June 2007

Wilco’s pissed. They’re not fond of everyone writing, inaccurately, that they made a major shift in licensing policy and sold out to Volkswagen, which has begun airing commercials featuring tracks from Sky Blue Sky.

Tweedy & Co. don’t quite get the hate, and they’ve weighed in on the band’s official website. In the missive, Wilco says it likes VW automobiles and sees this as another way to “get the music out there” given the state of commercial radio. As for the media inaccuracies, they’ve produced some actual research everyone should have done on their own days ago. It’s like disclosure. It’s called disclosure, you dickhead:

If you’re keeping track, this is not the first time Wilco has licensed a song to or even been involved in a commercial — most recently a TV spot for Telefonica Mobile in Spain used a Wilco song and some years prior Jeff Tweedy appeared in a campaign for Apple Computer. Wilco have licensed hundreds of songs to television shows and films worldwide… from festival-only indie films to major motion pictures and weekly TV shows.

So far VW’s used The Thanks I Get and You Are My Face, and right now plans call for three or four more to be used. For the record, I’d much rather hear Wilco on television in between my programs than another declaration of love for freedom and liberty and America in the latest Mellencamp composition.

Wilco’s recent performance on World Cafe will air this Friday, June 8. You can listen online here at WXPN. Read on for the full text from Wilco…

As the U.S. Senate convenes this very second to debate the seemingly endless number of curious amendments to the comprehensive immigration reform bill (hey, I ain’t just music), I figure it’s

Page McConnell and his new five-piece returned to New York City last night for the band’s second straight gig in a recently renamed Fillmore Brand^® venue. It wasn’t difficult to predict the contents of the setlist, but the former keyboardist for the popular rock band Phish still showed why we come out to see him play.

Much like the Gramercy Theater show in April, we knew we’d hear Page’s entire album with a couple of covers thrown in for good measure. Unlike his old band, there are rarely any major surprises on this tour. So last night was more a charting of the progress of Page’s new outfit, and I must admit I’m still on the fence about this project. Only five or six of the songs he played really made me glad I went (two of them covers), and I’m also totally perplexed by the current lineup.

Still, the last three songs — Beauty of a Broken Heart, the Rolling Stones’ Monkey Man and the Cars Trucks Buses encore — were fucking off-the-charts fantastic, and if the goal is to leave ’em wanting more, Page certainly did just that. Read on after the jump for more of Nate’s great photos from the 5/31 Boston show and more completely honest thoughts from last night at Irving Plaza…

Some of you may know Akon from such memorable moments as “Thug Rapper Dry Humps 14-Year-Old Girl On Stage in Trinidad Then Runs Off, Presumably, To Spank It,” and some of

This one should actually be called Pullin’ Googs, but that don’t make no sense… This post serves as the official end to our questionably extensive coverage of the Third Annual

Former 70 Volt Parade lead singer Trey Anastasio currently has no gigs on the docket after cancelling his headlining spot at the 10,000 Lakes Festival in July. Whatever the reason, though, that 10KLF appearance

The speed with which tapers have been uploading shows online is mind-boggling. Last night’s Phil & Friends set from Mountain Jam ended less than 10 hours ago, and already it’s available from etree for your downloading pleasure (thanks to taper extraordinaire Rob Clarke). For all your other Mountain Jam news, check out our weekend post and head on over to the official Mountain Jam Blog.

Now let’s check out some other hot links from around the world wide web:

• U-turn for Wilco: Volkswagen taps Sky Blue Sky for its new ad campaign
• Sticking with Tweedy, Cline & Co., watch the video for You Are My Face
• The White Stripes push back some September dates to October
• Burning Oak’s got the Summer Camp downloads
• Four hands + one guitar = 90210
• As is custom, we remind you to take a peek into this week’s Grateful Dead Taper’s Section for some rarities and gems
• Who’s the fuckface that stole Gordon Stone’s banjo?
• Perry Farrell blames reality television for the demise of Jane’s Addiction
• Sadly, the body of Ra Ra Riot’s missing drummer has been found

And as usual on Monday mornings, whether dastardly rain-soaked or otherwise, read on after the jump for a selection of setlists from the weekend — this week, predictably, is Mountain Jam heavy, but we’ve also got some sets from Bright Eyes, Page McConnell, The Police, Van Morrison and many more…