WILCO LOFT

This here's a link to a very cool article about Wilco's loft in Chicago. Click me!

For a bit of contrast, here's a quick video of our practice space. (God help us - we have a YouTube account.) The boys were busy geeking out about Keith Moon or something when I shot this. I don't even hear it anymore.

CUTE!

Last winter, Bel Air went to see Wilco and Neil Young at MSG. The concert happened to fall on the birthday of Jeff Tweedy's son Spencer. We all sang Happy Birthday to him and then he played drums with the band on... Late Greats I think? Anyway - 13-year-old Spencer Tweedy has a blog in which he quotes his father, philosophizes about hipsters and penguin classics, chronicles his dates with the style rookie and apologizes for going to WalMart.

POLL RESULTS

Thank you to all who participated. We now have scientifically captured results thanks to PollDaddy.com. So, without further adieu....

- The winner of "Who's better looking?" is Neil Young with a score of 12 to Jeff Tweedy's 6.

- And, the answer to the musical question "Who's better rocking?" is unanimously Neil Young. Sorry Tweeds.

I'm sure Neil would want to thank the academy so, since he couldn't make it in person to accept these prestigious awards, I will thank them on his behalf.

LUNCH TIME POLL

LUNCH TIME POLL

GOING TO SEE THIS GUY TONIGHT

And, this guy:

NEW FEATURE - MYSPACE DEMO #1

I thought it would be kind of cool to use our shiny new myspace page to post some demos and song ideas so I'll be posting a new one every couple weeks.

The first installment is a song called Count the Meds. I recorded it using my Creative Zen Vision M, a device I've taken to calling my iRiver because when I first got it everyone asked me if it was an iRiver and saying "Yes" was much easier than saying "No, it's a Creative Zen Vision M". I've been known to secretly pull it out while drunk and in the company of loud drunk people (Jeff) and record stupid conversations. It's fun. The last time I remember doing this is when Jeff and I went to the Abbey Pub with Ben Krieger. I think I captured about 20 minutes straight of Ben and Jeff geeking out on music. They had no idea they were being recorded. It's priceless.

Back to business - I recorded this demo about a year ago sitting on my bed using the iRiver's internal mic. Needless to say, the quality is not good. I just wanted to get the song down. The quality probably won't be good on any of these demo things but that's kind of the point. The song itself is a collaborative effort from me and my dad. He wrote the lyrics, I wrote the music. It bears saying that the lyrics were written after many listens to A Ghost is Born.

Our myspace link is on the right. Or, stream it here:

YAY!

I'm happy to say that Jason Castro has made it into the top 20 on American Idol - despite the fact that my friend Tom called him a "class A toolbox". I was a little sad to see that Ellen Degeneres guy go. God, I'm pathetic.

Here's something interesting (to someone other than me) - the company who is going to replicate our CD shares a space with the Woody Guthrie Archives! Wyatt and I went there for a meeting with our account rep and were greeted by pictures of Woody on the wall and a package for Nora Guthrie on the reception desk. Billy Bragg visits this archive in the documentary "Man in the Sand". If you haven't seen it, it's definitely worth netflixing. It's the story of how the album Mermaid Avenue came to be. It's a tribute to Woody and a history of his strange life but it's also a look at how difficult collaborations can be. Apparently Jeff Tweedy can be difficult to work with! Who knew??

HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?

Over the weekend Bel Air hung out with Jamie MacKenzie and Erich Sturm, our friends and artistic power couple. Jamie took some pics of us and Erich has been working on the cover art for our CD. We were all anxious to see what he had come up with. Turns out he had come up with was Wilco's Sky Blue Sky cover, only way better.



Just to clarify - Erich had never seen this cover. He doesn't even listen to Wilco. Like, ever. It's just totally bizarre. I really liked it, too. We all did. It would have been perfect! But it was SO similar. Uncannily similar. Stupid Wilco. Jeez. They should hire Erich for their next album cover. He's better than their guy.

In otherhoozer newzers - Allie is smitten with this American Idol hottie: