Rumors of my (blog’s) death July 3, 2008
Posted by bbop in comebacks.6 comments
Contrary to popular belief, I have not abandoned this blog. You might have thought as much since I’ve written like two posts since April, but no. Nobody even gives me grief about not updating anymore, which I take to mean all six readers have stopped checking. I offer no excuses. I’ve just been lazy. There always seems like something else that needs to be done or someplace else to go and I never have enough time to sit down and write something decent. So it just falls by the wayside.
Also, I’ve gone to a lot of shows in the past 10 weeks. In fact, I think it’s the most prolific stretch of showgoing I’ve ever had. In June alone, depending on your definition of a show, I think I went to like 30 shows. Not every day, mind you, but sometimes more than one a day. That also takes a toll on the ol’ blogging. I’d like to recap each show I go to in some detail, but that gets to be sort of hard when there’s so many of them and you’re getting home late and getting up late and doing stuff you have to do to live (laundry, buying food, etc.) I know that no one will have sympathy with me on this — not being able to keep up with blogging about shows I go to certainly pales in comparison with just about anything most people in the world deal with — but I’m putting it out there nevertheless.
So anyway, once again, I’m vowing to be better about posting from this point forward. I’m going to get up to date if it takes every last ounce of determination I have (and some very brief posts). Once that happens, I intend to make every effort to post in a timely fashion — basically my plan is to write shorter items more frequently. I think that’s probably the general idea of a blog anyway. And there you have it…my promise to you, O faithful reader. Feel free to hold my feet to the fire if I should fail to hold up my end of this sacred pact.
In the meantime, I want to share with you a photo that I snapped a couple nights ago of my cab driver’s taxi license. Yes, his name appears to be what you think it is:
What I did in Feb., part 2 July 1, 2008
Posted by bbop in friends, music, travel.Tags: Wilco
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I realize that it’s July and I’m about to write about something that happened in mid-February — not exactly keeping up with the pace of print media, much less the blogosphere — but I’m determined to catch this thing up, dammit! I admit it does feel odd to be writing about an colder-than-cold week spent in Chicago when summer is in full bloom and everyone is walking around in shorts and flip-flops, but what are you going to do?
To be honest, I don’t have all that much to say about Wilco’s Winter Residency that hasn’t already been said many times over. The shows were a treat. I knew the band didn’t have a great deal of rehearsal time going in, so I wasn’t sure if they would be able to get to all of “the dusty corners of the catalog,” as promised. But they pulled it off with aplomb, even on rarely played songs like “My Darling” and “We’re Just Friends” that I wasn’t quite sure if they would do. It was just nice to see what the current six-piece lineup could do with some of the older material. And knowing that literally almost any song could come next in the set added an invigorating sense of excitement for those of us who have been fortunate to see more than our fair share of shows.
There are, of course, way too many fond memories and anecdotes to recount here (particularly several months after the fact), but here are a few I don’t think I’ll ever forget:
The rousing, extended and emotional ovation the crowd gave John Stirratt after the performance of “It’s Just That Simple” on the second night of the run. … Brianne leaning over to me at one point and saying that a rendition of “Dreamer In My Dreams” with Andrew Bird would be about the best thing ever — and then it happening. … John’s leap off a stack of amps during a particularly raucous “I Got You (At The End of the Century)” … The genuine, unscheduled encore on Night 2, after the Presidents of the United States of America’s “Peaches” boomed over the PA and the crowd refused to leave. … The wonderful dimension that the Total Pros horn section (including a special appearance by Becca Michalak, a friend of Nels Cline’s) added to many of the songs. … Pre-show rituals: hand warmers and Toast-Ti-Toes, Vietnamese sandwiches, numerous bathroom runs to Borders and Starbucks. … Leaving a folding chair at the Riv to establish a place in line and watching from the Starbucks across the street as a homeless man picked it up and walked away with it. … Late-night Mexican food that made me sick. … The Fat Cat.
What else to say? It’s been fun reading some of the reviews that have appeared in various publications in recent weeks. For the most part, I think they did a decent job recapping the five nights at the Riv. But what they didn’t, maybe couldn’t, fully capture was the spirit in that old place. There was a special feeling in the room — a sense of feeling so fortunate to be there, a celebratory mood, a lot of love and friendship and for those of us that endured hours of waiting in line in frigid conditions, no small amount of pride and accomplishment — that probably couldn’t be fully captured in words. It’s not a week that will soon be forgotten, that’s for sure.
Wilco//2-15-08//Riviera Theatre, Chicago, IL//support: none [Winter Residency Night 1]
ELT/A Shot in the Arm/Side With The Seeds/You Are My Face/IATTBYH/Pot Kettle Black/At Least That’s What You Said/What’s The World Got In Store/When The Roses Bloom Again/Airline To Heaven/Ashes of American Flags/Either Way/Jesus, etc./Too Far Apart/Can’t Stand It [w/Total Pros horns]/Sunken Treasure/Spiders (Kidsmoke)//[[intermission]]/Misunderstood/Far, Far Away/Why Would You Wanna Live/Impossible Germany/Sky Blue Sky/Please Be Patient With Me/Cars Can’t Escape/Hummingbird//E: Hate It Here [w/TPs]/Walken [w/TPs]/I’m The Man Who Loves You [w/TPs]/Heavy Metal Drummer/Candyfloss/Outtasite (Outta Mind)
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Wilco//2-16-08//Riviera Theatre, Chicago, IL//support: none [Winter Residency Night 2]
Someone Else’s Song/Hell Is Chrome/Handshake Drugs/Muzzle Of Bees/Via Chicago/IATTBYH/Hotel Arizona/A Shot in the Arm/Impossible Germany/It’s Just That Simple/When You Wake Up Feeling Old/Too Far Apart/Hate It Here/Jesus, Etc. [w/Andrew Bird on violin]/Forget The Flowers [w/AB]/Dash 7 [w/AB]/Christ For President [w/AB]/Walken/I’m The Man Who Loves You//[[intermission]]//The Late Greats/Heavy Metal Drummer/Red-Eyed And Blue>/I Got You (At The End Of The Century)/A Magazine Called Sunset/Monday/Casino Queen/Kingpin/Passenger Side [w/AB]/Dreamer In My Dreams [w/AB]/The Lonely 1 [w/AB]//e: ELT/Hoodoo Voodoo
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Wilco//2-18-08//Riviera Theatre, Chicago, IL//support: none [Winter Residency Night 3]
Blue Eyed Soul/Remember the Mountain Bed [w/Andrew Bird on violin]/Bob Dylan’s 49th Beard [w/AB]/Hesitating Beauty [w/AB]/That’s Not The Issue [w/AB]/Wishful Thinking/You Are My Face/Side With The Seeds/A Shot in the Arm/We’re Just Friends/Kamera/Handshake Drugs/How To Fight Loneliness [w/AB]/Jesus, etc./Should’ve Been In Love/Pick Up The Change/Theologians/Walken [w/Total Pros horns]/I’m The Man Who Loves You [w/TPs]//[[intermission]]//Via Chicago/Impossible Germany/She’s a Jar [w/AB]/Say You Miss Me/Box Full of Letters/I’m Always in Love/Hate It Here [w/AB]/The Late Greats [w/AB]/Red-Eyed and Blue>/I Got You (At The End of the Century) [w/AB]/Monday [w/TPs]/My Darling//e: Can’t Stand It [w/TPs]/Nothing’severgonnastandinmyway(again)
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Wilco//2-19-08//Riviera Theatre, Chicago, IL//support: none [Winter Residency Night 4]
Outta Mind (Outta Sight)/I Must Be High/Impossible Germany/Radio Cure/Leave Me (Like You Found Me)/Company In My Back/Handshake Drugs/War on War/Shake It Off/Summer Teeth/In A Future Age/ELT/A Shot in the Arm/Poor Places>/Reservations>/Spiders (Kidsmoke)/On and On and On//[[intermission]]//Hotel Arizona/Too Far Apart/(Was I) In Your Dreams [w/Total Pros horns]/Misunderstood/Someday Soon/California Stars/Hate It Here [w/TPs]/The Thanks I Get [w/TPs]/Walken [w/TPs]/I’m The Man Who Loves You [w/TPs]/I’m A Wheel [w/TPs]/Kingpin/Outtasite (Outta Mind)//e: The Late Greats
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Wilco//2-20-08//Riviera Theatre, Chicago, IL//support: none [Winter Residency Night 5]
Sunken Treasure/One By One/Shouldn’t Be Ashamed/You Are My Face/Side With The Seeds/Pot Kettle Black/War on War/Pieholden Suite [w/Andrew Bird on violin and Total Pros horns]/Muzzle of Bees [w/AB]/It’s Just That Simple/Nothing’severgonnastandinmyway(again)/I Thought I Held You/What Light [w/TPs]/When You Wake Up Feeling Old/Summer Teeth [w/AB]/Jesus, etc./Walken [w/TPs]/Hummingbird [w/AB]//[[intermission]]//Via Chicago/Blood of the Lamb [w/AB and TPs (clarinet only)]/Can’t Stand It [w/TPs]/Box Full of Letters/Heavy Metal Drummer/Hate It Here [w/AB and TPs]/The Thanks I Get (w/TPs)/Just A Kid/Red-Eyed and Blue>/I Got You (At The End of the Century) [w/AB]/Casino Queen/I’m A Wheel/Less Than You Think//e: I’m The Man Who Loves You (w/TPs)/Dreamer In My Dreams [w/AB]
