2. Got my hands on the forthcoming Wilco album; on first listen, I'm very underwhelmed. It sounds too much like some lost 70s soft rock album, which is especially odd considering that this same lineup produced the rockin' "Kicking Television" live album. Also, it's kinda wierd to hear so many guitar solos - in fact, the more I think about it, this album kinda reminds me of Phish's last few song-oriented albums, which is definitely not a compliment. Again - it's just my first listen. But nothing's really grabbing me; the songs just kinda weave in and out of each other and they're not particularly memorable. Some of the discussion here would indicate that reaction to this album is going to be very divisive; to my ears, however, there's absolutely nothing controversial about this album, which means I have no idea what there is to discuss.
2a. HOWEVER, everybody's freaking out about the new Arcade Fire, which I have NOT yet heard, and I'm very very excited to check it out.
3. Carl Pavano finally pitched in spring training over the weekend, and apparently he survived. I'm not quite sure how I feel about the Yankees this season. I feel better than I did last year, but that's not saying very much - last year I fully expected everybody on the team to suffer career-ending injuries; this year I think we'll do well, but we still won't win it all. I wasn't terribly excited to see Andy Pettite come back; he was hurt A LOT in Houston, and even when he was a Yankee I never really felt safe with him on the mound. And as much as he was an asshole, I kinda miss Gary Sheffield; I'm not necessarily complaining about Bobby Abreu but nobody fears Abreu the way they do Sheff - and you just know Sheff is playing with a gigantic chip on his shoulder this season. I expect him to hit 27 home runs this year against Yankee pitching alone.
