« November 2004 || current || July 2005 »
Now here’s a media darling I can get behind. ASC has a live Wilco show available this week. The band sounds relaxed but polished as they cruise through songs from their last two albums, A Ghost is Born and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Oldies “Misunderstood” and “California Stars,” from the Billy Bragg Mermaid Avenue collaboration, kick off the second set. Frontman Jeff Tweedy is in good spirits throughout as he heaps praise on a “dapper” Nels Cline decked out in a green leisure suit whose playing is as sharp as his look, and later waxes poetic about the state of the Union and a hippie Jesus. They close the show with Blue Oyster Cult classic “Don’t Fear the Reaper” and a political “Comment” by Charles Wright.
As much as I want to I just don’t understand the rage over Conor Oberst, aka Bright Eyes. Newsweek, Spin, Rollingstone, and The New York Times (to name a few) have recently pronounced him the Second Coming. Just the fact that he’s a hometown hero should be reason enough for me to like him, in this case the hometown being the collective state of Nebraska, or the combination of the only two real cities therein: Omaha and Lincoln. As someone who saw him with his first band, Commander Venus, at Duffys Tavern waaay back when, I can safely say: “I saw him before he was cool.” Unfortunately, those bragging rights don’t do any good because I just can’t get past his melodramatic warble. I appreciate the songwriting and the fearlessness of his performance, but something doesn’t click for me. Maybe I’ll get it 20 years from now.
With that said, All Songs Considered has a recording of a Bright Eyes show recorded in Washington, D.C. a few weeks ago that’s worth checking out if you’re a fan, or still sitting on the fence like me. A couple bands I enjoy more that share the Saddle Creek label with Bright Eyes are The Faint and Cursive.
Bell Canada Metal Pillars: Line the avenue
