Thanks to Sister Cara for surprising me with this Sunday evening treat. As with other siblings born in the Seventies, music has created a wonderful lifelong bond for us.

So I went to Jeff Tweedy’s first book signing party in Brooklyn at the Murmrr Theatre.  I loved getting my autographed copy of the book, but was underwhelmed with his moderated fireside chat. Tweedy rambled mostly about uninteresting topics and ran out of time before sharing something of note and picking up his guitar. 

The three songs he played were good, but I was anticipating more. Despite the short set, it was a very fun and successful music evening adventure. Nels Cline was in attendance in the front row and the crowd was hardcore Wilco-ites that lived in the same creative universe as I… the person sitting next to me had a Steve Zissou screen saver on her phone. This led into a conversation with the three people sitting next to her about favorite Zissou-isms.

I find that many Wilco fans I meet subscribe to the Zissou culture.

More important than the book signing and being up close and personal with Jeff Tweedy, was the the book itself “Let’s Go (So We Can Get Back)”. I finished it (a good sign for me) and liked the pace and style of his writing. Here is the Paste Magazine book review.


The book starts with the shows Wilco played in Brooklyn in Feb 2016 just after David Bowie died and the magical improvisation the band collaborated on backstage just before he show. (Click here for the Thunderbird Ranch review of that show… I was lucky enough to be in attendance with a large posse of friends!)


Most of all in Tweedy’s tale I strongly relate to the process by which he was introduced and “taken” by music as a young lad and teen. The idea that he was introduced to off-the-beaten-path music by friends and their older brothers, as well as spending countless hours in non-chain record stores flooded me with me memories of spending time with my uncles (Dave and Mike) or cousin Bob. I would take the local mini-bus from the Bradlees parking lot to Tapeville in Nanuet and come through the alphabetized record racks.  That place was even weirder than the record store in Tweedy’s story.

Nanuet, NY’s Tapeville was the home to many Seventies born music fans.

On page 32 of the book, Tweedy equates The Clash to a gateway drug. “Like smoking weed leads to sniffing glue. The Clash leads to The Sex Pistols and Ramones.” I could not agree more. In my case, I went hard core early, falling in love with The Dead Boys, Generation X, Lou Reed and Iggy Pop in the third grade.


Like brothers from another mother, I shared Tweedy’s obsession with rock magazines (like Cream), often reading about new bands and seeing pictures of them before actually hearing the records (or cassettes and 8-tracks). By the time I got my hands on the record player at home or my Walkman cassette player, I was vested to like it. Sometimes, I’d have to listen many times before cracking a smile and getting on the bus.  Although on the downhill part of his career during my youth (Tweedy is 6 years older than me), we both read Lester Bangs religiously and were just as interested in the music as what the music made us feel like. Bangs was a genius at writing about this.


In terms of insight into Wilco and their songs… the backstory on “I Must High” was great to read. It’s about walking away from Uncle Tupelo at the height of its fame as the second coming of The Flying Burrito Brothers and carrier of the Alt-Country torch. Chapter 4 is entitled “How It Ends” and talks about their last show in NYC at Tramps. Believe it or not, I was there! I actually bought a single ticket and went alone knowing these guys were unique and special. Little did I know, it was the end. (Click here for more on looking back at Uncle Tupelo by Rolling Stone Magazine.)

Uncle Tupelo (1987 – 1994)

Tweedy’s thoughts on songwriting also struck a deep chord (no pun intended) with me. He often writes songs about “a fictionalized version of himself that gets into more trouble and has more friends”. This is similar song writing concept explained by Craig Finn from The Hold Steady during a small house concert show I attended a few years back (click here for that story).


On page 169 Tweedy hits the nail on the head in his view on song writing as an art form (like painting, sculpting, etc) that requires oneself to “just do it”. The results may not be great, but the idea is to complete pieces and keep moving forward. The more time you put into your craft the better chance of creating something great. Keeping with that “brother from another mother” theme… Tweedy always carried notebooks and was constantly documenting his thoughts and creative ideas. It sounds like he has a few plastic milk crates full of spiral notebooks too.


The long and short of it is, this is a must-read for Wilco fans, and a should read for people that identify themselves as music junkies.


My next few music books are already in the cue… Up next: Jorma Kaukonen’s bio!


It’s a new year TBR friends… keep flapping Rancheleros!!


Peace and love…