Category: What I am listening to at this very moment

Wilco – Country Disappeared – A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

Pin a gold medal on my chest for being the worst blogger west of Bakersfield. If you don’t believe me, just look at the recent posts: the last over a month ago; then, some cheap ones in July and May (videos posted here take me, like, 4 seconds to do); you have to go back to my Paris trip last March to read anything of substance…and that substance — like most of my blogs — is questionable at best.

And I’m not even gonna make any sort of claims that things are gonna get any better, either.

I caught Dylan at the Palladium on the first night of this three-night run. He was good. Not great. Not terrible. The highlight of my evening was my date (a beautiful red-head girl I’m crushing on as of late) and “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right”.

The Red Head seems interested.

“Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” was done so perfectly (and early in the show) it set a standard I compared the rest of his show to, and maybe that’s why I was let down after it was all said and done.

He did “Like a Rolling Stone” and “All Along The Watchtower” and a bunch of new stuff I didn’t recognize, and it wasn’t like I expected a Greatest Hits Show; I kinda knew what to expect, and it’s pretty much what I got.

But it’s Dylan …right? How can you not go to a Dylan show these days, especially if it’s right down the street from where you live?

What I didn’t expect were the $14 beers, which, I suppose, is indicative to my night-time habits in Los Angeles. If I went out more I’d know it costs a small fortune to get drunk in Hollywood.

A week ago, my little brother sent me a link to Lee Moses’s time and place. “I’m not big on downloading boots,” I said. He said something like, this record is impossible to find and it’s impossible not to love. He also said the reissue was so limited it’s impossible to find, too, and what’s the point of reissuing anything a limited edition? Isn’t that why you reissue a rare record? So everyone could enjoy it? (apparently 500 copies is what I could come up with.) I agreed with him and grabbed the record and I’m really glad I did. It’s really something special.

It was so hot in LA today I decided to avoid the heat, even if it set me back $14.50…so I caught Moon. Again, kudos to Little Bro, cause he saw it last week and told me to see it ASAP. Imagine Phillip K. Dick slamming headfirst into 2001: A Space Odyssey. Imagine someone much better than I coming up with a better way to talk sensibly about the film — it shouldn’t be too difficult. Anyway, I really liked it. Duncan Jones directed Moon, but I like his birth name much better: Zowie Bowie.

Speaking of reissues, immediately after Moon I walked across the street to Amoeba and picked up Galaxie 500’s Today, On Fire, and This Is Our Music. I’m a big Luna fan, and I really didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to Galaxy 500 the first time around. I wish I did.

I also grabbed Dial “S” For Sonny and Mississippi Records’ latest Bishop Perry Tillis. All great stuff.

Wilco is streaming their new record called Wilco. You can listen to it right now…which I’d highly recommend.

I got hip to Wilco right about the time Being There was released. This was ’97, I think. I was in grad school, living in San Fransisco…and writing a whole bunch. I was living in a tiny room off Taylor Street in the TenderNob — right where the ‘Loin and Nob Hill meet.

I didn’t catch them live until their Sky Blue Sky tour. I went to their show at the Greek in Berkeley. Hours before I scored a nice, clean copy of Bud Powell’s Bud! (Blue Note 1571) from Peter Howard at his store Serendipity. I paid him a sawski for it.

As in 5 clams.

As in My Big Bargain of 2007.

If you hunt around at Peter’s store, go right to the flat files and scour them for broadsides and other weird ephemera. He has all sorts, and it’s really reasonably priced…although you’d never know what it’s priced, cause he doesn’t price most of that stuff. You just have to bring it up to him, and he prices it on the spot. Make sure you catch him in a good mood for the very best price (ie after the Giants win).

Someone set a day aside last month and called it “Record Store Day”. I don’t know who dreamnt it up. Did you hear about this? Indie record stores got all sorts of cool stuff in which you could only buy there — at your local indie shop.

Ashes of American Flags was Wilco’s contribution to Record Day, and it wasn’t even a record. It’s a DVD featuring three different shows with commentary in between some of the songs. It was totally sold out at Amoeba, which is where I shop most of the time for records while I’m in LA. In fact, most of the Record Store Day swag at Amoeba’s was long gone when I showed up the following Monday after Record Store Day. I did manage to find one last weekend when I went home to Phoenix for Mother’s Day. I also scored a great Pavement record, as well as a Dylan 45 of a new song, and a Flaming Lips 45, too.

Ashes of American Flags is most excellent.

I like the new record, too…but don’t ask me anything about Wilco and expect anything other than “it’s great!”, cause — as far as I’m concerned — Tweedy and Crew can do no wrong.