For a totally land locked town, Champaign-Urbana has a lot of sushi places. Yes, Lake Michigan is kinda close, but I don’t think I would eat anything pulled out of there anytime soon. However, lots of places do fly in high quality fish for serving raw or lightly fried. I would recommend KO Fusion on Sundays and Mondays, when they have $1 sushi and 1/2 price wines and sake (for those of proper age, of course). Last time I went to dollar sushi night, they even had a choice of a kind of tasting plate, with one of each special $1 roll for only $10. There is a wide variety of maki on “the list” of dollar-priced items, with raw, cooked, and even non-fish choices. Have as many as you want, and wash it all down with a cheap glass of good wine, and you have yourself a meal fit for a samurai king for under 15 bucks…sounds pretty sweet to me.

Even the most casual peruser of my blog knows that I was off in the wilco-strastosphere for most of last week. This is not a post about the excellence of the shows (a topic already given ample space). Instead, it is just a little response, of sorts, to all the buzz about wilco as the “new” grateful dead or the new tour phenom. As a person who has been into the dead for a long time, long enough to feel the sting of almost being old enough to have some jerry time before he died, the idea of a new “dead” that had nothing to do with jam bands is especially interesting.
What makes people think or say this about wilco in this day and age? Jeff seems to enjoy cultivating a relationship with the crowd, creating a more intimate feeling of people just hanging out…and maybe you want that hanging out to continue in Nashville, Mobile (tickets still available!), or Tulsa. All the guys kick ass on their (and sometimes other people’s) instruments, innovating and flourishing wherever they please. Although the band doesn’t do extend jamouts, they mix up and play with each song each time, adding something new or taking out something familiar. They definitely play a different show every night, despite the repeats, each with its own motion and feeling. Most of all though, wilco is simply a magical live band. The first wilco show makes you believer, I promise. I don’t know what it is, why or how it works, but they cast a freakin spell on you. I am even more wilcoed out than before the Riviera shows, having gained new appreciation for songs I used to feel so-so about, and extra loving songs I used to just mostly love.
So maybe the whole grateful dead thing comes down to a simple question of magical musical experience (careful, your hippie is showing). But really, you can’t know till it happens to you, and maybe people find it easiest to express that live show magic by invoking the grateful dead. I don’t think jerry would be disappointed with that.

I am excited about this week’s sweet spot, because it is completely subjective and I feel both non-bossy and informative. This week, the sweetest spot is home. Since I was out of town almost all week, I am simply extra appreciative of my cozy little house, and especially attuned to the pleasures of one’s own space. Perhaps it is the Cancer side of my astrological personality, but home kicks ass this week! I’m sure that next week I’ll be itching to go somewhere and do something, but for now, I urge any and all readers to relax and enjoy your very own pillows, books, or whatever other material goods you take pleasure in. Also, the renewed presence of beloved pets is always great.

By last night’s last show, I kinda hated the Riviera. It was the fifth night in a row that the show was oversold, guaranteeing a total lack of seats and a total lack of view if one was unwilling to push people in a crush toward the front. Since we spent the night before up close, surrounded by guys singing loudly along with the show and a miasma of vomit stench, we were unwilling to do so again, choosing to hang out closer to the big back bar, where the sightline was nonexistent. Not a little bit blocked, or partial, or only fair; I mean one could not see anything at all except the heads of other people. Why is there a venue where the back part of the room is lower than the middle?
The show itself was good, the music sounded great and Jeff was chatty and cute, there was just one little problem: the glaring lack of some songs, which were never played. Ok, I can accept that every song from the Mermaid Avenue albums, that Wilco/Billy Bragg/Woody Guthrie collaboration, might not get played, but what about “Let’s Not Get Carried Away?” It was just released, and god knows they played everything else off Sky Blue Sky, including “Impossible Germany” an impossibly unnecessary four times. Jeff commented on the missing song situation, being obviously aware of the lack, but that’s information a spectator might want to receive before the last ten minutes of the last show. According to Jeff, it was “the fine print” that B-sides and rarities were not included in the “every recorded song” promise. My boyfriend was pretty much crushed by this development, since LNGCA is his very favorite and most-hoped for song of all. If they hadn’t played so many songs so many times, it wouldn’t sting so much, I’m sure.
Now, I am well aware that I myself just posted about the advantages of not hearing the song you want, in order to increase the excitement for next time. That’s all well and good for me, but some people take that stuff really seriously and get all annoyed. Don’t worry Jeff Tweedy, I still love you, but try not to piss off my boyfriend so much…

My plan for the Wilco shows this week included a daily posting to keep all interested and non-attending fans up-to-date. However, yesterday’s shocking development prevented me from posting at all, and also mightily pissed me off. Here we are, staying in a fancy four-star hotel with three restaurants, a bar, and a Starbucks, and no free wifi. Yep, I said NO FREE WIFI to access the internet. Huh? What? Is this the 21st century, a time when most cellphones can access the internet at any time? No free wifi in the lobby of a $200 a-night hotel (don’t worry, we went through hotwire for our reservation, but still)? I was shocked and appalled, even more so when I was politely informed that I could access the internet for $9.95 a day, or, if I just needed a few minutes, I could buy 15 minutes for $6.95. When further inquires about the possibility of other nearby spots for free wifi were raised, I was met with a gentle laugh, and the information that “downtown doesn’t do free access.” Correct me if I am wrong, but things cost money because they involve some type of labor or good or service, which is then exchanged for green pieces of paper. Free wifi, however, requires no one to do anything, really, except flip some little button that changes one’s ability to access the internet from code-based to open. I mean, the entire building is already wired for wireless service, it’s just that you have to provide your name and room number so the hotel can be sure you get charged. Since I refused to buy into the amazing racket that is downtown Chicago’s online policy, you, dear reader, must absorb all my further Wilco show information in blogs that are slightly temporally behind.

Tuesday night Wilco show didn’t seem quite so crowded, but maybe I’m just used to navigating the Riv, so I know where the good spots are now. Last night’s show was recorded and broadcast by a certain Chicago radio station, so the mood onstage was a little more serious and music-minded, not quite so full of silliness and hilarity. “Impossible Germany” made its fourth appearance of the run, so I guess I’ll have to learn to love it sometime. Lots of good music (duh), plenty of repeats (have they been practicing for the radio?), and some isolated gems, (“California Stars,” “Company in my Back”). An awesome “Spiders,” and a “(Was I) In Your Dreams” featuring a raging Mikael Jorgensen on piano. In fact, he was busy last night, kicking musical ass all over the place. Since magical piano time is one of my favorite live-music features, I was a very happy dancer.

let’s rock!

For this former tour-kid, some of the most interesting the showtalk was comments made by Tweedy about Wilco tour and his crowd. He was talking about what a great crowd this was, a hometown crowd, and said “you guys should just come with us…oh wait, lots of you are going to, how scary” (ok, I am paraphrasing, the real Jeff Tweedy is a way better speaker). Going on Wilco tour? In the middle of February? I mean, I’m up for it, and it seems like Tweedy thinks it would be cool, but how the hell to support yourself? There’s no vending, there’s no pre/after show hangout spot to sell food or beer or merch., and gas is pretty expensive if you hadn’t noticed. It was an interesting proposition despite the impracticality of going on tour with your bank account and no way to make extra money-rich guy tour for the over 35 crowd? In fact, Monday night, while introducing the set break, Tweedy mentioned that they were going to break and come back, “just like the Grateful Dead.” Hmmmmm….Might have to mix up the shows a little more if you’re going to be entertaining the same hard-core traveling fans every night. Any way that you interpret these statements, even as a kind of Tweedy joke, it is interesting to see how the band thinks about their fan base and the project of going on tour, with or without traveling tour kids.

Went to the first of three Wilco shows at the Riviera theater last night, and surprise surprise, it was mega-packed. There was literally nowhere to move in the balcony, and after the first few songs they stopped letting people up there, so a spectator had no choice but to stand at the windows on the second floor (where you can’t see a single inch of the stage), or find a spot on the floor, space ranging from semi-plentiful to nonexistent the closer you got to the action. We made it pretty close to the stage during set break, and the kids around us were all quite nice: no one was too pushy or elbowy, although a couple guys were just too tall-can’t they minimize for the show?
They played some amazing music, the second set-opening “Via Chicago” was killer, “I Got You,” with Andrew Bird, the horns and everyone rockin’ out their instruments, “She’s a Jar,” with harmonica almost made me cry, and “The Late Greats,” were just a few of the highlights of the show. In the grand tradition of second sets, this one was more exciting and seemed to please the crowd a little more than set one.
Now, “The Late Greats” has been my most hoped for song from the very beginning, and I was understandably crushed when they played it on Saturday for their second set opener, since I wasn’t there. I was totally excited to hear it last night, but it also got me thinking about the shows so far, and those to come. If you are a dork like me, you have been checking and comparing setlists from the first two, now three, shows, offering opinion or verifying info or hoping not to have seen your song in a setlist you didn’t participate in. You can do that here. This is part of the great excitement of shows for me, thinking about setlists and what you want to hear and accepting the fact that you might have to wait till next time to hear your favorite. Don’t get me wrong, I loved my “late greats” and got down and had a great time, but they just played it, at the same venue, two nights before. When I saw the Flaming Lips twice two summers ago, I was disappointed and a little annoyed that they played the same exact show at Red Rocks that they played at Lollapalooza. In that case, the stage banter was the same, making it not banter but a script, and the set list was the same progression. I have never quite gotten over this experience, and have a little less respect for the flaming boys as a result. (they also played the exact same show almost a year later, so this is clearly a lips issue).
I am in no way expressing similar anger or disappointment at the Wilco show. I had a f*cking awesome time and can’t wait for the next two shows. The music sounded fresh and exciting, the band looked like they were having a great time, I am now officially crazy about Jeff Tweedy (who my boyfriend said looks like an angry alien cat while singing), and I guess I would enjoy hearing some of the same songs again today or tomorrow. In fact, I am secretly hoping that they play a few more of my own favs that they already played. However, it is a strange and slightly sad blow to my extremely high expectations, not musically but in a weird and probably totally idiosyncratic ethical way. I know that they have the chops to play whatever they want, and so I am always hoping for more. I guess not everyone wants to take their time drawing out the music, and instead searches for perfection in the things they love. However, based on comments made by Jeff during the show, I think that he may well have been unaware of the percentage of people who had tickets for all five, or even this week’s three, shows. We’ll just have to see what the next nights bring. Stay tuned, and let me know what you think about show structure, if you think about it at all. Do you want to hear just your favorites, or will you accept a mix in the service of anticipation for next time? (of course, I have 2 more nights to see all I want, so it’s easy for me to take the high road)…

Don’t fret, loyal readers of “C-U at my blog,” I still exist, despite my lack of web presence this week. I have been having some technical difficulties with my blog. I know, I know, I have a freakin’ blog for God’s sake, so theoretically I should be a super-sophisticated computer whiz…but I am not, so deal with it. Don’t worry, I missed you too.

So, yeah, it’s kinda cold outside still, not quite spring yet. Nonetheless, this week’s sweet spot is outside, so bundle up if you’re checkin it out. Over by married graduate-student housing, past McKinley and Japan House, is a park whose name I cannot ascertain, although I know that it kicks ass. You gotta slow down after the “Japan House” sign or you will cruise right by the parking lot.

wanna play?

The park itself has hills, trees, benches, fields, a pond, and opens right into the botanical Asian-style garden behind Japan House. A beautiful place to picnic, sunbathe, or maybe dog-watch. For some reason, perhaps the isolation or the wide variety of terrain, this park also seems to be the unofficial secret dog park, where people can bring their chill and well-behaved dogs to run around and chase things. My dog happens to prefer hill-sprints after the tennis ball, but to each his/her own–there’s plenty of space for all canine friends to enjoy.

Ever seen a Shrek movie? You know that band that always has a song in those movies, a song that sounds very melodic but usually has sad lyrics? That band is called The Eels, and the mastermind is a man named Mark Oliver Everett (a man called “E”). Perhaps you have never seen a Shrek movie, but you remember that 90’s song called “Novocain for the Soul”? Well, that’s E too, and the Eels have released five studio albums and at least four live albums since that fleeting hit.

is that you, Freud? oh, it’s just E…

After a hiatus, E is busy once again, releasing a greatest hits album (a.k.a. best songs albums, since they have only had 1 official “hit”) called “Meet the Eels” and a rarities album, “Useless Trinkets,” and making a dvd, and embarking on tour, and writing a book, called Things the Grandchildren Should Know. If this title seems strange, than maybe you don’t know that E’s dad, the Grandad of any potential little Everetts, was a Nobel Prize winning physicist. So perhaps the grandchildren should know about parallel universes or something. Regardless of this hereditary “achievement,” the Eels make some totally amazing music, happy but depressing, strange but hypnotizing. If you are new to the Eels world, I would suggest the Daisies of the Galaxy album, which will perhaps someday be considered the definitive Eels. The most upbeat and cheerful melodies set to the some of the saddest lyrics in rock n roll. If you can handle Daisies, move on to Electroshock Blues, written after the death of E’s dad and the suicide of his older sister. Sound awful? It is, but the music is so beautifully melancholy that it puts Elliot Smith to shame.

is that you, Unabomber? oh wait, it’s E again…

So check out an Eels song or two, even if you have to rent Shrek I, II, or III to do so, and keep an eye out for the book, coming soon to the U.S. Then you will be ready and pumped to see them play the Park West in Chicago in early April…see you there!