Chronicpop

I'm probably putting too much reverence into the old idea of ``clear the decks, new product coming through,'' accompanied by much hoo-hah including teasers in Rolling Stone, NPR First Listen and other claptrap that is supposed to build interest in a new release and sell such things as CDs, vinyl and downloads and make people give them 0.0001 cent per stream. 

I haven't seen this debated elsewhere so if I missed something please excuse - is it possible the low-level attention to getting Warmer into the hands of fans is because there is a Wilco release coming at some point around Solid Sound or during the summer that needs obvious priority? Was great to hear Warmer on the stream, though. 

I was late getting to Rough Trade East on RSD - 10 a.m. and Warmer was already gone. The staff didn't indicate that they never had it so not sure about whether UK stores had them or not. From the reports, they definitely could have done a larger pressing. 

Greed is good. At least when it's centered on Wilco. 

I too had wondered about the Martin-looking guitar with the nylon strings. It's in the range of the Martin and Coupa styling shape but I'm most likely incorrect on this - there was no marking on the headstock to even ID it as a Martin. I thought about asking this during the less formal part of the show as I was in the front row but I also felt it would be a bit churlish. 

Having the pleasure of a seat directly below the mic I was able to see Jeff’s reactions to the endless chatter, shouted requests and questions from the audience- at times he seemed like he was processing quickly how to react or whether to push on. On balance he seemed to take the banter well and gave as good as he could given the chatter that flowed the other way. Still, I’d have to guess that maybe two potential songs were wiped out by the amount of time he spent on the audience (“what turning was that in” - “when’s Wilco coming to the U.K.? “Why does your guitar have painted birds on it?”) The set list was on a cabinet near his mic stand so it was impossible to see what was actually played vs audibles. Still, the Barbican often seems to create odd interaction between artist and audience - a few years ago some people were incredibly rude to Daniel Lanois who was opening for Emmylou Harris.

Greg Kihn made a bunch of albums that played off his name: RockKihnRoll, Next of Kihn. Sadly he never took that step and issued Fu(Kihn).  

Two albums in two years. One of them was offered free to fans. They can remake late-era Jefferson Starship albums at this point, for all I care. Well, maybe not late-era Starship, but maybe Styx. Speaking of Starship, Kantner once said ``fuck you, we do what we want.'' So in the best spirit of Neil Young or any artist following their own muse: they create, we listen. 

I think the sentiment on JT's part is sincere because I recall reading some interview with him that referenced the release of Trace and how it came out at about the same time as A.M and JT was struggling to keep it all together and build the band. Anyway, the comment was something about how they got an advanced copy of Trace and played it in the van and listened to it and then ``it was really quiet in the van after that.''