Sperry Top-Siders To Watch Out For
I just returned from New York City where I spent a long weekend. I would have blogged from the road but lack of sleep rendered me useless. In retrospect, I should have used the trip as a warm up for SXSW, where I will be blogging day and night with little or no rest. In NYC I recorded a preview of SXSW with NPR's Bob Boilen and Stephen Thompson and you can listen to that here.
Also while in New York, I went to see a taping of Saturday Night Live. It was memorable for a few reasons, one of which was that none other than Hillary Clinton made an appearance. The event unfolded in a very strange and oblique way. They were doing the opening bit, a parody of the recent Ohio debate between Obama and Clinton. The rest of the set was dark. Suddenly, the lights came up stage left and there she was. So much of SNL's political coverage has melded truth and fiction that it took a while for people to realize we were staring at the real thing. (The sudden onset of Secret Service roaming through the audience erased any doubts).
As many of you already know, or witnessed, Wilco performed on that night's show. I have never sat in the audience during a band's television performance. I could tell Wilco had been on tour; they were tight yet fluid, Tweedy's voice was warm and confident, the dynamic between band members was both genuine and generous. You don't often see a "band" on TV, especially on SNL, at least not anymore and not regularly. It is often a singer with a back up band or a performer surrounded by dancers and distractions. Being in the audience turned out not to be much different from watching it at home. Even in the same room as the music there remained a sterility. The context of television seems to put a gloss on both the sound and the images. But Wilco's musicianship pushed through, just enough to remind you that they are the real deal.
Soon, it will have been twenty years since the talented Jeff Tweedy began making music for people. Considering this fact, I am relieved that his band performed before Vampire Weekend, who will appear on this week's SNL. Vampire Weekend are a band whom I like, and whose popularity is well deserved, but whom I can't yet say that I love. Does anyone else feel that there is a waiting period before you dive in head first? To see if what you're experiencing is more than just the rush of excitement that comes with newness? Then again, sometimes one album, one note, is all it takes to love a band. But there is that confirmation, that reassurance, that happens when a band continues to delight you from album to album.
You know, my hesitation to fully embrace Vampire Weekend might stem from the fact that if you take preppy yacht rock too far, you end up back at Jimmy Buffet.
Tags: JIMMY BUFFET | SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE | VAMPIRE WEEKEND | WILCO
1:37 PM ET | 03- 5-2008 | permalink
