No Line on the Horizon

I love this album already.

If you know me, you probably know that I'm a big U2 fan. (ask me about the time I met Larry Mullen Jr.)

So I tried to brace myself. I've been anticipating this album since approximately the day the Vertigo tour ended, and one hears strange updates from time to time. I've had so many fears about this album, especially hearing the word 'experimental' used so many times. I have nothing against racket - one of the things I love about Wilco is what an unholy NOISE they can make - but production-wise I guess I like a cleaner, less dense sonic signature than some. Generally. Like I'll always prefer 'All That You Can't Leave Behind' to 'Zooropa' and 'Pop.' that might sound self-evident, but there are those who disagree!

so I was fairly frightened of this album. 'Get On Your Boots' didn't reassure me very much - it was pretty thick and, well, not a great song.

I've been through the album only one time so far, and it's silly to love it already, but I do. Not really in spite of the production, and certainly not because of the production, but kind of existing alongside the production.

Bono really sounds like he's singing all-out sometimes here. I like how (as on the last two albums) they've refrained from fixing up his voice; it's getting a little worn sometimes, but it sounds very honest and true when it cracks a bit here and there (not too much, thankfully). While there is a lot of noise going on sometimes, it's not all the sound of eight guitar tracks and loops; there's totally a 'Joshua Tree' guitar tone to be found here and there, and some tasty stuff that verges on the semi-clean. and I have no complaints about the drums and bass. I think Adam Clayton gets better all the time. (My husband would mention here how far he had to go, of course, to which I say 'hmph'.)

so there's my preliminary $.02.

big head todd & the monsters, the pageant, 1/31/09

Big Head Todd was our second show at The Pageant since they closed down the second stretch of I-40/64 for the big repair project. I'd been dreading that so much! We used to take the Clayon exit, turn right on Skinker, and then we'd turn right on Delmar and circle around to the parking lot.

So at Cheech & Chong we took the MLK and did a kind of convoluted route through downtown to Market and then Lindell, over to Skinker. It wasn't bad, but (1) it seemed to take so much longer, because we got off the highway so soon/didn't get back on the highway for so long, and (2) really would be a terrible idea if there was a football or baseball game that day - we could get tied up in that traffic mess and really be screwed.

So this time we took the grand/forest park exit and took forest park parkway to DeBaliviere, then left on Delmar and into the parking lot from the other side - we had trouble deciding where to turn off Delmar, but it worked out great. Then on the way home instead of trying to go left out of the parking lot and go back to Delmar, we turned right and then took a left on Skinker as always, then turned left on Forest Park by the coffee shop there (we could've taken Lindell, I guess, too) and took Forest Park all the way back out to the highway. That worked really well. I was hoping to find a route where we could stay on the highway a little longer, and also one that wasn't too cumbersome, because we're going to have to use it for the rest of the year.

I miss my Clayton exit!

Anyway, the seats were filling up when we got there, but the floor was open. We grabbed a seat in the under-21 section at the aisle and waited, with some other guys who were obv. waiting to move to the floor too- it's weird there, nobody wants to be the first guy standing out there all alone, but once the seal breaks, it's broken. finally at about 7:30 we moved down front and center right in front of Todd again, which is cool. Last year we chose seats, but the year before we were front/center. it's such a trade-off, because the sound isn't great up close - in fact, it's the opposite problem you have at a lot of shows, because Todd's in this phase where he's not playing through an amp, so you don't get a blast of guitar at your head - you get stage sound, but not enough guitar, from so close. however, it wasn't as loud as a lot of shows there from that angle, so that was okay too.

Great set, too: they went kind of long, which was awesome.

1. Julianna
2. How Easy
3. Heart of Wilderness
4. Love Betsy
5. Strategem
6. Spanish Highway
7. I'll Play the Blues for You (albert king cover)
8. Conquistador
9. Broken Hearted Savior
10. Wearing Only Flowers
11. Fortune Teller
12. Love Transmission
13. Silvery Moon
14. It's Alright
15. Runaway Train
16. Dirty Juice
17. Ellis Island
18. Please Don't Tell Her
19. Flanders Fields
20. Bittersweet
21. Helpless
22. Secret Mission
23. Cruel Fate
24. Her Own Kind of Woman
25. Circle
encore
1. All the Love You Need
2. Rocky Mtn. Way

I saw a set list online and it had Resignation Superman and something else instead of Bittersweet and Helpless. I would have loved to hear Resignation Superman, but NOT at the expense of Bittersweet! They also had something else for the second encore song, but Todd broke into Joe Walsh, which apparently I can name in ONE NOTE.

There was a nine year old kid behind us, and it wasn't even his first concert. The guy next to me and I stood a little apart so he could see - he was too short to get right up by the stage and be able to see anything! The stage is kind of high there. There was one of those annoying entitled drunk chicks who barged in front of him for like one song and seemed like she was arguing with the guy next to her. then she tried to talk to me but twice I was like "I can't understand what you're saying" and the third time I just ignored her. It was 'Circle,' for christ's sake. she was really slurring. then she popped up behind J taking pictures with her cell phone, but holding it kind of over his shoulder and in his face, so he finally pushed it away and she got all irate. (drunk girl voice) 'you roooned my video! I wasssnt even touschin you!!' *eyeroll*

I just loathe people who feel so entitled and have no conception of other people's space. I mean, I sound like I feel entitled too - I feel entitled that you keep your freaking hands off me and not cut in front of me or ruin the show for me by hooting in my ear or whatever. But secondly, if you want to be down in front, try showing up early like I did. it's totally uncool and cheating to weasel your way through and try to squeeze in and then be all 'giggle giggle, whatever I do is okay because I'm a princess.' screw that.

at the end I asked for a set list and the guy said "sure, just a second, I'll see if I can find you one." then he went over to the bassist Rob's area and carefully pulled up his set list and handed it to another chick. I hope he just forgot which chick was where, but I was VERY disappointed.

anyway, good show, and my new camera did okay. The majority of the pictures are still pretty bad, but the good ones are better than the good ones on my old camera. If anyone has any concert photo tips, PLEASE SHARE THEM. This is like my main photography interest, not to say obsession, and I'm tired of disappointment. I have a fairly good point and shoot, but it's still not an SLR. I think looking up into the bright lights and shooting a moving subject is just too much for a less-than-professional rig, but I'd love any advice or insights. how do you fare, taking concert pictures? what's your experience been?

these are a few 'bad' pictures, which were pretty standard with my old camera too:










and these are the best ones:

my favorite huckster

Okay, yes, the SHAMWOW!! infomercials have been all the rage for a while now.

At first I rolled my eyes and tuned out VINCE. Another annoying pitchman, another 'not sold in stores' item nobody needs that they do carry in stores. I have astonished my husband with my inability to hear or notice something on TV right in front of my face if I'm not interested, so it was easy enough to Not Pay Attention to VINCE.

Then one day I actually watched some of it. And again. And suddenly it was hilarious! I couldn't believe such a shady-looking, shyster-type huckster (thanks for the word idea, shannon!) was LEGIT. Who would buy anything from this guy?? My favorite bits are when he says "I'm gonna do this in real time!" As though one can do something NOT in real time - what is he, a time traveler? EVIDENTLY NOT. Plus "You know the Germans always make good stuff!" and just the pace of the whole thing. Cut it in half, use it on your dog, olympic divers use these, and incessant use of the word COLA.

Suddenly I LOVE it!

Then my husband said he thought he saw VINCE in another infomercial pitching some OTHER product. NO NO VINCE would not two-time his beloved SHAMWOW!!, I thought.

Then on metafilter the other day someone posted some links! all about VINCE!

First of all, of course, there's VINCE's wikipedia entry. Imagine my surprise when I learned that VINCE apparently OWNS SHAMWOW!! and the other thing, which is THE SLAPCHOP!!

Coincidentally, just a day or two later friend Shannon sent me the youtube link to VINCE'S commercial for THE SLAPCHOP!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUbWjIKxrrs

I will not even ruin it for you by quoting my very favorite line of the whole thing. But my other favorite thing is when VINCE offers to throw in a second gadget for free if you buy THE SLAPCHOP!! When I saw the name of this second gadget, I had to pause the video while I laughed for a while. HYSTERICAL.

Going back to the metafilter links, I was surprised to see two very different takes on VINCE and his life and career:

This person portrays VINCE as 1. maker of one of the worst movies ever and 2. a loser who deals with failure by blaming others via lawsuit.

Whereas this person offers a VERY DIFFERENT TAKE on VINCE and portrays him as a budding filmmaker and entrepreneur STRUCK DOWN IN HIS PRIME by a prudish CULT!

The hell of it is that I now feel the overwhelming need for both the SHAMWOW!! and THE SLAPCHOP!! based on VINCE's superior pitchman skills. Not to mention the Second Gadget referenced above!!!

Chong, featuring Cheech

Last night we went to see Cheech & Chong in STL. Reunion tour = Light Up America. heh.

This is the first event we've had after a slow couple of months, which is often the case in the dead of winter - but things are starting to pick up, we have tickets to a couple of things in Feb. already, so the usual late winter/early spring rebirth of my recreational life has begun.

We stopped to grab a bite less than halfway there, and the weather wasn't great - kind of sleety - so we debated turning back, but the tickets cost kind of a lot (considering!), and I hate to be chicken, so ...

turns out the worst of the weather was behind us, and on the way home we drove into it again and drove the last hour in falling snow, but the "roads were clear," as they say, and more importantly dry and non-slippery.

anyway. I had fun and I'm glad we went. Tommy Chong's wife opened, and while I liked her in the documentary about his trip to jail, she really wasn't all that funny - let's face it. She did have a funny crack about, when he was in jail, thank goodness for conjugal visits - if Cheech hadn't come by every week, I'd have gone crazy! ha ha ha. anyway, short but sweet, and then the main event.

let me say, it's so surreal sometimes when you see in person people who are really famous and have been for nearly as long as you can remember. you get used to them fast, but it was a funny moment for me when Cheech came out. He was wearing his up in smoke garb - undershirt, red hat, you know - so first they did the 'cheech gives chong a ride and they smoke a big one and then chong accidentally gives him a massive dose of acid' bit from up in smoke, which was awesome. they also did Let's Make A Dope Deal, which went off really well too. there was a sketch where chong was the husband and cheech was the wife and they went to a porn movie, which was fairly funny, and sounded kind of familiar - especially when, after describing various fairly icky debaucheries they were supposedly watching, chong said "oh, man, don't look at the screen, they've totally ruined it - they brought in a black guy," which was such an awesome commentary on the whole race thing that we really were too uncomfortable to laugh as heartily as it deserves, but I say Bravo.

what else, OH and one where Chong was an old man on a park bench and Cheech was an unsavory type who came and sat next to him and they bickered until Chong pretended to have a heart attack and freaked cheech out ("I'm on probation, you f***r!") a bit where Cheech was an astronaut, and a sketch where the two of them were dogs (cue the poop and humping jokes), and a number of musical interludes, including a classic Blind Melon Chitlin bit (two songs, I think) and something J recognized where Cheech was a character from one of the movies where he'd played his own cousin, a kind of country singer? with the most hilarious American Accent? which was very funny (okay, I know, my 'haven't really seen that much of their stuff' is showing, but really I knew more of it than I thought I would, even if my descriptions are really Killing The Funny). also the bit where Cheech is the rock star in the tutu, oh, you know what I'm talking about (" ... but I don't listen to her 'cause my mind is like a sieve!", oh, how I love that line), and Cheech's song "Mexican-Americans," which ought not be funny (like so much other stuff). There were several kind of Tommy Alone doing some standup parts scattered throughout, enough so we felt like it was less cheech and chong than Chong, Sometimes With Cheech. a lot of that was the real pot advocacy, though. I respect cheech for getting over himself and letting himself get back to his roots and enjoy a little healthy pot humor, but the real advocacy portion of the proceedings was all Tommy (predictably), and he talked a little bit about the going to jail thing, too (I was in jail with my fan club, man, all I did was sign autographs and pose for pictures).

overall I had a good time, I was mostly there for the majority of the show, which was the pot jokes and music. like many of us, I have mixed feelings on the mexican humor generally, but let's face it, some of it was very funny. Also, I feel like we as a society should be past the 'black guys are well endowed' jokes, but ... hey, a hundred percent of any performance doesn't hit home with a hundred percent of the audience, right? I mean, this is coming from a chick who just paid roughly a dollar a minute for an evening of bong jokes, so ...

so we had a nice ending with the traditional singalong. I took my smaller camera and most of the few pics I took were disappointing, but here are a couple at the end:





Also, you know, Cheech is Hurley's dad, so that was funny.

more fla photos

Here's a batch of about 13 pictures from my florida trip last month.

At Sea World we went to the killer whale show, which was pretty neat (despite my mixed feelings about zoos, aquariums, and like exhibits)


They had a manatee rehab zone at sea world. I nearly flipped seeing manatees for the first time. I could have stayed there all day. I've had an adopted manatee with the Save the Manatee Foundation for like 15 years now. (Her name is Dana.)


At Busch Gardens, the tiger had its eyes closed when I approached, then peeked at me for a second. Like the big whatsis in jurassic park with the pupils and all.


This is the view from our hotel room at Fort Myers Beach on Estero Island. Step out on the balcony and snap.


Contrariwise, this is looking up at the hotel from the beach.


This is the pier at fort myers beach.


Some people were fishing off the pier and this guy was hanging around stealing their catch. Not a great shot, but I was happy to get it. I mean, jeez - we saw wild dolphins AND I was able to get a photo of one? Score.


Across the street from the pier, basically.


When I was making a list of pix to post I called this one "pretty blue beach."


... and this one "even prettier."


Some dork in a sun hat on Sanibel Island.


J and I, just before we left for home. (We had way fewer pictures of us together than usual because of the circumstances, traveling with other people I never wanted to make then wait while I got out the tripod or make the whole parade stop so someone else could snap one for me.)

photo post - bird nerd edition

Husband and I went on a trip to Florida last month with his parents. I had never been to Florida before and couldn't get over the adorable little shorebirds and the way ibis and herons hung out at outdoor cafes hoping for errant french fries the way sparrows do here. thus a post of photos of birds I saw on the trip.

These first several, we saw in Orlando at Sea World - not in captivity, except the scarlet ibis, but just hanging around stealing fish and being cute.
white ibis


scarlet ibis


snowy egret (check the feet!)




wood stork


great egret (right)


I took this one at Busch Gardens in St. Pete.
great blue heron


And the rest are from Fort Myers Beach. I took this one from the pier and couldn't decide: cormorant or anhinga?




plovers and sandpipers (probably!)


wee whatevers (I love these guys!) Every time we went to the beach, which was like four or five times a day, there were crowds of all these guys.


plus gulls


We also saw assorted gulls and terns, black skimmers (!!) - those were more skittish, less photo-able - brown pelicans, of course, and also common gallinule.

summer in review

I might never catch up on talking about various activities from the past couple of months, so here's a quick summary in several-photo-form.

tom waits 6/26


tom petty 8/7 (video screen, obv)


butter cow at the state fair, early august


obama, 8/23


bruuuce, 8/23 (long day!) (video screen, obv)


braves game, 8/24 (we lost)


chicago buildings, 9/5


derek trucks, 9/6


Also, here's some stuff on my cat Tyler. She is overweight, but honestly, she looks way fatter than usual in this particular photo. I swear.

more wilco

On Saturday, May 17, we went back to the Pageant for the closing night of the tour leg.

Between being the end of a leg and the band having like a month off afterward, and it being St. Louis - which, I say again, is a freaking great place to see Wilco - we knew the show was going to be good. Did I say Thursday's show was good? Saturday's show pushed Thursday's show around in front of the girls, took its lunch money, and pretty much gave it a swirly.

This night the place filled up earlier - whether because it was a Saturday or because of the final night thing, I'm not sure. However, we were still able to get rail - precisely the opposite of Thursday, at the other side of the stage in front of the other guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone, who is totally talented and looks like he's about fifteen years old and is Beck. He's not as fun to watch as Nels Cline, but nothin' wrong with him.

In fact - these two shows were the first time we got so close for Wilco - and really I've only been able to SEE Pat maybe once before in Cincinnati. Since he's at the end, and goes back to the keyboard a lot, he ducks out of sight depending on where you are.

If I hadn't been profoundly depressed and barely able to speak - long story; I'm over it - I would have had a lot more fun and would also be able to remember a lot more about the show. (We have a bootleg coming, which will help!) However, nothing could have kept me from hooting when Jeff came out in his Grand Ol' Opry Suit.

Set list from http://wilcobase.com/:

1. Misunderstood
2. Blood Of The Lamb
3. You Are My Face
4. Hummingbird
5. A Shot In The Arm
6. ELT
7. Pot Kettle Black
8. Handshake Drugs
9. Side With The Seeds
10. She's A Jar
11. Box Full Of Letters
12. Airline To Heaven
13. Jesus, Etc.
14. Impossible Germany
15. Pick Up The Change
16. Too Far Apart
17. Theologians
18. I'm The Man Who Loves You
encore 1:
1. Hate It Here
2. Walken
3. Monday
4. Kingpin
encore 2:
1. Bob Dylan's 49th Beard
2. Heavy Metal Drummer
3. Just A Kid
4. Red-Eyed And Blue
5. I Got You (At The End Of The Century)
6. Casino Queen
7. Hoodoo Voodoo
8. Outtasite (Outta Mind)
encore THREE!
1. I'm A Wheel

I don't even know what to say about that set list. THREE ENCORES. THIRTY SONGS. Three songs from the woody guthrie projects. She's a Jar - I love that song with all my being. Kingpin! I'm the man who loves you! I mean, I'm basically speechless. That show kicked my ass and took my name.

some snaps (don't forget to check out Jeff's suit!!) Oh, and they all wore Obama buttons.:

jeff & nels


ditto


john


Beck Pat


john


jeff