JerseyMike

Maxwell's - Hoboken NJ (AM)

Irving Plaza, NYC (Being There)

Irving Plaza, NYC (Summerteeth)

NJPAC- Newark, NJ (opening for Natalie Merchant, Mermaid Ave. II)

Beacon Theater- NYC (opening for Richard Thompson)

Higher Ground- Winooski, VT (Summerteeth)

Town Hall, NYC (1st YHF tour)

Lupos, Providence, RI (the day YHF was released)

Summerstage, central PArk, NYC (w Sonic Youth, end of YHF tour)

The Chance, Poughkeepsie, NY (early Ghost tour)

Madison Square Garden, NYC, (New Years w/ Flaming Lips)

Count Basie Theater, Red Bank, NJ (Sky Blue Sky)

Stubbs. Austin TX (Sky Blue Sky tour...I had lived in Austin for 4 hours before showtime!)

And I saw Tweedy at the CC in dowtown NYC with Nels opening and Glen Kotche open up for Mike Pattons Repunzel (is that right?)

EDIT: Oh yeah...two shows at Radio City during the AGIB tour.

I am confused. Are we talking about RE-MASTERING or RE-MIXING? The two are completely separate things.

Mixing involves how loud or soft each track (instrument) is heard on each song. Mastering is, basically, the overall eq of the entire record. For instance, have you ever noticed that when you take a cd out of your player and pop another one in, and its much louder eventhough you didn't change the volume? Thats part of mastering. I personally think most re-masters are a total sham. The average listener can't really tell if you boosted the highs or lows on a record, although it sometimes makes certain instruments "pop" a little more. So they boost the overall volume, throw in some bonus tracks in with a bigger booklet and get your money. There are definitely some records out there (Mr. Springsteen, I'm looking at you) that need to be remastered, but the Beatles aren't one of them. Plus, George Martin always wanted to add more compression to the White Album, and I fear that with John and George gone, he might get his wish. NOOOOOOOOO!!! Damn you Sir George!!!!!!!

Mainly bigger live venues, more expensive tickets, and more dumbasses at shows.

1st show: ticket $15, Capacity 300-500. (But already had the rude and welcoming UT vets ) But I don't mind at all. The more the merrier!

nice to los lobos getting some love.

Another funny thing I noticed was a group of kids in front of me who had brought in what appeared to be a giant bamboo walking stick but when the kids sat down they inserted a slide and water into it. It was a walking-stick-bong. I guess that's the Rado for ya. =) Just waking up still sure there will be more to post later.

HA! I used to own one of those in my Deadhead days!

I'd be interested to see how many people actually go for the 'souvenir ticket' option...I mean, that's just a bleedin scam isn't it?!

 

I'd take the money (esp at some of those prices!) any day....sure, a ticket would be a 'souvenir' but that's all it'd ever be - I just hope people don't go thinking it'll be worth something in years to come - I mean, 50 dates x 10,000 souvenir tickets...it's hardly limited edition is it??

I wonder why you can't keep the ticket AND still get a refund. Its not like you're going to be scalping them for the next MJ show, and there must be some data-base with names and CC numbers to insure refunds are distributed properly. If you paid cash, well that's one thing, but if you used a credit card or paypal, you should be able to get a refund anyway. I still have all of my tickets that I mail-ordered for the Grateful Dead Fall Tour of '95 and I got a full refund as well.

On another topic...

When speaking to people about MJ's death, I have been surprised how many people have suggested that he faked his death. That was my initial cynical reaction, but I have a warped sense of hunor. But when you think about it, it kinda makes sense.

1) With his 50-show run coming up, MJ may have realized that during rehearsals that he didn't have the strength, the moves or the voice to go through with it, which would have been humiliating to a man who once ruled the pop world.

2) Looming financial disaster, bankruptcy.

3) The shadow cast by the child molestation issue.

If anybody was going to try something like this, MJ would be at or near the top of my list. Anyway, it makes for interesting conversation.

I like it both ways, for sure. YHF and AGiB are still my favorites, but I like the current band more than I ever liked Wilco, and a lot of that has to do with the current stability.

 

I thought Pitchfork put it well in this review: "There is certainly more thrill to be found when the band is acting out but there is something rather pleasing about hearing a band sound so comfortable in their skin."

 

As a fan, I have to let the band evolve, and most of all, I want the band to be healthy so they can keep playing and playing. No one can say Wilco has ever been in more thriving health.

 

One final pt: I haven't heard the new album yet (w/ the exception of W(TS), You Never Know, and the Feist duet), but the thing I loved most about Sky Blue Sky is observed again by Pitchfork about this album: "Every song on Wilco (The Album) is written and performed with immaculate precision, though the subtleties in the work gradually reveal their charms upon repeated listening." Ah, that sounds nice.

I agree with you 100%. When I wrote my quasi-review of SBS on here I noted that the first thing that took me was the fact that is was straight, clean and precise; a sort of reflection of Tweedy's personal life. I think the new album reflects that same sentiment, perhaps a more joyous one, and it seems to reflect upon the entire band and not just Tweedy. As a long time fan, I take a little comfort in knowing that Wilco are comfortable in their own skin and enjoying the benefits of all of their hard work and struggle, musically and otherwise. I may have to look elsewhere these days for music that will challenge me and blow my mind, but that's fine. In the end I know Wilco will always love me, baby!

The reviewer seems pretty sure that Tweedy used to consciously write to "challenge the listener." I'm not really sure that is what Tweeedy thought when he sat down to write any of those records: "Hey, let's challenge these folks, sweet. And how can I do that?" Hm...doubtful. Writers just write, there's no "pandering" or "subversion" to it, at least as far as I know.

I think Tweedy actually talks about wanting to challenge the audience is "learning to die", especially at the outset of the Being There tour. I think he also talked a lot about it in interviews the ramp up to "Ghost", notably about "less than you think". I could be wrong.

Why do people take reviews so seriously?

I always wonder the same thing. You don't need specialized training to be a rock critic, they do the same thing we all do: sit a home and give a record a listen a few times and then they write about it. Their opinion is no more or less qualified than anybody else. On the other hand, I have been on the other side of that and when my first record came out

my very first review, which was quite favorable, had suggested that I resorted to a few "melodramatic cliches" and I nearly cried!

never would have thought of that.

 

He was accused of molesting one 13 year old boy 4 times, intoxicating him 4 times, one count of abduction, and one count of conspiring to hold the boy and his family captive at his Neverland theme park.

 

Did you see the original airing of that interview in which Jackson was caressing and petting this young boy like a lap dog? Those images will be burned into my memory forever. Much longer than his moonwalk across the stage at the Grammys.

 

Hmmm. I wonder why that part was edited out in subsequent airings.

 

I did see that, and I have drawn my own conclusions and probably hold a similar opinion. Still though, I can come home with my friends from a night out, turn down the lights, throw on Thriller or Off the Wall and dance our asses off until the some comes up. For me, and a lot of my friends who are also musicians, Thriller was a big part of our collective musical youth, and I would like to remember the music instead of the circus.

So he gets a child molester pass because he had a fucked up childhood, produced brilliant art, and made a huge pile of money?

 

Wow. Imagine what you would get to do if you restored patriotic pride, reduced unemployment, rebuilt infrastructure, economy and united the youth!

 

I'm glad you came back with that becauseI never said he gets a pass for anything, all I said is that I'm not one to judge his actions, considering NONE OF US know exactly what happened to him or in that situation. He made great music that I enjoy, and for that I can say thanks.

It's sometimes hard to do, but people need to learn to separate the art from the artist. If we judged art on a person's character our lives would be without some of the greatest painting, poetry, film and music ever made.

Michael Jackson lived a life that few people could ever relate to, so who can really speak to his actions and behavior? I know I can't.

What I can say is that he was an extremely talented singer, songwriter and entertainer and its a shame that those talents ended up taking a backseat to the freakshow that was his life. Thriller and Off The Wall are nearly flawless pop records that will stand by themselves for a long time, and to that I can say "Thanks MJ, RIP"

1) The individual members of Wilco, including Tweedy, are not involved with building a tour. Tony Margherita talks to High Road, High Road talks to the promoters they work with in each town and field offers, they send the offers they get to TM and he confirms them.

2) The dates Wilco have played and booked so far this year have been mostly "routing" dates, which means they are basically playing cities in order to get to a certain destination. For instance, Wilco needed to play Bonaroo. Its a huge deal and festivals usually pay much more than a normal venue, but it wouldn't make a whole lot of financial sense just to go to Bonnaroo and back (especially when tour buses cost no less than $1,000 to rent and run per day), so they play dates to and from. Same goes for LA. Wilco NEEDED to play The Tonight Show to support the record, so they booked a bunch of shows around it. If you have noticed, almost all of the cities that they have and will play are secondary markets where they wouldn't be playing on an official album promo tour like, for instance, El Paso or Tuscon..

3) Summer venues...summer is the chance to play the larger outdoor places. Do you think Wilco will only play Keyspan Park in Brooklyn after realeasing a new record when they could easily play The Beacon for several nights and make a lot more money?

4) The band will be touring for probably a year and a half-two years behind this record. They will have plenty of time to hit big cities like San Diego (which, by the way, is notorius for its lack of good venues and promoters) and I'm sure they will, just wait patiently. I'm sure there will be Theater tours in the fall, winter and the spring followed by festivals and outdoor shows next summer.

This has nothing to do with a junkie rock star. It is all about a man with a serious, debilitating condition that caused extreme pain being forced to take a powerful and dangerous drug to control that pain. They have had issues before with these patches leaking too much medicine and killing the wearer, and also I believe if you leave one on for too long it can also kill you. Fentanyl is very strong stuff, mostly given to cancer patients.

I hate to jump into this thread in this manner, because I know we are all trying to be respectful, but we need to be adults and look at this without the idol worship. Its quite apparent from reading "learning to die" and the various quotes from people about Jay since his passing, especially the guy from Blues Traveler, and just seeing the way he acted the few times I saw him in public that Jay had been addicted to pain medication for a long time. Plus, a degenerating hip at that age is a sign of alchoholism and/or drug abuse (see Eddie Van Halen) I have been around a lot of junkies in my life, and it sucks to see someone go down that road, but thats were he went. Its sad.

For some one who is truly a Waits novice, I would suggest "Used Songs", a quasi "greatest hits" set from his Asylum years. Features a little bit of both sides of Waits' dementia.

I just don't see Nonesuch execs or Tony M. sitting down and saying "Look, we gotta promote this baby! Go out and sell it kid! We gotta sell records!"

Ha! Yeah right...wishful thinking, and a little idol worship. If they were not trying to sell the album, they wouldn't be doing late night or a shitload of interviews and Nonesuch would not be buying up ad space. They call it the "album promo tour" for a reason. Remember, this is the band who sold the rights to nearly every song on "Sky Blue Sky" to Volkswagon in order to sell more records. And there is nothing wrong with trying to be successful, as long as your not creating music for the sheer purpose of sales. Its the nature of the business, as they say.

There is a fine line between covering cultural phenomenons and pandering to teens with disposable incomes, and RS has been guilty of the latter, which makes it a glorified Tiger Beat, I suppose.

I'm sorry, did I miss something over the past 40 years? When Rolling Stone first appeared with John Lennon on the cover in 1966, who was that aimed at? 40 year old hipsters? I don't think so. The Beatles were every bit "Tiger Beat" as Zac Ephron ever was. I'm pretty sure Rolling Stone has always been aimed at younger readers.

I also find it hilarious that everybody here is ripping Rolling Stone when all they have done is pretty much kiss Wilco's ass.

Aside from One Wing, Glenn is pretty much just keeping time again. Would love to hear You Never Know with Coomer on drums!

I can assume three things from this post:

1) You are one of those folks who thinks Ringo wasn't a good drummer.

2) you know nothing of the art of subtlety and how hard it is to pull off at the drum set.

3) you are not listening very closely.

The lap steel on Deeper Down makes me think the cops are coming when I'm driving (literally).

Summer Teeth had the same effect on my driving. I was constantly looking in the rearview.

I think writing this album off for not being expiremental enough is sort of distorting what Wilco has always really been; They're not Trout Mask Replica era Beefheart. They're a pop band. Even at their weirdest, they've been a pop band. There's probably 10 minutes of noise to 40 minutes of pure pop on YHF.

 

It's funny to me, because when I hear say, Being There, I hear all of the things you all are complaining about for W(TA). To me there's no song on W(TA) that's as cheesy as "What's The World Got in Store?". Everything you all have complained about with this album, that it's not inventive enough, that it's canon-worshipping, can all be hurled at at least 3 or 4 other Wilco albums that you would never say a bad thing about; how is anything on W(TA) more dad rock than "Hummingbird" or "I'm The Man Who Loves You"?

 

The truth is, Wilco has always been a band that loved pop classics as much as they loved underground music. I don't hear this as being out of synch with their old albums; they've always knowingly pointed to their influences, whether it was Johnny Cash on "Forget The Flowers", Summer of 67 Beatles on "She's a Jar", or Neil Young on "At Least That's What You Said". This is a band that has always valued songcraft over expirementation. The fact that the two elements coexisted for a few albums doesn't suddenly make them Black Dice.

Amen to that! Great bands and great albums come down to two things: great songs and great singing. Thats what Wilco has always been about to me, and the new record is no different in that respect. I could care less about feedback, or electronic blips or experimentation. None of the Wilco records would be worth a damn without the songs and Tweedy's voice.

My two cents:

I've listened about 20 times now. Great rock record. Its nice to see a band having fun and just enjoying making good songs sound great. Its the most upbeat record since BT (cause Summer Teeth lyrics are such downers). Lots of "All Things must Pass" influence. I think the track sequencing could have been a little different, but it aint my band and it aint my record, so I'll just enjoy it as is.

Lets just put this on every thread:

If you don't like Wilco anymore, then just move on. Find a new band to lay your hang-ups on.

Jay Bennett was a paint-by-numbers guitarist who was great at copping other licks, but lacked his own style. Nels Cline is a different player all together. Apples and oranges. This is Wilco now, that was Wilco then. Plus, if Jay Bennett is so damn fantastic, why is his career basically in the can at this point?

thats why i moved to Austin (that, and about 1,000 other reasons)...have a whole house with a front porch, campfire pit and picnic table for less than $800 in the heart of South Austin. Dont miss my $1800 small 2 bedroom with no parking at all!

somebody please help me out. Been here since we all got booted from Wilcoworld...you don't gotta be a Rockafella to help a fella!

mikejunemusic@hotmail.com

Thanks so much!!!

The music business is an entirely soulless entity, no matter who you work for.