Phoenix as night falls from my parents backyard

On a very short hike around the neighborhood

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I was in Phoenix for Christmas with the fam and Jeff Tweedy happened to be playing a one-off solo show at the Orpheum Theatre downtown. It also happened to be my Mom’s birthday and I managed to get tickets for everyone as a nice family outing. A writer for the Phoenix New Times went as far as to call it the best show of 2009 in Phoenix, and while I might not be that bold, I will say it was a fantastic performance and probably in my top three for the year.

Inside the Orpheum just before showtime

The show was certainly intimate – Tweedy’s sister, who lives in the Phoenix area, was in attendance (along with a lengthy guest list of friends) and he dedicated a song to her early in the show. He also performed “You and I” for his wife who was in the crowd along with their two sons.

Jeff Tweedy talks to the crowd just before the encore.

Tweedy played a slew of great songs over the course of roughly two hours dating as far back as the Uncle Tupelo days. Just a few of the memorable tunes that come to mind include “Please Tell My Brother,” “In a Future Age”, “How to Fight Loneliness”, “The Ruling Class” (which – given the season – he felt compelled to state was not blasphemous), “Spiders (Kidsmoke)”, “Muzzle of Bees”, “Hummingbird”, “Heavy Metal Drummer” with the crowd chiming in, and a fantastic version of “Acuff/Rose” during a portion of the encore where he chose to eschew the house PA and simply play at the edge of stage.

Hearing Tweedy sans Wilco has given me a renewed respect for his craftsmanship as a songwriter. I certainly agree with New Times writer that this show was better than any Wilco show of recent memory.

Headed to Phoenix on Thursday to visit the parents. My older brother decided last minute to come over from Chico as well. It was nice to get out of the frozen tundra that is Chicago in February.

It actually rained all day Friday (rains about 5 days out of the year and I happen to be there for one – figures) but that gave me a chance to sleep in and visit Stinkweeds – my favorite music shop in the Southwest. Picked up Pissed Jeans ‘Hope for Men’, The Helio Sequence ‘Keep Your Eyes Ahead’ and Pink Nasty’s ‘Mold the Gold’.

We hit up one my favorite Mexican restaurants ‘Los Olivos’ in Scottsdale and wandered around a bit.

The parents in Scottsdale.

I couldn’t pass on the opportunity to get a photo of myself in front of the ‘LOVE’ statue.

A oddly-placed wig shop right in the middle of upscale Scottsdale.

Mom and I snuck into a community pool in the neighborhood to cool off on Saturday. Fortunately the weather had improved considerably. My mom was trying to adjust her bedhead before I snapped the photo.

A view from the hill by the ‘rents place. My mom is pointing out how green everything is this year due to all the rain.

Did Christmas in Phoenix with the fam… I’ll spare you the details. Instead here’s some pics… I laughed so hard when I saw the second two of my older brother