cracked & hooked

"Honey, I took out the garbage."

"Yeeeeeeeoooooowww!"

I am there. A sweet Wilco elf surprised us with tickets. I've never looked so forward to a Monday before! No Sunday night blues this week!

Still looking for 2. Please and thank you! Rebajoco@sbcglobal.net

Still wishing and hoping...

When are we gonna start to see these exorbitant ticket prices go down? Still looking for two for Tarrytown but will not pay $100 a piece. There's not a ton of tickets out there, but I hope the prices start to drop. I really need this show.

Still looking for 2. Please and thank you! Rebajoco@sbcglobal.net

Most shows there don't sell out ASAP so usually their site is pretty cool in that you can pick the seat you want. I've often got front row side section as most people pack up the center section before the wings. For this show, people might have been better off going with their "quick pick" option. I have a feeling tix will be available for this show as it draws nearer, once people sort out who among their friends also got tix, and some leftovers will materialize. Good luck!

Yeah, I can see it being user friendly under normal, non-Wilco related situations, but it did not work for this. I did go with quick-pick at first, but there weren't two together. So I tried to choose seats close by and while they appeared to be available, nothing would happen. Grrr... Silly thing to get worked up about, but it was frustrating and ultimately sad. My face literally hurts from frowning. Time to move on... LUNCHTIME!

And yes, I'm usually the one who overbuys and has extras to unload, so hopefully my good karma will come around.

Hi - Got shut out bad for the NY shows. Looking for 2 for Tarrytown, face or reasonable. Turn this frown upside down!

rebajoco@sbcglobal.net

Thanks!

I am frowning so hard it hurts. That Tarrytown ticketing situation was one of the worst experiences of my life. So effing convoluted and misleading and bad.

Anyone have two extras?

What time to tickets go on sale for Tarrytown today?

It's apparently noon and not 10:00 as I had planned my entire morning around...

DENIED!!! Urgh. I was in right on time and refreshing like a madwoman. After 5 minutes of that I called Front Gate and they said they were gone in a flash. I have never not gotten through on a pre-sale.

I like The National.

I heart your shrine!

Thanks! I feel a craft project coming on...

Is anyone else out there having a hard time "letting go" of this experience?

In a word, yes. Every night I dream in Solid Sound motifs and situations, intense dreams, and wake up a little shaken. Even my husband, not prone to my obsessive tendencies, is still walking around in a Solid Sound Stupor (SSS). And while I've had an awesome summer in real life, the past few months at work have been very difficult. However, this past week I found myself practically whistling around the office and the week just flew by with little to no work-related angst. But still, I feel hungry for some follow-up, some closure or something. I keep hoping they'll throw us a bone of some sort - give those beautiful posters away, hold a haiku contest, host support groups, confirm SS2!

Is it possible that we were all brainwashed? I mean, my god, I haven't built a shrine like this since my Billy Idol days...

No, words have not failed you. That is such a perfect post. It's as if you reached right into my head and heart and pulled out all the random memories and feelings I've been trying to put together in some cohesive way, to tell my friends what this festival really felt like. You couldn't have captured the feeling of the weekend any better. Or so I thought. And then I saw your pictures and videos.

 

I don't know how to thank you for capturing those gorgeous images and putting them together. Blew me away!

Aw, thanks so much. That really means a lot to me. It's so comforting to know that others were affected in the same kind of inexplicable way. My husband keeps asking me "do other people feel the same way?" Yes, honey, there are others like us. We're still so totally blissed out. Maybe somebody really did spike the Kool-Aid...ooooooh yeah.

sometimes good times

are stuck inside of you

Words have failed me, but this is kinda what it felt like:

It’s just like if Wilco invited you over their house to hang out on a late summer afternoon. You know it would be some cool, funked out industrial playground of a space. Art everywhere. Their generous and fun-loving spirit would make you feel right at home but at the same time you’d be awestruck at your dumb luck. Nels would be stringing together some noisy loop of pedals in the basement and he’d let you play with them. Glenn would be tricking out these crazy drum heads and would want to show you how they work, how he brings them to life. You’d eat falafel and drink beer. Mikael would tell jokes and tinkle around on the piano, filling the space. You’d wander into a room and find John strumming and singing pretty melodies. At some point, Pat would whip out his photo albums and show you his beautiful Polaroids. There'd be new music to explore - record players, headphones, stacks of vinyl. They'd be psyched to turn you on to their new favorite bands. You'd watch old movies. There'd be ice cream. Just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, Jeff would lure everyone out into the backyard and turn the hose on ‘em – all for a good cause, of course. Then, as the afternoon turned to dusk and the deep blue sky faded to a purple bruise, they would gild this lily of day by rocking your socks off. You’d be totally blissed out, realizing you fell in love with the right band, a band that loves you back, a band that makes you feel like you belong right there with them. Then you’d get to sleepover and do it all again the next day. And at the end of it all, you’d have no idea how to thank them for showing you the time of your life.

And this is kinda what it looked like.

Pics from Day One on my Flickr.

I'm still trying to whittle the 50+ Tweedy dunk tank pics down to a less disturbing number...

great pics -- thank you! I loved the high five guys on the bridge! The volunteers high-fived everyone walking into the field for Jeff's show -- very typical of the staff attitude throughout the venue.

I love that one, too. Totally embodies the spirit of the event. I'm bummed we didn't go in that way! We got no high five!

Amazing shots. I learned a lot from looking at them. I realized this weekend that I've become a pretty shitty photographer (and that I need a new camera!) but looking at these pics compared to mine taught me a lot. Thanks! I even saw myself in one!

I too want to extend my thanks to W1LCO, the entire staff @ Mass MoCA , Rebecca(a.k.a. cracked and hooked) for my ticket, and everyone else who were responsible for making Solid Sound happen. Thank you all for an amazing experience!! I would love for this to be an annual event.

Glad it worked out! By the way, I have a couple pics of you getting your license plates signed by a soaking wet Tweedy! I will send them to you soon.

Like so many others, we were awed and wowed by the entirety of this weekend and the generosity of spirit of this band. I'll try and get my thoughts together as I sort through 400 photos/videos and will share both soon.

I just...I can't believe that just happened.

I'll take it. I sent you an email with my number. Give me a call so we can work out the details.

SOLD to the man with the Wilco license plate!

My husband and I will be driving up Route 7 from western Connecticut. A ride to MASS Moca has always been one of my favorite daytrips. It's unreal that Wilco will be waiting for me this time. We're staying at the Holiday Inn.

Also - I have one extra ticket - it's listed in the ticket selling section. Make me an offer.

I have one extra hard ticket for Solid Sound. I will priority mail it or meet you at the festival.

Email me at rebajoco@sbcglobal.net

This is something that I have struggled mightily with over the years but I've gotten much better lately at not letting it get to me. Staying in the moment, blocking it out. However, the two shows I went to last week - Montclair #2 and Hartford - left me seriously considering whether or not my show going days were over. The asshat:civilized person ratio was probably the worst I've experienced. There was a foursome in Montclair who only stopped talking and beer running long enough to makeout during You and I. There were these chicks behind us in Hartford who shrilled and cackled throughout. I lost control and broke my cardinal rule of not going there and went there, asked them so nicely to please be quiet. Oh god. It became their raison d'etre to annoy me for the rest of the show. "Ooooooooh - so serious!!" And we were there with two children who were giving them the hairy eyeball, too. At one point one of the chicks starts talking so loud about avocados! That's become the running joke in our household, shrieking "avocado!" randomly.

I always fantasize in those situations about yelling out "Hey Jeff - we've got a talker!" I really wish they would add something to their new pre-show policy announcement about it. Or if they could just say something about it halfway through the show. I think it would make a world of difference. It's really, really bad out there.

As a musician friend says about dealing with unruly audiences "Being in public is difficult." And how.

Awesome! He's our mandolin player in the band - SeaBee in the Navy, NYPD officer, and now works out of my office with 8th graders! Coolest guy I know! He bought the property up there after 9/11 to get away. And I've turned him into quite the Wilco fan!!!

 

That breakfast place with the English muffin toast is outrageous! I'm sure you know it!

Very cool. I'm embarrassed to admit that I googled "SeaBee in the Navy" thinking that was the name of your band. D'oh. Sounds like a cool guy.

I moved away over 20 years ago and haven't been back in a few years, though my family still owns land there (camping anyone?). The area has definitely undergone a resurgence, particularly post 9/11. There was no outrageous breakfast place when I lived there, but you could get a stale buttered hard roll at the Citgo.

Got mine!

Now on to the laundry!