For some reason, maybe because I started writing this in Tulsa (more on that, I suppose, in a future post), the Jayhawks song “Tampa to Tulsa” keeps going through my head while I try to compose this recap of our time in Santiago de Compostela and San Sebastián and the trip between the two cities. Admittedly, “Santiago to San Sebastián” doesn’t have quite the same ring to it. But I guess for me, at least, the song evokes a long journey. And our 11-hour train ride across northern Spain was nothing if not long. It wasn’t entirely terrible, though. At any rate, I’m getting a little ahead of myself.

When we left off in Lisbon, we were about to catch a flight to Santiago. It’s the main city in Galicia in the northwest corner of the Iberian peninsula and, during medieval times, was one of the biggest pilgrimage sites in all of Christianity. Getting from Lisbon to Santiago was actually one of the big travel dilemmas of the trip — thanks, Wilco tour routing! — and we uncharacteristically left it unsettled until just a few days before. Our initial plan was to take a bus that would get us there relatively inexpensively, although taking about 10 hours to do so. Since we couldn’t buy the bus tickets in advance anyway, we waited to see if a potential car ride with a friend might materialize. When that didn’t work out, we were back to the bus. But after a quick Internet search and with a daylong train ride from Santiago to San Sebastián already looming, we ultimately made the grudging decision to trade some cash for a little peace of mind and booked ourselves onto a flight. In hindsight, I think it was probably a good move.

By flying instead of busing, we were able to explore Santiago’s famed cathedral a bit instead of only getting a fleeting glimpse at some ungodly hour. That would almost certainly have been our fate if we had decided to take the bus. And as we learned in Granada, it would have been a minor tragedy to visit a city with a famed attraction and not see it. I’m not going to say anything else about Santiago since my tag-team partner Brianne has already written a nice account of our time there on her blog and I doubt I could do better.

After Santiago, it was time to catch our train to San Sebastián. We initially planned to split a rental car with friends Dunja and Rob, but at some point, the decision was made to take the train instead. And although it was a long ride, weaving its way across the rugged Spanish countryside and stopping at any number of towns and cities, I have to say it was kind of enjoyable in a weird way. There was a café car nearby with a good supply of bocadillos and bebidas, and I just managed to finish the Jimi Hendrix biography I was reading, Also, I had made a surprisingly prescient purchase of a road map of Spain and it was interesting to follow our progress across the country.

What can I say about San Sebastián except that our two nights and one full day there were phenomenal? Part of that certainly had to do with the beautiful weather. And it also didn’t hurt that our hotel was literally a block from the crescent-shaped Playa de la Concha (pictured above). I’m generally a sucker for any place where you can seemingly be surrounded by urban hustle and bustle one minute and be swimming the next. San Sebastián, like Sydney, Australia, is one of those places. So despite having just a short time to do so, it was a treat to be able to take a quick dip in the Bay of Biscay and enjoy its exceedingly tranquil waters.

Other highlights of our time in San Sebastián included a very boozy evening with Dunja and Rob and Dunja’s parents on our first night in town. Much of the evening, for me anyway, will forever be lost in a haze of pacharán — a potent liqueur with flavors of sloe berries and anise — though I know that some incriminating photographic evidence exists. And we enjoyed a delicious prix fixe lunch in Martín Berasategui’s Michelin-rated Kursaal MB restaurant that, coincidentally, happened to be located at the concert venue. My main course, pictured below, was a Donostia-style stewed spider crab with a parsley foam (I believe it was actually called “parsley air.”).

Unfortunately, we didn’t have the time to explore much of San Sebastián beyond the triangle between the old town (the Parte Vieja) and its adjacent hill (the Monte Urgull), the general vicinity of our hotel and the area around the venue itself. It would be nice to be able to go back and spend a few relaxing days there.

But relaxing was not often in our vocabulary on this trip, and so after our ninth Wilco show — which I think I’ll honestly remember more for the ticketing shenanigans than the show itself — we were on the move once again. (People who had bought tickets through the fan club presale were assigned some very mediocre seats and there was a sort of free-for-all in the hours immediately preceding the show to try to obtain better seats; fortunately our new friends Bea and Juan, as well as Dunja and Rob, managed to reach a pretty satisfactory resolution and we also benefitted somewhat from their success.)

Anyway I can’t say that San Sebastián was the most memorable show of the tour, but it was indisputably one of the most memorable cities. Fortunately, we would conclude our time in Spain with what promised to be another highly memorable city, Barcelona. Of course, it wouldn’t be fitting for this trip if we had a straightforward journey there. But at least this one only involved a pleasant hour-long bus ride from San Sebastián to Bilbao and a subsequent flight to Barcelona. As we had learned, it could have been worse.

Wilco//6-01-09//Palacio de Congresos e Exposicións de Galicia, Santiago de Compostela, SPAIN//support: none

Wilco (the song)/IATTBYH/Pot Kettle Black/A Shot in the Arm/Side With The Seeds/Handshake Drugs/Bull Black Nova/You Are My Face/War On War/Jesus, etc./Impossible Germany/The Late Greats/You Never Know/Hate It Here/Walken/I’m The Man Who Loves You/Hummingbird//e1: Misunderstood/Poor Places>/Spiders (Kidsmoke)//e2: Kingpin/Monday/Hoodoo Voodoo

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Wilco//6-3-09//Kursaal, Donostia-San Sebastián, SPAIN//support: none

You Are My Face/Wilco (the song)/IATTBYH/One Wing/Muzzle of Bees/A Shot in the Arm/Side With The Seeds/Handshake Drugs/Bull Black Nova/Jesus, etc./Impossible Germany/I’ll Fight/California Stars/The Late Greats/Hummingbird//e1: Via Chicago>/Spiders (Kidsmoke)//e2: Hate It Here/Walken/I’m The Man Who Loves You/I’m A Wheel

In the interest of keeping things relatively in the present, as I promised, I figured I should give a quick (or perhaps not-so-quick) update of what I’ve been up to in recent weeks…

About a month ago, I hit the road for a week in the South. A certain band I like did a short southern series of shows, of which I caught the ones in Athens, Ga., Asheville, N.C., Birmingham, Ala., Oxford, Miss., and finally New Orleans. I think my favorite venue easily was Sloss Furnaces in Birmingham. It’s an old ironworks turned into a National Historic Landmark where they now hold the occasional concert. I had pretty low expectations for this show, but the memorable setting seemed to energize the band. And when a member of their road crew surprised the band by coming out shirtless to play cowbell on the last song, well, it just seemed to put an exclamation point on the evening.

After the final show of the tour at Jazz Fest in New Orleans, I made my way up to Madison, Wis., via Chicago (haha) to see Flight of the Conchords with Brianne. I had seen both of their shows in New York, but it was nice to be able to focus on some specific aspects of the show since I sort of knew what to expect overall. And any show with “Albi, the Racist Dragon” is a winner for me. Brianne was gracious enough to have me over at her house for a few days and so I stuck around for Robbie Fulks’ 50-Vc. All-Stars show (with Jenny Scheinman and Nora O’Connor, among others) at the end of that week. I also went to Miller Park in Milwaukee for the first time to take in a Brewers game with some friends; visited the New Glarus Brewing Company and had a nice meal in that Swiss-tinged small town; and scored a nice vinyl haul at Strictly Discs, a very cool record store in Madison.

A brief weekend stopover in Chicago followed, where I attended my first Cubs game of the season (a win over the Florida Marlins on an absolutely gorgeous afternoon when the team retired the No. 31 jersey of Ferguson Jenkins and Greg Maddux). That night, I also caught the Old 97’s show at the Cubby Bear. It was one of two shows they did that weekend as the headliners of WXRT’s Cinco de Mayo celebration and I didn’t have very lofty expectations, but they dusted off some old gems such as 504 and W-I-F-E, so it was better than I thought.

Back home, I found out about St. Vincent’s free in-store at the Virgin Megastore Union Square in time to attend and get my pre-ordered copy of her new album Actor signed. It’s hard to believe that by the end of May, there will no longer be a Virgin Megastore in New York. The following night, I made it to three different shows — Tim Easton at Mercury Lounge, John Doe with the Sadies at City Winery and the last hour or so of Martin Rivas and Craig Meyer’s Wednesday Night Campfire at Prohibition. All were pretty stellar. A couple of days later it was off to Washington, D.C., for a couple of days to go to two shows by Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings at the 9:30 Club with Heidi. We both love SJ and the DKs, so I had a lot of fun dancing (not onstage, of course) and hanging out with her. But it was a quick trip because I wanted to get back home in time for a rare solo set by Nels Cline at the Stone. Nels says he’s terrified of playing by himself, but I thought it was a strong effort even with some of his gear breaking down mid-set. It was Mother’s Day and he closed with “Cymbidium” from his latest record Coward, a piece dedicated to his late mother. It was really touching.

Shortly thereafter, I headed to Los Angeles for about five days. I hadn’t planned all that far in advance on making this trip, but things seemed to align on the Largo at the Coronet calendar with some shows I had wanted to check out. And thanks to the graciousness of Andrew and Evonne, who lent their couches, I was able to swing it. So I got to see Theresa Andersson, a New Orleans-by-way-of-Sweden singer-songwriter whose most recent album Hummingbird, Go! was a favorite recent discovery; Sara Watkins, whose new self-titled record is really solid; and, of course, Jon Brion. I’m really glad I got to see all three shows. Seeing Andersson live is quite fascinating because of all the looping she does to construct her songs. Watkins’ return to Largo for the first time since her record came out was, of course, a special occasion and she had a terrific band for this gig that included Benmont Tench and her brother, Sean, as well as Sebastian Steinberg and Greg Leisz. And Brion is trying some different things out lately, using some multimedia elements with film loops playing behind him on a screen while he puts music to them, for instance, and focusing on playing strictly by himself without his usual cadre of special guests.

Another reason why I decided to make this LA trip was an opportunity to catch a show by Scarnella (Nels Cline and Carla Bozulich) and Pronto (Mikael Jorgensen’s side project). They played at the Mint, a small throwback of a club in Hollywood. The Scarnella set instead became a Stained Radiance gig, as it turned out, because Carla couldn’t make it that night. Stained Radiance is a duo Nels plays in with the painter Norton Wisdom, who paints on a big, illuminated screen while Nels adds his unique brand of improvised sound. Pronto, which I had seen a few times back on the East Coast, continues to become more cohesive as a working band each time I see them. So it was a good night, all in all. During my stay I also got to see a free in-store by Steve Earle at Amoeba Records, where he was promoting his latest release, Townes. My only regret was not being able to stay in town longer to see a few of the other shows I wanted to, including a performance by Scarnella — playing along to the Lon Chaney silent film “Laugh Clown Laugh” — with an opening set by Bobb Bruno.

But I couldn’t stay because I had a (really expensive) ticket to see Leonard Cohen at Radio City Music Hall the following night. I could write a lengthy post just about that show, but suffice it to say, I’m glad I saw him at least once. He is a charismatic, elegant performer and even though I wasn’t tremendously familiar with his repertoire beyond the big “hits,” I found myself captivated for much of the show. He played for close to three hours and although I think the show was stretched out a bit more than it needed to be with some questionable arrangements — some lengthy horn solos were reminiscent of bad smooth jazz at times — how many times to you get to see a legend?

And finally, on one of my last nights in town before leaving for Europe, I got a chance to see two terrific shows: a semi-secret gig by Bill Frisell and his 858 Quartet at the tiny Barbes in Brooklyn and an all-original show by the Martin Rivas Band (hilariously dubbed, for this performance, anyway, The Crunchy Fudge-Nut Ice Cream Bar Boys) at the Bitter End. From what I understand, the 858 Quartet — a string quartet with Frisell on electric guitar in place of one of the violins in a traditional string quartet — hadn’t played together in quite awhile and I was grateful to have heard about this intimate performance from an inside source. And seeing one of Martin’s shows where he plays his own songs is always a great time. I think the songs on his forthcoming Sea of Clouds record sound better each time I hear them. It was a fitting way to close out a very busy few weeks.

Even if I would have written this in April, as soon as I got back from Australia and New Zealand, I don’t think I would have been able to fully capture all of the things we saw and the adventures we had there. So I don’t feel too badly about recapping now, hopefully getting to most of the high points from an amazing three-plus weeks and giving you faithful readers at least some sense of what we did and saw.

(I haven’t managed to get all my photos from the trip uploaded yet, but eventually they’ll be on my Flickr page for all to see — well, if you’re my friend anyway.)

First off, I have to thank Brianne for inviting me to join her (and her company for footing most of the bill) since the trip really came about when she chose Australia and New Zealand for the destination of the extended sabbatical her company allows its employees to take every five years. I think that’s such a smart thing for a company to do because it not only makes for happy employees, but also allows them to broaden their life experience — and, as a result, come back and be a more valuable asset to the company. So good on you, Brianne’s company.

(And while we’re on the subject, kudos to the Internet as well because we certainly wouldn’t have been able to plan this trip from scratch without it. I sometimes wonder how people used to take extended trips to far-flung places without being able to book a room online or map out the distances between points. I know that travel agents used to take care of a lot of that stuff, but did they really arrange everything? I guess there was a good deal more adventure involved as well, but personally I’m glad to have at least some idea where I’m going to be staying and how long it will take to get where I’m going.)

Like I said, it would be impossible to capture everything about the trip without writing a really, really long — and probably boring, if you weren’t there — account from touching down in Sydney to taking off from Auckland. So I’m just going to try to capture some of the flavor of the trip by grouping some of my memories into a few sub-categories:

*Music: The first part of the trip was, in some ways, dictated by Wilco’s itinerary. For instance, we almost certainly wouldn’t have gone to Brisbane if Wilco hadn’t played there (and I’m glad we did because, for whatever reason, that show probably wound up being the best one we saw on the trip). We didn’t make every show the band played in Australia and New Zealand, but five of the seven wasn’t too shabby. Although Brianne actually started the trip in Melbourne without me, we didn’t see the Wilco show there because it was the last one on their tour and it wasn’t practical for us to go back to Australia once we had gotten to New Zealand. So we continued on to the South Island after Wilco’s final New Zealand show in Wellington on March 24, which was definitely the right decision. But before we headed south, we hung around Wellington an extra day to see our final show of the trip: New Zealand’s own legendary Split Enz, who were on a reunion tour. It was particularly fitting that we got to see them since we both had been singing the lyric “Aotearoa, rugged individual…” (from the song “Six Months in a Leaky Boat”) practically since we landed in “In Zed.”

*Rock pools: Since I had read a New York Times article about rock pools a few weeks before our trip, I had been a bit obsessed with visiting at least one while we were in Sydney. I’m not sure what it was, but just the idea of a pool carved out of rocks at the edge of the ocean intrigued me. Like it’s the ocean, but in a pool! Or maybe they just looked really refreshing, I don’t know. Anyway, the quest to find one happened on a Sunday afternoon after we had spent the morning touring the Sydney Opera House and walking around a bit downtown. We took a bus out to Bondi Beach — probably the most famous stretch of sand in Australia — but instead of staying there, we found an easy walk that hugged the nearby cliffs and decided to follow that for a while. After passing a couple of smaller beaches, we eventually wound up at Bronte Beach — sort of a low-key sister to bustling Bondi — and went into the rock pool there. It was just a glorious, sunny day and we spent the rest of the afternoon swimming and walking and exploring. What a day; I’ll remember it for a long time.

*Natural beauty: Oh God, I could write pages and pages about this. From the Blue Mountains outside of Sydney to the volcanic island of Rangitoto near Auckland, I saw some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen on this trip. Just New Zealand alone provided sensory overload. There was the couple of days we got to spend on the Coromandel Peninsula — about two hours drive from Auckland — where we hiked down to Cathedral Cove and dug in the sand for hot springs on Hot Water Beach. There was the gorgeous Otago Peninsula, just a short drive from Dunedin, which dead ends at the Royal Albatross Colony. And of course, there was the drive along the Southern Scenic Route from Dunedin to Te Anau (or vice versa). There are so many different scenic viewpoints and other points of interest along the way that you can’t possibly see them all. At least not in one trip.

*Fiordland: When it came to natural beauty, though, this region in southwestern New Zealand pretty much took the cake. One rainy day, we drove from Te Anau up the Milford Road to Milford Sound. There are a number of points to stop and admire the scenery along the way (Mirror Lakes, The Chasm), and despite the drizzle, we definitely took advantage. A day or two later, we took an overnight cruise on Doubtful Sound that was not only one of the highlights of this region but of the whole trip. Along with six other people and a crew of two, we spent a memorable afternoon and evening aboard the Waverley, cruising in and out of the arms of this very isolated waterway. We saw more rainbows and waterfalls than we could count, helped catch fresh fish for dinner and even took a night swim (well, some of us). The only regret was that we didn’t see much in the way of wildlife, but it was nonetheless a really fantastic little trip within a trip.

*Cities: Although we got out into the countryside as much as we could, we also spent a good amount of time in urban centers. Of course, Sydney and Auckland are both world-class cities but a pleasant surprise for me was Wellington. I said this at the time, but it reminded me of San Francisco in a lot of ways. They’re both fairly hilly, have a bohemian streak and feature some stunning settings. We spent a memorable afternoon climbing up Mount Victoria and being rewarded with some phenomenal views. Before that, we took the requisite stroll down Oriental Parade (with ice creams in hand, of course). It was a pretty glorious day. I think we also visited the national museum of New Zealand, Te Papa, that morning. And I would be remiss if I failed to mention the early dinner we had at the Maori-themed Kai in the City, where we sang a couple of Maori songs with the owner/troubadour — “E hine e, hoki mai ra…” Another morning was spent all-too-briefly exploring the area around Cuba Street, kind of like Wellington’s version of the Haight. Sadly, we did not have any Flight of the Conchords sightings. Nevertheless, looking back, I could have happily spent another day or two in Welly.

*Eating and drinking: One thing we didn’t often skimp on was food. Some meals I distinctly remember: a fab brunch at bills in the Surry Hills section of Sydney (I believe I had some sort of corn fritter, made with fresh corn); sand crab lasagna for lunch in Brisbane; a gorgeous plate of natural (raw) Bluff oysters and fried blue cod and chips in Bluff; ridiculously good fast-food noodles at Otto Woo in Auckland; a heaping seafood platter with just about everything you could imagine in Dunedin. Oh, and we had one wholly unexpected but very memorable dinner at Wagamama in Sydney. Seemingly countless pastries and flat whites (like a cafe latte) were consumed, as well as several scoops of New Zealand’s famed hokey pokey ice cream. The dairy products in New Zealand, as we had been forewarned, were indeed amazingly delicious. On the beverage front, in addition to the flat whites, I also consumed copious amounts of a mysteriously tasty soda called Lemon & Paeroa — L&P, for short — whose trademarked slogan is “World Famous in New Zealand.” I also enjoyed many of the beers I tried in New Zealand, notably Mac’s and Speight’s.

*Lodging: We stayed in a wide range of places, everywhere from backpacker hostels to business-class hotels, but a couple of places definitely stood out. One was The Oystercatcher’s Cottage, pictured above, in Bluff. A tiny town at the bottom tip of New Zealand’s South Island, Bluff is where most people go to catch a ferry to Stewart Island. (We wanted to do that, but decided that we didn’t have the time to make it worthwhile.) We had been looking for a funky place to stay somewhere along the Southern Scenic Route and, after some Internet searching, found this place which is essentially a guest house run by a family. Luckily, it was available for the night we were going to be in town so we booked it (the “booking” was just a simple e-mail agreement — no confirmation numbers — and we paid in cash). And personally, I’m so glad we did because it turned out to be just the coziest place you could imagine. If you’re looking for the sterility of a chain hotel, this isn’t for you. But if you want a place with some character, stay here. Another great place we stayed was a B&B in Auckland, the Great Ponsonby. Aside from being located in a great neighborhood and featuring a cozy common room with all sorts of books and music and free WiFi, this place raised the art of hotel breakfasts to a new level. You could have a cooked-to-order breakfast that wouldn’t have been out of place in a restaurant, plus they had muesli, fruit, breads, etc., for the taking. I think my personal favorite was muesli with yogurt and fresh feijoa (a guava-like fruit that the innkeepers grew in their garden). Mmmm. One other place I should mention was the Harbourside Apartments in Sydney. What a view we had! This picture was taken from our window the morning we checked out:

*Last but not least: I must mention that I overcame my fear of heights (at least momentarily) and bungy-jumped off a bridge at the original commercial bungy site just outside of Queenstown. And without hesitation, I might add. While the girl before us had to be coaxed into taking the plunge, I am proud to say that for me it was 5-4-3-2-1, go. Somewhere there are pictures…

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Wilco//3-18-08//Enmore Theatre, Sydney, AUSTRALIA//support: Bridezilla

Sunken Treasure/Reservations>/Remember The Mountain Bed/Company In My Back/You Are My Face/Hell Is Chrome/Handshake Drugs/Pot Kettle Black/A Shot in the Arm/Side With The Seeds/Via Chicago/Impossible Germany/It’s Just That Simple/Pick Up The Change/Nothing’severgonnastandinmyway(again)/ Jesus, etc./Theologians/Walken/I’m The Man Who Loves You//e: Hate It Here/Heavy Metal Drummer/The Late Greats/Red-Eyed and Blue>/I Got You (At The End of the Century)>/Monday>/Outtasite (Outta Mind)

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Wilco//3-19-08//The Tivoli, Brisbane, AUSTRALIA//support: The Mess Hall

A Shot in the Arm/Radio Cure/You Are My Face/Impossible Germany/Handshake Drugs/Pot Kettle Black/Side With The Seeds/She’s A Jar/Misunderstood/(Was I) In Your Dreams/Forget The Flowers/A Magazine Called Sunset/Jesus, etc./Too Far Apart/I’m Always In Love/I’m The Man Who Loves You/Poor Places>/Spiders (Kidsmoke)//e: On and On and On/Walken/Hate It Here/Can’t Stand It/Casino Queen/I’m A Wheel/Hoodoo Voodoo

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Wilco//3-22-08//Dakota Fields, Whitianga, NEW ZEALAND//[1st annual Coromandel Blues and Roots Music Festival]

You Are My Face/Side With The Seeds/Handshake Drugs/A Shot in the Arm/Jesus, etc./Impossible Germany/Via Chicago/Hate It Here/Walken/I’m The Man Who Loves You/Kingpin/I’m A Wheel//e: Monday

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Wilco//3-23-08//Bruce Mason Centre, Auckland, NEW ZEALAND//support: Miriam Clancy

Sunken Treasure/You Are My Face/Muzzle of Bees/Handshake Drugs/War on War/Side With The Seeds/A Shot in the Arm/Radio Cure/Shake It Off/Pot Kettle Black/Impossible Germany/Via Chicago/California Stars/Forget the Flowers/Jesus, etc./Walken/I’m The Man Who Loves You//e1: Hummingbird/On and On and On/Spiders (Kidsmoke)//e2: Hate It Here/Kingpin/The Late Greats

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Wilco//3-24-08//Wellington Opera House, Wellington, NEW ZEALAND//support: Miriam Clancy

Sunken Treasure/Company In My Back/You Are My Face/Side With The Seeds/IATTBYH/Hell Is Chrome/Handshake Drugs/A Shot in the Arm/Reservations/Impossible Germany/How To Fight Loneliness/California Stars/Jesus, etc./Walken/I’m The Man Who Loves You/Hummingbird//e1: The Late Greats/Hate It Here/Heavy Metal Drummer/Red-Eyed and Blue>/I Got You (At The End of the Century)/Monday//e2: Spiders (Kidsmoke)

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Split Enz//3-25-08//TSB Arena, Wellington, NEW ZEALAND//support: The Phoenix Foundation

Shark Attack/Poor Boy/One Step Ahead/Give It A Whirl/Nobody Takes Me Seriously/Double Happy/I Hope I Never/Message To My Girl/Dirty Creature/Years Go By/Stuff And Nonsense/Devil You Know/Matinee Idyll (129)/Strait Old Line/Pioneer/Six Months In A Leaky Boat/I Got You/What’s The Matter With You/I See Red//e1: Take A Walk/Charlie/My Mistake//e2: Bold As Brass/History Never Repeats*

* — setlist courtesy of frenzforum

All right, given that it’s mid-August, I admit that it’s ridiculous for me to be writing about stuff that happened back in February and March. I’ve been the worst blog slacker ever, and I have no good excuse. In an informal survey of the 10 or so people who read this thing, four offered encouragement, one was mean and five were more or less indifferent. So if you care to read on, I will eventually catch up one way or another. And I’ll start by getting into March!

In many ways, the cross country trek I took after Wilco’s Residency shows in Chicago proved to be my most arduous and memorable trip of the year. It was probably not a trip that any sane person would put themselves through and, by the end, I think I might have been more tired than I’ve ever been, mostly owing to getting about an hour and a half of sleep on average for four straight nights.

Let me give you the overview: two days after returning home to New York from Chicago, I found myself on a train to Philadelphia, then a 5 a.m. train to New Haven, Conn.; from there, I caught a ride back home, only to get on another train the next day bound for Washington, D.C.; after a couple of days there, I flew to San Francisco and took a side trip to Visalia, Calif., before returning to San Francisco for a couple more days; then I flew from Oakland to New Orleans, spent a couple days there, then flew to Houston; after a couple more days in Houston, I caught another flight to Tulsa, Okla., and, after that, a flight to Omaha, Neb., where we rented a car and drove to Des Moines, Iowa; finally, I flew from Des Moines back to Houston and, after one more night on the road, caught a flight back to New York.

Most of that travel, of course, was done in the course of following that group that “rose from the ashes of Uncle Tupelo” (my favorite new stock phrase). While nothing could match the Residency shows in terms of sheer ambition and impact, I think the immediate post-Residency gigs might have been my favorite run of shows this year. First, many of venues were old favorites — the 9:30 Club, Tipitina’s, Cain’s Ballroom — which provided a reminder that, no matter how big Wilco might get, the best place to experience the band (in my opinion) is a standing-room only, small-to-mid-sized rock club. Add the fact that, in the wake of the Residency, virtually any song in the Wilco canon seemed to be a possibility to be included on the setlist, and you have a recipe for a pretty exciting show.

It didn’t hurt that the supporting act — John Doe backed by a terrific band that included vocalist Cindy Wasserman — was so strong as well. A smile comes to my face when I think of their performance of X’s “The New World” that flowed into The Beatles’ “Revolution”; their version of Joni Mitchell’s classic love song “A Case Of You”; and especially their cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter” on which Nels would come out and shred with his fellow Los Angeles resident. I also really liked many of the songs from John’s most recent album, A Year in the Wilderness, particularly “The Golden State.” This was a band I looked forward to hearing night after night.

And I haven’t even mentioned the presence of the Total Pros three-piece horn section for some of the shows on this run, which was a treat. I’ll never forget them having to play from the balcony at Tipitina’s because the stage was too small to fit them all. The guys from Brendan Canty’s Burn To Shine film crew were along for ride at several of these post-Residency shows as well, shooting footage for a potential DVD release. Even toward the end of the run, when Jeff’s voice started to give out (I can’t remember him sounding as ragged as he did in Houston), the band somehow continued to deliver.

All in all, this was a wonderful run of shows spent with some of my best concert buddies at some of my favorite venues with a band that was really clicking on all cylinders. How could you ask for anything more?

Contrary to popular belief, though, I don’t just see Wilco shows. And fortunately on this trip, I also had the good fortune to see a few other gigs. I made a point of it, in fact, by trekking out to the Bay Area during that annual week of musical craziness known as Noise Pop.

Before that, Uyen proposed we drive out to a town called Visalia nearly four hours southeast of San Francisco to see British Sea Power. Random town? Five-dollar show? Count me in! Although we subsequently saw several more shows on their epic U.S. tour supporting the excellent Do You Like Rock Music? , this Visalia gig — at a wine bar called The Cellar Door — might have been the most memorable. First of all, there wasn’t even really a stage; rather, the band played on flat ground at the same level as the audience. Not only that, but due to technical problems, British Sea Power wound up playing first (before intended openers Colourmusic). How often do you see that? It had been too long since I had seen BSP, and this show helped remind me why I liked them so much when their debut record, The Decline of British Sea Power, came out a few years back. Though the foliage they used to tape to their monitors was no longer there, their deadpan antics remained. And we loved it.

After seeing another fun BSP performance in their official Noise Pop showcase the following evening at the venerable San Francisco club Bottom of the Hill, I took Uyen to see Tilly and the Wall the next night. Full disclosure: I love the Tillys. They’re just a super fun live act, and even though I don’t always love the young (read: teenage) crowd that comprises much of their audience, I always leave their shows with a smile on my face. They almost will you to have a good time. For me, this was my first time hearing a lot of the songs on the new album O, so it was maybe less of an outright fun show than others I’ve seen. But I appreciate how they’ve continued to progress as a band and so I enjoyed myself quite a bit that way as I took in the newer material.

We rounded out our Noise Pop schedule by dashing over to Great American Music Hall following Tilly’s set and made it just in time for the much-anticipated live debut of She & Him, the new project featuring M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel. GAMH was packed, and we were toward the back, but it was a pleasure to get to experience the show at all. Zooey proved to be the star of the show with her singing, while Matt took more of an accompanying role. Or maybe the songs they performed — some covers, some originals — were the real stars. They had a timeless sort of feel that, to me, also sort of characterizes Matt’s own music. It was a nice way to close out a busy evening, and I think everyone left with a little bit of a lighter step.

By the time I got back to Houston to attend My Morning Jacket’s first show featuring songs off their forthcoming Evil Urges album, I was running on fumes. Luckily, Evonne was there to help pick me up. The Verizon Wireless Theater isn’t a particularly great place to see a show, but it didn’t matter too much because of the anticipation in the air. And despite playing a lot of songs that the audience wasn’t yet familiar with, the energy of the band as they worked out these new songs in a live setting made up for it. Of course, I always hope for more At Dawn material, but I really couldn’t complain at getting a sneak peek of the new record. It was an epic way to end an epic trip.

Wilco//2-23-08//Tower Theater, Upper Darby, PA//support: John Doe

Sunken Treasure/Remember the Mountain Bed/Airline to Heaven/Hesitating Beauty/Muzzle of Bees/You Are My Face/Side With The Seeds/A Shot in the Arm/She’s A Jar/Kamera/Handshake Drugs/At Least That’s What You Said/Pot Kettle Black/Nothing’severgonnastandinmyway(again)/Via Chicago/Impossible Germany/Jesus, etc./Walken/I’m The Man Who Loves You/Hummingbird/On and On and On//e: Hate It Here/Red-Eyed and Blue>/I Got You (At The End of the Century)/Hoodoo Voodoo

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Wilco//2-24-08//Schubert Theater, New Haven, CT//support: John Doe

Remember The Mountain Bed/California Stars/Company In My Back/Pot Kettle Black/A Shot in the Arm/Radio Cure/You Are My Face/Side With The Seeds/Pick Up The Change/Hotel Arizona/I’m Always In Love/Impossible Germany/Jesus, etc./Misunderstood/Airline To Heaven/Theologians/Walken/I’m The Man Who Loves You/On and On and On//e: Hate It Here/Heavy Metal Drummer/Red-Eyed and Blue>/I Got You (At The End of the Century)/Monday>/Outtasite (Outta Mind)

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Wilco//2-26-08//9:30 Club, Washington, D.C.//support: John Doe

(Was I) In Your Dreams [w/Total Pros horns]/Blood of the Lamb [w/TPs (clarinet only)]/You Are My Face/Pot Kettle Black/A Shot in the Arm/Side With The Seeds/Pieholden Suite [w/TPs]/Impossible Germany/Sky Blue Sky/Handshake Drugs/Too Far Apart/Summer Teeth/Jesus, etc./Walken [w/TPs]/I’m The Man Who Loves You [w/TPs]/Hummingbird/A Magazine Called Sunset/Red-Eyed and Blue>/I Got You (At The End of the Century)/Monday [w/TPs]/Outtasite (Outta Mind)//e1: Hate It Here (w/TPs)/Can’t Stand It [w/TPs]/The Thanks I Get [w/TPs]/Just A Kid//e2: Shouldn’t Be Ashamed/War on War/Heavy Metal Drummer/The Late Greats [w/TPs]

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Wilco//2-27-08//9:30 Club, Washington, D.C.//support: John Doe

Sunken Treasure/Remember The Mountain Bed/Company In My Back/You Are My Face/Side With The Seeds/She’s A Jar/A Shot in the Arm/Nothing’severgonnastandinmyway(again)/Handshake Drugs/Pot Kettle Black/When The Roses Bloom Again/Impossible Germany/It’s Just That Simple/Someday Soon/Box Full of Letters/I’m Always In Love/Pieholden Suite [w/Total Pros horns]/Jesus, etc./Hate It Here [w/TPs]/Walken [w/TPs]/I’m The Man Who Loves You [w/TPs]/Hummingbird/On and On and On//e1: Via Chicago/California Stars//e2: Casino Queen/I’m A Wheel/Monday [w/TPs]

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British Sea Power//2-29-08//The Cellar Door, Visalia, CA//support: Colourmusic [due to technical issues, BSP actually played first]

Atom/Remember Me/The Scottish Wildlife Experience/Lights Out For Darker Skies/Trip Out/Down On The Ground/Waving Flags/Great Skua/Favours In The Beetroot Fields/The Spirit Of St. Louis/Canvey Island/No Lucifer/True Adventures/Rock In A

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British Sea Power//3-1-08//Bottom of the Hill, San Francisco, CA//(Noise Pop show with 20 Minute Loop, Colourmusic and Off Campus)

No Lucifer/Remember Me/Oh Larsen B/Favours In The Beetroot Fields/Atom/Down On The Ground/Blackout/Waving Flags/Great Skua/Lights Out For Darker Skies/Carrion/Canvey Island/True Adventures/Trip Out/The Spirit Of St. Louis>/The Scottish Wildlife Experience>/Rock In A

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Tilly and the Wall//3-2-08//Rickshaw Stop, San Francisco, CA//(Noise Pop show with Capgun Coup, Tally Hall and Little Teeth

Chandelier Lake/Pot Kettle Black/Fell Down The Stairs/The Freest Man/Urgency/Dust Me Off/Nights Of The Living Dead/Tall Tall Grass/Bad Education/Beat Control/Blood Flower/Sing Songs Along//e: Lost Girls/Cacophony/Rainbows In The Dark

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Wilco//3-4-08//Tipitina’s, New Orleans, LA//support: John Doe

(Was I) In Your Dreams [w/Total Pros horns]/The Late Greats [w/TPs]/I’m Always In Love/A Shot in the Arm/At Least That’s What You Said/You Are My Face/Side With The Seeds/Box Full of Letters/Airline to Heaven/California Stars [w/TPs]/Impossible Germany/Via Chicago/Blood of the Lamb [w/TPs (clarinet only)]/Forget the Flowers/Someday Soon/Summer Teeth/Jesus, etc./Walken [w/TPs]/I’m The Man Who Loves You [w/TPs]//e: It’s Just That Simple/Hate It Here [w/TPs]/Can’t Stand It [w/TPs]/Kingpin/Red-Eyed and Blue>/I Got You (At The End of the Century)/Monday [w/TPs]

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Wilco//3-5-08//Tipitina’s, New Orleans, LA//support: John Doe

(Was I) In Your Dreams [w/Total Pros horns]/Pieholden Suite [w/TPs]/You Are My Face/Company In My Back/Impossible Germany/Handshake Drugs/A Shot in the Arm/Pot Kettle Black/Side With The Seeds/Pick Up The Change/Hesitating Beauty/Jesus, etc./Heavy Metal Drummer/Nothing’severgonnastandinmyway(again)/A Magazine Called Sunset/Too Far Apart/Theologians/Walken [w/TPs]/I’m The Man Who Loves You [w/TPs]//e: What Light [w/TPs]/Hate It Here [w/TPs]/The Thanks I Get [w/TPs]/Just A Kid/Monday [w/TPs]/Outtasite (Outta Mind)/Casino Queen/I’m A Wheel/The Late Greats [w/TPs]

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Wilco//3-7-08//Verizon Wireless Theater, Houston, TX//support: John Doe

You Are My Face/Muzzle of Bees/Remember The Mountain Bed/Company In My Back/California Stars/Impossible Germany/Shouldn’t Be Ashamed/Pot Kettle Black/Handshake Drugs/A Shot in the Arm/Side With The Seeds/Via Chicago/When You Wake Up Feeling Old/Forget the Flowers/Airline to Heaven/Box Full of Letters/Jesus, etc./Walken/I’m The Man Who Loves You//e: Heavy Metal Drummer/Hate It Here/Kingpin/Red-Eyed and Blue>/I Got You (At The End of the Century)/Monday

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Wilco//3-8-08//Cain’s Ballroom, Tulsa, OK//support: John Doe

You Are My Face/Muzzle of Bees/One By One/California Stars/Impossible Germany/Handshake Drugs/I’m Always In Love/A Shot in the Arm/Side With The Seeds/She’s A Jar/Jesus, etc./Pick Up The Change/Airline To Heaven/Forget the Flowers/At My Window Sad and Lonely/Hotel Arizona/War on War/Via Chicago/The Late Greats//e1: Hate It Here/Heavy Metal Drummer/Walken/I’m The Man Who Loves You/Red-Eyed and Blue>/I Got You (At The End of the Century)/Kingpin/Hoodoo Voodoo//e2: Monday/I’m A Wheel

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Wilco//3-9-08//Val-Air Ballroom, Des Moines, IA//support: John Doe

Ashes of American Flags/Remember the Mountain Bed/You Are My Face/Muzzle of Bees/Handshake Drugs/Cars Can’t Escape/Pot Kettle Black/A Shot in the Arm/Side With The Seeds/She’s A Jar/Impossible Germany/California Stars/Summer Teeth/A Magazine Called Sunset/Via Chicago/Jesus, etc./Walken/I’m The Man Who Loves You//e1: Hate It Here/Kingpin/Passenger Side/Heavy Metal Drummer/Red-Eyed and Blue>/I Got You (At The End of the Century)/Monday/Outtasite (Outta Mind)//e2: I’m A Wheel

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My Morning Jacket//3-10-08//Verizon Wireless Theater, Houston, TX//support: Yo La Tengo

Evil Urges/Off The Record/Gideon/I’m Amazed/What A Wonderful Man/Highly Suspicious/Thank You Too!/Golden/Sec Walkin/The Way That He Sings/Wordless Chorus/Aluminum Park/One Big Holiday/Run Thru/Smokin’ From Shootin’/Touch Me I’m Going To Scream Pt. 2//e: Dondante/Lay Low/Mahgeetah/Anytime

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]

Crap, I haven’t updated this thing in almost three weeks. Bad blogger! (Slaps own wrist.) I kept meaning to, honest. If only for the sake of my five readers. It’s kind of crazy how time slips away from you. I feel like New Year’s Day was just the other day, and I look at the calendar and next week it’ll be February already. Madness, I tell you.

Lest my lack of posting be interpreted as a concert drought, I should point out that I have seen a good amount of live music this month. A lot of the shows I’ve gone to, though, have featured artists I was seeing for the first time. So I guess part of the reason for the dearth of recent reports has to do with not having a tremendous amount to say about some of those shows because of a lack of familiarity with the music. (Also the reason for a relative lack of setlists below.)

Not a very good excuse, I admit, but I’m going to try and write a quick update of the month now. And I’m going to rely on that old sportswriting standby to do it: the notes column. So without further ado…

The New Year’s festivities in Chicago got off to an early start with a Dec. 30 show at Schuba’s with a pair of Midwestern bands, Catfish Haven and Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s. I dragged Sam along, and she agreed mainly because we both like Catfish Haven. They were fun, as usual, and I always dig seeing them with the two backing vocalists who usually sing with them at their hometown gigs. Then it was onto Margot, who played a similar set to the one they had played a couple of weeks earlier in New York. Similar, but not completely the same since we got to hear a couple of new songs they hadn’t played in New York. It was cool to hear everyone singing along with “hits” like “Skeleton Key.” While the New York show was sold out, it seems like Margot is much beloved in Chicago. …

I couldn’t make it to Margot’s New Year’s Eve show the following night because I already had a prior engagement with a bunch of friends and Jon Brion. I usually don’t write about Jon’s shows because it’s hard to do them justice, and because they are recapped so much better here. But just to make a brief mention of his two Chicago performances this time around, on New Year’s Eve (and early New Year’s Day) at the underground Harris Theater and a hastily announced club date Jan. 2 at Martyr’s, they were each memorable in their own way. The New Year’s Eve show was sort of two shows in one with Jon first coming out and playing a couple of songs with surprise guest Britt Daniel of Spoon, followed by a mini Autumn Defense set by John Stirratt and Pat Sansone. Then all three guests joined Jon and a drummer for a few numbers. Following an intermission, Jon’s main set began. It was, as you might expect given the night, a pretty rowdy affair that included a raucous singalong to “Bohemian Rhapsody” and a brief moment when I thought the show was spinning out of control after Jon invited people on stage to write requests on a big pad of paper. But as with so many Jon shows, seeming chaos developed into flashes of brilliance with a closing salvo of “Cortez the Killer,” a Bruce Springsteen-esque song that was actually made up on the spot and a crowd singalong to “God Only Knows.”

During the New Year’s show, Jon announced another show two nights later with a simple message on the aforementioned pad of paper (though our friends had been fortunate and had gotten a little advance warning). Martyr’s was an intimate venue much more suited to Jon’s act, and he obliged with two sets that showed why his small cult of fans is so devoted. From a beautiful “Amateur” early on to “Cathy’s Clown” later, the keyboard was the star of the first set. That gave way to a guitarfest in the second set, particularly when Jon invited Pat Sansone to join him once again. Pat, in turn, brought a drummer, Ryan who plays for Chicago band Vee Dee as well as working as Wilco’s light tech. The quartet was rounded out by a bassist plucked out of the front row and who, unlike some who have joined Jon on stage, knew his stuff. The impromptu group launched into a rocking Beatles mini-set that included “Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey,” “Revolution,” and “Tomorrow Never Knows.” By the time Jon came out for a brief encore of “Knock Yourself Out” (which is where the above photo was snapped), we were all filled with enough warmth to endure the frigid Chicago night. …

A day after getting home from Chicago, I was at it again when I went down to the Mercury Lounge to check out The XYZ Affair, a New York band I had heard good things about. Having not heard any of their music before, I walked away a bit underwhelmed. None of their songs really grabbed me right away, and they seemed very young. But I would check them out again. … I managed to sell my ticket for the last night of Natalie Merchant’s show run and buy a ticket for a Rough Trade showcase at Joe’s Pub featuring Basia Bulat and Jeffrey Lewis. Primarily I wanted to see Bulat, a young Canadian singer-songwriter about whom I have heard several raves. She definitely was as good as advertised, even though I didn’t know any of her music. Switching from autoharp to acoustic guitar to something I later found out from her was an old-timey instrument called a pianoette, Bulat was wholly charming. I’m very much looking forward to her upcoming record. I stayed for Lewis, who mostly played stuff off his upcoming record of remakes of songs by the British anarchist band Crass. I’ve always been kind of intrigued by Lewis, who is also a talented artist and incorporates that into his live show. I’m not sure that I would go out of my way to see him, but I’ve definitely seen much, much worse. …

The next night I headed out to Union Hall, a relatively new venue in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn, to see Tift Merritt (pictured above). I had wanted to see Merritt for a long time, but it had never worked out until now. I loved the intimate little venue, which was located beneath a sprawling bar with a couple of indoor bocce courts. Opening the show was Hotel Lights, a band led by former Ben Folds Five drummer Darren Jessee. I had seen them once before ages ago with a fuller lineup (as I remember, anyway), but this time it was a stripped-down duo that played quiet music reminiscent of the Autumn Defense. It was a little mellow for me, but at least they played one of my favorite Jessee songs, “Amelia Bright.” Then it was time for Merritt, who played solo. With a new record coming out, she previewed a good amount of that material but also included what I later discovered were some pretty old songs. Apparently she has relocated to New York from North Carolina, so I hope to have a chance to see her again soon. …

One night later, on Jan. 12, my run of shows continued with a performance by Petra Haden at the Stone, a tiny Lower East Side avant-garde club. I figured she wasn’t going to be doing conventional stuff, but I didn’t really know what to expect. As it turned out, she was joined by experimental music veteran Laurie Anderson on violin and keyboard. The two proceeded to do an eclectic 40-minute uninterrupted “piece” that featured Haden’s improvised vocals. It veered from haunting to rocking to almost melancholy at times. Definitely a far cry from Haden’s work with the Decemberists and Foo Fighters or even her own unique vocal style when covering songs like “I Can See For Miles” and “God Only Knows.” It’s good to see Haden stretch out and do some different stuff, though. I always felt like she was kind of misunderstood in her time with the Decemberists. …

Just before heading downtown to see Haden, I was over at the New York Times’ Arts and Leisure Week talk with Feist, pictured above with interviewer Jon Pareles. The session mostly featured on the immense success of her 2007 record The Reminder. We learned about how the song “1 2 3 4″ came to be used in an iPod commercial, which she explained came about when she refused to play at a birthday party for the daughter of some Canadian music bigwig who, in turn, had her essentially blacklisted from Canadian radio. When Apple approached her about using “1 2 3 4,” she felt like it was her chance to sort of get revenge on the bigwig by getting her music out there and heard. And boy did it ever get heard! Other topics included her work process (she likes to work with a small group of trusted people), how she hooked up with the Kings of Convenience (she met them at a noise fest in Europe, amazingly enough) and how she feels about musical collaborations (she doesn’t really believe in them that much). I found it amusing how people would address her as Feist, as if she didn’t have a first name (Leslie). Like “Hi Feist, here’s my question” or “You are great, Feist.” And I can’t say that Pareles was the best interviewer, but eventually the conversation warmed up to transcend most of the awkwardness. …

The last show I’ll mention in this post is one of the best I’ve seen in a while by an artist I hadn’t seen before. I had wanted to see Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings for some time, but they were another act that slipped through the cracks. I rectified that by traveling down to Washington D.C. and, joined by Heidi, making it to their show at Black Cat on Jan. 17. And what a show! I’m sure it wouldn’t be any surprise to anyone who’s seen them before, but I loved just about everything about this retro soul/funk band. I imagine it’s about as close to seeing James Brown as you can get today. I had heard that Mrs. Jones got the crowd involved, but she really fed off the audience’s energy by bringing various members of the front row (thankfully not us, this time!) up on stage to dance to just playing to the crowd. By the time the band launched their encore with a cover of “It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World,” they had us eating out of their hands. The bottom line: If you want to see a fun show in which ass-shaking just can’t be helped, do yourself a favor.

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Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s//12-30-07//Schubas, Chicago, IL//support: Catfish Haven

new song (“carnival”)/new song (“when all the liquor is gone, gone, gone”)/Paper Kitten Nightmare/On A Freezing Chicago Street/new song-Bad Case of the Blues (“I want to gouge your eyes out”)/new song-The Ocean (“don’t you cry my darling”)/Broadripple Is Burning/Vampires In Blue Dresses//Quiet As A Mouse/new song (“this is how you teach someone to drive”)/Skeleton Key/Bookworm//e: new song-Lightning Rod (“I am a lightning rod”)/Barfight Revolution

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Jon Brion and Friends//12-31-07//Harris Theater, Chicago, IL//support: none

Set 1

[with Britt Daniel] Everything Hits at Once/The Underdog/[with Britt Daniel, John Stirratt, Pat Sansone, and Howard Windmiller] I Feel Fine/with John Stirratt and Pat Sansone] Sentimental Lady/Row/Eternal Sunshine Theme/Happy with You

Set 2
Meaningless/New Year’s countdown>Auld Lang Syne/Happy Birthday [to Brett]/Walking Through Walls/minor key improv/Just Like a Woman/I Believe She’s Lying/ragtime instrumental/Bohemian Rhapsody/Sail Away>Knock Yourself Out/Life on Mars/Ruin My Day/Words of Love>Lithium>Uncomplicated>Deathly/[with John Stirratt and Pat Sansone] Cortez the Killer/[with John Stirratt and Pat Sansone] fake Springsteen song/Queen Elvis/God Only Knows//e: Maple Leaf Rag

*—setlist courtesy of easily fooled

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Jon Brion//1-2-08//Martyr’s, Chicago, IL/support: none

Set 1

I Fall in Love Too Easily/Why Do You Do This to Yourself/Tainted Love/I Got It Bad (And That Ain’t Good)/Amateur/We Didn’t Start the Fire/Girl I Knew>7 Nation Army>James Bond theme>Peter Gunn>Secret Agent Man>Surrender>Police on My Back>Girl I Knew/Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now>Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want/Same Thing/Further Along/I’m Gonna Lock My Heart and Throw Away the Key/Trouble/You Say You Don’t Love Me/What a Fool Believes [Les Paul style]/Cathy’s Clown/Everyday/She’s Not There>/I’m Waiting for the Man

Set 2

So I Fell in Love with You/Ishtar medley/Cheers theme/Western-style instrumental
[with Pat Sansone and Ryan (Vee Dee)] Daydream/You Didn’t Have to Be So Nice/Summer in the City/Sunny Afternoon/[with Pat, Ryan and Packy] Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey/Revolution/Don’t Let Me Down/I Want You (She’s So Heavy)/Tomorrow Never Knows//e: Knock Yourself Out

*—setlist courtesy of easily fooled

From the another-sign-I’m-getting-old department: I was having a conversation the other day with Kris via instant messaging (IM-ing, as the kids say) when somehow the subject of pro wrestling came up. I recounted channel surfing recently and stumbling on the 15th anniversary show of Monday Night Raw. Until I started chatting with Kris, though, it hadn’t occurred to me that, ‘Damn, that show has been on for half my life!’

Then again, I also read somewhere recently that 30 is the new 20. I realize this is hardly a new notion — just do a Google search for “30 new 20,” if you don’t believe me — but it still made me feel a little better. Like I don’t have to have it all figured out yet, or something like that. And maybe that’s actually a good thing.

Considering that I’ve since been to Chicago (for the annual Letters to Santa 24-hour benefit at Second City), Los Angeles (for three shows at Largo, which you can read about here, here and here) and am now back home in White Plains, it seems like forever ago that I spent a wonderful week-plus in San Francisco at the end of November. In fact, it really does feel like so long ago because I’ve been meaning to post this entry for days now. But better late than never, right? Because I would be remiss — and doing a disservice to the generosity of Uyen and Annie, who let me camp out on their couch — if I didn’t briefly recap some of the fun I had while in town:

*Playing Rock Band with U and A and their family on Thanksgiving night in San Jose. U picked me up from the airport and pretty soon I was belting out “Wanted Dead or Alive” by Bon Jovi. I’m not normally that much of a video game guy, but that game is like crack. Other highlights included getting a perfect vocal score for the New Pornographers’ “The Electric Version” and getting through The Sweet’s “Ballroom Blitz.”

*Wandering around the San Francisco branch of Amoeba Records for as long as I wanted. (Granted, Amoeba is pretty much a mandatory destination for me anytime I’m in town, but often there are shows to go to or friends to see, so browsing time is limited. But this time, I enjoyed a pleasant stroll over there through Golden Gate Park and had no other plans. Not having other plans can be dangerous when it comes to Amoeba.)

*Walking what must have been five miles one sunny afternoon, from U and A’s place in the Richmond up into the Presidio, over to the Golden Gate Bridge, along Crissy Field and the Golden Gate Promenade, past the Palace of Fine Arts and the Exploratorium, along Marina, into Fort Mason and finally ending up in North Beach. It was a great way to explore northern edge of the city, and picturesque to boot.

*Discovering the Wave Organ on the aforementioned walk. I had read about it in my guidebook and it sounded kind of neat, but I wasn’t sure if I would be able to find it. But I kept walking on a little penninsula that extends out from the Yacht Harbor, past the Golden Gate Yacht Club and finally I found it looking across the bay to Alcatraz (as pictured below). It’s kind of an art-meets-nature sort of thing, which I won’t attempt to describe, but which you can read more about here. I liked it because I got there just as the sun was setting and there was almost no one else there. It felt like you had discovered a little secret.

*Having dinner with Tatsu, an old friend from high school who I hadn’t seen in maybe 10 years.

*Having lunch in Berkeley with Stephanie, a friend from grad school who moved out West to be with her boyfriend who’s going to business school at Cal. Of course, I stopped by the Berkeley Amoeba while I was there.

*Sandwiching two of the best seafood meals I’ve had in a long time around a walk through the Mission and the Castro (where I spent a lot of time browsing in a very cool record store, Open Mind Music. First up was lunch with U at Swan Oyster Depot, a legendary San Francisco seafood market where the only seats are at a long counter and you can get an Anchor Steam, a plate of oysters, a seafood cocktail and a Dungeness crab salad which, coincidentally, is exactly what I had. Then for dinner, Annie and I went over to a relatively newly discovered restaurant near their place called PPQ Dungeness Island that serves the most awesome crab prix fixe menu with a whole crab, garlic noodles, spring rolls, Vietnamese-style salad and dessert. (Do yourself a favor and get the spicy crab.)

*Went to another installment of the famed Friday burrito night at the McCormick compound. It wasn’t my first time, but nevertheless I love this tradition!

It’s kind of funny that I only saw two shows while I was there, three if you count Patton Oswalt’s epic Comedians of Comedy show at the Independent on Nov. 30. The first was The Ropes, a New York band whose singer Sharon was an old friend of U’s from their Britpop days. The show was at an awesome little place called the Rickshaw Stop and, while I don’t know the Ropes’ music nearly well enough to provide a setlist of any sort, check them out here. Anyway, we ended up joining them on a late-night trip over to the Palace of Fine Arts where a friend of one of the band members engaged in some pyrotechnics while rest of us tried not to succumb to frostbite. (I’m not kidding about the pyrotechnics, as evidenced by the photo below.)

The other show I caught while I was in town was Aimee Mann’s Christmas variety show, which was highly entertaining. From Aimee’s three-part movie (I know she was in The Big Lebowski, but who knew she was such a good actress?) to Paul F. Tompkins’ bit about why he shouldn’t smoke pot anymore to Morgan Murphy’s rap as the Hanukkah Fairy, there was a little something for everyone. Of course, the music wasn’t half bad either.

San Francisco is a place that I don’t see myself getting tired of anytime soon. Every time I go there — and I’ve been quite a few times now — there seems to be another neighborhood I want to explore or another restaurant I want to try out. Maybe I’d feel differently if I lived there, but on my last day in town this time, I was already jotting down some ideas about things I wanted to do next time. When it comes to places to visit, that’s definitely a good sign.

Aimee Mann’s 2nd Annual Christmas Show (with Paul F. Tompkins, Morgan Murphy, Chuck Prophet and Sean Hayes)//12-2-07//Bimbo’s 365 Club, San Francisco, CA//support: none

Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies/Jacob Marley’s Chain/Calling On Mary/[movie, pt. 1]/Baby, It’s Cold Outside (duet with PFT)/[PFT on pot smoking]/I’ll Be Home For Christmas/[SH-Mary Magdalene]/[SH-A Thousand Tiny Pieces]/[movie, pt. 2]/[MM - Hannukah Fairy rap]/Save Me/Christmastime [duet with CP]/[CP-I'm Bored (Iggy Pop)]/[CP-Hey! Little Child (Alex Chilton)]/[movie, pt. 3]/You’re A Mean One Mr. Grinch (duet with PFT)/I Was Thinking I Could Clean Up For Christmas/Way Back When/Deathly//e: [ensemble-Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)]

There are few things that taste better than a pint of “the black stuff” in the place they make it. That’s one of the things I learned on my most recent jaunt over the Atlantic. This time, I spent a total of 10 days in Spain and Ireland (with an overnight pit stop in the UK).

The occasion for the trip, primarily, was to see Wilco’s last shows of 2007. And conveniently enough, three of the five shows that I saw were in cities I had never visited before: Bilbao, Spain, and Dublin, Ireland. It was also in Dublin, on the night before I flew home, that I caught what was apparently the New Pornographers’ first show in Ireland, or at any rate, first in the capital city.

After arriving in Madrid on the morning of the first Wilco show on my itinerary, I checked into my hotel and headed over to the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. It’s a great little art museum, one that I really enjoyed last time I was in Madrid but didn’t get a chance to fully explore. So I took my time this time, had lunch in the restaurant there and walked through just about every room. I probably took a little too much time because it was already getting dark by the time I headed over to find the venue for the show. I had looked up the address online, but it didn’t have a cross street or number. Still, I figured, ‘How hard can it be to find?’ Bad move on my part. I spent literally an hour and half walking up and down said street, until I spotted a guy scalping tickets and managed to ask where the place was. Turned out it was just across the street. Fantastic. By the time I collected my ticket from the box office, there was already a decent line of people waiting for the doors to open. Once we got in, I considered making a push for the front but I was already so tired from traveling and the trauma of trying to find the venue that I eventually decided to stand at a barricade in front of the soundboard, where I could at least lean. An inauspicious start. And that’s not even counting my discovery later that night that my laptop was no longer detecting my Airport card, which meant I was basically carrying around a glorified DVD player. (I suspect it happened when my bag fell on my way into the hotel earlier that morning.) Inauspicious start, indeed.

Three shows in three different Spanish cities on the first three days of the trip meant a rigorous travel schedule. The last time I was in Spain I actually saw four shows in four cities in four days, but my travel companion and I had rented a car and she was doing all the driving, so it somehow didn’t feel quite as stressful. This time, though, I was on my own, and I ended up taking a train from Madrid to Zaragoza the next day. I had booked a hotel that was advertised as being across the street from the train station there because the following morning, I had a reservation on the first train back to Madrid, from where I had to catch a flight to Bilbao. But another little snafu occurred when I discovered, much to my chagrin, that there was no logical way to walk from the train station to the hotel (which I wanted to do to save a little money on taxis). So even though I could see the hotel from the station, there was no easy way to get there because of a huge construction zone and a highway between the station and the hotel. On top of that, the hotel had misplaced my reservation, so it took about half an hour to check in. At least the show in Zaragoza was a good one. I had my only interaction with the band on this trip when a certain lead singer called me out before the first encore. It was cringe-worthy, to be sure, but ultimately nice of him to welcome me back.

I did manage to make all my travel connections (in order, taxi, train, subway, plane and taxi) the next day and reach Bilbao by mid-afternoon. Before the show that night, I even had time for a short visit to the famed, Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim museum. Conveniently, it was right across the street from my hotel. I didn’t even have to pay the admission fee because my awesomely luxurious hotel, the Silken Gran Hotel Domine, had given me a coupon for a free visit as part of the museum’s 10th anniversary celebration. And they were having a big retrospective of American art there. Perfect! I spent the next day and half wandering around Bilbao, eating some wonderful Basque food (I heartily recommend the bacalao al pil pil, a/k/a cod in pil pil sauce) and just taking a breath for the first time on the trip. Bilbao’s really an excellent small city, where you really get a mix of the old and the new in everything from the architecture to the people to the food.

Refreshed, I made my way to Dublin, Ireland (via EasyJet and RyanAir). My time in Ireland got off to a rough start as well. Not only was there a steady rain when I got there, I made a couple of not-so-good decisions in retrospect. First, I decided to walk from the Heuston train station to my hotel in Kilmainham, which is apparently a fine walk in nice weather but not when it’s raining and you’ve got two bags and no windbreaker on. I also decided to buy the Dublin Pass, one of those tourist cards that get you free admission to a bunch of sights. I didn’t realize that a lot of Dublin’s museums and churches are free, so I ended up visiting some sights just to try to get my money’s worth out of the card. It worked out OK, but I wouldn’t have bought the card if I had it to do over again. Also, I got some sort of 24-hour stomach bug on my first day in Dublin. I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it through the first show that night, but somehow I managed.

Anyway, I won’t prattle on too much longer. Suffice it to say, Vicar Street is a very nice place to see a show. Highly recommended. It’s carpeted! Plus, the sound and sightlines are good. After the Wilco run was over, I had the better part of two days left to do some sightseeing. On the first day, I met my friend Warner and his friend Dave at the Guinness Storehouse and we did the requisite tour there. We took our time, had lunch and eventually made our way to the Gravity Bar on the top floor, where your admission fee entitles you to a free pint (to be nursed for as long as you like in the bar, which has a neat 360-degree view of Dublin). Then we wandered back over to the Temple Bar area, which is where a lot of pubs and restaurants are located, and had a nice dinner.

The next day, my last full one in Ireland, I was back on my own again and decided to try and pack in as many sights as possible. I had already visited the very cool Kilmainham Gaol, which was literally across the street from my hotel, so I headed up to Phoenix Park and on the spur of the moment, decided to wander over to the Dublin Zoo. I hadn’t been to a zoo in forever, so it was a nice way to spend a couple of hours. My other goal was to go to the Dublin Writers’ Museum and the James Joyce Centre, so I headed east from the park and, as it started raining again, I walked over to one of Dublin’s main drags, O’Connell Street, and up to the Writers’ Museum. Then just before it closed, I snuck in for a quick visit to the Joyce Centre (which has the actual door to No. 7 Eccles Street, the fictional home of Leopold Bloom in Joyce’s Ulysses in the back terrace). Those visits, and being in Dublin in general, made me want to go back and read Ulysses from start to finish. Got to put that one on the to-do list.

Wilco//11-9-07//La Riviera, Madrid, SPAIN//support: The Sunday Drivers

You Are My Face/War on War/IATTBYH/Pot Kettle Black/Handshake Drugs/A Shot in the Arm/Side With The Seeds/Jesus, etc./Impossible Germany/Sky Blue Sky/Too Far Apart/Hate It Here/Walken/I’m The Man Who Loves You/Hummingbird/On and On and On//e1: Via Chicago/The Late Greats/Heavy Metal Drummer/Spiders (Kidsmoke)//e2: Red-Eyed and Blue>/I Got You (At The End of the Century)/Casino Queen>/Outta Mind (Outtasite)

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Wilco//11-10/07//Sala Oasis, Zaragoza, SPAIN//support: Smile

Either Way/You Are My Face/War on War/IATTBYH/Pot Kettle Black/Handshake Drugs/Side With The Seeds/Via Chicago/A Shot in the Arm/Impossible Germany/Sky Blue Sky/Too Far Apart/Jesus, etc./Hate It Here/Walken/Theologians/I’m The Man Who Loves You/Hummingbird//e1: California Stars/Forget the Flowers/Heavy Metal Drummer/Spiders (Kidsmoke)//e2: The Late Greats/Red-Eyed and Blue>/I Got You (At The End of the Century)>/Outta Mind (Outtasite)

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Wilco//11-11-07//Palacio Euskalduna, Bilbao, SPAIN//support: Smile

Sunken Treasure/You Are My Face/War on War/IATTBYH/Pot Kettle Black/Side With The Seeds/Shake It Off/Handshake Drugs/A Shot in the Arm/Radio Cure/Impossible Germany/Sky Blue Sky/Too Far Apart/Walken/I’m The Man Who Loves You/Hummingbird//e1: California Stars/Jesus, etc./Hate It Here/Heavy Metal Drummer//e2: Via Chicago>/Spiders (Kidsmoke)

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Wilco//11-14-07//Vicar Street, Dublin, IRELAND//support: Ollie Cole

Sunken Treasure/Remember the Mountain Bed/Muzzle of Bees/You Are My Face/War on War/IATTBYH/Pot Kettle Black/Handshake Drugs/Side With The Seeds/Radio Cure/Impossible Germany/Sky Blue Sky/Walken/I’m The Man Who Loves You/Hummingbird/A Shot in the Arm//e1: Spiders (Kidsmoke)//e2: California Stars/Jesus, etc./Hate It Here/Heavy Metal Drummer/Red-Eyed and Blue>/I Got You (At The End of the Century)>/Outta Mind (Outtasite)

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Wilco//11-15-07//Vicar Street, Dublin, IRELAND//support: Ollie Cole

Via Chicago/Either Way/You Are My Face/Company In My Back/IATTBYH/Kamera/Shake It Off/Handshake Drugs/Impossible Germany/Forget the Flowers/Too Far Apart/Hate It Here/Walken/Theologians/I’m The Man Who Loves You/Hummingbird/On and On and On//e1: Misunderstood/Far, Far Away/Side With The Seeds/A Shot in the Arm//e2: Jesus, etc./The Late Greats/Heavy Metal Drummer/Casino Queen>/Outta Mind (Outtasite)

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The New Pornographers//11-17-07//The Village, Dublin, IRELAND//support: The Chapters

All The Things That Go To Make Heaven And Earth/Use It/The Electric Version/All The Old Showstoppers/Jackie, Dressed In Cobras/Challengers/The Laws Have Changed/My Rights Versus Yours/The Spirit Of Giving/Mass Romantic/Testament To Youth In Verse/Unguided/Mutiny, I Promise You/Twin Cinema/Sing Me Spanish Techno/The Bleeding Heart Show//e: The Slow Descent Into Alcoholism