Wilco Update: Current Tour Dates and Latest Tracks

Correction: The Flaming Lips are not playing Rochester. I accept no responsibility for believing whatever I read on the internet.

Wilco is back on tour, as of last night, warming up for Mr. Neil "Old Man" Young. This leg of Neil Young's tour, with Everest and Wilco opening, kicked off last night in Halifax, NS, Canada. Here's a preliminary set list (I wasn't there). If you have corrections, please leave in the comments section, or I'll update once it's on WilcoBase.

You Are My Face, War On War, Handshake Drugs, Jesus Etc., Impossible Germany, Via Chicago, California Stars, Hate It Here, Walken, I'm The Man Who Loves You

Pretty great set. Lots of rockers and crowd-pleasers. Hopefully the Neil-faithful got a kick out of it. What an honor it has to be for the band to warm up for Neil-freakin'-Young. I'm going to pay close attention to this tour and keep my fingers crossed that there is some Wilco/Young musical cross-pollination. Here's the rest of Wilco's dates for the year:

12/01 - Montreal, QC - Bell Centre @
12/02 - Ottawa, ON - Scotia Bank Place @
12/04 - Toronto, ON - Air Canada Centre @
12/05 - Toronto, ON - Air Canada Centre @
12/06 - Rochester, NY - Auditorium Theater # $
12/07 - Detroit, MI - The Palace of Auburn Hills @
12/12 - Philadelphia, PA - Wachovia Spectrum @
12/13 - Worcester, MA - DCU Center @
12/14 - Baltimore, MD - Lyric Opera House # $
12/15 - New York, NY - Madison Square Garden @
12/16 - New York, NY - Madison Square Garden @

@ - Supporting Neil Young w/ Everest
# - Headlining
$ - Sold Out

In other Wilco news, they have a new album scheduled for release sometime this Spring. While I don't expect much new stuff to be debuted while they are warming up for Neil, hopefully they'll pull out some brand-spanking-new tunes at either Rochester (I'm jealous, Tim.) or Baltimore. In the meantime, here's all the songs they've debuted this year that will hopefully show up on the next LP (or at least EP):

"One Wing" from 7/26/2008 - The Moose's Tooth, Anchorage, AK
"Sunny Feeling" from 7/26/2008 - The Moose's Tooth, Anchorage, AK
"You And I" by Jeff Tweedy from 9/03/2008 - Auditorium de Palma de Mallorca, Spain
"Untitled 10/25" from 10/25/2008 - Bridge School Benefit, Mountain View, CA
"Untitled 10/26" from 10/26/2008 - Bridge School Benefit, Mountain View, CA

Bonus: Here's a video of Wilco playing "One Wing" at this summer's Lollapalooza in Chicago:

Led Zeppelin on YouTube

From Gibson.com:

In still another hopeful sign that something is afoot in the Led Zeppelin camp, the legendary band has posted some 76 videos of itself throughout its career on its very own YouTube channel.
While the front page of the site says the band “joined” YouTube on Jan. 17, 2006, the UK’s Times Online is reporting that the mostly bootleg videos were just posted.
Among the extraordinary nuggets are footage from such noteworthy shows as San Francisco in 1973, the infamous Oakland shows from 1977, all of the Los Angeles shows from 1975 and 1977, Philadelphia 1975, and Iceland 1970, among many others. The videos are interspersed with footage of various interviews with the band, as well as bits and pieces of the live footage available on Led Zeppelin’s DVD.

One Vanilla Dutch Master, PLEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSE

This one goes out to Uncle Louis. Happy Black Friday, y'all.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

It's that time of the year again that we all gather around the dinner table with our loved ones and be thankful for the fact that we can stuff our faces with turkey and booze and fall asleep on the couch with football on.

And thanks, NFL, for these great Thanksgiving day matchups. Let's see, we have the 10-1 Titans playing the 0-11 Lions. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and pick Tennessee. Second game is the 2-9 Seahawks playing the 7-4 Cowboys in Dallas. Dallas' record would be even better if good samaritan Tony Romo hadn't broken his poor little pinky. I got to give this one to the Cowboys. Their offense should do great today. T.O. is on fire now that Romo is back, and Seattle's defense is crap this year. The third game has something to do with the Cardinals and the Eagles. One quarterback is old, and the other is black. It's kind of like the presidential election except no one will be watching because it's on the NFL Network. (I'm taking the Cards to upset the Eagles.)

Titans (10-1) at Lions (0-11), 12:30pm, CBS
Seahawks (2-9) at Cowboys (7-4), 4:15pm, FOX

Cardinals (7-4) at Eagles (5-5), 8:15pm, NFL

Arrested Development Movie: It's Really Happening!!!

Now, I'll admit I deserve some blame for this show getting cancelled. I didn't get into it until after it was cancelled. I'd check it out once in a while when it was on but couldn't get into it because it's the kind of show you have to watch beginning to end. Each season is written so well, there are inside jokes and references to other episodes weaved through out the show. (If you're still late to the game, you can watch all the episodes for free, with minimal commercial interruptions, on hulu.com here.)

Now, if you're getting sick of Jeffrey Tambor's continuous teases about an upcoming movie, we've finally get an official confirmation that doesn't sound like a cry for attention. Producer Ron Howard and creator/writer/director Mitchell Hurwitz have signed a deal to make an Arrested Development movie. At this point there's no script, and I've heard rumors that Michael Cera won't sign on because he doesn't want to be type-cast as George Michael Bluth (First of all, Michael, you're good as George Michael. Your character in Juno, which I liked, was the same character. Don't hold your breath to be named the next James Bond. If you only know one song, sing like you mean it). But this is great news. And if you don't believe me, listen to Opie.

Barack Obama on ABC tonight at 10pm

Tonight at 10pm, ABC is airing an interview with Barack and Michelle Obama conducted by Bawbwa Walters. Here's an early excerpt. This has to be one of the coolest things a president-elect has ever said:

OBAMA: . . . [O]ne of the things I hope my presidency helps to usher in is a, a return to an ethic of responsibility. That if you're placed in a position of power, then you've got responsibilities to your workers. You've got a responsibility to your community. Your share holders. That if -- there's got to be a point where you say, 'You know what, I have enough, and now I'm in this position of responsibility, let me make sure that I'm doing right by people, and, and acting in a way that is responsible.' And that's true, by the way, for members of congress, that's true for the president, that's true for cabinet members, that's true for parents. I want all of us to start thinking a little bit more, not just about what's good for me, but let's start thinking about what's good for our children, what's good for our country. The more we do that, the better off we're going to be.

And later on:

OBAMA: "One of the worst things I think that could happen to a president is losing touch with what people are going through day to day . . . I want to make sure that I keep my finger on the pulse of the struggles that people are going through every day."

I've been trying to remain cynical about Obama's presidency. We're facing some very tough times, and there are a lot of things that need to get done. A lot of promises are made on the campaign trail. I don't want to get too excited; I just want to wait and see. He ain't even President, yet. But these excerpts from this interview have got to get you all hot and bothered about the former junior senator from Illinois. When you don't hear things like this from politicians, you don't expect to. And when you do, how sweet it is! So, join me in getting all fired up, watch the interview tonight, and check out this great video that was forwarded to me (thanks, Mom). This video almost makes me want to like Coldplay.

All I Want for Christmas...

Times are tough this year. We're not getting Christmas bonuses here at my workfarm, but some CEO's have proven slick enough to get golden parachutes through the taxpayer-funded bailout (see here). Well, if anyone wants to get me something for Christmas, get me a golden parachute (parachute, not shower). I don't want money; I want an actual golden parachute. And I want matching golden alligator shoes. Not alligator shoes that are gold, golden alligator shoes. I want an alligator fed gold bars from birth until it turns gold. Then kill it and turn it into shoes.

Blitzen Trapper: Live on Minnesota Public Radio

If you haven't heard Blitzen Trapper, you should check them out. They kind of remind me of Pavement (they've been touring with former-Pavementer Stephen Malkmus, which is a good fit), but with an earthier feel. They were recently on Conan (watch here). Earlier in the month, they played a few songs live in the studio for Minnesota Public Radio. Check these out here. Oh, and make sure you pick up their latest record Furr.

Have You Met Skippy?

Does this guy look crazy? It's John Podesta, head of Obama's transition team. Apparently, he is. See this from the Washington Post:

Anyone who has worked for Podesta in the past decade knows Skippy, who first appeared during Podesta's eventful years as chief of staff in the Clinton White House. As scandal rocked the end of that presidency, staffers knew they had better come prepared to meetings. Otherwise, nurturing mentor John would be replaced by Skippy -- Podesta's quick-tempered, edgy and sarcastic alter ego.
"You haven't seen him in this meeting, have you?" the transition co-chairman for Barack Obama says with a laugh, noting that many a reporter has met Skippy.

Here is my original artist's rendering of what Skippy might look like:

Lose Weight, Lose Funny

Horatio Sanz from SNL lost 100 lbs. What's up with that? Not that he was ever that funny, but everybody knows funny fat guys who lose weight, lose the funny. Horatio, what do you have to say?

"I've been eating better," he admitted. "I've been trying to come up with a joke about how I've lost weight and I was going to say, 'I stopped putting nuts in my sundaes.'"

See what I'm saying? That's really unfunny. Good luck, Horatio.

P.S. Have you ever met a skinny Horatio?

Christmas Time = Present Time!!!!!!!

Alert: If you're looking for a good present for a fan of good music (such as myself) or want to update your CD collection, Amazon.com has Bob Dylan box sets on sale for $25 right now.

Biograph, the ultimate Greatest Hits collection plus previously unreleased tracks and performances spanned over 3 great discs.

The Bootleg Series, Vol. 1-3, a 3 disc collection of outtakes and rarities covering his career from the early 60's through the late 80's. A great insight into the master's process. Hear "Like A Rolling Stone," Subterranean Homesick Blues," or "Idiot Wind" how they weren't intended and listen to the tracks Dylan thought weren't good enough for the albums (they're still pretty damn good).

Greatest Hits, Vol. 1-3, The three Greatest Hits albums released throughout his career (1967, 1971, and 1994, respectively) collected in one place on 4 discs. These discs are not normal retrospectives looking back on an aging rock star. These were released while he was still putting out great records (and he still is), and are iconic albums in and of themselves, especially Vol. 1 & 2. Who didn't have those on vinyl (or at least steal them from their parents)?

The Mad Detective

I just saw this film out of Hong Kong called The Mad Detective, or Sun taam. It's about a talented former police detective with special powers who is brought back to work on a crime. Some really freaky stuff going on here. It is a fabulous flick with great dialogue. Why is it that every recent movie I've seen out of Asia is awesome?

Bob Dylan / Johnny Cash 1969 Sessions

I've been listening to these recordings of Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash playing together. Great stuff. It's incredible to hear these two legends interact with each other. Even though Bob Dylan was already a legend at this point, you can tell Cash is the leader. Check them out here: http://www.aquariumdrunkard.com/2008/11/18/bob-dylanjohnny-cash-1968-sessions/

Good Morning

The info in About Me (to your right) was taken from this wonderful article by Jack Handey (yes, the Deep Thoughts guy): How I Want To Be Remembered. Here's some more of this fabulous stuff:

He was fabulously wealthy, but he would pretend to be broke, and often tried to borrow cigarettes and money from people. Little did they know that those who gave him stuff would later be rewarded in his will, with jewels and antigravity helmets. Women who refused to have sex with him are probably wishing that they could turn back the clock and say yes.