Chit-Chat Check-In #103 Transcript

Hello, this is your Captain speaking. It's the day after Thanksgiving, and I'm just checking in. I imagine some of your meals might have been fraught with peril in the discussion department. I hope you weathered it well.

I have a cover of "Child's Christmas in Wales" that I did recently to share. I was thinking about it. I have a song that I'm sure you're aware of called "Lou Reed Was My Babysitter," and I was thinking that I love Lou Reed and John Cale equally, and I think the Velvet Underground are arguably the greatest American rock band of the classic rock n' roll era. Not the rock n' roll era, but the main 20 or so years of rock history. Maybe CCR could give them a run for the money. Maybe the Beach Boys. But I think for me, personally, the Velvet Underground are kind of a miracle. They gave a lot of people permission to be themselves in a weird, strange, I don't know ... blaze of negativity that translated somehow into "Yes, you can be ... not the same as other people." (Laughs) You're allowed to be fucked up, I guess. I think it's a spiritually enlightened path.

Anyway, I think that the Velvet Underground, even though John Cale left pretty early ... there weren't camps set up. Oh, you're a John Cale guy? I'm more of a Lou Reed guy. That kind of bullshit. I'm sure they're out there. I just don't think it's become a normalized part of the discussion about the Velvet Underground. Which I appreciate, having been on the recipient ... on the receiving end ... of some of that kind of stuff, regarding Uncle Tupelo. I guess even within Wilco there's been schisms, factions of fans that have professed to attribute more worth to individual members. Which is silly. I like that the Velvet Underground didn't foster that, somehow. But again, I wasn't there at the time. Maybe it was so under the radar nobody documented it.

Thanksgiving is a weird holiday. There are a lot of things that are problematic about it, obviously. So I tend to focus on the nice concept of having a day set aside where gratitude is the featured emotion. There's so much to be thankful for. I try to be thankful most of the time, and grateful most of the time. I think 365 days would be good, Thanksgiving every day in that regard. But I don't know ... humans tend to want dates to focus on. And who can say all of human history is wrong? Sorry I'm rambling. This is new for me. This is the longest Chit-Chat Check-In of all time, probably. Holy shit, we're going to need to edit this and tighten it up.

Aside from all the people I love and am grateful for, and thankful I have in my life--I managed to tell a lot of them that fact yesterday--I have a funny thing I want to share about something I'm thankful for in my own makeup, a personal trait that I love. I love this little thing about me. And that's OK.

This is what it is. Whenever I'm watching anybody play music—it doesn't matter where, or when—I always have a pick with me, and I always involuntarily find my pick and hold it, as if I'm going to be called into action. Like "Oh, they might need me to step on stage at some point, so I'd better be ready, and have my pick out." I don't think about it at all. I noticed it the first time watching The Who at an arena. Most recently, I looked down at the United Center while I was watching Billie Eilish play, and I had my pick in my hand. I think that there's something kind of pure about it, and I just wanted to share it. I think it's deep in my nature to want to be part of anything going on with anything that's music, I guess.

All right. You can share some of the things that you think might fit in with that category of blessings in the comments, if you want.

Carry on.