It's Always So Much More Work to Come Home

I know that it's probably because I kept waking hours that not at all correspond to Pacific time, but I'm much more wiped out after flying back to Seattle this morning than I was flying to Boston on the redeye.

The Wilco show was great, although it was cut short by TORRENTIAL RAIN. The concert was at a minor league ballpark, so the sound was not as good as it was at the Greek Theater in Berkeley, but I enjoyed the crowd much more. For some reason, I find Boston hipsters tolerable and entertaining, where the Berkeley hipsters rubbed me the wrong way--probably because at one time I was a Bostonian in my 20s, so I know more or less what to expect with them. The set list was similar to Berkeley, and the energy was really good, and it was really great to go to a show with seven people--more people to hold our space, scout out the ballpark, carry the blankets, and (of course) pick up beer! Conor Oberst (in the top left photo) opened the show, and I was disappointed. I have (and like) one of his Bright Eyes albums, so maybe my expectations were too high. Based on what Wikipedia says (and it makes sense, and is a totally valid artistic choice), he's more interested in immediacy than heavily polished songcraft--some of the songs felt overly ernest to me, and could have benefitted from some heavy editing. I mean, I know I'm no longer in the indie-rock target demographic, but it was hilarious to see frat guys singing along as if their souls had been saved by a song about ten women. Maybe without that visual, it wouldn't have seemed so ridiculous? I'm sure that I felt the same way at that age about bands I've forgotten now. Anyway, that set could have been shorter, given that the last 30-45 minutes of Wilco's set was rained out.

Here's a little video clip, where you can see the rain. I'm serious when I said it was pouring--you can see the rain in the lights around the 8 sec mark!!!

In concert knitting news, I worked a couple of inches of the gussets on the Strawberry Van Dykes at the show, and finished the first sock on the plane ride home. The socks aren't as tall as I'd have liked, but I was worried about running out of yarn partway through a repeat. The pattern is a little boring, but it was really easy to knit on the road (when I paid attention, that is), and with a red that bright the pattern is secondary in any case. Toe #2 is on the needles now!

When We're Not Sure We're Not Alone

Whenever I plan to post about a concert, I have the best intentions of infusing my post with the pure rock emotion of the actual show, and I fail every time. I'm not a poetic, lyrical writer, as much as I'd like to be, which makes it difficult. I'm a boiler-down of ideas, if not a master-summarizer, with a small side order of humor and self-reflection. A very small side order. Any attempts to stray from my writing style reeks of smarmy-ness, which isn't really an issue if I'm writing about knitting, or dachshunds, or baseball, but I worry that it flattens out the rock show experience into Wesley-Willis-style reviews. You know, "I went to the rock show. There were about 100 people at the show. The rock show was awesome, it whooped the camel's ass" (for those of you unfamiliar with Wesley Willis, this is as close to a direct song quote as I can get without digging out a cd). Plus, while I take a lot of (semi-focused, point and shoot) photos, I don't write down anything during shows, so while I remember many of the hideously 80's inspired clothes that todays youth were unfortunately wearing, I can't faithfully recreate a set list--basically, I'm short on useful details, and long on tangents.

Anyway, that's a lot of space to apologize in advance if I undersell the Wilco show I saw last night at the Greek Theater in Berkeley, because it was truly a great show. Possibly the best Wilco show I've ever seen, with perfect sound, an incredible venue, and incredible energy. Note that I say this even though I tripped and badly turned my ankle almost immediately after getting out of my car, which made standing on concrete (and getting jostled by stoned hipsters) for hours physically uncomfortable. And if you are my brother K____ and reading this, I turned my ankle before having a single, 12-oz Heineken, so no smart comments.

Wilco's new album is coming out on Tuesday (currently streaming live here), and they mixed in the new songs with the old, which is always a plus--I hate to go to a show and hear one or two old songs, then an entire new album that I haven't heard yet, a couple of other old songs, and then one big hit as an encore. Stylistically, maybe it makes sense, but as a live-music consumer (ugh, what an awful term), I don't like it--it's too compartmentalized. Anyway, Wilco's set was really well balanced, if a little light on songs from their first album. I think that every album was represented in the set list, but I don't always remember which songs are on which albums so I can't say for sure. They didn't play my all-time favorite two-song Wilco combo (Blue Eyed Soul and Too Far Apart from A.M.), but maybe next time? Pretty please? You want song highlights, and not just the two songs that I wished I'd heard? I loved "You Are My Face", and "Hate It Here", and "Spiders (Kidsmoke)" is a really great live song. And I could go on and on.

Now a little something for the knitting-only readers: Since I was travelling by myself and am unfamiliar with the Berkeley area, I arrived over an hour before the doors opened, so I had a long wait & was glad that I brought some knitting. Then it was another long wait before Okkervil River (who were also really good--must get one of their albums immediately) went on. I had a nice shady spot in line and in the theater, and I managed to finish the gusset and turn the heel of the first SS09 sock, as documented in the iPhone photo below. I'm a little afraid to pick it up today, in case I made any mistakes. Also, although the photo is very fuzzy, there was a sock monkey onstage. A semi-goth, charcoal/black striped sock monkey.

O.K, this post is taking way too long, and it's time to ice my ankle again. Comment away, if you want more details about the show, the sock, the sock monkey, or the ankle.


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"When We're Not Sure We're Not Alone": Wilco, "You Are My Face"

Taking This Show on the Road

I guess it would be more accurate to say that I'm taking to the road for a show, since I flew to Northern CA this morning to catch a Wilco show in Berkeley tonight. If you're interested in the show, it's going to be streamed live on the Wilco website. I knit quite a bit of Cabana Boy socks on the flight down, more than I expected. Gotta love sport-weight yarn! I also have the SS09 socks with me in case I get bored--as well as a plan to visit some local yarn stores this afternoon. I'm having the typical quick trip dilemma, though--run myself ragged now and regret it when I'm driving back to the hotel after the show, or take a delicious, sweet nap. The nap is currently winning that argument.

If the formatting of this post looks stranger than usual, it's because I'm using a new tool. It's a Dell mini laptop, and I'm still getting used to the touchpad. It's a LOT more convenient than taking a big laptop, and is more powerful and solid feeling than the eee tiny laptop that I took with me to Europe last year. The jury is still out on whether I can learn to stop dragging my fingers on the touchpad, though!

I brought more things with me than I think I'll need, but here's what I've realized I forgot, so far: a brush. I'm hoping keeping track will help me on the next trip . . .