jeff tweedy

[acuff-rose]

last night, despite the impending doom of icepocalypse that our devotedly reliable weathermen had foretold, i braved the frozen turnpike alone, in search of a musical adventure. i journeyed to my native tulsa to stand in the presence of one jeff tweedy [wilco, uncle tupelo]. he was playing a solo show at Cain's Ballroom, one of tulsa's oldest music venues, hailing back to the late1920's. It was originally a garage for a wealthy founding father of tulsa [brady], then a country music dance hall, now one of tulsa's best known music venues; with a rotten old hardwood floor so rickety that in many places there was bright green tape to keep folks from tripping over the dips & rises.

i was greeted, almost immediately upon entering, by winner, johanna, kyle, & cody. this was a happy accident, as none of us knew beforehand that the others would be there. i tried to call cody in advance, but his phone was "all jacked up again", meaning he didn't pay his bill, again... along with those mentioned above, i was surprised to see one of my old flames, transporting me all the way back to 4th grade. there were many beards present, as well as quite a few skinny young men wearing t-shirts with scarves, a phenomenon that is relatively new to me.

i was somewhat disappointed that they had set up chairs [reserved seating] covering nearly all of the dance-floor area. those of us who didn't up the extra few dollars were forced to stand beside & behind. i was still able to take everything in from several vantage points, sometimes front-extreme-stage-left, sometimes in back of all those who were seated, & sometimes stage-right-halfway back. the sound was good pretty much everywhere, & i hope john's recording comes out well.

the show began right on time, & we were only forced to suffer the opening act for about 4 songs. i didn't even catch their name, as i was busy talking with friends. jeff tweedy took the stage @ 9:00 & played for an hour, then countinuing through 3 encores [totaling about another 45 minutes]. he commented early on that the crowd was rowdy, chatted between songs, & seemed to be in good spirits. before the show, john said he hoped someone would say something dumb to get jeff to react like on his dvd. he was chatty, telling stories about his kids, asking [rhetorically] what it is about what he [& other musicians in general] do that causes people to scream "whoo!", something i've wondered myself. the songs he played ranged from uncle tupelo, wilco, woody guthrie, & even a couple new ones. it was very laid back & enjoyable, with occasional sing-alongs, some laughs, & an overall feelgood atmosphere. between reading the book about wilco, watching the sunken treasure dvd, listening a lot to a solo bootleg i had, & being pretty familiar with the two bands, i knew most of the songs, but i would guess that some might have felt a little disappointed in the setlist [in terms of familiarity] because he leaned pretty heavily on some of his lesser-known material. i especially enjoyed airline to heaven, remember the mountain bed, heavy metal drummer, & shot in the arm. he capped off the final encore with acuff-rose, played without any amplification ["the way music was performed here for decades"] standing on the edge of the stage as everyone crammed forward to hear. he delivered some great music, & definitely left us wanting more.

p.s. neither snow, nor ice impeded my journey in the slightest... sorry jenn, i sold your ticket for $20.