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Wilco in the non-English press


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Maybe a blog post doesn't count as foreign press but... representin'. Here is a post by a music promoter in China, from 2009 when Wilco considered a stop in Beijing.

 

http://www.douban.com/note/54295308/

 

I did a quick translation, below the original text. (I am a professional :shifty. My stellar resume available on request. PM me if you require Chinese-English translations.)

 

 

环境,音乐.WILCO乐团4月日本.

 

[Environment, Music, Wilco, Japan, April]

 

2009-12-22 15:08:12

 

在北京,在上海, 人们活的那么快,那么累,那么的重, 大家又如何有时间去欣赏和体会那么好听的FOLK歌曲呢? FEIST 多亏了一首1234, 才有那么多内地人知道她.

 

[People's lives are so hectic, exhausting and heavily burdened in cities like Beijing and Shanghai. When does anyone have time to listen to folk music? The only reason Feist is known in China is because of her one song "1, 2, 3, 4."]

 

其余的像MY MORNING JACKET , WILCO , GREAT LAKE SWIMMERS , SUFJAN STEVEN 什么的好听的音乐团和音乐人的歌曲大家怎么能有心情去欣赏呢?

 

[Who could ever get into the right mood to enjoy songs by great bands and musicians like My Morning Jacket, Wilco, Great Lake Swimmers, Sufjan Stevens, etc.]

 

从最初,其实就是环境决定一切. WILCO 要去日本了在4月. 他们的AGENT问我, 可不可以加中国一站, 我说, WILCO到北京能来600人,而且是买票进来的, 就是成功了. GREAT LAKE SWIMMERS都要陪大钱了, 还有什么心思做WILCO , 太贵了.

 

[From the start, our environment dictates everything. Wilco will be going to Japan in April, and their agent approached me to ask whether they could add a stop in China. I said it would be a huge success if 600 people show up to see Wilco -- and that would be 600 that actually buy tickets to come. We lost money on Great Lake Swimmers. I am in no mood to tackle Wilco. Too expensive.]

 

很可笑, 北京1000多万人的城市, 最后如果一场演出票能卖过700张就已经是大赞了! 而且票又不能卖贵. 大家都很累, 最后没有了激情, 还会继续坚持吗? 还好我们还年轻.至少现在还年轻.

 

[it's laughable, in a city of more than 10 million like Beijing, selling 700 tickets for a show would be considered a huge success. And you can't price the tickets too high. At the end of the day, everyone is worn out, they run out of passion. Who would continue? It's a good thing we are still young, or at least still young for now.]

 

民谣真算了, 中国没人听欧美的民谣. 又是一堆老外在买票.

 

[Folk music is a waste of time here. No one in China appreciates European or American folk music. It'll be another bunch of foreigners buying tickets for the show.]

 

上次JOSE G 听说卖了700张票, 一线的FOLK 音乐人呀, 在愚公移山80%是外国人那天, 我们11月份做AU REVOIR SIMONE 在愚公移山, 卖了600多张票, 当天里面700人, 80%是老外, 大家都在想2010年难道还这样下去吗? 北京1500万人口呀.

 

[i heard that Jose Gonzales sold about 700 tickets when he came, and he is considered a top billing artist. Again, 80 percent were foreigners that day. When we did "Au Revoir Simone" at [/color]Yugong Yishan Live House* in November, we sold over 600 tickets. There were about 700 in the audience and 80 percent of them were foreigners. Everyone wondered whether we would go on like this in 2010. Beijing has a population of 15 million! ]

 

WILCO 去日本, 艺人都说来, 但是人家不会来,如果你没钱请人家. 著名的艺人给你个友情价,都还是高的很. 不能怪人家, 人家是凭这个吃饭的, 凭什么自己过来免费演? 不能怪人家.

 

[Wilco will be going to Japan. Artists say they will come, but they won't come if you don't have money to get them here. When famous acts give you a "friendship price", it is still a high price. You can't blame them. They have to make a living. They are not going to perform for free.]

 

WILCO来可不是预售票100元钱的票了. GREAT LAKE SWIMEMRS是无法和WILCO相提并论呀,目前来说, 但是也是加拿大的一线民谣团呀. 然后都没什么人认,全是老外在买票. 我说的是现实,众为朋友. 还是那句话, WILCO只是你和我,还有一些喜欢WILCO的人,知道WILCO的份量, 其余的人真是对牛弹琴.

 

[if Wilco came, it won't be 100 RMB a ticket. Great Lake Swimmers can't be mentioned in the same breath as Wilco, but they are still a top shelf Canadian band. In the end it was still only foreigners buying tickets. I am talking about realities, my beloved readers. It's the same old story. Only people like you and me, and those who like Wilco, realize the importance of a band like Wilco. To the rest of the population you might as well be 'playing lute to water buffalo.' ]

 

* A famous Beijing venue for indie music

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Ok, so I do have some contacts in the entertainment/art/media world in the Greater China region, and I was fantasizing about Wilco doing an Asian tour when I visited with some friends there last summer. (Yes, they roll their eyes at me and say that I talk about Wilco the way a born again Christian talks about Jesus.) They like Wilco too, partly because it is a prerequisite for our friendship, but they told me frankly that unless Wilco was actually Air Supply, or makes a few karaoke-friendly videos, it would be a hard sell.

 

My people disappoint me. :-(

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  • 1 month later...

Madrid-based El Pais has posted reviews of the Mermaid Avenue boxset: http://cultura.elpai...734_881803.html as well as the New Multitudes CD: http://cultura.elpai...774_724167.html Here below the English titles of both pieces:

 

 

* Woody Guthrie's not dead

by Fernando Navarro

 

* Wilco and Billy Bragg rescue Woody Guthrie again

by Íñigo López Palacios

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  • 2 months later...

Several interviews in Spanish press now that the boys are in Barcelona. No time to translate, sorry, but Google translator can be your friend

 

"Wilco is a relaxed project, devoid of drama" (Nels); http://www.elperiodico.com/es/noticias/ocio-y-cultura/nels-cline-wilco-proyecto-sin-dramas-relajado-tranquilo-1857881

"The most important thing is to be inspired to create things" (Jeff)

http://www.lavanguardia.com/cultura/20120531/54301966863/jeff-tweedy-lo-mas-importante-es-estar-inspirado-para-crear-algo.html

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  • 4 months later...

Nels Cline interview with Italian newspaper La Repubblica.

 

"Radiohead comparisons honour us", he told journalist Fulvio Paloscia.

 

L'INTERVISTA

Wilco, il sound dell’America di Obama che stravolge il vecchio country

Parla Nels Cline, dal 2004 chitarrista della band che ha aggiornato la tradizione del rock’n’roll americano. E che l’11 ottobre sarà in concerto all’Obihall

di FULVIO PALOSCIA

http://firenze.repub...untry-43984495/

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