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Can someone please explain the Tweedy "Living Room Shows"?


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Even among murderers and father-rapers there are some people who think they deserve more "respect" because "I'm the best at it!"

 

Whoa! Just when you think that there is nothing new under the sun, you learn. I had never heard of 'father rape'. I loved my dad and am thankful for the fond memories but if I had forced myself on him... That has to be a small minority that are into that scene.

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Whoa! Just when you think that there is nothing new under the sun, you learn. I had never heard of 'father rape'. I loved my dad and am thankful for the fond memories but if I had forced myself on him... That has to be a small minority that are into that scene.

It's a quote from the movie/song by Arlo Guthrie called Alice's Restaurant.

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It's a quote from the movie/song by Arlo Guthrie called Alice's Restaurant.

Be that as it may, it is still a new one on me. Sick.

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It's getting to be that time of year...

 

My avatar will be making its annual change in a few weeks.

 

This-piece-of-paper's-got-47-words-37-sentences-58-words-we-wanna-

know-details-of-the-crime-time-of-the-crime-and-any-other-kind-of-thing-

you-gotta-say-pertaining-to-and-about-the-crime-I-want-to-know-arresting-

officer's-name-and-any-other-kind-of-thing-you-gotta-say"..

forty-five minutes and nobody understood a word that he said.

 

--Mike

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If you haven't heard that song, you should. Then it'll all make sense.

I have heard Alice's Restaurant but not in 25-30 years. Regardless of the connection to the song 'father-raper' struck me as a previously unheard of deviant behavior. This makes sense on it's own.

 

It's getting to be that time of year...

Yes. One of the volunteers at the community radio station here plays it every Thanksgiving. I am thankful that I have other things to do during that time.

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There are really two separate issues being discussed here, which have been inappropriately intertwined, because they are separate issues:

 

One is the issue of sharing recordings of the Living Room Shows. That one is pretty cut-and-dried since Sue and Jeff have stated where they stand, which is that they don't want these recordings circulated.

 

The second issue is the feeling that some people have that certain fans feel "entitled". If you were to take Crow's statement and remove the band's name:

 

"The only problem with _________ is the sense of entitlement some fans have."

 

....I think you'd find that you could fritter away a huge quantity of time filling in that blank and find it true, over and over and over. Try these suggestions:

 

The Bay City Rollers

Neil Diamond

The Lakers

The Jay Leno Show

Hostess Cupcakes

The YMCA

Major League Baseball

NASA

NASCAR

nasal polyps

Family Guy

 

...Now you try!

 

....and the reason that sentence works with so many different insertions is that it's simply a part of human nature that some people act like that...everywhere in life! It's far from exclusive to Wilco. It has virtually nothing to do with Wilco and everything to do with the fact that some people are creeps because they are smug and full of themselves. It's this character flaw that's the problem. Even among murderers and father-rapers there are some people who think they deserve more "respect" because "I'm the best at it!"

 

How "entitled" do you think Kanye felt as he strolled up to Taylor Swift as she tried to accept her award?

 

So go ahead and dislike the personality trait in people but realize it isn't about "Wilco fans", it's about jerky people.

 

Actually...the comment was a nod to H. L. Menken (the master of all observation). You dig Arlo Guthrie...I dig H. L. Menken.

 

The older I get, the more I realize that most of responses to life are situational. Nobody is all good, nobody is all bad. Sometimes we act with a total eye to self interest/selfishness and others we act with true selflessness. Some have life more out of balance than others.

 

I more than a bit bemused that after Sue relayed Jeff's wishes that we are still having the discussion as to whether the recordings should be circulated.

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I for one will not be surprised when Jeff stops coming and just opts to make a private donation. Too much drama which ends up taking away from the purpose of the whole event. Even the whole ticketing thing last year made it more about the fact that Jeff was playing then the purpose of the event.

 

I'm not an all nighter but I do stop in two or three times in the 24 hour period and every year its relatively the same crowd that stays for the whole event. Each year the crowd gets bigger for Jeffs segment. Which is a shame because the event as a whole is fantastic.

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Guest Speed Racer

Too much drama which ends up taking away from the purpose of the whole event.

 

For whom? He shows up at a few houses, plays for happy people and eats pizza [1]. I'm pretty sure all the drama is on this end, and he doesn't come here too much.

 

[1] Obviously an over-simplification, but let's face it: his house isn't getting egged by people screaming, "OMGSTFUJKLOL WE COULDN'T GET INTO A GRUOP H8ER!"

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We've only really had two people complaining about the shows not being distributed, and I am positive neither of them knew that srmt was Sue Miller-Tweedy, which in fairness if you haven't been here for awhile, that isn't a connection you'd immediately make. And I think everyone has claimed to have gotten inside info from Tweedy at some point, it's one of our finest running gags here.

 

The Living Room shows have clearly been a very wonderful and worthwhile experience for a lot of people here, and it's easy to say why they'd be in high demand Jeff Tweedy playing essentially an all-request setlist in a living room. Some people have gotten a little out of line here and there over it for sure, remember that guy that complained about the crowd singing on one of the recordings :yucky, but for the most part the community has always been very respectful and held those accountable who haven't been. So I personally don't find these issues indicative at all of a sense of entitlement from Wilco fans or Via Chicago posters, these are certain individuals. And I'd lean more to the side that the real issue here is not one of a sense of entitlement but ignorance. I am not implying that anyone that's complained here is stupid, but the posters have some of the more combative posts seem to have either missed a. the essence of what exactly the Living Room Shows are and/or missed completely that srmt = Sue (1), and the reason we aren't distributing these anymore is because Jeff doesn't want the recordings out there.

 

--Mike

 

(1). All of this would have been cleared up if Sue had taken my screen name suggestion: Yes Noobs, It's Really Me, but apparently Thax Douglas still has a claim on that one.

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Ditto. Where's the drama? These auctioned shows will probably raise 100K this year.

 

 

I'm not saying there is a problem with those who get the shows, no drama there that I know of, they always seem respectful. I was more talking about the shit on here and the number of people who look at this as "there chance to get up close and personal with Jeff", I mean how many of these people would be coming if there was no appearance by Jeff.

 

ETA: I also meant that it becomes a big production for the folks at second city, where as the other 22 hours are fairly low key.

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Guest Speed Racer

I mean how many of these people would be coming if there was no appearance by Jeff.

 

If I've learned anything about VC and Wilco fans in general, it's that we're a fairly charitble bunch. Given that the multiple voluntary donations to Doctors Without Borders, the Guthrie foundation and whatever else there was involved no direct contact with any member of Wilco, yet still did amazingly well, I'd say you don't really have to worry about VCers tendency to give. Would it hurt the Second City fundraiser? Probably, but it's not like we were donating in droves before the Living Room Shows either.

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I don't want to ruffle any feathers, but my 'pushy and bossy' and 'judgemental' nature compels me to make the following observations.

 

Group dynamics are always the same...even on the internets.

 

This whole scenario is so deja vu for me. In 1998(ish), I was a heavy duty poster on the AOL Bruce Springsteen boards (back when AOL was still moderately acceptable). Very cool days these were. And, as is the way with all collections of people (flesh and blood or binary coded), a certain elite group formed. People who had access to the uber recorder bootlegs; the people who had been to 100's of show; people who knew Dave Marsh; People who WERE Dave Marsh; People who had actually worked for the Boss. There were VERY hard feeling that arose from password codes to Ticketmaster during the beginnings of the Reunion tour. The, for lack of a better term, Elite group had access to the password, everyone else did not.

 

It is only natural for some people to form attachments to others in a group dynamic (ever visit the RTT here?). We all have our personalities that we have on the board. (One reason why the goofy ass screen name change craze wasn't totally maddening. Some people are recognizable no matter what). And it is only natural for people to feel left out. Some react in petty ways, some sulk, some get mad. But this place is as real an aggregation of personalities as is your office (and probably a lot more pleasant than most).

 

There is an elite group here...as can be expected. These folks have been very giving with information, recordings, stories, etc. They allow those of us on the periphery to have a better access and get a better exposure to things that non-board readers don't get. And I'm not the only one who has a judgemental and scolding tone...there are quite a few of you who are very offputting in your responses.

 

It would be great if everybody could donate coin and attend a living room show...but it is not and never will be feasable, practical or possible.

Those who ponied up the cash to donate to this wonderful charity get to reap the benefits of their generousity.

 

 

And if Jeff does not want recordings of the shows circulated...well, that is a no brainer. I saw these shows on Dime/btree/owl and bear (one of those...I don't remember which) and was a bit surprised that they were out there. I fully and clearly remember after the first LRS that there was an expressed prohibition on these recording being made publically available. And now they have been pulled from some sources. Now, I think it is fairly clear that the person(s) who made these things available were simply trying to share the joy, not trying to put the fact that they were at the show in the faces of those who were not. This will arise again after the next LRS when the people who were there will post about how great it was and how much fun it was to be there on the board. It is inevitable.

 

If you complain about and decry the existence of an elite group, you simply don't get it. Every collection of people segments itself. Every group has people who are more invested in the group than others.

 

I view myself as a bit of a outsider...a self proclaimed/inflicted exile, observer and hermit. I used to really like to stir the shit and throw bombs. Now, I like to watch as things keep recycling and repeating...

 

The community exists. The community has an unofficial heirarchy...and it is a good thing. Plato said "Democracy leads to anarchy, which is mob rule." Maybe not every where...but the interweb..you betcha.

 

I love this place devoted to this cult favorite Band. I love this little cult band. I have invested 15 or so years in a major fan jones on this band. I just hope we can not tear ourselves apart in some misguided attempt at ... something.

 

Putting up the heat shield and reaching for the asbestos drawers...

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If I've learned anything about VC and Wilco fans in general, it's that we're a fairly charitble bunch. Given that the multiple voluntary donations to Doctors Without Borders, the Guthrie foundation and whatever else there was involved no direct contact with any member of Wilco, yet still did amazingly well, I'd say you don't really have to worry about VCers tendency to give. Would it hurt the Second City fundraiser? Probably, but it's not like we were donating in droves before the Living Room Shows either.

 

 

Yeah we are a charitable bunch, its just like I was saying this event is so much more then Jeff Tweedy singing a few songs we've all heard.

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