I love Neko Case, especially Furnace Room Lullaby. Lately I have been listening to the song "South Tacoma Way" about four or five times a day. It's just gorgeous and heartbreaking.

Some of my favorite lyrics in the world are the title song from Fox Confessor Brings the Flood and "I Wish I Was the Moon" from Blacklisted.

My favorite Neko songs with the New Pornographers are maybe "Letter from an Occupant" and "These are the Fables."

I actually haven't listened enough to the last two (The Tigers Have Spoken and Fox Confessor Brings the Flood)

I absolutely hated The Tigers Have Spoken. It's one of the poorest live albums I have ever heard. Which, I admit, may have something to do with the fact that I will put hot pokers in my eyes before I will submit myself to seeing Neko Case live again but...

Fox Confessor on the other hand is wonderful.

"South Tacoma Way"

Oh yeah! I love that one too. Actually, I may have been thinking of that one when I put down "Thrice All American" above (though they're both great...).

I will put hot pokers in my eyes before I will submit myself to seeing Neko Case live again

Wow, what's the story here?

She is one of the most petulant artists I have ever seen live. She whines non-stop about pretty much anything there is to complain about, she gets extremely pissy with hecklers - even if they are just yelling out requests. I've seen her solo twice and with the NPs twice and all four times were the same. She was drunk, she rattled on and on in between songs mostly about how tired, drunk, exhausted, really drunk, or hot she was. I have heard many horror stories of her delaying shows, cutting them short, yelling in fans' faces, etc.

I'm all for drunk and disorderly rock stars. Just make it entertaining.

She kind of dissed Lawrence the last time I saw her perform solo there as well - and in my book nobody recovers from that.

So, I love her records and continue to buy them. But I'm never paying to see her live again.

Actually, I may have been thinking of that one when I put down "Thrice All American" above

I looove this song. I love how proud she is of where she is from and the little kind of prayer at the end that Tacoma stays seedy and ungentrified forever.

That's too bad. I was thinking she'd be the kind of artist who had a lot of great energy in concert.

She kind of dissed Lawrence the last time I saw her perform solo there as well

I thought that was a Cardinal Rule of playing live shows -- never diss the place where you're playing, at least if you ever want to come back there again!

never diss the place where you're playing, at least if you ever want to come back there again!

Yeah. It was 110 degrees that day and she had requested the bar be non-smoking for her show (first time I'd ever seen that, though Lawrence did pass a smoking ban about six years later). It was about 90 degrees inside that bar. Your beer got warm the second you touched it. Everyone is jonesing for nicotine, and she is up there complaining about how hot she is, how warm her beer is, that the tambourine is giving her blisters. And then she is like - at least I got them to make the bar non-smoking. How is it that Kansas is so backward that they haven't banned smoking in bars yet?

People just started streaming out.

I may need to let go of some of my Neko Case anger...

Thanks tina and kate. That is too bad about her live shows.

For a counterpoint, here's my friend's account of a Neko Case concert. He's a huge Neko Case fan, and it looks like she put on a good show for him, at least. Maybe he left out the annoying drunk bits and concentrated on appreciating the music instead.

and then I've also got her covering "Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis", which is fabulous.

I'll be posting this shortly. It's on my Tom Waits Covers list.

Just got back from LA for Kim Cooper's wedding, which was beautiful and fun and filled wall to wall with Angelino hipsters.

It was 110 degrees in the central valley as we drove back on I-5 today.

On-Topic: We listened to Nat King Cole's great After Midnight CD on the way home (back to a small jazz combo with Ellington sidemen like Stuff Smith and Sweets Edison). Also Impala's Square Jungle (red hot instros: surf /rockabilly / sax), No Roses by Shirley Collins and the Albion Country Band (as AMG notes, sort of like Shirley Collins backed by Fairport) and Kate Bush's The Kick Inside.

Also some of JZ's folkie music including Greg Brown.

She is one of the most petulant artists I have ever seen live.

I saw the New Pornographers once and she was so offputting. She looked like she'd rather have been anywhere but there. No energy whatsoever. GF and I were not impressed.