One of the truly unfortunate outcomes of our breakneck itinerary was that we barely had any time to spend in Portugal, a country in which I was fortunate to spend several days a few years ago and really, really enjoyed. Brianne had never been there, so I felt especially badly for her that we had essentially one afternoon to explore Lisbon before we were on the road again. Sometimes, I guess, such is the price of rock ‘n’ roll tourism.

Part of the reason we had such scant time in Portugal was that we had an epic journey from Seville to Braga, Portugal, where the next show was. Braga is a smallish city about 45 minutes drive northeast of Porto, which is about three hours’ drive north of Lisbon — I think you can see where this is going — which is about an hour-long flight from Madrid, which is about a two-and-a-half hour train ride from Seville. So it was literally planes, trains and automobiles; I think it was the trip both of us were simultaneously dreading and morbidly interested in seeing if we could actually pull off. Sure, we could have probably spent a boatload of money and found some sort of direct flight there, but what fun would that have been?

Recall that we hadn’t even gotten back to our hotel in Seville until nearly 4 a.m. because of the crazy late festival. Our train from Seville to Madrid — as it turned out, a very nice and highly recommended AVE — left at 8:45 a.m. So we were both a bit zonked by the time we finally pulled into Braga little more than an hour before that night’s show was to start. (Don’t even ask how we managed to find our hotel in Braga. We were armed with some generally unhelpful Google Maps directions and a tiny inset map that was part of the bigger map of Portugal we got from the rental car place. I recall a good amount of circling around and some silent prayer.)

Wilco certainly couldn’t have picked a more beautiful venue to make their debut in Portugal. The newly restored Theatro Circo was really nice, maybe the nicest venue we saw on the whole trip. I probably remember admiring the theater and wondering exactly who was going to come to this show more than the show itself, but it was a solid enough performance until the very end when Nels had either an amp or pedal malfunction and the show, which was probably about to end anyway, simply did.

Somehow we found a good restaurant still serving food after the show and, after being brushed off once, managed to get seated and actually eat a decent meal. (In the interim, we actually considered going to McDonald’s, which occupied a prime spot in Braga’s city center…but it was closing just as we walked up.) The next morning, we resisted the urge to sleep in and hustled out of Braga to maximize our time in Lisbon. Sorry, Braga.

That time turned out to be an afternoon, which is hardly enough time to spend in one of Lisbon’s three main sections much less get a feel for the city. Not to mention it was a warm Sunday, so the capitol was definitely in weekend mode. But we did our best, heading first to the Belém neighborhood about three miles west of downtown to visit sites like the Torre de Belém (Tower of Belém) and the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos (Monastery of the Hieronymites), two of the best examples of Portugal’s Manueline style of architecture. One place I definitely wanted to get back to on this trip was the Pastéis de Belém café, where they have been serving the most delicious little custard tart — its namesake, pictured at the bottom of this post — since 1837. It’s sort of like the Café du Monde of Lisbon, and I can’t think of too many things in the world I would rather eat than a plateful of those things sprinkled with a little cinnamon and powdered sugar.

After Belém, we headed took a cab up the narrow, winding streets of the Alfama district to the sprawling Castelo de São Jorge. I think you can see the castle from just about anywhere in the city — we certainly could from our hotel window (see below) — and it was a good starting point for a short walk down through the Alfama. The neighborhood, which is Lisbon’s oldest and mostly survived the 1755 earthquake that rocked the city, features some stunning views and charming old-world streets that make up sort of a small village within a city.

There was so much else to see and do in Lisbon, but alas not nearly enough time. We settled for a quick dinner on Lisbon’s notorious “eating lane” (Rua das Portas de Santo Antão), where you can’t walk more than a few steps without being approached by a menu-bearing waiter. Normally I wouldn’t have gone there to eat, but the venue for that night’s show was, by coincidence, on the same street. And what a fun show it turned out to be! Jeff had mentioned on several occasions in Braga about how there were “plenty of good seats” available for Lisbon and we again worried about how many empty seats there would be.

Our seats were some of the best that we had on the entire run, which probably had something to do with our enjoyment of the show. But for whatever reason, the band was especially loose and fed off the small, but spirited crowd. I think the moment I will remember most was two kids, a girl and a boy, coming down to the foot of the stage for the encore. During “Spiders,” Jeff leaned down to them with his guitar, handed the girl his pick and proceeded to have her strum for about 20 or 30 seconds while he changed chords with his left hand. Maybe you had to be there, but it was very cool.

Afterward, we went out for an unexpected, but fun, drink with some people we met in the lobby and called it a night. Our hastily booked, rather pricey flight to Santiago de Compostela — via Madrid, of course — beckoned early in the morning…

Wilco//5-30-09//Theatro Circo, Braga, PORTUGAL//support: none

You Are My Face/Company In My Back/One Wing/Bob Dylan’s 49th Beard/IATTBYH/Pot Kettle Black/Radio Cure/Bull Black Nova/A Shot in the Arm/At Least That’s What You Said/Via Chicago/Impossible Germany/Jesus, etc./Handshake Drugs/You Never Know/Hummingbird//e: Poor Places>/Reservations>/Spiders (Kidsmoke)/The Late Greats/Heavy Metal Drummer/Hate It Here/Walken/I’m The Man Who Loves You

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Wilco//5-31-09//Coliseu, Lisbon, PORTUGAL//support: none

Wilco (the song)/IATTBYH/Company In My Back/Kamera/Handshake Drugs/Bull Black Nova/Radio Cure/You Are My Face/Pot Kettle Black/War On War/Jesus, etc./Impossible Germany/Sky Blue Sky/Hesitating Beauty/Say You Miss Me/Heavy Metal Drummer/Hummingbird//e: Ashes of American Flags>/Spiders (Kidsmoke)/You Never Know/The Late Greats/Hate It Here/Walken/I’m The Man Who Loves You

My brief sojourn on Tenerife is just about over — I’m actually at the airport waiting for my flight back to the mainland — and it’s been an interesting couple of days. It’s a place I wouldn’t mind coming back to someday and exploring further. There are a number of things I wanted to but didn’t get to see, which I’m blaming mostly on my inability to drive stick shift and trepidation about negotiating some of the supposedly treacherous roads. Among them were the primary attraction here, the Pico del Teide volcano, as well as the native black-sand beaches and some of the rock pools I read about. I also didn’t get to the town of Garachico on the western coast (which had been recommended), nor the southern part of the island (where most of the tourists go).

Regarding the latter, I’m sort of glad I didn’t make it to the south. It sounds a tad tacky — an English-speaking friend I made here likened it to Atlantic City, and I don’t think she meant that as a compliment — and overcrowded with English and German tourists and the establishments that cater to them. By contrast, I spent my time (both by necessity and design) exclusively in the north, in La Laguna and Santa Cruz. The old town of La Laguna — primarily known a college town — is a Unesco World Heritage Site, so I was happy to walk around and admire some of the beautiful buildings. From there, then it was a quick tram ride to Santa Cruz, the biggest city on the island, where I spent another pleasant afternoon wandering around before seeing the kickoff of Wilco’s Spanish tour at the Auditorio de Tenerife that night.

What I liked (and found a tiny bit challenging) about Santa Cruz was that there didn’t seem to be many English speakers around at all. There aren’t very many foreign places I’ve been to where you don’t see or overhear some group of Americans or Brits at some point. But that was one surprising aspect of Santa Cruz for me: I heard virtually no English spoken. It seemed, for better or worse, like a city in which real people lived and worked. Perhaps that made it not the ideal spot for a tourist to visit, but that was refreshing in a way.

And ultimately, how many places can you sit next to a stunning venue where you’re about to see a show and, while waiting for the doors to open, read a book on a landing that looks out on the ocean toward Africa?

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Wilco//5-23-09//Auditorio de Tenerife, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, SPAIN//support: none

Wilco (the song)/Hummingbird/Hell Is Chrome/Handshake Drugs/IATTBYH/Pot Kettle Black/Ashes of American Flags/Bull Black Nova/You Are My Face/Jesus, etc./Impossible Germany/I’ll Fight/Poor Places>/Reservations>/Spiders (Kidsmoke)//e1: The Late Greats/Hate It Here/Walken/I’m The Man Who Loves You//e2: Misunderstood/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.

For the few of you who might actually check in on this blog from time to time, I apologize yet again for being such a complete and utter slacker about updating. I realize that it’s been several months since I’ve posted anything and literally over a year, I think, since I’ve posted about what I’ve been up to in the present (or at least the recent past). It feels kind of weird to be writing this, but with the rise of Twitter and Facebook, I’ve honestly thought about whether it’s practical or worthwhile to even continue blogging. Has it already become passé?

I’ve come to the conclusion that I want to keep doing it, though I think I probably need to start running this thing like an actual blog. That is, update more frequently; make shorter posts; and not wait for a bunch of things to build up before writing about them, as I know I’ve done more often than not. I’m sure I’ve said most of this before, but for what it’s worth, I’m rededicating myself. With a busy couple of months ahead, including a jaunt to España over the next couple of weeks, there should be plenty to post about and I’ll endeavor to do so. Stay tuned. Or not.

If you do check in here every now and again, you’ll know tht I’ve repeatedly promised to “catch up” with updates of what I’ve been up to since last May when I last posted about current goings-on. (Embarrassingly I’ve had half of the May 2008 update written for months now, but never seem to get around to finishing it.) Anyway, since it’s been more than a year now and I’m certain no one — probably not even me — cares about what I did months and months ago, I guess I will officially cut the strings on the update plan. Maybe if the well really runs dry sometime, I’ll reconfigure the updates as a “looking back” series or something to that effect. But for now, in blogging as well as in life, I think it’s generally a good idea to not dwell on the past and live in the present.

So there’s this thing going around Facebook right now where you’re basically supposed to write “25 random things, facts, habits or goals about you” and then send it along to 25 of your friends. Since I still have quite a few Luddite friends who refuse to get on Facebook — and so I can have more than one whole post this month — I figured I’d post my list here as well. Maybe you’ll learn something about me that you didn’t know before. Or maybe you’ll be deathly bored, in which case you probably shouldn’t be reading this blog in the first place.

(Actually you faithful blog readers are seeing this before the Facebook community because I can’t figure out how to include 25 people on my note. It’s only letting me add like eight or nine. Hopefully I’ll get someone to help me figure out what I’m doing wrong.)

So without further ado, 25 things about me:

1. Coming up with 25 things that somebody would be remotely interested in seems kind of daunting.
2. I wonder how much longer I can keep this up.
3. I would have a much easier time telling you what I don’t want to do with my life than what I want to do.
4. If money weren’t a consideration, I would totally want to open or work in a used record and/or book store.
5. I went to high school much further away from home than I did college (Exeter, N.H. for the former and Evanston, Ill., for the latter). Probably the happiest sustained time in my life thus far was my last year and a half of high school.
6. I used to be really into tennis when I was younger. I took lessons, went to several camps and pored over magazines and books for tips. Sadly, I can’t remember the last time I played.
7. When I was seven, I cried hysterically after the Cubs lost the 1984 National League pennant to the Padres after taking a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series. I still curse Steve Garvey.
8. I’m not really sure why I went to journalism school, other than for the sake of getting a master’s degree. On a somewhat related note, I still do my best to adhere to AP style.
9. I’m not a fan of mushrooms, either for edible or narcotic purposes.
10. If everyone has a hidden talent of some kind, mine is apparently the ability to drink virtually unlimited quantities of fountain Diet Coke.
11. I get slightly uncomfortable when I don’t have a something to drink on hand, and tap water doesn’t count.
12. I really, really dislike snakes, to the point where I almost can’t even stand to look at a picture in a book. Unless it’s cartoony. Then it’s sort of OK.
13. Before I got into a car accident about 18 months ago, I had never broken a bone or spent the night in a hospital.
14. I haven’t owned a car since the accident, and haven’t really missed it that much.
15. Though I never mind going to a movie with a friend or friends, I actually prefer seeing them by myself.
16.  I am quite fond of certain delicacies of the upper Midwest, such as Vernor’s ginger ale and blue moon ice cream.
17. Aside from music, I think I probably get the most enjoyment out of traveling. I could be slightly off, but by my count I’ve visited 46 states (I don’t seem to recall ever spending any significant time in the Dakotas, Wyoming or Nebraska), 24 countries (not including the U.S.) and four continents (have yet to set foot on Africa, South America or Antarctica).
18. Currently at the top of my list of places I most want to visit: Japan.
19. My mom hasn’t been very healthy for most of my adult life and she talks about dying more than I think is healthy. It kind of bums me out.
20. I love handwritten notes, cards, letters, etc. I end up saving almost all of the ones I get.
21. My celebrity crush: Kate Winslet.
21. No idea why, but I have a fascination with swimming pools. Not so much your garden variety backyard pool, but more like enclosed bodies of water in weird places — along the lines of rock pools (like they have in Australia), hot springs and rooftop pools.
22. In college, I spoke in a “lingo” derived primarily from the Wayne’s World and Austin Powers movies. I think some people I knew during that era still expect me to talk that way.
23. My parents are both allergic to alcohol, so I always assumed that I was too. I probably wouldn’t have drunk in high school anyway, but that was certainly a big reason why. Turns out I just get the Asian flush, which I quickly discovered after consuming my first beer — which, for the record, was a Guinness in London the summer after my senior year.
24. I wish I were a faster reader, so I could get through more books. Also wish I knew more about how to listen to jazz.
25. This is going to be the year the Cubs win the World Series. I’m tired of waiting until next year, dammit.

Thirty-one today
What a thing to say
Drinking Guinness in the afternoon
Taking shelter in the black cocoon

I thought my life would be different somehow
I thought my life would be better by now
I thought my life would be different somehow
I thought my life would be better by now
But it’s not, and I don’t know where to turn

—Aimee Mann

(Don’t worry, it’s not really that bad! I mean, it is a little depressing but I’m not about to do anything drastic…haha.)

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:

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]

It’s kind of fitting that there’s an extra day in February this year because even having an additional day isn’t going to help me chronicle all of this month’s activities. I know that I’ve been remarkably — even by my standards — poor at recapping everything that’s gone on this month. So I would like to heartily apologize to my five (actually, I recently found out that I might have added a sixth — welcome, Warner!) readers. In my own defense, all I can say is that February 2008 has been an absolute blur for me of wonderful shows, friends, food and travel and that it’s been hard to write about memories when you’re making new ones all the time.

After traveling for most of the day yesterday, I made my way from Heidi’s house in Washington, D.C., to Uyen’s place in San Francisco. Whenever I fly across the country, I can’t help thinking that’s a trip that, only a century or so ago, probably would have taken months and months. Here, I did it in like eight hours. But it’s sort of an appropriate metaphor for the last month: cramming a lot into a relatively limited amount of time.

Anyway, over a series of, let’s say, three forthcoming installments, I will endeavor to chronicle most of the past month’s shenanigans. Until then, enjoy your leap day — I’ll be in the odd locale of Visalia, Calif., personally, seeing British Sea Power — and see you in March!

I’m back in the WiFi saddle, thanks to Tekserve. (My Airport card somehow got dislodged.) Hooray for Tekserve! They ain’t cheap, but they usually get the job done.