Beginnings And Ends

June is going to begin here on Pretzel Logic with a couple of news-y items that I want to comment on.

First off, congratulations to Conan O’Brien for taking over the reins of power on The Tonight Show. I’m glad they have moved to a younger, funnier and all around edgier host and there’s actually a slight chance that having Conan there will make me watch an episode or two. Furthermore, back when Conan was in charge of Late Night, he had reliably awesome musical guests (at least compared to other late night talk shows) and I do hope this carries over onto The Tonight Show. However, for last night’s premier, Pearl Jam did not deliver the goods. Their performance, featuring a song called “Get Some” from their upcoming album, sounded strained, sloppy and all kinds of bland. If I ever needed a reminder that the 90s were actually, definitely over, I got it last night. Eddie Vedder looked slightly pudgier than I remember and his voice seemed absolutely overmatched by the notes he was trying to sing. It didn’t help that the song possesses a bizarre, meandering melody that defies any kind of logic. Now, the idea of Pearl Jam playing The Tonight Show is pretty awesome and I hope Conan has a steady stream of similarly interesting musical guests in the future. But for the premier, it was a strange, weak beginning.

Second, in sadder news, last week former Wilco guitarist Jay Bennett died, at the young age of 45. Causes of death are unknown at this time, with the only statements made saying Bennett died in his sleep. Bennett was a member of Wilco from 1994 through 2001, when they released their landmark Yankee Hotel Foxtrot album. Tension between Bennett and frontman Jeff Tweedy would eventually lead to Bennett being dismissed from the band. However, in my opinion, Wilco have never even approached the level of creativity and craft they achieved on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot in the years that have followed and I am saddened by the fact that one of the architects of this astonishing album has passed away at such a young age.