Following up on the Primus contest I featured last week -- the correct answer was "Winona's Big Brown Beaver" -- I've got a copy of Jeff Tweedy's new DVD, Sunken Treasure, and a Wilco poster to giveaway this week...
The DVD will be released on October 24 and MusicToday is currently offering up some goodies for fans that pre-order the release.
"Recorded over five nights during his February 2006 solo acoustic tour, the first ever Jeff Tweedy solo DVD features footage gathered from concerts at Seattle’s Moore Theater, Portland’s Crystal Ballroom, Eugene’s McDonald Theater, Arcata’s Humboldt State University, and The Fillmore in San Francisco. The disc showcases songs from Wilco, Uncle Tupelo, and Loose Fur, including the unreleased "The Thanks I Get."
Every DVD pre-order will include a limited edition 4-postcard set commemorating posters from various Jeff Tweedy solo shows dating back to the Lounge Ax days. Each 4"x6" postcard boasts a hi-gloss finish and is approved for mail (stamps not included).
The winner of the contest will get a copy of Sunken Treasure and the Wilco Poster of their choice from the Wilco Store."
Drop a comment telling me what you like most about Jeff Tweedy and/or Wilco and I'll choose a winner at random from the list later in the week...
his beard! ... and a few of their songs too
His/their complete embrace of the internet in all ways (allowing sharing of live stuff, posting the albums on their website)
they rocked my socks off saturday night- their shows take me on a ride- obsessed with wilco is an understatement.
Oh, this is an easy one: "I assassin down the avenue."
Jeff has an incredible knack for melody AND experimentation, and seeinf the band is a religious experience! You can actually FEEL the love dripping from the stage. He/they have a way of getting inside my head and my heart,awakening unexpressed feelings and words. "Somethin' in my veins- bloodier than blood". I'm a songwriter and discovering them has opened an entire other door in my own writing. They're pretty fearless. I saw them at Foellinger Auditorium in Champaign in 2005 and they opened with "Hell Is Chrome" which starts out quietly after a brief musical intro:"When the devil came- he was not red..." I looked around the room when the vocal began and I SWEAR I saw a collective "leaning in" toward the stage as they began. My life is better because of Wilco;Uncle Tupelo,Loose Fur, and Golden Smog!
attack with love-David Howie
ur not all that hot. but i like the rythem of ur music.thats it l8ter!!!!!!!!!!!
lollapalooza
I've never had a bad time at a Wilco or Jeff Tweedy show - that says a lot. Plus they're good people.
Tweedy has been a part of so many different bands (Uncle Tupelo, Wilco, Golden Smog, Loose Fur) and all incarnations of Tweedy are great! But the best thing is that they are playing a show tomorrow in Oxford, MS that I have tickets on the second row for!
I believe, Jeff Tweedy, is the closest thing we have to our generations Bob Dylan. Tweedy started off as an Americana, country/folk rock pioneer who transformed into a post modern rocker alienating the majority of his audience. Sound familiar like Dylan did some thirty some odd years earlier when he went from folk to electric?
Tweedy is one of the most influential artists of our modern day. He along, save for with Ryan Adams, is Americas most prolific songwriters. One thing that Tweedy has on the shy, reclusive Dylan is that Jeff has such a charismatic stage presence. (Not that its a bad thing. The mystic is what makes Dylan such a gigantic icon. Dylan lets his songs do the talking for him.) No one does stage banter like Tweedy. He loves music. He loves playing, hearing and even believes in free downloading music. You can hear the joy in his voice when he plays on stage and when he talks to the crowd in between songs. You can tell that Tweedy treats performing his music as privilege and it shows with his unbridled artistic enthusiasm.
Because Tweedy has single-handedly changed the modern music scene, remember the YhF fiasco, he is one of my heroes.
My first big concert was G. Love & Special Sauce opening for Wilco. I went for G. Love (being 14 at the time) but stayed for Wilco who I heard for the first time that night. Tweedy's lyrics and songwriting abilities transcend genre and I've seen many rocking shows since that first one, always pleased by the experience.
I think what I like most almost the band Wilco is the lilt in his voice as he sings... There's something about the way he sings. Aside from that, the use of instrumentation and their songs are nice to listen to also!
Favourite song: I am trying to break your Heart...
His candor and open fragility.
his guitar is so attractive.
I never heard anything so heartbreakingly sweet as The Lonely One...and have been a fan ever since.
why i like tweedy = harry and the bombs. best song ever! plus he is a funny dude that is sure to make you smile. he make syou feel like he is singing justto you, even though you are in a crowd of hundreds.
why i like wilco -- i dar eyou to find me a song that doesn't drip with emotion from the wilco catalogue. it is all genius!
That after many years and many listenings, Ashes of American Flags still chokes me up. (I'm getting teary eyed just thinking about it!)
I am a theologian (in graduate school), and his lyrics keep me humble:
"theologians, they don't know nothing about my soul."
perfect time for this question, as i just watched "i am trying to break your heart" yesterday.
i love the way that jeff makes his music despite what happens around him. most people's music ends up being purely reactive - its all about the things that have happened around them. jeff makes his music no matter what his circumstances are. theres the scene in the doc where after his solo show everyone is trying to ask him questions about the next record and finally he just gets fed up and says hes done and walks off. he doesnt feel it a necessity to explain his art. and thats exactly what it is - pure art. most bands that make music that stands well as art usually are painfully pretentious and painful to listen to but jeff makes his art still so palatable without compromising his values and visions. i love that.
i hope that made at least a little sense.
He's cock.
I would do him
He's the man that loves me.
Well, I've never had the pleasure of seeing a live show. I've been a fan since the days of Tupelo. I can't think of a contemporary artist other than Tweedy who is as experimental (yet always accessible), and who pays tribute to his musical heroes not by ripping them off, but "updating" their sound, if you will (Summerteeth/Beatles, as an example). Also, he's obviously not greedy, as Wilco's taping policy proves. The Mermaid Avenue project was amazing, and "Kicking Television" is an amazing live record - better than most bands' studio work. He's an artist for the ages.
Plus, Glenn Kotche is one of the finest drummers I've ever heard.
i dig his sense of humor and the willingness of the band to experiment with and change their music. tweedy called out a buddy of mine at a show earlier this year for not cheering...it was hilarious.
The fact that Tweedy and Wilco never sit still - the band and its style are constantly changing. The only thing that remains constant is the level of quality.
No other current band, over the same period of time, has managed to maintain such a level of quality and still remain so intriguing.
Whether its interpreting Woody Guthrie or full blow guitar solos on A Ghost Is Born - they are always interesting.
Plus they have given us one of the best music docos ever in 'I Am Trying To Break Your Heart' and are part of folklore for the great story behind the protracted release of YHF.
Because Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is the most heartbreakingly beautiful album ever.
I like that Jeff and the band keep me guessing. I am always wrong and always pleased with being wrong.
Where do I even begin. First off, he and Jay Fararr pretty well invented one of my favorite forms of music, Alt Country. If that wasn't enough Jeff has the ablitity to expirement with all sorts of music, compining pop with counrty and disjointed melodies the way no other musician has in the past 20 years. On top of that Tweedy is a poet, widly accepted as one of the finest song writers of his day, he writes in the style of Eliot and Cummings. Metaphores out the wazoo and most importantly, a beautiful command of the language. Tweedy has written lyrics that speak to all of his fans, and some that make his fans wonder at how a human mind thought up such a beautiful combination of works. Then, there is Jeff live. I was lucky enough to be there for his show at the Folks Festival in Lyons, CO. The only artist who makes a festival seem like a living room. He was personable and funny, and the music was still beautiful. If you have read Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce, you know that his deffinition of art is something that appeals to a higher atshetic, something that gives the reader/viewer/listener some sort of enlightenment. In that respect, the music of Tweedy and Wilco is truely art.
Where do I even begin. First off, he and Jay Fararr pretty well invented one of my favorite forms of music, Alt Country. If that wasn't enough Jeff has the ablitity to expirement with all sorts of music, compining pop with counrty and disjointed melodies the way no other musician has in the past 20 years. On top of that Tweedy is a poet, widly accepted as one of the finest song writers of his day, he writes in the style of Eliot and Cummings. Metaphores out the wazoo and most importantly, a beautiful command of the language. Tweedy has written lyrics that speak to all of his fans, and some that make his fans wonder at how a human mind thought up such a beautiful combination of works. Then, there is Jeff live. I was lucky enough to be there for his show at the Folks Festival in Lyons, CO. The only artist who makes a festival seem like a living room. He was personable and funny, and the music was still beautiful. If you have read Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce, you know that his deffinition of art is something that appeals to a higher atshetic, something that gives the reader/viewer/listener some sort of enlightenment. In that respect, the music of Tweedy and Wilco is truely art.
I love that they refuse to sit still, that they're continually evolving. Who would have thought that the same band who did AM would have gone on to do A Ghost Is Born... I can't wait to hear what they come up with next.
Because I'm so excited about the new DVD, I'll focus my comments on how much I love a Jeff Tweedy concert. Jeff's stage presence just makes me smile. The minutes he hits the stage there is a quiet curriousity that fills the air as we all wait to her what he's going to sing. The place can get so quiet when Jeff is on stage. The quiet gaps in his songs are the moments I cherish. Jeff proved just how quiet the place can get we he sang to us with no sound system. We also can't wait to hear what he's going to say. He can take on the best hecklers out there and leave the whole place cracking-up. Just can't wait for the next Tweedy show but I guess the DVD will do.
I just love Jeff Tweedy's voice. When he sings he's not straining, he's just singing how he sings. I've never heard anybody ever sing better than that.
I love his honesty
Here's what I love about Tweedy and CO.:
I started listening to Uncle Tupelo when Still Feel Gone came out, my sophomore year in college. And, unlike so many bands or singers that I outgrew, (and sometimes wonder 'what was I thinking') Tweedy has never disappointed. He has grown so much artistically, and I feel that it has all somehow kept pace with me as I've grown. So instead of feeling old, or somehow isolated from the worthwhile trends in music, being a fan of Tweedy's music has meant staying in touch with something new, something fresh, and most importantly, something good. I guess I look at music as the definition of who I am, in all phases of my life, however much the soundtrack seems to change, and Tweedy's music is such a welcome constant.
P.S. I like Jay Farrar, too :)
The fact that Tweedy completely scrapped the first recordings of YHF in order to bring in Glenn Kotchke (the most dynamic "rock" drummer in music today). The direction of the album, and in turn, the future of the band, completely changed for the better.
simply his song bob dylan's beard which I just adore...
best,
arnulf
Jeff tweedy seems to be holding rock and roll on his shoulders. Not many artists show a connection to there songs as Jeff does. Everytime I've seen him or the band I get the feeling that there is nowhere they would rather be. It can be seen in their faces, movements and their interactions with the fans. They love their fans and appreciate them. How do they show it? By leaving a pint of blood onstage and still managing to make them laugh, and that is beautiful. As I leave a show I feel like i've learned something about these guys by seeing Jeff sing "misunderstood", Nels solo on "Hell is Chrome", Glenn walk of the stage soaking wet, or seeing them all so so comfortable with one another on stage. They show passion the only way they know how. If they feel like singing a song, they just sing what they feel, and don't let anyone say it's wrong.
Tweedy makes me go Mirr.
The fact that he will never read any of these comments of us praising him, yet he will continue to amaze us with every song he creates, as if he is looking to please us.
the fact that jeff still played at purdue to open the bands tour only days after his mother passed away and rather than bringing everyone down he asked the crowd to shake their bootys.
Tweedy and Wilco constantly remind me change and evolution is a positive musical experience. I cannot wait to listen to what evolution, or de-volution, will bring in '07!
Although I couldn't make it to the closest live show this summer (500+ kms away), I knew in my soul that it would somehow align me. I will be forever sorry that I didn't go.
He's a rock star, but he's not a !ROCK STAR!
Thanks to everyone for the great submissions; I've chosen one of the good ones *at random* -- some entries had to get filtered out because they might not have answered the question -- and the winner has been notified. :)
More contests to come!
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