Wilco At Pomona's Fox Theatre

Wilco and I had something in common last night - it was a first time for both of us going to Pomona for a show. Wilco has just begun their tour, and before their three night gig at The Wiltern, they played Pomona's revamped Fox Theatre.

The theatre's art deco style is comparable to the Wiltern in size, but The Fox has a few more pluses....executive style seating upstairs, a outdoor bar area similar to The Fonda's, and free parking. For those of us driving to LA, it makes up for the gas money we used to get over there. The trip was probably about 40 minutes, but when you think about it getting to any show in LA with street lights holding us back, it probably takes the same amount of time.

Wilco opened up the set with Wilco The Song. An hour and a half into the show, and they were still rocking - and continuing with a long encore, Wilco fans should be happy with the show. A technical hick-up with Tweedy's guitar, became one of the highlights of the night with a long guitar solo from one of the members (whose name escapes me). Happy accidents do happen.

I wonder if a happy accident will happen again, and I'll be able to see them play The Wiltern...time will tell.

Texas Style : The Old 97's

I'm a Valley Girl. I am. I never lived in the South (other than Southern California) and I certainly have never gotten into Country music. I am however into some alt country which can almost be classified as folk?

What I remembered knowing about the Old 97's was something with Ryan Adams...and that they were somewhere in between him and Wilco. I heard a few of their new tracks that were cool - so I went to check out the show. If you read the prior post on the venue, you will see that at no fault to the band - the heat in the venue was awful. I give the band credit for performing those types of conditions.

The crowd was country folk. I don't mean that description as in their music taste. Well maybe I should say they looked like true Texans....and I think there was alot of Texas pride there since the band is from Dallas. Lot's of cowboy hats. The first three songs were their more shit-kickin' tracks to get the audience going and then they moved into more of the genre I like. More alt rock with folk influence....I realllllly loved (total sucker, I know) the song "Question" from their '01 album Satellite Rides. I think their newer stuff might be a little less bar room sounding and if you like that Wilco, Ryan Adam's sound...well then you should check them out. Oh and the singer wasn't too bad looking...hello Kevin Bacon in Footloose (or at least from where I was standing).