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Benecio is still out of commission. It's a long story, but it seems that whatever is wrong with him is no longer wrong. But now they need it to be wrong so they can figure out what to fix. Jeff has taken to calling him Benecio Del Crapo and I'm finding harder to disagree. Tomorrow I might actually have to walk to the store. What has the world come to?!
I must keep working my way through albums, though, so today I have a little
Wilco to uplift me. It's their 1996 double album,
Being There. I bought
Being There when I was in college and liked it o.k. In fact, "Misunderstood" is perhaps my all-time favorite Wilco song. But I've also found, that like a fine wine, this album got better with age.
I think I enjoy
Being There more now that I'm a little older. There's a melancholy bubbling under all the songs that I don't think I really appreciated when I was 19. Now, I know exactly what Jeff Tweedy's talking about. The aging has helped the band, too. Hearing this album in the context of
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and
A Ghost is Born provides a clearer picture of where the band was headed. There's still a lot of country in
Being There but there's also a big hint of the noise and feedback to come.
Still, I like
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot better, but this is probably my second favorite Wilco album. Things fall apart a little at the end of the second CD and that always leaves me feeling less than satisfied. There's some great stuff on here, though, and it deserves to be dusted off and listened to.
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I've never been a big person for rock festivals, but I have a huge urge to go to Bonnaroo this year. I've heard great things about it in the past and this year they have a bunch of bands I'd love to see. Less jamming, more rocking. They just announced some of the artists today and you can see the list
here, but some of the highlights (for me) include:
Radiohead (probably the band I most want to see play live)
Elvis Costello (of course)
Death Cab For Cutie
Bright Eyes
Cat Power
Gomez
Andrew Bird
My Morning Jacket (although, I'm still not sure about them)
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
So what do you say? Anyone want to go to Bonnaroo?