The Life of Leisure

My excitement level is pretty high over the pair of shows Wilco is going to play at the Pabst in April. Thanks to a friend who has connections, I’ll be in the tenth row the first night and a few rows back the next. My first exposure to the band was during the summer of 2000 when Bryan, Jim and I saw them open for REM. They didn’t make much of an impression on me at the time. Since then I’ve grown to love a lot of their music.

Connie and I flew from Chicago to London a few years back. Wilco was starting their European tour at the same time. The band flew over on the same flight I was on. I didn’t know this until I went to the taxi line outside of Heathrow. Jeff Tweedy was standing right next to me. He’s wearing a White Sox ball cap. Instead of being all, “Hey Tweedy!! Wilco!! Wooooooooo!!!”, I decided to strike up a little small talk to pass the time. I said to him, “nice hat - are you a Sox fan?”. He said, “no, it’s just a hat”, then turned and walked away from me.

It was disappointing, but I’ve gotten over it. They put on an amazing show last time they were through town (Oct. 07). I’m really looking forward these Pabst shows.