Whether due to his rabid fan base or well-chronicled psychogenic vomiting, Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy's psyche is plumbed every time he walks onto a stage. Judging by Tuesday night's performance at the Lincoln Theatre, things are going pretty well for the shaggy, self-effacing singer. After years of struggle and mid-level success, his band has outgrown the confines of critical-darling status, now enjoying the spoils of widespread recognition and the type of reliable, ever-increasing fan base that encourages a band to release its own brand of coffee. In short, Tweedy (the singer) is doing just fine.
Jeff Tweedy @ The Lincoln Theatre
Weekly Music Agenda
MONDAY
"Gezelligheid" -- a Dutch word loosely translatable as "cozy" -- is the term Andrew Bird uses to characterize the unique and intimate series of holiday concerts he debuted last December at churches in Minneapolis and his native Chicago. This week, the show comes to D.C. for a three-night stand at the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue, the dramatic architecture and superb acoustics of which should make it an sublime setting for Bird's captivating, loop-layered solo violin compositions. Julianna Barwick opens tonight and tomorrow night, with Marissa Nadler taking over the supporting slot on Wednesday. Sold out. 8 p.m.
Lucero @ The Black Cat
Whenever a band from the South takes the stage – particularly at an indie rock club – conventional indie rock expectations should go out the window. Or, at least, a different type of wisdom seems to apply. Just like no one was terribly surprised when Isaac Brock sliced himself onstage, or when they found out that seeing Cat Power live can be an awkward experience, or that Jeff Tweedy will probably fire a current member of Wilco in the next six months, no one’s ever really shocked to see a Southern band playing loud and long, and stumbling drunk around the stage. In that regard, it was another loud, sloppy night from the South’s latest purveyors of road-tested rock, Memphis' Lucero.
Wilco, 9:30 Club, 2/23/05
The afternoon before the Wilco concert at the 9:30 Club, we browsed around Craigslist and eBay just to see what tickets were going for. Scalpers were asking anywhere from $50-$100 per ticket, and desperate fans were promising the equivalent of their first born baby to gain entrance. Geez, we thought. Maybe we should consider selling our precious tickets to the highest bidder -- we weren't huge fans of "A Ghost Is Born," Wilco's last recording,...

