i am about to go stand in line at the vic for jeff tweedy tickets...

THIS JUST IN!!!! caleb & crew will be here to see the jeff tweedy show w/ me!!!!!!!!!!!!! caleb has given me the green light to buy the tickets!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!! i'm gonna see jeff tweedy in 4 weeks w/ CALEB & dickey's funky love bomb!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



michael doesn't like jeff tweedy. he doesn't like springsteen either. i wonder if i should stay friends w/ him...just kidding...he forgives me my mistakes in music, i forgive him his. actually, i don't think he really forgives me what he considers my bad choices in music...



i think i nearly killed myself doing laundry today...carrying that frickin' hamper up and down the stairs, man...actually, my back's been killing me all day...slept funny i guess.



ian & crew got stuck in the snow storm up east yesterday...i hope they got to boston ok...i was worried they'd get stuck in that. ian said when they did get back on the roads, they could only go 20 mph. ouch. i miss ian... he sent me a song a couple days ago that he made me promise i wouldn't listen to until i was going to sleep w/ my headphones on, so i did as he said...it was a totally gorgeous version of nick drake's black-eyed dog that he did...TEN WHOLE MINUTES...it was perfect for bedtime.



i almost bought a ticket to austin yesterday for new years eve...i called my travel agency and everything...but i decided that i'll save those vacation days for SXSW and do an extended trip then. you have no idea how much self control it is taking me to NOT buy that ticket...



alright...tomorrow is the office holiday party. that means i get to leave work early. thank goodness! i'm having my new cd deck installed in my car tomorrow because i've HAD IT w/ my cd changer that skips every time i drive over a pebble. it's enough to give a girl a nervous tick, all that skipping. and it's a crime, a CRIME i tell you, to have any skips while listening to the cure's disintegration.

this just in...jeff tweedy is doing two solo shows @ the vic 1/8 and 1/9!!!!!!!!!! i'm am hoping that caleb & crew will be here by the 9th so we can go to that show together...i couldn't imagine a better person to see this show w/ than caleb! except ian. well, i already saw wilco w/ ian in seattle, so it would be totally cool to see this show w/ caleb!



going to the spin cycle to do my monthly load of laundry.



saw michael of watchers for the 1st time since the dudes got back from the recording studio. from what i hear, the album sounds frickin' awesome and they haven't even mixed yet. the boys said michael's vocals sound like bryan ferry. weird. it was apparently an amazing recording experience, and they all emerged alive and well. a bit dazed maybe...coming back to reality was hard on 'em i'm sure...cd release is slated for mid spring off gern blandsten. pretty soon, you too will be able to see a watchers show in YOUR neck of the woods because they'll be touring, oh yes, these boys will be touring. well, i hope they do. they're such a live show band, ya know...michael's a frickin' lunatic on stage. we were watching the footage from the milwaukee cactus club show that michael's roommate libor shot, and we all agreed that michael's a frickin' lunatic. if you live in chicago, watchers will be playing the hideout w/ owls on sat. 1/11. don't know what time. it's some benefit show so i bet there's a bunch of bands playing. they don't have it on the schedule yet.



today i listened to some gillian welch & emmylou harris & ian moore as well as:

13--blur

a brief history of the 20th century--gang of four

last broadcast--doves

alright. i have discovered today that i completed the hidari mae photos page and didn't even know about it. click here for photos. hidari mae is that band in seattle that i went to see a few weeks ago when i was visiting my boys in serene. andy myers is the lead singer. he plays drums for damien jurado's gathered in song band. eric fisher, damien's guitar player (as well as rosie thomas's guitar player) is also in hidari mae, as is greg danforth, a crazy moped riding tatt artist, and david broecker of the prom. they are a bunch of lovely guys making beautifully rawk music. you should buy their cd. send andy money or go to amazon.com.



i have spent 27.5 hours in the office this week and tuesday's not even over yet...that is just WRONG...i need another vacation..



i'm seriously considering going to austin for new year's eve. the ian moore action company (ian's full band) will be doing a new year's eve bash, and ian will be in texas that whole week, so i'd get to see a bit of him...yeah, i know, i'm nuts...but i just really miss him...and he's got all these new songs he wants me to hear...and it would be so much warmer in texas.



i got an email from jesse today. the serene boys are in the bay area...i know it's not exactly warm there, but i'd still prefer to be in san fran than chicago in december. they'll soon make it to warmer territory...i wish i were on that trip...i miss cali. esp. the bay area. some of my favourite memories w/ my best friend josh are in that area...walking for hours in san fran and somehow always ending up @ ghiardelli square, hanging out in oakland and having josh tell me it was berkeley, finally discovering the REAL berkeley, sneaking in to the chabot observatory at night for a view of the city, getting lost in the fog in the hills of oakland in pitch black night, playing reverse jenga and frisbee on chrissy field, trespassing on pebble beach not realizing i was on a golf course, napping in a downtown park in carmel-by-the-sea, watching the kite surfers off the pacific coast highway, taking in the green-flash sunset on half-moon bay, getting lost on the way to mt. diablo, hanging w/ the young 'uns in alameda, watching the girls basketball team run laps @ stanford in palo alto, and of course flying in a little cessna over the bay at sunset...



been listening to:

sam cooke's SAR Records story--sam cooke

from the nest of ideas--scientific

s/t--pinback

how it feels to be something on--sunny day real estate

in between ep--rosie thomas

whole ep--pedro the lion

and all the colors--ian moore

s/t--hidari mae

disintegration--the cure

s/t--serene

nebrask--bruce springsteen

now you know--doug martsch

locket full of moonlight--bill mallonee

oh mercy--bob dylan

bringing it all back home--bob dylan

the sebadoh--sebadoh

no good for no one now--owen

being there--wilco

89/93 anthology--uncle tupelo

straightaways--son volt

i am at work still because of my idiotic flat tire mistaken for bad brakes incident on friday...



i made this mix cd yesterday that i'm listening to right now...the cool thing about working late in the office is that i can blast the music and sing as loud as i want. the maintenance staff are used to me by now...anyways, this cd is killing me right now...check out this tracklist:



1. medication -- damien jurado (on my top 20 list of the saddest songs ever...when i told eric fisher, damien's guitar player that i cried at his show, he guessed right away, "medication?" and i was like yup...that's how sad that song is...ouch...)



2. most of the time -- bob dylan ("most of the time/ my head is on straight...")



3. shooting star -- bob dylan (i have a special relationship w/ shooting stars..."guess it's too late to say the things to you/that you needed to hear me say/seen a shooting star tonight slip away")



4. highway patrolman -- bruce springsteen (i cried listening to this song yesterday...it's what spurred on this compilation..."i catch him when he's strayin', like any brother would/ man turns his back on his family, he just ain't no good.")



5. youngstown -- bruce springsteen (i've always loved this song for some reason...it's like a sonic vignette that conjures up images of black & white photos of an industrial town)



6. today -- ian moore (i love this song...esp when ian does it live in combo w/ his version of "will the circle be unbroken"...that killed me the first time i heard it...ian's the one who got me to listen to springsteen's nebraska [the one w/ track 4 on it] yesterday after i got off the phone w/ him)



7. goodbye--emmylou harris (tearjerker for sure...esp. if you're like me...)



8. orphan girl--gillian welch (one of my favourite songs...i love emmylou's version of this too)



9. no shadow of turning--lost dogs (derri daugherty has one of the prettiest voices i've ever heard...)



10. golden slumbers--lost dogs (these guys do some of the most beautiful harmonies...)



11. looking for a way out--uncle tupelo (i love hearing both jay farrar's and jeff tweedy's voices intertwined)



12. screen door--uncle tupelo (jeff sounds so young here...)



13. way down watson--son volt (he sings this soooo sad...)



14. windfall--son volt (i love the lines "never feel alone/you're really not alone")



15. i thought i held you--wilco ("i'm like a songwriter/ you're the reason i've run out/ run out of metaphors")



16. sunken treasure--wilco (this is my favourite wilco song..."i am so out of tune with you..." that's how i've felt w/ certain people & certain institutions...)



17. dirty job--bill mallonee (off his new album locket full of moonlight--"failure's such a dirty job/ i don't know if i'm up to it..." this is such a pretty song...)



18. casualty--vigilantes of love ("i try to do what i should/ but it doesn't do any good does it")



19. on to bethlehem--vigilantes of love (one of my favourite VoL songs...slays me every time...bill did it live on sat. night.."it's cold this year/ and i'm late on my dues/ it's cold in here/ ah but that's nothing new/ my heart's electric w/ your love again/ so it's on to bethlehem")



i wanna go home...