28 Mar (The) Matador Playlist (That Almost Never Was) 3/26/15
Welcome back, Gentle Reader(s), to the friendly confines of that Worldwide Water-Wiggle of Digi-rific Blognostications and Exhortations, Matador Playlist. A momentous week it has been indeed, highlighted by the much-anticipated appearance of Tweedy at the Lensic Performing Arts Center, courtesy of the one and only Heath Concerts and its mindful mastermind, Jamie Lenfestey. It would be nigh on impossible to top Wilco’s performance at the Santa Fe Opera in September, 2012—a major Lenfestey triumph—but last night’s Tweedy concert came in a very close second, in my estimation. I swung by the venue late afternoon-ish to, perchance, hand Spencer Tweedy a copy of Your Humble Narrator’s very first book of photographic emissions, but the band had already completed its soundcheck and headed out, either into the crisp Santa Fe afternoon or back to the hotel for a pre-show nap (judging by the impressive bed-head that Spencer was sporting later in the evening, I’ll wager it was the latter). Not to be discouraged, YHN left the aforementioned tome in the capable hands of the Lensic tech crew, with the trust and hope that they were not overly biblio-kleptically inclined.
Returning to the Lensic three hours later, the show kicked off at the advertised time with the Minus 5 as opening act. The current version of this ever-shifting musical collective featured its one constant member, Scott McCaughey, accompanied by his frequent collaborator Pete Buck on guitar, Linda Pitmon on drums and a bass player who might have been Mike Mills but was, in fact, not Mike Mills. Which is sort of too bad, as Mike Mills is a fine chap indeed. Anyhoo, this sort of confusion is par for the course for a band whose lineup is in a perpetual state of flux. Be that as it may, the Not-Mike Mills bass player did an excellent job, as did the entire group, and a fine time was had by all. (It was noted that Scott McCaughey bears rather more than passing resemblance to what might result from an unnatural genetic intermingling of Jerry Garcia and Bob Mould.)
After a short intermission and the traditional shout outs and pitches for forthcoming attractions from Mssr. Lenfestey, it was time for Tweedy to take the stage and take the stage they did, for well over two hours. The band—Jeff and Spencer accompanied by multi-instrumentalist Liam Cunningham, Liam’s sister Sima on vocals, Jim Elkington on guitar and Darin Gray on bass—started off with a set of songs from the Sukierae album. The band sounded great and the Lensic sound system was top notch once again. The Lensic has its limitations, being a rather formal sit-down/stay-down type venue, but the sound is reliably, thankfully, first rate. Call me old fashioned—a quibbler, if you will—but I still consider decent sound to be somewhat of a priority when it comes to music… music being sound, and such.
At the end of the Sukierae set the band departed the stage leaving Jeff Tweedy alone, front and center, with only an acoustic guitar, a microphone, and a hat (a classic Harry Truman-esque Stetson ‘Open Road’, it appeared) to defend himself. This, for me, was the heart of the show. The solo acoustic idiom is where the core of Jeff Tweedy’s genius is laid bare. Music seems to flow from this man in the purest, most effortless-seeming way, and when he is alone with his guitar and his voice and his wonderfully fluid whistling (this man can whistle, people!) the connection—the directness and immediacy of the connection—with the audience is a truly beautiful and wondrous thing to behold. Jeff’s solo offering covered a wealth of Wilco material, including I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, Jesus, Etc., The Whole Love, You and I, and Golden Smog’s Radio King. It was a truly moving set and perhaps my favorite Wilco/Tweedy moment yet.
The Tweedy band retook the stage after Jeff’s solo and launched into an eclectic selection of cover songs (Daniel Johnston, Mavis Staples, Neil Young), one of which I would never have expected that anyone would, or could, attempt to cover: John Lennon’s God from the greatest of all the post-Beatles solo-Beatle albums, Plastic Ono Band. An astonishing and brave choice, Tweedy did the song proud with a straightforward rendering, save for the substitution of ‘Spencer and me,’ for John’s original ‘Yoko and me—that’s reality.’ A few more Tweedy and Wilco songs rounded out the third set before a stomping, standing ovation brought the band back out for an encore of California Stars with Scott McCaughey and Pete Buck joining in for good measure. Good, clean all-American fun at its finest, Gentle Reader(s). Should you enjoy the good fortune of having Tweedy come to your town, do not hesitate: Go now. Thank me later.
When the Lensic house lights came up it was time for a mad dash across the street to Ye Olde Matador Lounge to get the DJ Inky set up and running. By the time of YHN’s arrival Brother Phil had already vacated the premises, leaving Brother Veen to troubleshoot when the usually seamless process of switching over from bar computer to DJ Inky computer proved to be problematic. Buttons were pushed, dials were diddled, switches were twiddled, sliders were slidded: Nothing. Nada. Nichts. The close observation of fellow concert goers DJ Alley Al, Shayna (Queen of the Jungle), Coco, and The Little Lost One made it simultaneously more stressful and more tolerable.
A frantic call to Brother Phil, who was thankfully still close at hand, got things going following a few embarrassing spells of what, in radio parlance, is known as ‘dead air.’ A highly abbreviated DJ Inky set it was to be, Gentle Reader(s). But better late than never as, for a moment there, ‘never’ looked like a genuine possibility. As the saying goes, Where there’s a Phil, there’s a way.
Grammar of Life – Charles Bukowski
A Shot In The Arm – Wilco
Hit and Run – T.S.O.L.
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp – Led Zeppelin (for Coco)
Suspect Device – Stiff Little Fingers
Is Anybody Goin’ to San Antone – Texas Tornados
Poor Girl – X
Down On The Street – the Stooges
Rock the Casbah (Bob Clearmountain Mix) – the Clash
Changes – Sugar
I’m Always In Love – Wilco
Wicked Garden – Stone Temple Pilots
Somebody Was Watching – Pops Staples
What Ever Happened – the Strokes
Howlin’ At The Moon – Hank Williams
Something In The Air – Thunderclap Newman
Tyler – Toadies
Summer Teeth – Wilco
Lucidity – Tame Impala
Set Me Free – the Kinks
Twenty Four Hours – Joy Division
I’ll Take You There – the Staple Singers
Si Una Vez – Girl In A Coma
Another Life – Rollins Band (request)
That’s Entertainment – the Jam
Story Of My Life – Social Distortion (request)
Rock n’ Me – Steve Miller Band
Dreams – TV On the Radio
D’yer Maker – Led Zeppelin
Last Time Forever – Squeeze
Casino Queen – Wilco
How Soon Is Now – the Smiths (request)
Overkill – Motörhead
That Man I Shot – Drive-By Truckers
World Without Tears – Lucinda Williams
Buona Sera – Louis Prima
Happy Trails – Roy Rogers and Dale Evans (featuring Trigger on Coral sitar)
Taxi – Bryan Ferry
