Sinister: RE: Woddy Guthrie/Wilco/Billy Bragg

[Michele Waggner]

>I had the good luck to have seen Billy Bragg when he played the Symphony
>Space in NYC about two months ago and he played strictly Guthrie music.
The
>show ran probably over two hours and he spoke through almost all of it
about
>the collaborative effort between he and Wilco and the period of American
>history the music came out of.  Neat stuff.  He played probably ten songs
>and the rest of the time was an unscripted monologue.

Wow... How many other Sinisterines were there?  List Mummy and Linda and I
were there too ... we could have had a picnic!  Maybe we need something
bigger than upside down badges so we can find each other in crowds...
Sinister Hats or something readily noticeable.

It was nice, very different for a Billy Bragg show... he was like a sweet
professor of Woody songs and music lore.  (Ok, ok, I really DID keep waiting
for him to pick up an electric guitar from the wings and sing
"ShirrrrrrLEEEY.")   I've seen Billy do the Mermaid Avenue songs a few
times, both with Wilco and with the Blokes.  I tend to like it better when
he does it with the Blokes, but I think that's due to my taste.  A lot of
what he said at Symphony Space he'd said here and there before, but it was
indeed neat to hear him explain the process of putting the lyrics to music.
I think a lot of people did initially wonder about Nora Guthrie choosing him
and,as Billy says, think it was Bob Dylan's job -- but once you hear him
talk about it you do see the thread that ties Woody's background to Billy
Bragg's.  Anyone who has the chance to see the tour this summer should
definitely do so.  Twice.

Thomas, are we related?  My gram's maiden name was Ferris.

--michele



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