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alligators in new york sewers

NP: Radiohead - "Kid A"

Friday at fucking last. It' s been one thing after another lately...finish my work a bit ahead of schedule and then get thrown at me surplus work from another, behind-schedule project. Whee.

Erin and I saw Wilco a few nights ago at the Fox. We had great seats, just stage left, right across a little path from the tiny orchestra pit. Easily the best seats I've ever had at the Fox. That place is still jaw-droppingly spectacular. I'd probably pay money just to go in and check out the interior. Anyway, it was a great show. Calexico opened, definitely one of those bands I've heard of but never heard. Thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised by 'em -- great sound with an excellent singer. Erin described them as "alt. mariachi". Pretty apt, although there was a lot of country and folk sort of stuff going on, too. Spent money on one of their t-shirts between bands -- horned frog, oh yeah. Wilco had shitty merch, it was kind of amazing. Wilco ruled, plain & simple. I'll cop to being distinctly underwhelmed by "A Ghost Is Born", but hearing the songs in a live environment helped. All of them were either harder-edged or more passionate than their LP counterparts. Seriously, I checked the next day when I spun the CD again and liked it a bit more, but not much really. What I really wanted was to hear the songs live again -- maybe I can track down a bootleg or something. Anyway, way to go Wilco. Jeff Tweedy was amicable & playful, he sang in great voice and played at least a dozen guitars over the course of the night. (not exaggerating) The rest of the band was really tight, too (who's in the new band now?), especially the lead guitarist (Nils?). We were parked right up against a bank of speakers, so my left ear was pretty deaf by the end of the night, but I didn't care. Setlist:

Muzzle of Bees
Company in my Back
I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
A Shot in the Arm
Hummingbird
Hell is Chrome
Handshake Drugs
Magazine Called Sunset
War on War
Jesus, etc
At Least That's What You Said
Pot Kettle Black
Theologians
I'm The Man Who Loves You
Poor Places
Spiders
----encore1----
The Late Greats
Casino Queen
Kingpin
I'm a Wheel
----encore2----
Jesus Christ for President
Be Not So Fearful
New Madrid
The Lonely 1

Check that out -- they dusted off New Madrid just for me. Dude. Also, Casino Queen. Not one of my all-time top Wilco songs, but a must play in STL. Tweedy dedicated it to his dad (his parents were in the audience). Otherwise yeah, not much from the first three albums but that's OK. I'd have liked to hear a few more songs at least from "Summerteeth", but the "YHF" and "A Ghost Is Born" material is definitely strong enough to warrant making up the bulk of the set. Definite points for the great renditions of Jesus, Etc. and Poor Places, the latter being one of my faves of theirs overall. A thunderstorm was rolling in as the show let out, it was nice. Also super nice to get out and about with Erin for a while. I returned home and slept the sleep of the just. Well, the sleep of the super tired, anyway.

Tonight, once Erin gets home, we are going to the City Museum to drink beers and whatnot. Again, should be fun, I haven't been out like that for a while. Sadly, I am no longer the type of person whose night begins at 10/11 o'clock at night. I think I once was, maybe in college, but not anymore. Most nights I just get tired. Sad perhaps, but I also tend to get up earlier as a rule, so I think I still get my proper share of awake time.

Now it's time to find a quick bite to eat. Later gators.

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