Wilco wows Wilmington

Last review of the summer, posting it here so I can add media, but as always, the real version is over here.

***All photos courtesy of Paste Music Blog***

Wilco
Wilmington, DE
Aug. 10, 2008

“We’ve now played 48 out of 50 states,” Jeff Tweedy proudly announced to the sold-out crowd at Wilmington’s Grand Opera House. “We’ll hit 49 next week,” he continued, alluding to Wilco’s headlining slot at the Jackson Hole Festival in Wyoming. Earlier this year, Tweedy and Co. announced plans to perform in cities and states otherwise ignored over the course of Wilco’s 14-year career. In addition to wowing newer fans at mega-fests such as Lollapalooza or Baltimore’s Virgin Mobile Festival, Wilco’s summer tour took it to the geographic edges of its U.S. fanbase, with dates in Montana, New Mexico, Alaska and North Dakota. The band’s performance in the historic Delaware auditorium spanned their celebrated nine-album catalog (save a curious absence of anything from 1999’s Summerteeth).

A Dylan-channeling version of “Sunken Treasure” kicked off the night while Tweedy’s blows on a neck-strap harmonica drew wild hoots and whistles from the mostly older audience. The gradual pace continued through the noise-infused interludes of “Wishful Thinking” and “I Am Trying To Break Your Heart,” until Glen Kotche’s unyielding cymbal attack and full-body flailing outshone the iconic lead singer. Kotche’s drumming remained tight throughout the evening, as did the work of bassist John Stirratt, the band’s only original member besides Tweedy. The Wilco line-up has shuffled through 12 members since its 1994 inception following the break-up of Tweedy's alt-country trailblazers Uncle Tupelo. The recent addition of multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone and acclaimed jazz guitarist Nels Cline continues to flesh out the band’s earlier work into lush, layered compositions, particularly in a live setting.

Additional support for this performance came by way of the Total Pros, a three-piece horn section that sat in for six songs, including “I’m The Man Who Loves You”, “The Late Greats” and "Outtasite (Outta Mind)." The extra instrumentation, while fluid and precise, often led to an oversaturated sound and confirmed what many critics have argued since the lukewarm reception of 2007’s Sky Blue Sky: late-period Wilco is upon us. Many moments of the band’s 24-song set felt politely jammy, and Tweedy stumbled through select rarities such as “Casino Queen,” “Blood Of The Lamb” (a Woody Guthrie cover from the band’s collaboration with Billy Bragg), and “Hotel Arizona,” which needed three re-starts before getting off the ground.

Wilco - "Hotel Arizona" - Live @ The Grand Opera House, Wilmington, DE - 8/10/08

Aside from these slips, the neo-jazz breakdown of “You Are My Face” and vapor-trail ending of “Handshake Drugs” both allowed Cline to stretch his wings. Cline’s handiwork routinely transcended his Fender Jazzmaster to include intricate toggling on a side table of effects and soulful slide-guitar fingering to dress up such songs as “Poor Places” and “Walken,” the latter an otherwise forgettable cut from Sky Blue Sky.

Wilco - "Poor Places" - Live @ The Grand Opera House, Wilmington, DE - 8/10/08

It was clear that an unspoken dialogue was at the heart of Wilco’s first interaction with their First State fans. The bouncy, transcendental anthem “Hummingbird” was a full-fledged sing-along, and “Theologians” felt especially drenched in enigmatic mysticism when cryptic lyrics echoed from fans around the horseshoe theatre. “You can rely on me, honey,” Tweedy assured the swaying crowd during the twangy Southwestern waltz of “Jesus, Etc.” Turning his microphone toward the audience, they echoed back, “Our love is all we have. Our love is all of God’s money. Everyone is a burning sun.”

Wilco - "Radio Cure" - Live @ The Grand Opera House, Wilmington, DE - 8/10/08

A Thunderous Blunder: A Review of Tropic Thunder

Ben Stiller’s new flick, Tropic Thunder, has topped the box office, sparked considerable controversy, and features Robert Downey Jr. playing Russell Crowe playing Bernie Mac; enough to convince me it was worth checking out. It has been awhile since I’ve encountered such a contradictory film--horrid reviews yet an 8.0 on IMDb?—making me wonder which constituency was so off the mark. After viewing the film I was surprised to find that the answer was neither, and concluded that Stiller had succeeded in creating a horribly hilarious film.

What the film makes up for with a top-notch cast and memorable one-liners, it completely lacks in plot, respectability, and timely satire. What could have been an opportunity to make a masterful satire of an entire genre (a la Mel Brooks), the movie instead relies on crude humor and very memorable characters to make its comedic impact. With a few exceptions, Tropic Thunder fails to give the audience the chance to think, “this is a spoof”, or “they are making fun of _________ war movie”. Clichés aren’t absent from the film but their prevalence would have allowed Tropic Thunder to be put in the same class of satire as say Blazing Saddles or Team America, instead opting out to be placed in the shadow of Apatow-inspired blatantly belligerent comedy.

As previously stated in my last post, I am no moralist. I often take an unhealthy loathing to those too uptight to take a joke and attempt to place what is meant to be humorous in the comedic context that is appropriate. With that said, I must honestly say even I found parts of the film tasteless and mildly offensive. It is one thing to address the somewhat comedic fact that actors who choose to play mentally-challenged characters win Oscars, it is another to make Stiller’s retarded character an otherwise pointless centerpiece in the film. Downey Jr.’s rant about the professional downside of “going retard” had its place in a film making a consistent social commentary on the culture of Hollywood, but the repetitive stuttering and unnecessary return to Simple Jack did not have a relevant place in the film (unless it was Stiller’s goal to piss off advocacy groups of the subject).

While I found the retard controversy quasi-legitimate, those who opposed Robert Downey Jr. playing a black man need to shut the hell up. His performance as Kirk Lazarus was brilliant, and made fun of Russell Crowe as much as it did any black man. Not only was his character believable, his multiple accents spot on, and his reactions hilarious, but his ability to change his tone and personality with the wide array of other characters he had to deal with was remarkable. In a film that was otherwise full of forced jokes and largely missed the mark, Downey Jr.’s performance was both memorable and Oscar-worthy.

While Downey stole the show, the extensive and celebrity-filled cast is what ultimately made Tropic Thunder tolerable and perhaps even enjoyable. Every character was extremely well developed, from a fraud author attempting to profit off the Vietnam War to a rookie director trying to control a star-studded cast in his first big break. The parts were distinct and all allowed to for comedic touches to be added by the all-star cast. In a film riddled with cameos, Tom Cruise’s performance was the cameo to end all cameos. His heart-warming portrayal of a cross between Harvey Weinstein and Freakshow from Harold and Kumar with a fetish for rap and narcissism had me rolling in laughter. Unfortunately his screen-time was very limited.

All in all, Tropic Thunder wasn’t entirely a Tropic Blunder, but it sure as hell wasn’t a Tropic Wonder either. The movie has enough memorable moments and surely enough memorable characters to be worthy of a viewing, but falls a few RPG’s short of being a successful military satire. 6/10 Retards.

Bon Iver may give you a boner

Long, long, long over-due. The real version can be found here.

Bon Iver
Philadelphia, PA
July 31, 2008

For all that’s been written about Justin Vernon and his 2008 magnum opus For Emma, Forever Ago, there remains a miserable feeling of not being able to articulate the raw emotions that these nine folk songs have the power to evoke. Vernon, who has adopted the stage name Bon Iver (a loose spelling of the French phrase “Good Winter”), is as enigmatic as his music. As Bon Iver—isolated from life yet grappling with it—Vernon adopts a chilling falsetto that is more sentimentally than sonically pleasing. When addressing his audience or speaking offstage, however, Vernon’s persona is naturally unkempt, with a crackling blue-collar voice and a Midwestern charm that exudes approachability. Both sides took hold of a sweat-soaked crowd in the swampy basement of Philadelphia’s First Unitarian Church for a sold-out performance on the final night of July.

Much of Vernon’s 2008 success as Bon Iver is attributable to the mythology surrounding For Emma’s circumstantial creation. Following the disintegration of a relationship and the break-up of his former band, DeYarmond Edison, Vernon retreated to the woods of Northern Wisconsin for three winter months. Hibernating in his father’s hunting cabin, Vernon sought refuge but eventually found renassiance and recorded a collection of demos—individual tracks, he insists, that were never meant to be an album. An intensely layered yet minimalist collection, Vernon’s conscious musical choices do not feed his ego but carry a certain purpose toward furthering a given work, be it on the album or on stage.

Such was the case when Vernon and his Bon Iver touring companions (a second guitarist, a drummer and a multi-instrumentalist) walked on stage shirtless, joking that the room was like a cold bath. The performance began with meandering drones soaked in reverb that Vernon nonchalantly introduced as “C.F.,” or “Creature Fear,” the most bipolar track off For Emma. With a gradual slide-guitar arc and jazzy stops, Vernon alternated his customary high-pitched vocal with several lower voices before leading the group into a driving instrumental to conclude the song. The wild applause was answered with the bouncing campfire chords of “Skinny Love,” a ballad many believe to be the epitome of Bon Iver’s bare-all exposition. Vernon’s underused vocal boom was a highlight as each band member accompanied the singer with squinted eyes and scrunched noses to sing the phrase “My, my, my,” turning one man’s break-up song into a nostalgic anthem.

"Skinny Love" Live @ First Unitarian Church 7/31

Vernon dutifully performed eight of the nine tracks on For Emma, save the instrumental “Team.” Although he sounded more comfortable with his live band than vice versa, the four musicians were able to effectively find spaces and directions in which to transport the cryptic self-recordings from the cabin to the stage. The otherwise stolid “Blindsided” was dressed up with some Nels Cline-like noodling, and the band left Vernon to perform an intimate, half-speed version of “Re: Stacks.” The audience contributed to the eerie and repetitive refrain “What might’ve been lost” as “The Wolves (Act I And II)” was deconstructed with distorted guitar shredding and clamoring, nonsensical percussion. The show entered its final stage with the cheerful strumming of “For Emma.” A weighted story hidden beneath elementary chord progressions and a simple medley, the soft wailing slide and chorale singing of “Running home, running home” warranted a collective thirst for more. Vernon, however, made it clear that he had only one song left. Ending the night on his album’s tender opener, “Flume,” was an unconventional choice, but Vernon could do no wrong in the eyes of his sweaty audience. Offering fulfillment in less than 45 minutes is hard to do, but this bare-boned performance from a bare-skinned band did so unequivocally.

"For Emma" Live @ First Unitarian Church 7/31

Olympics, Liars and Affairs, Oh My!

The past week has been jam-packed with news that has shocked and awed. Here's my take on all the fuss:

The Olympics:

The opening ceremonies scared the living shit out of me in the most impressive way possible. I felt like I was watching a North Korean military march when some 2,000 drummers were simultaneously chanting like Tibetan monks while twirling glow in the dark drumsticks. The show was mind-boggling, but you couldn't help but feel slightly intimidated by the organization and dedication a communist state with over a billion people is capable of.
The athletics so far have been equally entertaining. The China vs. America basketball game (the most watched sporting event in history) was relatively exciting for at least the first half. The constantly mentioned gold medal quest of Phelps has lived up to expectations, especially the relay where the veteran American swam the fastest split in history to out-touch the French by 6 hundredths of a second (after the French told newspapers they would surely "smash" the Americans). The gymnists, both men and women, continue to perform routines that my sense of sight tells me aren't humanly possible. Speaking of, the Chinese womens (girls) team didn't even make an effort to act like they weren't cheating. Apparently the age minimum for the gymnastics competition was 16, and the Chinese team averaged 4'5'' and 70 pounds. That's like my right leg! The elementary schoolgirls they had perform would have made Wee-man look like Butterbean. It was disgraceful.

The President:

Bush has looked like a kid in a candy store through-out the Olympics, and seems much more in his element than say, when running the country. He was raising roofs,slapping asses, and having one hell of a time until he had the displeasure of sitting down with Bob Costas. While the president handled the surprisingly deep and insightful foreign policy questions slung at him by Costas (who apparently mistook the Olympics for Meet the Press) quite well, it wouldn't be Bush if he didn't have one Freudian slip. When ask a minute long question about how much leverage America has over China with both nations facing problems Bush optimistically answered, "First of all Bob, I don't see America as having problems." My jaw dropped at the comment watching it live, and I completely concurred the next night when John Stewart replayed the statement and added, "I think thats our biggest problem."

Georgia vs. Russia:

For those thinking there is no way Russia could ever take over the "ATL", Georgia is in fact also a country. They were also the third largest member of the "Coalition of the willing" in Iraq until they pulled out over 2000 of their troops to protect themselves from the Russians. These Georgians need to get their priorities straight: save your home country that no one knew existed anyway or save America from terrorism? Traitors.


John Edwards:

Oh my, where to begin with this one. I'm not surprised he had an affair. I'm not surprised it was made public. I am appalled that he had the balls to run for president knowing this could surface. Imagine if it was Obama, the entire democratic party would have been destroyed! I'm no moralist and frankly don't give a rat's ass whether a political candidate is sniffing coke off a hooker's stomach if their policies are for the best, but the fact that Edwards was willing to risk not just his own political career but the progressive will of the majority of America is hard to fathom. With all that said, it is truly ironic that this whole ordeal might turn out to be a positive for Obama. If it wasn't for Edwards' affair, do you think any attention would have been placed on the fact that Mr. John McCain also admitted to having an affair when with his first wife? Again, I could care less, but it surely suits Obama that his opponent can now be placed in the same "slimeball" category as immoral beasts like Clinton and Edwards.

Cheers.