Hodie

I want some more soft serve.

Mmmmm, soft-serve brownie sundaes, is there a better pot luck item?

Well, sure yes, but still.

I loved the new album, which is pretty unusual on a first listen.

As for the show itself, I'd be hard-pressed to rank order the five years we've done this, but I'm going to say if I did this one would be one of the top ones. The Finn songs and Gun both stand out in my mind, and I was very happy that Barstool Blues slid in there too.

After very little sleep last night I've spent a very chaotic day hanging out with my young nephews and niece. Once my brain recovers I hope I find some more interesting things to add to the thread.

Said friend lives in D.C. (Hodie, for those of you who may know her). Story takes place in Baltimore. Here it is:

 

We were planning to go to an afghan restaurant that had been getting great reviews, but on the way over it started pouring. Monsoon conditions. We realized we looked just too awful to be going to that nice white tablecloth place, so we went to Ride Aid and bought a roll of paper towels and ducked into the nearest bar. It was a Baltimore brewpub, pretty cool, with many kinds of beer. We found a tiny table in a corner and ordered some bar food and some beers and sat there drying ourselves off with paper towels. Really.

 

We were in the bar

really un-spontaneous and boring. People should stop trying to cover those songs.

I'm glad Glen didn't take your advice, because I would've hated to miss that performance. He'd been cranky at the sound through much of his set, shoving the monitor away from him in disgust at one point. Jumping down onto the same level as the audience freed him from his annoyance and it sounded singularly spontaneous and un-boring.

Yeah, the Citizen Cope/Jack Johnson fans didn't do much to recommend themselves as good ctizens of the live music community. But those unfortunates aside, it was pretty fun to be a part of the melding fan groups throughout the day. Rodrigo y Gabriela especially caught the attenton of everyone within earshot, and they did it with just two guitars, no singing, no drums, nothing else. I've never seen so much enthusiastic hip-shaking in any crowd ever.

Well maybe I take that back, there was plenty of hip-shaking for Sharon Jones too, now that I think of it. "Goddess of Soul" is right, she is amazing.

Wilco was wonderful, even with blinding sun in their eyes, mean-spirited wilco-haters taking up space in the front row, and vocals muted in the mix. Festival shows are always risky, so I gotta say I loved this one regardless of the distractions.

Good lord, how I loved that b&b. I want to move in permanently.

Wow. Huge snoozer then, huh?

Ha, yes. And at the wildlife preserve (which takes in orphaned and wounded animals), we saw an eagle who'd also lost one wing, though I'm quite certain he wasn't the same one referenced in the article (today's eagle was very much alive).

Between the glacier and the wildlife, we were discussing the show (surprise!) and it became clear that no one else in the car but me heard Glenn pay homage to Mississippi Queen during the outro of Casino Queen. Is there anyone else here who was in the parking lot last night who can confirm that for us? It was blatant to me, but then again, my brain was a tad rain-soaked.

Assuming he did do it, it was very very cool.

Yeah, those shorts were just begging to be given a kick.

I've been to six thousand million Wilco shows now (not an exact figure), and this is the first one that was seeped in rain. It could've been miserable, but the fans were ready to love it, and the band was ready to be fantastic as usual, and it ended up being really fun.

Though I think the "Hate it Here" sing-along line was sung a little more lustily than usual due to the rain.

As a rule, Wilco plays very well in parking lots.

Honestly, there is very little in this world more wonderful than a jaunty melody with dark lyrics. This song is deliciously jaunty and deliciously dark both.

The crowd was smaller than I thought it'd be (I don't think it sold out, did it?) but the enthusiasm was inspiring. People really were wired up about seeing such a great band in such a fun atmosphere. Excepting a few overly drinky folks, the people we met were just great. And the band responded with enthusiasm back.

We drove back to Anchorage all night, there was no traffic going through Denali in the middle of the night at all of course, and everytime I woke from dozing, seeing those mountains looming up from the mist made me think I had to be dreaming. I say any universe that has mountains like that is a great universe to live in.

Mine's a road bike with a touring geometry. I mostly do mulit-day distance biking, so that's perfect for me.

It's a terry, because the shorter top tube is perfect for people who are 5'4" and under, all back problems disappeared once I started riding a Terry (I started with one of their big hybrids and then graduated to this one).

Anyone who knows me enough to hear me complain knows that I've had two arm surgeries in the past two years which kept me from biking (well, I could bike, but I couldn't brake or steer, which constitute major issues). I recovered, I've slowly been building my miles up again, and this weekend I did 72.4 of 'em. Not that I'm counting, but I'm so counting.

I love it MUCH.

I'm officially training for the Shenandoah ride this autumn, a ride we used to do every year, but which I've had to miss the last two.

Just to let you know how long its been, my last real bike trip was in 2005:

This is further derailment of the lovely Now Reading thread, but this photo just started circulating yesterday, and it fits -- it's for real, from a car on the red line of washington dc's metro, and that's what I call good grafitti...

She already took the best line, "one of my favorite people in the world" is it.

Happy Birthday, Marty, today's the day you start off a wonderful year!

I watched the Hey Jude one first, and so thought the "guitar prodigy" label was a joke. The Come Together one therefore freaked me out. In the best possible way.

That movie has been residing on my netflix list for quite a while (talk about something that's too long). You all have convinced me to move it up. Thanks!

I wanted to get married again as soon as I heard Sharon Jones' All Over Again, just so I could use it somewhere.

You'd think after all this time, I wouldn't be surprised

You'd think there'd be nothin' new when I looked into your eyes

You'd think there ain't nothin' about you that I ain't realized

But every time I see you

But every time I see you, darlin'

But every time I see you

I fall in love, all over again

We're doing Love and Happiness by Al Green.

One of my favorite songs of all time.

Benmont played as a special guest at Largo last night with Sean and Sara Watkins, and he was happy and yakky and a little feisty (ha). I get the impression this tour must feel pretty good.

New Balance Classics are the most comfortable walking shoes I've ever owned. I can walk for miles, and I do, and don't even feel my feet.

And as long as we're talking about converse -- Jack Purcell's look good, and have the added attraction of arch support. If I have to stand in all stars all day, I end up crying at night.

Mart killing it on Sir Duke

Absolutely killing. I thought the basement was going to explode from all the joy in there.

beautiful poster,

For anyone who didn't notice, I just wanted to point out the autograph on that particular poster. I think it's probably the second best rock star poster autograph I've ever seen.

Plus that, I wholeheartedly agree with him.

I'm in no way recovered from not sleeping last night, so I'll just add that Unwelcome Guest was indeed so sublime that it was more than worth the three-year wait. And Thirteen was pretty a very close second.

I wish we could do it all again right now. I think have just about enough adrenaline still cooking...

(so sorry about your camera, Brianne!)

Oh, grrrrr.

I definitely think you're the one to show up as Clara Schumann, then.

I was getting my hair cut yesterday and my stylist was so delighted with the idea of this party that before I could mention it was in chicago, she was excitedly offering to do everyone's hair for free. If we ever have one of these in Silver Spring, MD (hahahahaha), then we're all set for bouffants and spit curls.

there are tons of folks I sorely miss and would love to catch up with.

I think I can easily speak on behalf of the tons of folks and report that the feeling is extremely mutual.

I can't believe no one's mentioned coming as Clara Schumann

When Sam first came up with this idea, I wondered if we'd have a whole room full of Janis Joplins and John Lennons, but I underestimated our creativity. There are going to be some very nicely odd deceased people on parade that night.

Sincerely,

Dusty

Aw, Judy, I miss you and that beautiful face of yours so very much. Happy birthday, late!!

See you very soon...

Yay, thanks!