Jeff Tweedy just saw what you were thinking...and he liked it.
If you type in “Wilco” on your favorite search engine, you’re going to find a lot of information: Tour dates, information on their new album The Whole Love, information on Solid Sound Fest, downloads and….wait. You can find all of that right here! What you can’t find, however, are the weird, interesting Wilco-themed things around the internet that only a dude with unlimited time on his hands could find. Well, now you’re in luck! I killed that guy, assumed his identity and stole his links. Here is a bunch of (as Dana Carvey as Johnny Carson would put it) Weird Wild Schtuff from around the internet, related to Wilco. Some are strange, some are confusing, some will shake you to the very core of your being. Others will make you say “meh.” Anyway, without further rambling, here is some Weird Wilco Schtuff.
First up is something some of you may have already seen, and others of you may have already tried:
I can't decide if this is ominous or homage-y
Yep. That’s exactly what it looks like: Wilco beer. Though Lagunitas, the brewing company, claims that Tweedy, Cline and the gang wasn’t the inspiration for Wilco Tango Foxtrot, I think I speak for all Wilco fans when I say (the sarcasm flowing heavily), “Yeah, OK.”
Reviews for the ale have been surprisingly positive (B+ from Beer Advocate, the only magazine I’d trust to review my hops and barley), especially from a few Wilco News Twitter followers:
“Very, very good. Had a few pints on tap and the bottle as well” -@TheManOfSeal
“It’s very good! I picked up a bottle this past weekend.” -@alexhansonman
Naming sandwiches after Wilco songs; that's not so much weird as it is awesome.
"How To Fight Loneliness" consists of contains slices of chicken, apple and bacon all on "toasty naan-like bread."
That name again is Mr. Plow. Er-ah- Sky Blue Sky.
Tweedy. Gyllenhall. Do I smell a cage match?
Jake has a thing for comparing Jeff Tweedy to actors, apparently. In one post he put up a bunch of pictures comparing the Wilco frontman to Jake Gyllenhall (pictured right), and in a more recent post, compared Tweedy to Emile Hirsch.
I’m not going to speak for everyone when I say this, but I don’t think I’m alone in saying, “Ah. You lost me.” For those of Tweed-Hirsch-llynhall heads who agree with Mr. Weird, check out his site here.
- Mr. Tweedy’s all about the diet slush drinks.
Say the first name that pops into your head when you read the following combination of words: “Diet Coke” “Slurpee” “Folk Fest.” If you said “Nelson Mandela,” you’d be wrong. The name that you should have thought of was Jeff Tweedy.
An excerpt from SwerveCalgary.com tells the gripping (kinda) tale of one Folk Fest Volunteer’s at-first disappointing meeting with Wilco’s frontman, while revealing a ‘s strange, possibly short-fused side of Tweedy that many of us would not think exists.
Linden, can you go get Jeff Tweedy?’ ” The request marked Linden Ritchie’s first gig as a ground-transportation volunteer, a coveted position the musician/waste-management consultant says he begged for. “I’m like Forrest Gump,” says Ritchie. “I’ve met some pretty incredible people in my life, and I like that this role is where the common person meets with fame.” So, did his heart skip a beat when Wilco’s front man climbed into his van? “No. I’d never heard of him and anyway, he wasn’t friendly. He sat in the back and focused on his Blackberry for the entire 10-minute ride from his hotel to the Island.” When Ritchie turned on the radio, he says Tweedy glared at him and barked ‘Turn that down!’ “I wasn’t too impressed.”
Weird, right? It gets a bit weirder. Check here for the full story.
Uh-oh. Did you hear that? That sound means it’s time for the lightning round!
- This article from Jew Eat Yet? (which gets my full and undying respect if only for the name) from Danny Miller, brother-in-law of Jeff Tweedy, is a very sweet recount of Tweedy’s 40th birthday in 2007.
- This is a sweet video of Glenn Kotche composing Drum-kit quartets:
- This is a story on Marina City in Chicago, the towers on the cover of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. The AV Club also did a great piece on the “Wilco towers,” as they are now more commonly known.
- This is a chat room for fans of Wilco. You know, like in case you time travel back to 1997 and are 12 years old.
- This isn’t Wilco (the band) at all! Definitely signed up for the wrong mailing list. On the plus side, I’ve now got enough pop rivets to sink a battleship.
- This is a glow-in-the-dark Wilco yo-yo! Yes, you read that correctly.
