Reason 212 why I love going to school here

Below is the e-mail my theory prof sent to me and a few other students, forwarding his wife's summary of the Wilco concert they recently attended. Not only is he cool enough to go to a Wilco concert (last live show before the kid pops out, as he said this morning) but he's also cool enough to be one of the few liberals in this supposedly red state.

... summary of the Wilco show and sparks last night at the Fox. I don't know what planet the rightwing fans are on --- going to see a band that's recorded Woody Guthrie lyrics with Billy Bragg, then acting all surprised the frontman doesn't like Bush? Duh. Good for Jeff Tweedy for not being afraid to upset some fans!

-snip-

So anyway... they sounded great, looked great, and I liked the visual effects they had going on on a big screen behind them. Tweedy was WAY more relaxed, funny, and conversational than he'd been when we last saw them. It was obvious they were having a good time. They played a lot of new stuff, of course, including my fave Handshake Drugs, but also sampled from YHF, Being There, Summerteeth.

What was really kind of scary/disturbing was the political atmosphere. Towards the end of the show, Tweedy asked if everyone was going to vote. Huge cheer. "Are you voting for... Bush?" HUGE resounding cheer. Yikes! Although I guess I shouldn't be surprised, given that we are in Georgia after all. His immediate response was "That's, uhhh, good to hear." When they came out for an encore he said "You know, last night I made some rather disparaging remarks about Bush, and I got a note after the show telling me that I should really think before I speak. Well, you know what, I have been thinking, for a LONG TIME. Don't give me this bullshit about liberals and Hollywood celebrities and whatever... people have very good reasons for saying what they're saying, and they have EVERY RIGHT TO SAY IT." Then launched into California Stars. Yeah!! Later on, he flashed the peace sign and said "Peace! And peace to all the Republicans in the audience. Oh look, a Republican just flipped me off. Well, that's okay, we can have a dialogue. I'm sure if you get a microphone and a big crowd, you can say whatever you want, too. Or, you could just go see all those great Republican bands."

Haw!!!! I think I love him.
A friend just told me she read on the message board about the political stuff, and a guy who was in the front row said the person who flipped Tweedy the bird walked up, slapped his backstage pass down on the monitor, and stalked off. I hope someone else grabbed that pass!