A death in the family

The Wilco camp must be reeling after the death, aged 45, of former member Jay Bennett, the multi-instrumentalist credited with bringing an eclectic influence to the band. Having joined after Wilco had recorded their first album, Bennett was on board for Being There, <>Summerteeth, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and for the group’s two collaborations with Billy Bragg, Mermaid Avenue and Mermaid Avenue, Volume 2, on which they re-interpreted the Woody Guthrie canon.

Bennett eventually quit in the face of his deteriorating relationship with Jeff Tweedy over Wilco’s musical direction. Tempers were lost and the split was less than amicable – Bennett sued Tweedy for non-payment of royalties less than a month before his death. The band’s painful ungluing is there for all to see in the documentary I Am Trying To Break Your Heart, which was at the centre of Bennett’s claims against Tweedy – he maintained he never gave consent for his performances in the movie to be used, that he wasn’t compensated for his appearance and that he received no royalties from it.
He was claiming the princely sum of $50,000, probably out of desperation as he needed to fund a hip replacement operation. Almost a month to the day before his death he had posted a long, somewhat rambling but essentially good humoured, blog on his MySpace page apologising for not having been online more and explaining that he wasn't really mobile enough to use a computer, that the pain from his hip was pretty bad and – by extension – that whatever energy he had was being put into Kicking At The Perfumed Air, his unfinished fifth solo album.
Bennet hinted that the problems with his hips were a result of years of stage diving and that his health insurance didn’t cover him as the injury was a pre-existing condition. He had been trying to do deals with hospitals which might let him pay by instalments and had just been given a date for surgery.
There’s something unsettling about reading the blog entry now that he’s dead. Creepier yet are the farewells posted on his page after his demise.
Let’s hope someone tidies up that unfinished album for release. Given what they’ve done for Woody Guthrie it would be appropriate if Wilco were to take on the task. However, I wouldn’t hold my breath.
Ry Cooder and Nick Lowe have been taking some unholy stick for not including London among the stop-offs for their current tour, with the message board on their label’s website scene to some of the most embarrassing hissy fits I’ve ever witnessed by the denizens of the capital city of – well of just about everywhere if you take them seriously – and some delicious gloating from the citizens of Edinburgh who might only aof Scotland but who’ve got two nights with the undisputed kings of low intensity roots rock 'n' roll lined up.
Cooder and Lowe, along with Jim Keltner and John Hiatt, played together as Little Village at the end of the eighties and start of the ’90s and Keltner joined them for a charity gig in San Francisco late last year where they were rapturously received. Still, as one audience member wryly observed on the night, Cooder "not Mr. Showbusiness."
The beauty of his live performances lies in the understated way he approaches the guitar. With no pyrotechnics nor flamboyant solos on offer, his musical weapon of choice being the often surprising harmonies he coaxes from the various open tunings he uses. Lowe, by all accounts, is the more gregarious of the pair, and the warmth with which he approaches the audience has done as much to revive interest in him. Surprisingly, but gratifyingly I suppose, there’s been nary a word of controversy about the Dublin dates that kick off the tour. Originally scheduled as three dates the Wednesday 10th June show has been pulled, leaving the Thursday 11 and Friday June 12 shows. I have to say it’s hardly surprising that tickets aren’t moving in the numbers they expected.
Legends or not, pricing tickets at well over a hundred euro a pop is going to make them less than inviting in the current economic climate. And before we start hopping up and down about how the Irish consumer is being stiffed once again, it’s worth pointing out that the Dublin dates are actually cheaper than the other UK and European gigs with the exception, dare I say it, of the Belfast show on Sunday June 14.
Sligo Live, taking place over the October Bank Holiday weekend, is now five years old. This year's event is shaping up as one of the most memorable yet, with Martha Wainwright and Sharon Shannon among the headliners. They’ll be fleshing out the bill as time moves along but that’s some start.