WILCO RIDES AGAIN

Wilco, and the amazing suits


You Are My Face

Wilco showed up on Conan decked out in old Nashville style, looking like they had hijacked the Burrito Brothers' tour bus and stolen their Nudie suits...but where was Gram Parsons' peyote-and-pills ensemble? Don't tell me, probably behind glass somewhere. Weep not, for Gram, that grievous angel still watches over drunks and country bands smiling and peeing from a great height.

Gram Parson's cosmic cowboy duds behind glass

Gram did everything to excess and serves as a warning to all about overdoing the booze and the dope, but he sure wore a snazzy suit. Check it out. Handcrafted by Nudie himself, the tailor to all the great country stars from Elvis on up, but unlike the suit Nudie made for Porter Wagner this one carries marijuana leaves, pills, and peyote buttons. Gram never met a drug he didn't like, and now he's dead. End of lesson. The story goes Gram turned Keith Richards on to open E tuning and country music, and Richards turned Gram on to heroin. Not a fair trade.

Jeff Tweedy in a very cool suit. Is that Hello, Kitty?

Wilco carries that old time Americana spirit, and this is gentle late night whiskey drinking music. Ever since Uncle Tupelo, the prototypical alt.country band, broke into pieces, we followed Jeff Tweedy into Wilcoville. They can play straight country, or bring out some weird dissonant music that's as edgy as any dissonant electro, sometimes in the same song. They have a new album called, creatively enough, "Wilco, the Album." Go get it today. And if you see Jeff, could you tell him to hook me up with a suit?


One Wing, a new song

RADIOHEAD: HOUSE OF CARDS

Radiohead made this video without cameras or lights. Instead, they used 3D technologies to collect information about the shapes and relative distances of objects. I don't know what that means, either, but the result is a unique, compelling video. Welcome to the future.

BOYS AND GIRLS IN AMERICA

"Stuck Between Stations," live on Letterman

Straight out of Brooklyn, The Hold Steady is a bumblebee that--aerodynamically speaking--should not be able to fly. Combining classic guitar rock and indie angst, one could cite the Replacements and Grifters as influences, but one could just as easily cite your favorite bar band, and that skinny prankster on the Asbury Park boardwalk, ol' what's-his-name, with whom they share a love for guitar anthems and good storytelling. Lead singer Craig Finn looks like an actuary on a drinking binge, but he delivers the goods--heartbreaking stories about teenagers getting wasted, joyriding, fumbling in and out of love, acting cool, and hanging out in bars with nothing but memories and bands like The Hold Steady.


"Your Little Hoodrat Friend"

PEOPLE HAVE THE POWER

Patti Smith Group. A song of hope.

RADIO FREE EUROPE

The national television debut of a very young REM, when they were still a squirrelly little outfit from Athens, Georgia, known for an EP, and a great first album, "Murmur." That still is one of my favorites. Here they jump like snakes on a griddle. Yes, everyone had more hair back then. This was twenty five years ago, after all. What did your hair look like in 1983?

THIS MONKEY'S GONE TO HEAVEN

Play this at my funeral. The Pixies inspired and influenced a million bands, including your beloved Nirvana. Black Francis, or Frank Black, or whatever he's calling himself these days, is a solid rock sumo, a stone Buddha, and Kim Deal is Siva, and who doesn't have a crush on Kim Deal? There was this guy, an underwater guy, who controlled the sea, got killed by ten million pounds of sludge. What more can you say?