bböp

Hey Greg, I'm definitely feeling you. I've sort of had this personal policy of waiting to listen to stuff ever since YHF. That was a unique case, of course, because we weren't really sure when it would officially come out. But listening to that record so much before it came out kind of took away some of the excitement and freshness for me. I mean, I still love it, but somehow it just wasn't the same as hearing something for the first time on release day. Now I admit that, in this day and age, it's unrealistic to expect stuff not to leak early. And I have listened to SBS once through. But

I'm assuming this was somewhat pre-planned, but I'm sure it was very sweet.

Thanks for the tip! I just bought mine. I hope you can do a little road trip, even if just to Berlin! We will work out the logistics...

I'm planning on it, Dunja. The timing works out. Just need to find myself a plane ticket. (Hoping I can still take advantage of my small remaining time left as a student!) Question: Are all those shows you got tickets for general admission, or are they reserved seating? It doesn't look like we can buy tickets for any of the Euro shows yet, except ATP and the the Barcelona fest...

Dunja, is your tour offer still good?

Here's my advice: Go the Schuba's party at Yard Dog, hang out until Neil Young shows up and then be in the background of the picture the Austin Chronicle takes of him. No, actually, the main insights I gleaned from last year were to avoid bands that just seem to be getting a little too much hype, really try and focus on seeing acts that you might not otherwise get to see and, above all, don't sweat it (because there's no chance you're even gonna be able to see a fraction of what you plan to see)...

Can't believe it's already now been more than a week since 2/17/07. I miss you guys!

Thankfully, the Stardog is not always right on. At least with the knees.

In all the recent excitement over that band and its potential shows and record releases and such, I just looked at Nels' Web site and saw that he's doing a whole week in NYC! I hadn't seen that posted anywhere around these parts, so I figured I'd give it a plug... Here's the schedule: MAR 26 | JAZZ STANDARD | NYC The Jeff Gauthier Goatette (Gauthier/Alex Cline/David Witham, Joel Hamilton, NC) MAR 27 | JAZZ STANDARD | NYC Scott Amendola Band (Amendola, Jenny Scheinman, John Shifflett, NC) MAR 28 | TBA | NYC Myra Melford MAR 29 | JAZZ STANDARD | NYC NC & Friends play the music of Andrew

Yes, definitely! I've never been to Germany, so I'm hoping for some summer dates there. Actually, I'm really hoping to do the whole "low countries" tour--Holland and Belgium as well. Maybe I can even get someone called Gwen to come along.

I'm totally hoping for some, Dunja! I would so be there...

I was gonna go with, "Who is that scarved man?"

I think that was mostly a Jeff and Dave vocal affair, which I will edit my setlist to note. Things were beginning to get out of hand, in a great way, by that point. But it started to get hard to keep track of who was doing exactly what...

I make it a rule not to self-incriminate--ha! No, seriously Judes, I can only keep tabs on what's going on setlist-wise for so long. By the time we started in, I think it was the after, after, after-party and I had put the notebook away. But since you brought it up (and for the approximately five people who care) after Mr. Rivas' finished, the setlist went on: -Corduroy Cutoff Girl (w/Dr. Judy, Paul, Brianne and others on vocals and Dave Mirabella on guitar) -Sandusky (solo guitar version by Dave Mirabella) Am I missing anything else in the post-, post-, post-party shenanigans? And Sa

While I'm posting setlists, let me just add that we once again had the pleasure of hearing some of the fabulous musical exploits of our friends Dave Mirabella and Martin Rivas. Aside from their contributions to Jeff's performance as noted above, they also each played a set for us and I would feel remiss without listing those setlists as well... Dave Mirabella's opening set was, he said, mostly new, original material, so I'm pretty much taking everything off of the setlist he used: -Far Away -Real Life -Before You Go -Hoover -Sky Falls -Burned Again -Ruby-Colored Halo -Guardrail -No Guarantee

Sorry for the delay in getting this up here... Jeff played on everything, so I'm pretty much only noting when he was joined by others. In the later stages of the show, on songs that he didn't write, others shared in the vocal duties, so that was kind of tough to note. I tried my best. Anyway, without further ado, here were the songs (in order, of course) played last night at the Hotel S 'n' S: -Blasting Fonda -If That's Alright -"The Happy Song" -Walk Where He Walked -In a Future Age -(Was I) In Your Dreams -New Madrid -Strangers [Kinks] (w/Dave Mirabella on guitar) -I'm Always in Love

OK, OK...I just got back to New York. I'll get the thing up ASAP!

Did Daniel knee me?

Happiest of birthdays, m'dear! Hope you're keeping warm and toasty with a nice bottle of some earthy red vino...

hope you're having the best birthday yet, k! i'm sure you're having a great time in the tropics, despite kris' blunt characterization of them... i'll hoist a nice ale in your honor tonight...

I do have a good picture of Ms. Y to share, but right went I went to post it, my computer went totally crazy. (I'm on my roommate's computer now.) I'll post the photo as soon as I figure out what's wrong with my machine. Hopefully it's nothing too serious...

Oh, I've got a good one. I'll post it when I get home.

For anyone who cares (Stoffel, this means you), Scott McCaughey did another solid opening set in Birmingham. As in New Orleans, he played mostly keyboards and was accompanied by drummer Joe Adragna (of the band The Junior League). Although tonight was just their second time performing together, to their credit, Scott and Joe changed up the set a fair bit. Tonight, one of the nuggets we got was The Old Plantation off the Down With Wilco record. And the Hank Williams cover was also a nice surprise. I can't remember if Scott mentioned Joe telling him that Hank Williams died in Birmingham (which

As Jeff himself noted, tonight's show was a completely opposite experience from the previous night in New Orleans. Not sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, but I will say I probably had more fun at the New Orleans show. Despite the loudness at the House of Blues, there was just much more of a feeling of sharing something with a bunch of people as opposed to tonight when it was a big, darkened theater and I just felt very removed from Jeff and even most of the people around me. I don't know if that makes any sense--probably not--but that's kind of the way I felt. Certainly tonight's

Yeah, and judging from the crowd response to different songs, it seemed at least to me like there were a lot of "newer" fans who wanted to hear the "hits." Although there was some hooting and hollering for Uncle Tupelo stuff, the energy level was probably best when he did some of the singalongs off of YHF and AGIB--Jesus, HMD, Theologians, etc. What I'm trying to say is that it probably wasn't the best overall venue to play some quiet songs that only a few people knew...