Tuesday, 13 April 2010

Considering His Lyrics

For decades, I’ve been a fan of Tim Quirk’s lyrics. He has a way of expressing the melancholy of defeat with cutting brevity and a touch of wordplay.

‘Topless at the Arco Arena’ rolled through the iTunes this afternoon and I stopped to savor these three lines:

Some rise by sin,
Some by virtue fall,
We’re not getting anywhere at all.
– Wonderlicks’ ‘The CEO Considers His Holdings’

If you’d like to give it a listen, it’s the 12th song down in the little player. Along the way, I highly recommend ‘All Boys Want’, ‘Fear of Chicago’, ‘The King of Bad Decisions’, and ‘Everybody Loves Jenny’.

Monday, 4 May 2009

First Crack 120. Wonderlick’s Tim Quirk on Truth Through Music

I’ve been a fan of Tim Quirk’s music for 20 years – easy. The playful melancholy in throughout his songwriting continually resonates with me. When he announced the new Wonderlick album was in the works and available for ‘name-your-price’ pre-order – I jumped on the opportunity.

When I started hearing about how successful the campaign was – I asked Tim if he’d talk about the album and the campaign for the podcast.

As he mentions in our conversation, the common theme through the 16 tracks is the exploration of an experience he first wrote about in 2002:

“I wondered what she said the next day when friends asked her how the concert was. I wondered whether the crowd had been applauding her breasts or her daring. I wondered if maybe she was a plant and had actually gotten paid for her performance. That last one was just a specific way of asking a more general question, I guess—mostly I was wondering exactly what she got out of it.” – Tim Quirk

In the 16 Topless at the Arco Arena tracks, Tim, with Jay Blumenfield, ask everyone involved what they got out of the experience.

My top 5 Wonderlick – Topless at the Arco Arena tracks:

  1. The Case Against Tattoos
  2. A Different Kind of Love
  3. We Run the World
  4. This Song is a Commerical
  5. Fear of Chicago

Download: Listen to Wonderlick’s Tim Quirk on Truth Through Music [36 minutes]

Wonderlick on Facebook

Wednesday, 11 March 2009

Wonderlick “Topless at the Arco Arena” – Name Your Pre-Order Price

For nearly decades, I’ve been a big fan of anything by Jay Blumenfield, Tim Quirk, Sandy Smallens, or any combination thereof.

So, yea, I’m pretty excited about the new Wonderlick album available for pre-order.

Here’s the interesting bit:

“…anyone who winds up paying more than the average donation will get his or her name in the liner notes…”

Wonderlick isn’t suggesting a donation, so the average won’t be known for awhile. Pretty neat. Yeah, I gave them 50% more than I otherwise would have.

Update, according to Mr. Quirk himself:

“Average donation for Wonderlick album after 24 hours of pre-orders: $17.90”

Thursday, 26 April 2007

Fear of Chicago

I’ve got two trips to Chicagoland already queued up for this summer.

The first one is Saturday, May 19. When, of this writing, I’ll be spending some time on a go-cart in Buffalo Grove.

The last time I attended one of these events, I was trapped on a permanetly-docked gambling boat near Aurora after dining at a suburban Hooters.

I’m betting on a more enjoyable trip this time around.

Wonderlick – Fear of Chicago

Tuesday, 29 November 2005

Tuesday’s Triple Play – 3 From Wonderlick

wldebut.jpg

Ever since enticing me with their LL Cool J and 2Live Crew covers then switching it up with some of the most painfully melancholy audio, Tim Quirk and the guys from Too Much Joy have always hit me pretty hard. This week’s Triple play are 3 songs from Wonderlick – one of their latest incarnations – that always make me want to crawl back in bed.

All tracks are from their debut self-titled CD Wonderlick ($12 gets you the CD and t-shirt).