LouieB surpasses Tweedy's Gurl - for old timers only.

[calvino]

I was at that Summerfest too, though not on this board - 2005 for me.

[LouieB]

was that the one where they played a random 'when you wake up feeling old'?

I wish I could remember. Mostly I remember the crush of the crowd

 

That 2003 Summerfest show was my first Wilco concert, too.  A few years later Wilco played Summerfest again (2006?), and at that one both you and Rosie met me, which was, I assume, nearly as awesome as meeting the band.

 

For sure. 

I was at that Summerfest too, though not on this board - 2005 for me.

Those were great shows, but totally exhausting.  Not only did we meet the band that first night, but also Susan Miler.  It was a magical night to be sure.  I had seen Wilco several times before that, but meeting the band was pretty special for me too. 

 

LouieB

[mountain bed]

I don't know if I've ever looked at that list of overall top posters. Lou, you just kicked your own flesh and blood out of the Top 10. Way to go, man.

 

I checked in at #17. Which is odd to me in that I haven't posted 1000 times in the last 4 years. Been here 7 1/2 years, so I evidently was a posting freak from '06-'09. It certainly WAS a lot more fun (at least to me) during those times.

[alison the wilca]

I have to get in on the old-timer thread.  I CAN NOT believe that Rosie has that many posts from way back when!  That is wild.  Then again, we used to all stay up late into the night posting furiously to different threads.  It was the glory days to be sure.  I think maybe the RSBF thread fueled some of it, too.

 

VC is where I met my friends and husband and received help from kind strangers.  I think among my first posts (before the Board Crash of 2003) was asking for help in how to best get from Columbus to Ann Arbor during the first time I traveled to the see Wilco in the fall of 2002.  It was the same trip where I gave Glenn our Wilca tape.  ::wistful::

[LouieB]

Whenever I ventured into the RSBF thread I inevitably got told off by TeeG.  Good times.

 

LouieB

[kidsmoke]

This made me laugh out loud, Lou.  In terms of posting rate, Tweedy's Gurl was in a Camaro while the rest of us were on skateboards.  I miss those old days, but I'm very happy that I've remained in contact with both of you over the years.

 

What he said! Congratulations on your achievement, Louie!

[SarahC]

Whenever I ventured into the RSBF thread I inevitably got told off by TeeG.  Good times.

 

LouieB

No guys (specifically dad-guys) allowed! 

 

Man, I remember when I 1st came here, Rosie and I were so skeptical of one another ("there's no way you're 15-16...etc") and now she's one of my oldest friends!  

 

I do miss those late night post sessions.

[LouieB]

Last night on her radio show (Devils Radio WDBX.org 10-12 central time Thursday - cheap plug) Rosie played portions of the Summerfest show we attended. Listening to it was like listening to an entirely different band.  In the ten years since, Wilco has changed from a jangly, strummy, audience participation band to a tight, roaring, professional one.  The change is quite remarkable, now with a world class guitar player and two incredible keyboard players as well as a more assured and consistent vocalist.  Just amazing.

 

LouieB

[Sir Stewart]

I lost one job and very nearly another because I posted here so much from 2005-2008. At one point I calculated a 17 posts per day average. Thank God things changed. Now - come at me, Louie! You're halfway there.

[LouieB]

No way. Now that I am field based and not office based I don't have that much time anymore, besides not much interesting is going on here most of the time.

 

LouieB

[tinnitus photography]

No way. Now that I am field based and not office based I don't have that much time anymore, besides not much interesting is going on here most of the time.

 

Do you think it's the fault of Wilco, or the community? Or both?

[uncool2pillow]

It all seems to have gone downhill around 2008, right around the time I started checking in quite a bit.  I will take the blame on this one.  Sorry guys.

[mountain bed]

Do you think it's the fault of Wilco, or the community? Or both?

I think it's probably neither. Certainly not the fault of the band. And invariably there is burn out among the posters.

 

This doesn't have anything to do with it, but imo if it can be pinpointed to a specific time frame I'd say it was when Jay died. The board crashed for a few days, and when it did come back it seemed as if some of the life had been sucked out of the board. You might or might not agree, that's just my perception.

 

For many old schoolers Jay was hugely influential to the sound. Hey, a "circle can only have one center" but for many (myself included) Jay Bennett WAS the soul of the band, just as Garcia was the soul of The Dead. Both bands continue to carry on but the X Factor is no longer in play. As Lou said, Wilco is a tight, roaring, professional band at this point, with highly skilled musicians, but that's not what attracted me to the band. As Neil Young famously replied to an interviewer's question (why do you play with Crazy Horse?), "long, flat expanses of professionalism bore me".

 

WTA WAS boring imo, and TWL slightly better, but we really need the band to return to a more "anything could happen" mindset. SS#3 and the recent collaborations with Weir on the current tour gives me hope in that regard.

[caliber66]

Big Perm was the glue that held this place together.

[LouieB]

I think a couple things.  The music business in general is not that interesting anymore.  It's not to say that good music isn't being made (this is not an old guy rant), there is some good stuff out there, but if anyone names a newer band,(and this happens with some regularity) hardly anyone else has heard of it.  I am training as a DJ (talk about old guy syndrome here...just wait) at CHIRP and they feature new music nearly exclusively on their play list (as it should be) but I can't hardly identify even one band and they all sound depressingly alike.  In fact after doing a couple shadowing gigs, I described the music as sounding like sludge.  Much of it sounded like over processed, multi-tracked, cleverly arranged, minimal or submerged vocals (and by the way even the lo-fi sounds about the same way). Everyone is paying some sort of homage to some other band or type of music.  Musicians aren't that interested in bright clear records, with clear structure, listener friendly hooks; what back in the old days would be considered radio friendly, because everyone knows they aren't getting played on the radio anyway.  Most of the time I crave something straight ahead and not obscure that appears to be played and sung by real musicians and real vocalists.  (Here is a plug for my radio show R&B Flashback on WNUR.org this Sunday at 5-7 central.)  Whatever happened to music you could dance to or at least just hear one time and want to hear again? 

 

The second thing is that we have played out all the usual suspects to the max.  There won't ever be another Dylan, Beatles, Kinks, Big Star, Grateful Dead, etc. etc.  Those folks are gone in the mists of time (even if they are still here) and they aren't coming back.  Few artists now strive for that hit single, that universal appeal and so what really do we have to talk about?  We can re-hash our old favorites over and over again or we can try and find some interesting up and comers, but they just don't seem to be on the horizon.  Even Wilco may need to throw out the old playbook and try for something new.  At least that way  we might not complain that the new record is not as exciting as Summerteeth. 

 

Just one more thing.  There was a time when music brought people together.  There wasn't any competition to be cool, know more than anyone else, or be tuned into something ultra obscure (or best the next person with hipness.)  We all just wanted something great.  You could hear bands on the radio.  Every single group (with the exception of a Big Star who are frankly the epitome of the hipness, considering no one knew who they were back in the day but don't forget Alex Chilton's original band, the Box Tops had all sorts of air play with several wonderful hit singles) got a shot at fame, even if it was fleeting.  (Heck even groups like 13th Floor Elevators had a hit single.) The Kinks, Credence, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Marvin Gaye, Al Green, Jefferson Airplane, etc, all sold tons of records and they were great.  You could take these groups or leave them, but you knew why they were there and why folks liked them.  (By the way, the legend of the Velvet Underground being unknown is also bullshit.  Plenty of people knew who they were and they had several hit singles, although later in their career.)

 

Okay end of rant. This is why Tweedy's Gurl out-posted me. She never wrote this much in any post. 

 

LouieB

[Beltmann]

 

This doesn't have anything to do with it, but imo if it can be pinpointed to a specific time frame I'd say it was when Jay died. The board crashed for a few days, and when it did come back it seemed as if some of the life had been sucked out of the board.

 

I had forgotten about that, but you're right.  The board was down for some time (about a week?), and the timing couldn't have been worse: Much of the interaction had already started to migrate to other places such as Facebook, and the crash accelerated the exodus. By the time it returned, much of the discussion had migrated to social media and also a shadow board, and it never quite came back full force.  (I'm guilty, too: I probably say more about Wilco on FB than here.)

 

I'm hesitant to place blame anywhere.  There are always manifold dynamics at play; ebb-and-flow is both natural and inevitable.

 

I keep checking in here to see whether Tweedy's Gurl has made a triumphant return to reclaim her crown...

[alison the wilca]

Aside from social media, I'm certain some of it has to do with the proliferation of internet usage by people in general.  When I first came to the board in 2001/2002, dynamic message boards like this that were used by lots of people were fairly new (obviously there were boards and chat rooms during the 90s, but larger majorities started escaping to "online" in the late 90s/early 2000s).  That probably fueled a lot of interest... "Wow!  A place where people who love my favorite band talk and post pictures and do blanks and S&H trades (just threw you all back 10 years, didn't I?) and talk about funny things late night!  This is great!"

 

That newness and uniqueness is just diluted now.  There is too much out there, too many ways to communicate, and the people that formed friendships in the early days continued friendships in other ways.  It is what it is.... it is kinda like when you hear an album you love for the first time.  You can never re-feel that again.

[LouieB]

 

I keep checking in here to see whether Tweedy's Gurl has made a triumphant return to reclaim her crown...

Sadly this is not going to happen. She knows I posted up about this and really doesn't care.  She has moved on. The rest of us....

 

LouieB

[Alisa]

It seems like evreytime I come on there are usernames I don't recognize.

[Sweet Papa Crimbo]

It seems like evreytime I come on there are usernames I don't recognize.

 

Well...a lot of that started when people started changing their usernames. (I'm guilty of that too...but I always have Crow in one way shape or form in my username).

When that started, the inside jokes became overwhelming and a bit off-putting to the new folks.

Even though the current administrators and moderators are top notch, things changed once Narziss left/abdicated/moved on/retired. 

And, like all boards, newcomers were mercilessly hazed or ignored by the 'cool kids'.

As some of the old crew either got bored or perma-banned, things seemed to find their own equilibrium.

 

The board is and has been at a crossroads for a while. I'm staying, because I love the band and this place feels like home.

[Beltmann]

The board is and has been at a crossroads for a while. I'm staying, because I love the band and this place feels like home.

 

[Oil Can Boyd]

Two thoughts:

 

1. I agree with what others have said that the rise of other social media has changed things, at least for me.  This place used to be one of only a couple of different sites that I would go to throughout the day and now there is a longer list.  

 

2. The user name thing is funny.  The other day I was at lunch and the person I was eating with asked the waiter to change something as part of their order.  My first thought was "I wonder if that is a legal sandwich maneuver ..." (with "legalsandwichmaneuver" being the user name of someone who posted here regularly a while back).  

 

All that said, it is still a great place for music and book recommendations, thoughtful and (mostly) respectful discussion of Wilco, and political discussions to either engage in or ignore.

[brianjeremy]

I first started posting here in 2001 as a way to meet Wilco fans after YHF leaked. That album was so amazing that I had to seek other fans out and I stumbled upon this place.  I was 21 and a senior in college: it was such an awesome place/time back then with little-to-no responsibilities and lots of personal discovery.  It was new and awesome to interact with so many fans.  I found so many of my now-favorite bands/albums through this site and through the suggestions of so many of the old posters...I almost quit when the post counts re-set back in the day and that was actually the beginning of the end for me because I had just started a teaching career and was out living life rather than talking about it on a chat board all the time.

 

...but, like most of the old-timers, I lost interest for several reasons: life, losing interest in the band, moving on to other things, a career, getting married, loss of free-time and, in general,  growing-up.  I still post here once, maybe twice a month but I'll never be able to participate like I could or even want to like I did 12 years ago (I still check it out on a near-daily basis).  Wilco, in my opinion, aren't nearly as exciting or good as they used to be and they don't really tour as close to my local as they once did.  Maybe if they make more dynamic music in the future, then perhaps I would regain my interest but SBS killed any interest I had in the band and I still never fully re-gained my interest (although TWL was a little more adventurous). I'm a firm believer that they crossed over into the dreaded and quite uninteresting "dad-rock" paradigm and shall never return!  The band can deny it all they like; many fans feel this way about Wilco.  I get that some do not feel this way and respect their opinion.  

 

The proliferation of the internet, information and availability of music, has made the whole musical discovery-thing "less" appealing, in-so-much that it's available at the tips of my fingers and on my Facebook feeds and there's less and less "wonder" everyday.   Remember when the Now Playing thread used to get to 30-40+ pages within a month?  Now it's just the same 3-4 people who fill up a 4 page thread with the same ol' things.  

[bleedorange]

I remember when the Now Playing thread was weekly rather than monthly.  It's almost sad to think that this has been one of the most interesting threads around here over the last several months...talking about the good ol' days.  I certainly miss the threads where you would be at least 30 posts behind if you didn't check it in a few hours.

 

Even though my interest in Wilco has waned, I still enjoy the discussions of the band, new music, and the many different non-music topics that show up. Plus, I can check and post at work, which is more than most people, I guess.

 

I've never really been sure of the demographics of this message board, but it seems like the high volume of posting was driven by younger people who have all grown up and moved away.  Add the proliferation of other social media along with the fact that Wilco just doesn't seem to attract the young fans anymore with the time to seek out this board and post, and the demise of the message board seems inevitable.

 

I'll be here as long as the board is here.  And as long as Beltmann keeps posting.

[Mr. Heartbreak]

I sure hope the demise of the message board is not inevitable...at least, not while I am around and have time. For selfish reasons, anyway. I have been known to lurk in other places, but not to post anywhere else. This still feels like home to me.

 

I will also cop to coming very close to quitting way back at the time that the board crashed and the post count reset. I thought, "Oh, man, all that time wasted, and now I'm back at two posts??"

 

If it hadn't crashed, I'd probably have about twice as many posts to my credit. Of course, once it was back online, I posted much less, averaging only about one a day at the most. Then I got married and between the wife and work, my time here was minimal. I'm actually on here more now than I was for a while, and I've gotten a seriously rekindled interest in Wilco in the past year or so...partly because TWL was more adventurous than the previous two albums and partly because of Wilco doing so many cool covers! Didn't see that coming....