In these tough economic times, you’ve got to look for those ever-elusive alternate streams of income. Especially when you’ve got a family to support. Just ask the coolest Dads on the planet: Jeff Tweedy and co. Do you think that they’re just sitting around and resigning themselves to the fact that, you know, Spencer Tweedy isn’t going to be able to go to a good University?
Hell no. Instead they’re just cranking out some more merchandise.
First on the docket is a lovely and long-due Wilco concert DVD, titled Ashes of American Flags, which chronicles a couple of February 2008 visits to Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium and Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Cain Ballroom. (Auditorium?? Ballroom?!? Classy!) The footage was assembled by longtime collaborators Brendan Canty (of Fugazi fame) and Christoph Green of Trixie Films, who previously worked on Tweedy’s solo DVD Sunken Treasure and the behind-the-scenes film that accompanied certain editions of Wilco's 2007 dad-rock opus Sky Blue Sky (TMT Review).
The whole shebang is due in February or March from Nonesuch, cleverly in advance of another fine consumer product: namely, the next Wilco studio album, which currently boasts little more detail than the band’s assurance that they are hitting it hard in the studio at the moment. Still, it never hurts to start the hype early. Will the synths and laptops return? Will Glenn Kotche do that thing where he blows into his drums? Stay tuned!
According to a recent fan newsletter, Wilco will play "a handful of gigs" in the southern U.S. in April, to be followed by an extensive tour of Spain in May and then "the usual summer hijinks with a new record and gigs everywhere imaginable." Meanwhile, Tweedy also has three solo shows on tap in Michigan and Illinois later this month. And while he’s there, you can be sure that he’ll be checking out those Colleges.
Jeff Tweedy:
01.29.09 - Kalamazoo, MI - State Theatre
01.30.09 - Ann Arbor, MI - Hill Auditorium
01.31.09 - Champaign, IL - Foellinger Auditorium
Wilco:
04.25.09 – New Orleans, LA – New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival
