redpillbox

I caught this in the WTF intro too and it's exciting news. I've also tweeted at Marc to get Tweedy on there. As a big fan of both guys, I would just caution about getting your hopes up too high. I've found, personally, that the interviews of his that I connect with the most are the ones with guests that I know very little about. The guests that I know quite a bit about have left me a little underwhelmed just because he can sometimes skim through the biography which is interesting if you don't have the knowledge already, but less so if you've say, read a book or two about the subject. I could b

This is a textbook post-Pop U2 interview... http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/the-edge-on-new-u2-album-bonos-brush-with-mortality-w503246 "In the case of "You're the Best Thing About Me," we were really excited about the mix we had six weeks ago. Then we started talking about how we were going to play it live and I went back to some early demos and found this one that had done at a point when we were experimenting with different arrangement ideas. It was an experiment we hadn't pursued and I thought, "This would be a good approach if we play it live," which we did on the Jimmy F

I've spent way too much time considering the question of why I find U2 so infuriating at times (or lately)...and I say this as a big, big fan...I've tried to distill it down to one thing or another, but it really feels like the combination of many factors... 1) I have clarified in my own mind is that I feel like the album "Pop" really broke them. Up to that point they had really developed a "here we are, we do what we want, and get on board or don't it's all the same to us, but we answer to our own inner-muse" attitude. This resulted in some really exciting music, even in their "failures" (a

Only one of mine not already mentioned...Portugal. The Man...how this band isn't bigger is beyond me. Silly band-name and bad cover-art? https://youtu.be/pBkHHoOIIn8

This may have been discussed elsewhere, but I found this a fascinating snap-shot at the current ticket situation/dilemma: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/the-man-who-broke-ticketmaster It also answers the question about why I've found myself striking out so often lately on tickets. A couple of interesting takeaways from this article go to points made in this thread: 1) Scalpers specifically target the artists that set the lowest prices (or rather have the largest difference between face-value and market-value). 2) There's another critical (conspiracy-type) question about wheth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sJ3tcYxkMA

For some reason this reminded me of this: https://twitter.com/WhoIsBonnieBear - and I had a good chuckle. In today's world, with the shifting landscape of the music business, I just don't think you'll see another band the size of U2. It's impossible for a band to get that big. With old models and non-digital music-delivery systems dying and the explosion of choice/methods of consumption, it's impossible for someone to command the attention in a way that transcends their genre. Even the biggest bands will be big in their niché, but probably largely unknown outside. Like someone mentioned, hi

Yes, yes, I realize this, but given the fact that it's never "officially" appeared in any capacity (unlike "Cars Can't Escape" for instance) and the Bennett release, I would like an official Wilco version for the sole reason that it might be incorporated into the live set at some point. If memory serves, it was requested and nixed at a Living Room Show...just thinking this might change if it comes out officially. Profane? If it's good enough for Vonnegut, it should pass the bar at VC! Ha!

Ah, here's hoping that the box includes a version of "Venus..." if only so that it may be entered into the live (probably Jeff solo) songbook. Guessing that might be asking for too much though...what with the song history. Speaking of asking for too much, I love it when these rarities boxes include alternative studio takes on songs and not just the b-sides. With a band like Wilco, who love to deconstruct songs and radically change them around, I think that could lead to some really interesting results. Not so much a fan of when live versions of album tracks are included in rarities sets, but

So not to be too literal or anything, but why are we calling this a solo record and not another side-project? Is there any evidence other than the mention on Pitchfork, which wasn't sourced? Not that it matters, just curious. One of the band members (interview quoted earlier) kept referring to the project/band as TWEEDY ("Extra special thanks to Jeff Tweedy, the band TWEEDY...") and the poster for the shows and wilcoworld uses the name TWEEDY (again all caps). With Spencer on the drums and other musicians on stage (as opposed to most "Jeff Tweedy" shows)...So if this is a new "band" than can w

This band is pretty damn good. A complete surprise to me. I caught their set at Coachella having not heard a note and was blown away. Did my due diligence and dug into their back catalogue and couldn't believe how long they'd been around for (4-5 albums) and that they've had such a consistent output. It's a mystery to me why they haven't blown up. Their choruses just won't quit...melodic/catchy. Their new album "Evil Friends" is coming out on Tuesday. Produced by Danger Mouse, of course.

http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episodes/episode_392_-_john_fogerty Hour-long interview. A bit more in-depth regarding a possible reunion toward the end. Sounds like he's peaceful about it (where he hasn't been in the past), but that it won't happen regardless.

It gets freakier, let me tell you...wait until you get to "the first colony"...whoa.

Re-listening to the audiobook of Justin Cronin's "The Passage" which is hauntingly read by Scott Brick...in preparation for this: Can't wait.

Oh man...'Settlers' was a gateway drug into the world of board games for me...not to offend because I still love it, but it seems like a quaint game these days in comparison to some others. If you love Power Grid, Puerto Rico, and Agricola I would HIGHLY recommend El Grande. Love it. The perfect mix of strategy, skill, a bit of luck and a psychological component that will require you to guess your opponents' intentions at certain points...mind f#@!.

I'm currently reading 1Q84 and have read all of Murakami's English translations--I'm about half way through and loving it. If you're interested in recommendations I'd say check out "Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" or "Norwegian Wood." Interesting story, in Japan prior to "Norwegian Wood" Murakami was consistently ripped by the literary establishment there for his reliance on 'magical realism' and his western pop-culture references. So he wrote "Norwegian Wood" as a "Ok, you want a more traditional narrative structure, try this..." and it exploded him into a nationwide sensation. He hasn't really retur

Ah well...was hoping against hope that they would've included the Tweedy vocal performance of "Birds & Ships" that was played briefly in the doc, but alas...

'Stros to join the AL West. The one thing my M's had going for them, was they only had 3 other teams in their division. Damn. Edit: Although, it now appears that they'll add an additional Wild Card team to each league, so...hope springs eternal. http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/7246443/houston-astros-sale-approved-mlb

I bought the 10 disc whatever-version for $115 from Amazon. I had talked myself into thinking it was crazy. I then talked myself into it. Decided because it was my favorite album of all time, it was worth the price tag. I'm happy with it. Having sat with it for a few days, the value in it for me is the following: 1) The Documentary DVD 2) The B-sides and Bonus Cuts 3) The Alternative Takes Disc 4) The book (and I'm not usually a fan of these--who needs more pensive band photos?) is great. Great photo prints, alternative shots from the album cover collage, and facsimile photos of some hand-wr

Not at all, which is great. These are versions that bridge the gap from the Hansa bootleg and the final versions. They are nothing that I've heard before. Most have very similar song shapes and musical backing tracks with alternate vocal melodies and different lyrics. Most of the lyrics are 80% there, verses switched, different choruses, etc. For instance, "One" is changed into a mostly acoustic number without the famous guitar figure out front. Probably not something that'll go into heavy rotation, but really, really cool to see how the songs evolved.

I'm finding the "Kintergarten" version of the Achtung Baby songs very interesting. "Zoo Station" with no vocal processing. Completely changes the feel of the song and the lyric is pretty different, thought most of the backing tracks sound the same.

I like Bono, but he is full of shit (PR) sometimes. There's a reason they were once called The Hype. It's almost as if he sits down and comes up with "talking points" for between-album interviews and hammers them again and again. Off the top of my head, "The Edge is on fire", "Music from Venus", the relevence talk, the biggest band in the world talk, come to mind and ANY time he throws down a timeframe. I think the rehashing of the Achtung Baby story has made a really easy promo link to these statements. His way of building a buzz. At least I hope I'm right.

There's no problem. I know he was a part-owner. Regardless of your political bent, I think you have to admit that he was and remains a pretty polarizing figure, so I'm curious how a die-hard Rangers fan who didn't care for GWB reconciles those two feelings. But, if people would rather not discuss it...

I think I would've asked for either the front or back of Freese's shredded jersey. The HOF could take the other half, whatever. Question: Trying to figure out a way to ask this without ruffling any feathers but I don't know if I can, so I'm just going to fire away. I'm curious how the Rangers fans on the board feel about every-other crowd shot in Arlington being of GWB? I'm curious how that feels to a fan of the Rangers, who's not a fan of the man? Seriously.