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Wilco v. Kanye


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The year in Kanye/The year in Wilco

 

Only one of these acts had a twisted, dark fantasy of a 2010. Guess who.

 

You might find this hard to believe, but Kanye West and Wilco, two of Chicago's biggest musical exports, had very different 2010s. It's true! One had a pleasant year, sleepy and gentle, but pleasant. The other had the kind of all-over-the-place year for which the 21st century was invented. Can you can guess who had what?

 

The Year in Wilco

 

Feb. 19: Wilco made honorary citizens of Duluth.

 

Feb. 23: Leader Jeff Tweedy jokingly admonishes a Madison, Wis., audience because Wilco has not yet been made honorary citizens of Madison. (A few days later the Madison City Council introduces a resolution to declare Wilco honorary citizens of Madison.)

 

March: Though it opened a few months earlier, the Sky Blue Sky Sandwich Company takes off in Toronto. It's not officially connected with the band, but all of its sandwiches are named for Wilco songs. (The "Casino Queen," smoked turkey with balsamic onion marmalade, is especially good. And only $4.99.)

 

March 15: California's Langunitas Brewing Co. announces a "Wilco Tango Foxtrot" Imperial Brown ale; it's described as "smooth, dangerous, chocolatey."

 

May 18: Wilco announces it will be sponsoring the Royals, a Little League baseball team in the Warren Park Youth Baseball League.

 

Aug. 13: Wilco curates a three-day arts festival in the Berkshires. The Solid Sound Festival at MASS MoCA (the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art) features comedy, films, jazz combos, indie rock bands, a handful of Wilco side projects and headlining, of course, Wilco. (On Dec. 17, the band announced it would put the festival on again in June.)

 

Sept. 14: "You Are Not Alone," Tweedy's collaboration with 71-year-old soul legend Mavis Staples, recorded at Wilco's Northwest Side studio, is released.

 

Oct. 30: Tweedy and Staples perform an acoustic number at the Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert-led Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear in Washington.

 

Nov. 11: Rahm Emanuel, running for Chicago mayor, tells Time Out Chicago that Wilco is his favorite local band and Tweedy his favorite local artist.

 

Nov. 22: Wilco announces a partnership with Chicago-based coffee company Intelligentsia. It will lend its name to a "Wilco Selects" signature blend coffee, which is described as having "a light and silky quality … that beautifully compliments the ever-present note of citron, juniper berry and vanilla."

 

The Year in Kanye West

 

Jan. 4: Kanye West announces on his blog that he's back in the studio working on his fifth album, compares himself (in all capital letters) to Kobe Bryant and explains that he will soon be working in the tradition of Maya Angelou.

 

Jan. 22: The "Hope for Haiti" telethon airs; rumors abound that West was pointedly not invited (though a representative for the show later denies this).

 

June 8: West plays a free concert at Farragut Career Academy for three Chicago Public Schools that posted gains in attendance and grades.

 

July 28: West joins Twitter. Officially the most entertaining person on Twitter. (Sample tweet: "I specifically ordered Persian rugs with cherub imagery!!!")

 

July 30: West picks one person to follow on Twitter, British teenager Steven Holmes. ("You are the chosen one dun dun dun dun," West tweets.)

 

Aug. 3: Holmes tells a British newspaper that he resents the attention from West and really never liked West's music to begin with.

 

Aug. 20: West begins "G.O.O.D. Music Friday." Every week though November, he offers one new song (for free) on his blog.

 

Sept. 12: West reportedly meets with Taylor Swift left, backstage at the MTV Video Music Awards and the pair call a truce.

 

Oct. 6: In Touch magazine reports that West canceled (via e-mail) a rooftop performance for the "Oprah Winfrey Show."

 

Oct. 19: West shows off his new diamond teeth as part of his interview on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show."

 

Oct. 23: West releases a 35-minute music video/short film for "Runaway."

 

Nov. 8: West picks up a flight attendant's microphone and sings an impromptu "Gold Digger" to a Delta flight traveling from Minneapolis to New York.

 

Nov. 9: George W. Bush's memoir is released; it includes the revelation that West's comment after Hurricane Katrina ("George Bush doesn't care about black people") was the low point of his presidency. West tapes an interview with "Today" show's Matt Lauer and says he's sorry he said that.

 

Nov. 10: Bush, in his own "Today" show interview, says he absolves West. ("I'm not a hater," the former president tells Lauer.) West unleashes a stream of Twitter messages complaining about his interview with Lauer and saying that the morning show co-host was "trying to force my answers."

 

Nov. 11: West's squirmy interview airs; West cancels his Nov. 26 performance on the "Today" show.

 

Nov. 22: West releases his fifth album, "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy," to unanimous acclaim. The New Yorker, in a positive review reflecting on both West's talent and ability to generate press, delivers a poignant backhanded compliment: "Does Kanye West need to be any good?"

 

Nov. 25: While performing on a float during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (on NBC), West is booed and implored by surly New Yorkers to jump.

 

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-12-27/entertainment/ct-live-1228-year-in-kanye-20101227_1_wilco-songs-honorary-citizens-kanye-west-and-wilco

 

 

The author does not say who had the better year, but that should be obvious.

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This is cute and stupid all at the same time.

LouieB

 

At least they didn't do a compare and contrast with Dennis DeYoung and Wilco.

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At least they didn't do a compare and contrast with Dennis DeYoung and Wilco.

:lol I don't think Dennis had quite the year Kanye had. Frankly the Wilco news was by and large not even that much about Wilco (sandwichs, beer, coffee...I guess Wilco IS a mature group.) Kanye at least released an album.

 

LouieB

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Hmm, I wonder if Jim Derogatis wrote this article.

No he never worked for the Trib. They can think of this stupid stuff on their own. Meanwhile DeRo is dispensing incorrect info on the Office of Cultural Affairs instead.

 

LouieB

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