Whoops! That was longer than I thought.

Still, the first thing I do when I get to my room in New Orleans is to turn on WWOZ.

I may have solved my problem. Never mind ...

It's funny the stuff you don't think of in a disaster. Every day, it's like "The pets! The records!"

Though the possibility that the walls are that thin makes me feel a bit... insecure.

I just kept my stereo turned up pretty much all the time.

SO. I was just catching up on some pitchfork reading and I found this summary of a recent Jay Farrar interview in Relix in which he finally gives his version of the real reason Uncle Tupelo broke up:

Tweedy has spoken freely about the event from the beginning, allowing his story of Tupelo's disintegration to be generally accepted as fact. Here's his version: Farrar and Tweedy meet in high school. Tweedy, unexperienced as a musician at this point, looks at Farrar, who has been in a number of bands with his older brothers, as a role model. The two teens, along with drummer Mike Heidorn, form Uncle Tupelo. The band's first two albums are heavily influenced by Farrar, but Tweedy improves and takes a greater hold on the group, which (as the story goes), Farrar found hard to swallow. This creates tension and the men stop communicating. Around this time, Heidorn leaves, worsening the situation. A major-label deal brought Tupelo up from the underground, putting on the pressure that led to Farrar's departure. A crushed Tweedy groups the band's remaining members together to form Wilco, and Farrar meets up with Heidorn to create Son Volt.

Farrar does not necessarily disagree with all that, but has his own (juicier) side to contribute to history. In the lengthy Relix interview, Farrar tells journalist Antony DeCurtis that things started to unravel after he saw Tweedy stroke the hair of his girlfriend of seven years, Monica Groth (now his wife), as she was sleeping. "I found out later that he was telling her stuff, like, he loves her," says Farrar, who attempted to quit the band the next day. Tweedy was devastated. "[Tweedy's] parents called mine and said that Jeff 'wanted to be me.' I struggled with that...Then every other day for about a week he would call. After a week of sitting around with no prospects, I decided to continue."

Farrar departed the band for good in January 1994. Before leaving Tupelo, he met with Tweedy for another major confrontation. Farrar explains, "When I spoke to him about why I was quitting I basically laid it out for him. I told him that the dynamic had changed and that it wasn't fun for me anymore...His response was to call me a 'pussy.'"

Farrar's story definitely adds a different dynamic to Uncle Tupelo's end, which is what he hoped to accomplish upon ending his silence in the Relix interview. "One misconception that I find difficult to absorb is Jeff's portrayal of himself as a victim, which I find to be absurd," says Farrar. "There were steps we could have taken to have a better relationship and a better understanding. It could have happened. But it didn't."

Hmmm. One can see why those two crazy kids aren't so eager to do a reunion show. I can't believe this is the first time Farrar is telling this story - I am guessing he figured it would look kind of sour grapes-ish. He and Jay Bennet should get together and start a "Jays who think Jeff Tweedy is a big jerk" club. Or not.

Uhm. All my Christmases and birthdays just came at once. Mark Kozelek is doing an album of all Modest Mouse covers out Nov.1.

According to Billboard.com, Red House Painters/Sun Kil Moon frontman Mark Kozelek is preparing an album of Modest Mouse covers. Kozelek seems to have a knack for fucking around with other people's work. In 2001, he released What's Next to the Moon, a collection of AC/DC covers. You'd think all this covering was a case of lazy songwriting, but Kozelek completely rearranges the songs, often leaving the lyrics as the only recognizable trace.

The Modest Mouse disc, titled Tiny Cities will be the first release on Kozelek’s own Caldo Verde label, and it will be attributed to Sun Kil Moon. The songs have been selected from all over the Modest Mouse catalogue. The album is due November 1 in North America.

Track listing:
01 Exit Does Not Exist
02 Tiny Cities Made of Ashes
03 Neverending Math Equation
04 Space Travel Is Boring
05 Dramamine
06 Jesus Christ Was an Only Child
07 Four Fingered Fisherman
08 Grey Ice Water
09 Convenient Parking
10 Trucker's Atlas
11 Ocean Breathes Salty

I'll stop serial posting pitchfork articles now.

Went to get my 65 tracks from eMusic for the month and noticed that they now have a deal with Nettwerk. Cul. And they've added the SuperEgo catalog (Aimee Mann) and a half-dozen more Townes Van Zandt albums.

Suddenly, 65/month is not enough.

And for the record, I picked up these five from eMusic:

Original Pirate Material, The Streets
We Will Become Like Birds, Erin McKeown
Front Parlor Ballads, Richard Thompson
Live at St. Ann's Warehouse, Aimee Mann
Freedom and Weep, Waco Brothers

Tulane has announced that it will not open this year (semester?).

Just to clear up this bit from the article Hec quoted -- Tulane will not open this semester, but University President Scott Cowen believes it will be open for the spring semester.

More info.

Front Parlor Ballads, Richard Thompson

How is this? I've been meaning to go get it, but haven't had time yet.

Suddenly, 65/month is not enough.

I always use up my 65 in the first week and end up buying at least one Booster pack - still a ton cheaper than buying CDs or using iTunes.