Beltmann

I made sure to do a first listen via headphones.  Mind-scrambling, in the best sense.

 I'm pretty sure I would not ware it if it was a T-shit. I'm so fucken confused by this cover art!

Freudian slip? 

I want to burn it to disc but I can't stop listening long enough!

I appreciate the sentiment, and I'll try to keep calling 'em as I see 'em...so to speak. 

I always appreciate your personal, thoughtful take.  I can't disagree with your thoughts about the setlist--halfway through the show, I mentioned to the fan next to me that it felt like a greatest hits record.  Still, I was entirely in the mood for a greatest hits show, and the young fan next to me, who had previously never seen Wilco live, had the time of his life.  Gobsmacked, he was.  He was deeply familiar with Summerteeth forward, but he left saying that he had to buy Being There straight away.

And it was great seeing you again, Paul.  I'm glad I spotted you near the merch table!

One more note: I owe my dry poster to the friendly fans from Chicago sitting behind us who offered to share their poster tube when the rain started.  We were surrounded by great Wilco people, which only enhanced the experience.

I'd like to chime in regarding the sequence of patrons staring into the camera.  For me, that section was the most compelling portion of the movie; by asking us to look, really look at those multitude of faces, it conveys something about the egalitarian spirit of Solid Sound, including the close relationship with the community and including how those faces, whether famous or not, are all of a piece.  The sequence is long and stylized, yes, but that's what sets it apart from typical fly-on-the-wall footage.  It was a poetic touch in a document that, whatever its pleasures, needed more such touches.

Courtney Barnett opening for Belle & Sebastian in Milwaukee.  (Every once in a while the opener is more appealing than the headliner, and this is one of those times.)

I don't use iTunes for anything other than music, but I'm playing the downloaded file with Plex and it works fine.

Wish Vimeo worked with Chromecast.  But I just downloaded the file, put it on a flash drive, and played it through my Blu-ray player.  Super easy, and it looked great on my large TV.

Eels

Novocaine for the Soul

Things the Grandchildren Should Know

Prizefighter

Love of the Loveless

Mistakes of My Youth

 

The Bangles

• Hero Takes a Fall
• Tell Me
• Mary Street
• Silent Treatment
• Anna Lee (Sweetheart Of the Sun)

 

Love that you included "Anna Lee."  That one is as good as any of their older greats!

The song on repeat was "One Sunday Morning."

Saunders: "I had that album and I was chain-listening to it for the whole period I was finishing that story. Whenever I listened to it, it put me into the mindset of the story right away. It’s a great song, but they’re also just a great band."

Anyone else hear a lot of Mark Oliver Everett (Eels) in Courtney Barnett?  While listening to Barnett's "Debbie Downer" today, I couldn't help but think of Eels' "Friendly Ghost."  Obviously the vocals are very different, but there seems to be some common ground musically and lyrically.
 
"Debbie Downer"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgWDPEEuHx4
 
"Friendly Ghost"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0WE963XV-k

I welcome the birth of my second son Matthew Eli

I'm more of a Dead Alive guy, but Bad Taste is certainly something!

I'll go with my usual choice and defense: "We're Just Friends."  It doesn't get a lot of respect, but it's one of my favorite Wilco songs.  I like to think of it as a soft and wounded miniature--simple yet beautiful, with something real, honest, and touching about it, all while sounding like an exposed raw nerve.  The ache in Jeff's scratchy, tremulous vocals is palpable.

This reminds of February 2008 when 5 days before the date, Wilco postponed the Charleston, SC show to be on SNL. As I had tickets, I was not happy. I, similar to some Indy area fans, was like a dog with a bone. I wouldn't let it go and ran my logic into the ground, foolishly believing that the posters disagreeing with me would eventually see the light. I sounded like a major douche. I reread that shit a couple days ago and cringed. How I wish that I had made my point, once, maybe twice, and then let it the fuck go. Even though I was 44/45, I was fairly new to the internet, and lost sight of all reason. Any of you that remember, I apologize and I ask your forgiveness, unless you found me to be entertaining. All I can say in my defense is that, hey, it was 5 days notice, not 5 weeks, and it was to be on SNL, not to take a principled stance on a human rights issue.

 

Those of you still ranting, let it go. Trust me. You don't want to regret it even more than you already will.

Oh, I remember that thread!  (If I remember correctly, I had plenty to say, but I'm a little leery to go back and re-read.)  Even better were the endless forum debates about whether Wilco had "sold out" by giving a bunch of songs to the VW ad campaign.  Things always seem red-hot in the moment, but given a little time and perspective, seem less egregious.

I feel for the jilted ticket-holders--and there's something callous about telling them to just suck it up; it's pretty easy to view it that way when it's not happening to you--but I'm unconvinced that some of the alternatives proposed in this thread, such as donating proceeds or speechifying from the stage, would have made any news or impact at all.

It's unfortunate that innocent fans are caught in the crossfire, but at the same time, that's why the decision matters: Wilco was willing to face negative blowback in order to take a stand. One cancelled rock concert is not going to break this legislation or change many minds, but when many small decisions by many individuals fit together into a larger pattern, that does send a powerful message. In other words, Wilco has done their part. Such movements have to start somewhere, and Wilco decided to be in the vanguard, despite the risks.

Wilco's decision ranked among the top trending topics on Facebook, which again points to why it matters: It helped expose bigotry and helped jumpstart necessary conversations. When many small decisions like this become an avalanche, they combine to show Indiana and other states, like Michigan, why such laws are bad ideas for their economies.  Would some donations by a semi-obscure rock band ever trend on Facebook?  Their decision might be theater to some degree, but in the age of social media and the 24-hours news cycle, it's effective theater, and in a very real sense, more substantial than the proposed alternatives.

 Gays have more rights in Indiana than here in Texas, but the Lone Star State shows will go on. 

You've made this argument several times in this thread, and while on some macro level you have a point, I think it misses the point.  Texas banned same-sex marriage in 1997, not in March 2015.  The national conversation right now isn't about old laws that can be somewhat embarrassingly explained by "it was another time" excuses.  Instead, the national conversation is about new laws that seem out-of-step with current social mores, and it is that current conversation that Wilco decided to join.  We all make such selective choices, because otherwise we would be forced to live in perpetual paralysis.  We all make decisions about what to emphasize and put energies into, based on what seems most relevant right now.  That's not hypocrisy so much as focused pragmatism.

On a side note, I always appreciate your civil approach in these threads, Hixter.

I jumped on board with The Double EP, and picked up the new one this week.  Love it.  I'm a bit surprised at how much attention it's receiving, but I'm happy for Ms. Barnett!

Thanks for sharing, Crow, and I hope it proved cathartic.  I read every word and I'll keep you in my thoughts.  To use the parlance of the VC of old: ) ) ) ) ) V I B E S ( ( ( ( (

Gaslight Anthem tonight in Milwaukee.

I remember seeing Slacker when it first came out, and it struck me as an important work.  From the start, Linklater has always been interested in time, both in terms of structure and subject.  Boyhood is perhaps the most extreme example, but even something like Dazed and Confused is more about time than about parties.  For me, the Before trilogy is his greatest meditation on time, and I'm partial to the middle film.  What's astonishing about Before Sunset is how the weight of years--on their lives, on their emotions, on their faces--deepens the context of Jesse and Celine's original conversation.  While their first youthful encounter grooved on the bloodrush of spontaneous idealism, the second anecdote coursed with regret, frustration, the fearsome power of memory, and the betrayals of dreams.  Haven't we all asked that most treacherous of questions, If I had turned different corners, who might I have been?  It's a movie that eloquently grasps the perils--and the bliss--of such speculation.  (Is it worth noting that my wife and I are nearly the same age as the characters?  We responded to the original film in 1995, and revisiting Jesse and Celine nine years later had the peculiar effect of transforming the screen into a mirror.)

To my eyes, Linklater's best films are Before Sunset and Dazed and Confused.  The only one I disliked was The Newton Boys, but I haven't seen it since it was released and have often thought that I should give it another try.  One that's very underrated is Me and Orson Welles.  (I agree about School of Rock, uncool2pillow.  Love that movie!)

Whiplash is not realistic at all, but that's a strength, I think.  It's a movie about how two characters feel within a particular and rare bubble, and the movie's visual style and rhythm helps express that psychological space.

Somehow I managed to see nearly every single nominee this year.  Sheer luck, I guess.  Once I see the animated and live action shorts later this week, I'll have seen every nomination except Marion Cotillard in Two Days, One Night, several of the foreign language nods, two of the feature documentaries, one of the animated features, and one of the original songs.  Most of those are things that I was eager to see even prior to the Oscar attention, but they remain inaccessible to Milwaukee-area filmgoers.  That's frustrating every year.

I don't think Boyhood is Linklater's finest achievement, but I'm rooting for it because I want to see one of America's best directors have a wide, boyish grin on his face.

I've always thought of Poor Places as one of a handful of iconic Wilco songs. I was really surprised it wasn't included on this.

Same here.  I wonder whether its exclusion has something to do with the old Conet Project copyright issue.

As a history lesson, Last Days in Vietnam is filled with rich human details and astonishing footage classically edited into an informative, compelling story.  I can see why it was nominated for the Oscar.  (Although I wouldn't let him watch the first half, which concerns combat and some atrocities, my six-year-old son was mesmerized by the second half, which chronicles the attempt to rescue as many South Vietnamese as possible during the Saigon evacuation.)

I've been working my way through movies made by BBS Productions, which means revisiting many familiar works like Easy Rider and Five Easy Pieces.  This one, though, was new to me.  Drive, He Said (1971) is a strong work that describes the unforeseen consequences of the counterculture, and it's much different in style than the other two movies later directed by Jack Nicholson.  Up next: The Last Picture Show, which I haven't seen for 20 years.

 

Saw Blues Brothers on the big screen tonight at a theater / brew pub. Hot DAMN! I was lucky enough to have my parents take me to that on its original release. I was 9 years old. My twins are 9 now. I don't think they're interested in R-Rated movies in the least. Good beer, great movie, great music, great night. I wanted to get up and dance during the concert scene.

 

Love everything about this.  Jealous!