Monday, July 06, 2009

Saga of Disillusion and Enlightenment

Another of my favorite bands is Chicago's very own Wilco. They've been putting out really excellent music (Yankee Foxtrot Hotel, A Ghost is Born, Summerteeth, Blue Sky Blue) for quite a few years now. They've had plenty of lineup changes, but their addition of the amazing Nels Cline on lead guitar a few years ago has propelled them to a new level.

I haven't seen them live, but I do own "Kicking Television" a live set that captured them burning down the house in Chicago. It's quite good.

Anyway, there's a nice write-up about them in Sunday's New York Times. Seems Jeff Tweedy, their front man, lead singer and songwriter is in a good place. Clean and sober and maybe sort of "happy."

He's kind of an anti-rock star - no white gloves! Or as he told his young son (a drummer in his own band): "You are not a rock star. You get to do rock star things." Susan Miller (Jeff Tweedy's wife) says about Tweedy: "I think he's very comfortable with himself now. I think it feels good to be a good guy."

And this from Jeff Tweedy himself sort of sums up my view on existence too: "It seems more romantic now to acknowledge that you're committed to a mystery. You're pledging allegiance to an ongoing saga of disillusion and enlightenment at the same time."

Amen Mr. Tweedy!

Here's a great clip of them doing "Impossible Germany" from their last album Sky Blue Sky...