that as fewer and fewer folks where

I use the Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail, and I haven't found it to be "unbearably" noisy (well, not normally -- sometimes it acts up a little), but it's certainly not as nice as having reverb built into the amp. Regarding your Macht 12: what type of speaker does yours have? Color? (just curious). Anyway, it sounds like a great amp, but given its fairly steep price, I may just keep saving a little longer and go after a Swart Atomic Space Tone. Even though the 6W cut is a nice feature on the Macht, I think I could probably still get the 15W Swart to break up at volumes my home studio could

Exactly -- the only real difference is that you can place it further along in your effects chain so that the effects are getting the full signal of your guitar but the amp is getting a softer signal from the effects (or any various other combinations of guitar volume/pedal volume /chain placement). It's also nice for volume swells, pseudo-reverse playing, etc. that might be a little harder to pull off using your volume knob (if you're playing slide, you can emulate some pedal steel-type effects). You can also use it for a short dose of tremolo-type effect (though it would be pretty tiring to

While getting a new amp is an option (though not an immediate option -- I just spent a pretty good bit on my custom replacement strat body), I have no intention of getting rid of the old Bassman (like you, I have the 4x10 and really love it in spite of the challenge it presents in recording) even though I no longer play out. Plus, silverface Bassmans (Bassmen?) don't exactly command amazing sums of money when sold (one of the reasons I came into possession of my amp in the first place -- not many older Fender tube amps can be had for $300). I was leaning toward an attenuator until I can real

So, with all the amp talk going on here lately, I've decided to seek advice from those around here about an amp issue I have. I've got an old Fender Bassman 10 that I've been pretty happy with for years. Back in the days when I actually played in bands, it was a great amp that gave me plenty of power. Now, however, I mostly use it for home recording, and, well, it's too loud. Playing it a volumes loud enough to get it to break up is inconvenient at best. I don't have the most soundproofed home studio, and cranking the thing seems to generate lots of rattles, etc. from around the room.

Great, one more thing to start saving to buy and thinking of ways to justify the expense to my wife. Once I finish up my guitar project, this may be the next must-have item for me.

Musician's Friend sends out cheesy little emails every so often with a little recap of "important" events in rock history that happened on this date in years past -- I place "important" in quotation marks because they include such things as Britney Spears marrying that guy in Vegas a few years ago. Mentioned in today's email, however, was Wilco sending Lounge Axe out in style back in 2000. Wish I could have been there.

Yeah, I've noticed that Gibson is selling a lot of new guitars now for more than the cost of their vintage counterparts. I don't get it. It's like if Fender were to sell their '52 Telecaster reissue for more than the value of an actual '52 telecaster.

Thanks for the support there. The super-jumbo comes in numerous configurations, but it's the purely acoustic one I'd love to have -- Gibson's changed the name of the guitar so many times throughout its history that I lose track. It began life in the 1930's as simply, the Super Jumbo, then became the Super Jumbo 200, then the J-200, then the SJ-200, and now Gibson produces models with the titles j-200, sj-200, and the sj-300 -- all with slightly different features. I believe the SJ-300 currently produced does have active electronics, so Lemsky's right that it's not purely acoustic. So, I gu

No, you couldn't walk between Broadway/2nd Ave. area and West end comfortably. Broadway is pretty touristy (as a Nashvillian, I rarely spend much time there other than to go to the Ryman or sports events), but it's worth checking out as a first-time visitor and there are several places in that area that aren't just tourist traps. A while back, a friend of mine lived downtown, and we spent time downtown without dealing with the tourists too much. Now we mostly hang out around West End or Green Hills (mostly because I live nearby there). West End is indeed a little hipper, but it's pretty st

Ever? That would be a tough call. It's really a matter of personal taste. It's not my favorite of all time, but it is a great guitar. If I had better financial resources, I would prefer something bigger, like an SJ-300. Still, the l-00 is an amazing guitar, and a gift of said guitar would make you the best sibling ever. If he doesn't like it, feel free to send it my way.

Yeah, it definately looks like an Ovation.

I have to agree on this one.

Gruhn Guitars is indeed a fine, fine guitar shop. Check it out if you get a chance.