Chit-Chat Check-In #91 Transcript

Hello, this is your Captain, checking in from the rehabilitation wing of the Starship Casual, post hip surgery #2, which went well. Here I am, starting to walk around without a crutch, even. It's very painful, but I can do it. And probably should use the crutches more. Don't tell anybody.

Anyway, I wanted to say hi and recap Solid Sound a little bit, which was very bittersweet for me. I missed Susie very very much, she wasn't able to come this time due to some pesky blood ... levels, or numbers, and her immunity status. Which have come back to normal now, which is great. And was the right call, for sure, because we knew some people who got COVID, and that was no fun. It would have been much, much worse if she had been there in terms of A. she had gotten it and B. just the anxiety of worrying.

There are so many amazing, badass bands and artists that were around. It's too many to recap. One thing that happened that was really fun for me is that Water From Your Eyes asked me to help sing this song, "When You're Around," which I sang an octave higher when we played it together. Rachel, their lead singer, was a little under the weather, vocally. They wanted to play this song and they asked me if I'd help, and I was very flattered and had a great time learning the song. I thought I'd share at least a little acoustic version that I did to help remind myself of the song.

Sometimes when you play a song, it's easier to get it stuck in your head. I think it went well--I missed a part, I came in too early on one part. But they didn't seem to be offended.

Horse Lords were great. Ratboys were great, or so I heard--I didn't get a chance to see everybody. Iris DeMent was great. Joanna Sternberg was great. Anyway, it was a really, really satisfying musical experience this year, I think.

I had a dream which I thought I would share. It's unrelated to Solid Sound. Steve Malkmus and Mark Ibold from Pavement came over, and I was trying to impress them. And in my dream, the way that I chose to impress them was to tell them that I pitched in the World Series for the Cardinals. That Tony La Russa had seen me throw out a first pitch, and he was so impressed that he called up me at home and flew me to St. Louis to pitch in the World Series. They weren't buying it, but I kept digging deeper and deeper. Saying, "Just the one game. It was the only game that I pitched, but we won."

Anyway, I thought that was an interesting dream. Why? Why would you want to impress people with that? How deeply ingrained is baseball fandom from your childhood? I don't think you can override it. Living in Chicago, it certainly would be helpful to be able to override a certain amount of Cardinals love. I've learned to love the Cubs, but, you know, you are what you are.

Do with that what you will. If that offends you, I feel bad for you. 

And secondly, thirdly, fourthly ... I guess I don't really have anything else to share. That was a lot, though. That was almost six minutes of me rambling. And I'm not even--I'm seriously not on any kind of narcotics, because that is not something I can do. So I was not sent home with any, by my request. Luckily, pain kind of goes in one direction. Each day is a little bit less. Let's hope it continues to be so.

Well, nice talking to you. That's going to be my new sign-off. Alright, well, nice talking to you. Talking at you. Carry on.

PS: Oh, by the way, I just want to thank Crystal, and Mark, and Jill, and Spencer for keeping the Starship on course during these past few weeks of extreme busyness. They had a lot on their plates also, and I appreciate the work they did to keep you up to date and keep us connected. Thanking people makes me bored, I'm tired now. I don't know why I'm yawning. Oh yeah, I remember, I'm very tired. But anyway, unbelievable how much support I have from a whole incredible group of people, not just on the Starship, but the Wilco Camp. The WilCrew. I want to say thanks to them--the tour was amazing, and Solid Sound was impeccable. And it would not be so if it was just the six dudes on stage not knowing how to do any of that other stuff very well at all. Thank you, carry on.