Beltmann

I had to click "Start New Live Stream" on the menu tab, and then press "play" inside the on-air box (where it says "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down"). After a brief radio ID, the stream started and has been flawless ever since. Were you able to get it going, Donna?

 I don't think there was a baby sitter to be found in the city of Madison last night.  Also at one point before the show, I had realized it became an impromptu meeting of my kids PTO.  

 

Ha! I talked quite a bit with the fan next to me (even older than my early '40s), and one brief topic was how Wilco shows used to be college-aged kids and now they are filled with, well, former college kids like us. On a related note: I'm not sure I've ever seen so many children at a Wilco show--a consequence, no doubt, of an aging fan base and a family-friendly start time of 6 p.m.

Anyway, I would bet almost anything they flip-flopped If I Ever Was A Child and Jesus, etc. in the above list. 

 

You would lose that bet, Paul. The two new songs were, indeed, separated by "Jesus, etc." Jeff introduced the three-song section by saying that they would play two new songs and a ballad, which might be a good time for a bathroom break for those who don't care for ballads.

Two (I think?) new songs were played, but I'm not 100% certain on the titles so will let someone else fill those in. 

 

They were "If I Ever Was a Child" and "Locator." (I think I saw Rob at one point--we were at the fence outside the Gold Circle--but didn't see you... grrr.)

 

There was almost zero banter from Jeff, which I chalked up to the local curfew (the fan next to me said it was 10 p.m.) and the impending weather. The last few songs were punctuated by lovely lightning, and the flushing downpour literally started within seconds of Stacy and I reaching our vehicle. Whew.

I was able to see Hell or High Water tonight, and it's probably my favorite American movie of the year so far. I very much liked director David Mackenzie's previous films (especially Starred Up), but to my eyes this is his first masterpiece. The movie also supports my belief that, despite being criminally under-seen, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) has had an outsized influence on American cinema.

Every summer I read at least one Shakespeare play that I've never read before. This morning I finished Henry VIII.

Tonight I'm watching Marguerite, a French movie from last year that was inspired by the life of Florence Foster Jenkins. I'm curious about how it will stack up against the new Meryl Streep movie, which was a serviceable crowdpleaser (the complicated relationship at its center was more interesting than the music subject matter). So far it is covering similar terrain but with a darker, less screwball touch.

 

After coming out of Hell Or High Water,

 

I'm very eager to see that. It arrives in Milwaukee on Friday, so I hope to see it soon!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AMSHs2adWk

 

The Criterion Blu of Edward Yang's A Brighter Summer Day (1991) looks so good, so velvety, that I'm tempted to turn off the sound and simply luxuriate in the colors, the light, the composition. Nearly every shot functions as an isolated work of beauty--and yet the movie's greatest marvel is how Yang arranges those pieces into an even more compelling narrative whole. It concerns a teenager who gets caught up in the gangs of '60s Taiwan. That makes it sound like a crime movie, but it's really a detailed, far-reaching, novelistic portrait of a particular place at a particular time.

My wife and I will be there. Our first Wilco show since Red Rocks last summer (although there was a Jeff solo show in between).

Mr. Trump is speaking tonight in my small Wisconsin town, in one of the nation's reddest counties. I won't be there, but I can feel my blood pressure rising already.

Without reference to punctuation or spacing, I humbly present my listing:

 

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot 

Wilco (The Album) 

A Ghost is Born

The Whole Love

Summerteeth

Being There 

Sky Blue Sky 

Schmilco 

Star Wars

Well, that's disappointing and shockingly wrong. While I love the album as much as the next guy, there's just no way that YHF can be listed first. Frankly, it's impossible. Your list suggests a serious lack of familiarity with the history of Wilco studio albums.

 

Let's agree to agree that the following is correct:

 

AM

BT

ST

YHF

AGIB

SBS

WTA

TWL

SW

WS (if it arrives on time)

You and Beltmann are thinking the same way it seems

That'll happen when two listeners are objectively correct.

 

Still, I've given my list more thought. While there's no doubt that AM tops the list, I really had to think about the overall order, making sure it was accurate and that I hadn't overlooked anything. This will probably change in the future, but today I'm going to submit the following:

 

AM

BT

ST

YHF

AGIB

SBS

WTA

TWL

SW

Based on what I know about it so far, I expect Schmilco will appear last on my list once it is released. Perhaps there will be a surprise with its release that will change my view, but for now I'm going with the following, with a spot for Schmilco reserved at the bottom:

 

AM

BT

ST

YHF

AGIB

SBS

WTA

TWL

SW

And if you turn up the volume *really loud* just before EKG, you can hear this:

Love it!

Ah, the drone. Fun to turn up a bit loud at stoplights while driving, to share with other drivers.

You have always been VC's most generous and thoughtful member!

I can't believe I've been on this goddamn board for 12 years!

Same here. Feels like yesterday we were vigorously debating the merits of the drone.

Anybody else remember the great "Jeff Tweedy: Plagiarist" troll right after SKY BLUE SKY came  out?

That was great. If I remember right, it was around the time of the famous VC battles over whether Wilco had sold out because they licensed SBS songs for Volkswagen ads.

Big Thief:  Masterpiece.

Thanks! I hadn't heard of this before, but thanks to you I'm enjoying it right now!

I vividly remember the Challenger explosion, too (born 1974). But I think the earliest major news story that I can remember noticing is Beirut being bombed in 1982. Those war images on the evening news stuck with me for a very long time.

Hawke feels like he's playing a neutered version of his Jessie character from the Before Sunrise trilogy.

My wife said the same thing. It's true, of course, but it bothered her more than it bothered me, perhaps because I'm almost always on Hawke's wavelength.

And went on to suggest Wilco should play Sheboygan soon.

Someone shouted, "Come back!," and Jeff replied, "Anytime. We're just down the road from here."

 

Jeff confessed to terribly flubbing lyrics to Remember The Mountain Bed once in which one lyric was riddled with the word fart more than once. Soo badly he said that it gave the rest of the band pause. But they were able to play through it because they were in Germany and nobody in the crowd caught it!

He also had a little trouble with "Where Do I Begin," and afterwards apologetically said that the reason was because it's a new song. He added something about how he's still trying to figure it out (as a solo version, I presume).

Thanks, Paul. I was thinking of jotting down the list until I spotted you just a few minutes before the show started (actually, it was Stacy who first saw you). I would have said hello, but you were up front and we were up in the balcony. Always great to see old friends!

Mr. Jeff Tweedy, in Sheboygan, WI. Rough week... I need this!

Let me add another question, but about a Letterman appearance. Anyone know what Wilco played on the Late Show on 5/15/07?

 

Letterman May 2007: "What Light"

 

(I have the segment recorded onto DVD-R and double-checked.)

Count me among those that care about the other records. All of the records before '72 (Surf's Up and earlier) get plenty of play in the house.