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How Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy Learned To Grow Up And Start Firing His Friends


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Guest Don Draper

I tend to agree with this and would include Coomer in on that.  After the firings of Coomer and especially Bennett it became increasingly hard to listen to Wilco.  With the anchor of Coomer gone Wilco was free to fly into the hard rock stratosphere but they lost the down to earth sensitivity to rock n' roll and country style that Coomer had.  Obviously Bennett was the master of the counter melody, the substitution chord change, and power pop twang heaven.  Both of them put a lot of their soul into Wilco and it was hard to stomach watching them get fired just as the band was on the precipice of greater success - that is, just as their hard work and sacrifice was to be rewarded with a little better pay and recognition.  After that, it was basically "The Jeff Tweedy Band" for all intensive purposes but it really wasn't up to that point: that's why Tweedy axed them.

 

But again this is old stuff -- where's the Tweedy sex tape is what I want to know! 

I'm a big Josh Ritter fan, and Josh Ritter has always billed himself solo or as "Josh Ritter and the Royal City Band" or variations of that.  He's had a number of people in his backing bands, and he's had a consistent line-up for a while. He LOVES the guys in his band right now, and you can see that they get a fair amount of independence.  If Josh decides to change musical directions, then Josh might ditch his bandmates if they can't make that shift in their playing styles.  There's nothing wrong with that.

 

Jeff is obviously the primary force of Wilco.  Without him, there's no Wilco.  For the most part, each album varies greatly from the last.  The fiddle/banjo guy left after Being There, because, wow Summerteeth has no room for that kind of sound.  Summerteeth is pretty well-liked around here, right?  It's fantastic, and there was no reason to keep fiddle/banjo guy if that's not what they were playing.

 

The shift in the percussion sound is sharp and immediately noticeable from Summerteeth to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.  I can't imagine the power pop drum sound of I'm Always in Love or ELT on Kamera or Heavy Metal Drummer.  And I don't think A Ghost is Born would have been as...however it is...if Jay was still in the band.  There's a sharp contrast between the Summerteeth and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot arrangements and the A Ghost is Born arrangements.  

 

The sound didn't change because Jeff axed bandmates, Jeff axed bandmates to change the sound.  Yes it's the Jeff Tweedy Band, but that's a lame name, don't you think?

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If only Jeff had taken the Miles Davis approach.  "You're ready to lead your own band, so I'm not firing you, but you're out."

Just continuing in this vein... who do you think should be fired right now?  

 

I think Tweedy should have Tony fire the Pat Metheny guy, the guy with the bouffant hairdo, and Kotche.  Maybe he could be like the AOL CEO and do it on a conference call to thousands of fans and reporters.

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one thing that's kinda tiresome (to me) about the Bennett/Coomer argument is the assumption that if those guys had stayed in the band it would have cranked out another half dozen opera of equal (or better) quality to Being There or Summerteeth.  

 

because, see, you never know.

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one thing that's kinda tiresome (to me) about the Bennett/Coomer argument is the assumption that if those guys had stayed in the band it would have cranked out another half dozen opera of equal (or better) quality to Being There or Summerteeth.  

 

because, see, you never know.

Where's that Dick Ctionary guy when you need him?

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I tend to agree with this and would include Coomer in on that.  After the firings of Coomer and especially Bennett it became increasingly hard to listen to Wilco.  With the anchor of Coomer gone Wilco was free to fly into the hard rock stratosphere but they lost the down to earth sensitivity to rock n' roll and country style that Coomer had.  Obviously Bennett was the master of the counter melody, the substitution chord change, and power pop twang heaven.  Both of them put a lot of their soul into Wilco and it was hard to stomach watching them get fired just as the band was on the precipice of greater success - that is, just as their hard work and sacrifice was to be rewarded with a little better pay and recognition.  After that, it was basically "The Jeff Tweedy Band" for all intensive purposes but it really wasn't up to that point: that's why Tweedy axed them.

 

But again this is old stuff -- where's the Tweedy sex tape is what I want to know! 

 

intents and purposes

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one thing that's kinda tiresome (to me) about the Bennett/Coomer argument is the assumption that if those guys had stayed in the band it would have cranked out another half dozen opera of equal (or better) quality to Being There or Summerteeth.  

 

because, see, you never know.

 

Where's that Dick Ctionary guy when you need him?

 

I don't know I think Wilco with that lineup could have made a lot more real good operas.  Stiratt has that nice high tenor which could have been employed in some ass-kicking arias -- put him into a blond Brunhilde style wig and you're off and running.  Tweedy could have been the baritone hero, and Bennett with his low bass could have been the evil Svengali like genius trying to steal Brunhilde from Tweedy.  Coomer, Bach, Johnston, and Egan as a sort of Chorus commenting on the action?

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I don't know I think Wilco with that lineup could have made a lot more real good operas.  Stiratt has that nice high tenor which could have been employed in some ass-kicking arias -- put him into a blond Brunhilde style wig and you're off and running.  Tweedy could have been the baritone hero, and Bennett with his low bass could have been the evil Svengali like genius trying to steal Brunhilde from Tweedy.  Coomer, Bach, Johnston, and Egan as a sort of Chorus commenting on the action?

Oh, he used the word correctly. I just wanted D.C. to come in and define "pompous" for us.

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Well what would "intensive purposes" even mean?

 

I've always thought the pervasiveness of this malapropism is thanks to the fact that it has some linguistic logic.  By definition "intensive" means "to an intense degree", so an intensive purpose would be the concept in question being tested rigorously.  Like "When push comes to shove,"  or "practically".

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I've always thought the pervasiveness of this malapropism is thanks to the fact that it has some linguistic logic.  By definition "intensive" means "to an intense degree", so an intensive purpose would be the concept in question being tested rigorously.  Like "When push comes to shove,"  or "practically".

What's strange is that I think the meaning I was going for was actually closer to "intents and purposes" than "intensive purposes."  But's it also possible I was meaning "practically" as well -- but would you say that "intents and purposes" is close to "practically" in meaning?

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