White Plains’ 4th Best Personal Blog

My mom told me recently that one of the main reasons she worries about me not having a job is that I’ll be bored sitting at home all the time. To be fair, she doesn’t know the full extent of my globetrotting ways. But even when I’m not on the road, I like to think I keep fairly busy.

This past week since getting back from the holidays is a perfect example. Between a spring (albeit in winter) cleaning of my apartment, crazily trying to help make arrangements for a planned trip to Australia and New Zealand in March and April and just generally trying to keep my life in order, I’ve been swamped. And that’s just during the day.

On top of that, there’s been stuff seemingly every night — and not just shows (more on those in another post). This week alone, I’ve already…

-gone to see director Sidney Lumet’s talk, part of the New York Times’ Arts & Leisure Week. (Monday)

-donned a suit and tie to attend the annual reception held by my high school’s New York alumni association and then saw Mart and Craig play at Slane (Tuesday)

-attended a workshop on resumes and cover letters in preparation for my inevitable job hunt (Wednesday)

and I’m still planning to…

-see a Rough Trade showcase with Basia Bulat and Jeffrey Lewis at Joe’s Pub (tonight)

-see Hotel Lights, the band of former Ben Folds Five member Darren Jessee, and Tift Merritt at Union Hall (tomorrow)

-go to Feist’s talk in the NY Times’ Arts & Leisure Week series and, afterward, hopefully make it to Petra Haden’s show at the Stone (Saturday)

Then I think I’ll have a few days “off” before I go down to Washington, D.C., for a few days to visit Heidi. So no worries, Mom, I’m not getting bored at all. My question is how do people who have regular jobs do those, plus everything else they need to do and still have time for some fun stuff?

OK, so it’s been a hectic week after getting back from Thanksgiving break in Madison and Chicago. I know that’s not a very good excuse for failing to update until now, but all I can say is I’ve been hanging out at hospitals looking for people with asthma and trying to write a hopeless final piece for my RW1 (Reporting and Writing 1) class. And working on organizing another, er, “project.”

But anyway, I got back Monday night the 27th after a very pleasant five or so days in the Midwest. First up was a swing up to Madison, Wis., to catch Wilco at the cozy Barrymore Theatre. I really wanted to make this show since the other Wilco shows I’ve seen in Madison have been at the Orpheum Theatre with its very high stage that basically makes it necessary to sit in the balcony to see anything. I got there in the early afternoon and found Brianne and Evonne in line (Dick was across the street getting lunch and Uyen was working at a downtown Starbucks). I wanted to make a surprise appearance, but someone had let my secret out. Nonetheless, I was warmly welcomed and we proceeded to gab away until doors opened. The Barrymore is a neat little venue, which holds about 1,000 I’d guess. It’s pretty much an ideal place to see Wilco, especially these days, so it was exciting to be there. The show wasn’t terribly different from recent ones, except for a new song “Shake It Off” that made its live debut. And there was also the fact that everyone had a sort of giddiness about them because of the birth of bassist John Stirratt’s daughter just a few hours earlier. Give John credit, somehow managing to concentrate on the show with his newborn daughter back in Chicago. Afterward, we briefly spied the band all hopping into a limo right away — presumably to get home as soon as possible.

After a postshow meal at the Weary Traveler, where I just remember being really sleepy, we bade farewell to Uyen and Evonne and I headed back to Brianne’s place to crash. The next day was Thanksgiving and I had offered Evonne a ride to Chicago. We took our time and eventually got there by early evening. It turned out to be a pleasantly low-key night, getting some turkey at a restaurant and catching the new Christopher Guest movie, “For Your Consideration.”

The Wilco shows at the Auditorium Theatre were the main reason for my trip (well, also to see Mom and see the new South Loop condo). On Friday night, I sat in the first row of the balcony with Laura. It was actually a very nice seat and very good company. A couple of friends — Brianne and Judy — brought their moms and, all in all, it just seemed like a very family-oriented night. It’s hard, at the Auditorium, to find people and mingle because it’s so huge, but Laura and I really wanted to make sure we got to say hi to Judy, so we lingered after the show and finally found her. We had spent an hour in the lobby trying to call her and wound up missing the openers, Detholz!, which was OK by me since I had just seen them in Madison. I’m just glad it all worked out in the end.

On Night 2, Dick and I found ourselves in the front row because I had won an eBay auction that the Wilco management had held for charity. Sooz decided to come to the show after all — I had had an awesome brunch with her and Laura in the afternoon — so that was nice. And the pit area in general was filled with familiar faces. The show itself was good, although maybe a little shorter than I had expected — it seemed as if they had a curfew for some reason. We got the live debut of another new song, “Side With The Seeds,” as well as some gorgeous guitar work by Mr. Nels Cline on “Impossible Germany,” and “Ashes of American Flags.” Another fun night, made easier because we got what we wanted (to be up close) without having to do what we usually do (wait in line a long time). Why can’t that happen all the time?

One unexpected treat of both nights at the Auditorium was the brief opening set by Nels’ buddy Bobb Bruno, who played a set of digital drum pads while dressed up in his trademark white bunny suit. I’d seen it before in L.A. and I almost gasped the first night when he came out. It’s just a sight to behold.

I guess my only other thought about the Auditorium shows were that there was just much less of a goodbye sort of feel about them compared with the first Auditorium shows back in 2003. Despite the fact that the situations were sort of similar — both the 2003 and 2006 shows were sort of the wrapping up of a long tour and figured to be the last band shows for a while leading up to the release of a new record — the 2003 shows just had much more of a sense of nostalgia about them, for lack of a better word. They went on and on, like the band almost didn’t want to leave the stage. This time things were more joyous, maybe, like a celebration of the past two years combined with a sense that “Of course, we’ll be back.” I suppose that’s a good thing, a kind of assurance about the future. Whereas in 2003, it felt much more like things were coming to a close in a way.

Wilco//11-22-06//Barrymore Theatre, Madison, WI//support: Detholz!

Hell Is Chrome/A Shot in the Arm/Handshake Drugs/Shake It Off*/IATTBYH/Impossible Germany/Muzzle of Bees/Company In My Back/Sunken Treasure (electric)/Airline To Heaven/What Light/Jesus, etc./Walken/Theologians/I’m The Man Who Loves You//e1: War on War/The Late Greats/Let’s Not Get Carried Away/Kingpin//e2: Hummingbird/The Thanks I Get/Heavy Metal Drummer

Wilco//11-24-06//Auditorium Theatre, Chicago, IL//support: Detholz!, Bobb Bruno

Shake It Off/Hell Is Chrome/Handshake Drugs/A Shot in the Arm/Impossible Germany/IATTBYH/Muzzle of Bees/Company In My Back/War on War/Sunken Treasure (electric)/Remember the Mountain Bed/Airline To Heaven/Jesus, etc./Walken/Theologians/I’m The Man Who Loves You//e1: Hummingbird/Via Chicago/What Light/The Late Greats//e2: In A Future Age/California Stars/Heavy Metal Drummer/Let’s Not Get Carried Away/Kingpin

Wilco//11-25-06//Auditorium Theatre, Chicago, IL//support: Califone, Bobb Bruno

Radio Cure/IATTBYH/Handshake Drugs/A Shot in the Arm/Impossible Germany/Poor Places/Shake It Off/She’s A Jar/Airline To Heaven/Jesus, etc./Side With The Seeds*/Forget The Flowers/Walken/Theologians/I’m The Man Who Loves You//e1: The Late Greats/Ashes of American Flags/Heavy Metal Drummer/Let’s Not Get Carried Away/Kingpin/Passenger Side//e2: Hummingbird

*—live debut