Wilco - Via Chicago: youtube.com/watch?v=vEFN_14aElU
I knew who Wilco were before going to see them in Halifax, one summer. I had heard Mermaid Avenue and liked it but wasn’t entirely won over. I had been working at a record store when Yankee Hotel Foxtrot came out and my manager praised it but I didn’t get it. It wasn’t exciting to me.
My friend Tim had an extra ticket to see Wilco in Halifax and was making a big deal about it, insisted I go with him. “Oh, and can you drive me?” Of course, I said. “And can you drive my girlfriend, and her sister?” Sure. So I drove to Moncton to pick them all up and go. Tim I knew pretty well, I had met his girlfriend, Amy, only once but liked her; she was a singer who drove a motorcycle and drank like a madman. Amy’s sister scared me at first. She was thin, wore tiny, pink shorts, a white tank top and bounced when she walked, could barely stop talking to take a breath. She was pretty and she scared me.
Before we left Moncton, Tim’s Dad said to me, “Is that your car? I used to have one just like it. Be careful, it’s a shitty car.” And he was right. As we drove through Nova Scotia the car just stopped on the highway. The engine blew. We didn’t know it then but the engine blew and we were stranded on the highway. Amy’s sister got out and flagged down a transport pretty quickly (thin, pretty girl in skimpy clothes hitching a ride on the side of the highway really works), he called a tow truck for us and we got towed into Truro. We called a friend who lived in Halifax to come pick us up, we sat outside a Burger King drinking vodka and met some kid hitching to Mount Uniacke. He had an 8-inch hunting knife and he showed it to us a couple times. Amy’s sister and I had a nice moment where we got to talk alone and she told me she wanted to go to school and be a nurse. I fell for her, quickly, but that ended when we got to Halifax and she leaned her affections toward a mutual friend.
But aside from all the recalling of events; I was won over at the Wilco show by “Via Chicago.” I wasn’t at the show for the music but to spend time with some friends, drink and adventure. But despite my growing drunkenness and capacity for the inattentive, there was a moment when the drums went wild in “Via Chicago” and I stopped. It has stayed with me since. I love chaos (or, controlled chaos, I suppose). I somehow loved when the car broke down and we were potentially stuck in this nowhere town with nothing to do. Granted, it wasn’t quite chaotic exactly, but that divergence from what was expected made every moment seem new and heightened the excitement of it all. The same applies for “Via Chicago.” When the drums became chaotic and I paid attention, they had me for the rest of the show. I was won over. In the weeks following I found more of their songs and listened, trying to find more of what I’d earlier found.
I haven’t seen Tim, Amy or her sister in a long time.
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