So the Weezer Snuggie sold out in only a matter of days, but Wilco’s limited edition mini figurines are still available. Perhaps they need to lower the $49.94 asking price or invest in one of those WTF, blog bait infomercials. Either way (as Tweedy would say), the band will be unloading a few sets of figurines and a signed Gibson SG guitar in a haiku contest announced recently on their site.

Here are the deets:

Now that Wilco has taken all the proper album release steps (touring, late night television, internet interview invasion, etc.) and the well of Wilco [The Album] puns has finally run dry, Jeff Tweedy and company are ready to bang out Wilco [The Follow-Up]. That’s not the title, sorry. I just couldn’t resist one more.

“We have a big session in January and [sic] start on the new record,” bassist John Stirratt told The Ampersand. “We’re trying to get on the ball as fast as we can because the touring has been pretty much non-stop.”

Whereas the 2002 Winter Olympics featured performances by Josh Groban, Charlotte Church, Sting, and R. Kelly, next year’s events in Vancouver, B.C. will showcase a much less mainstream lineup (save for Wilco perhaps).

Consequence of Sound reports that performers throughout the February 12-28 run include Broken Social Scene, K’Naan, Stars, Joel Plaskett, Steve Earle, Laurie Anderson, Martha Wainwright, Blue Rodeo, Iron & Wine, Corb Lund, Ron Sexsmith, Joan As Policewoman, and Sun Kil Moon.

We’re still awaiting more details on when/where this killer lineup will be performing, but we do have the deets on Wilco’s set: it’s free! On Feb. 13, Tweedy and the boys will perform at Vancouver’s David Lam Park as part of the Winter Olympic Games festivities. I better go look for my passport now.

In a recent interview with the Austin Chronicle, Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy sounded off on the difference between CD/MP3 and older music listening devices, such as vinyl and jukeboxes, calling the latter two: “things that are imperfect that would come packaged with all this added emotion and depth and meaning because they sounded, literally, like they were transmissions from another planet.” In light of Tweedy’s fondness for “pops and scratches and static,” Wilco’s recent appearance on the classic radio variety show A Prairie Home Companion was a perfect fit.

Not that the show is still using only old technology to send transmissions from the planet Minnesota: as evidenced by their official site, host Garrison Keillor and company are settling into the modern age nicely. Just as we said last week, the entire broadcast, which features interviews and performances by guests Wilco and Patty Loveless, is available to stream in parts or full here.

It’s a long show and if you’re only listening for Wilco, you may have to skip around a bit, but it makes a perfect soundtrack to your workday, I say.

Despite suffering a mild stroke a few weeks back, A Prairie Home Companion host Garrison Keillor has already gone back to work at his radio show, and just in time for this week’s guest: Wilco. This Thursday evening, special guests Wilco & Patty Loveless will take the Fitzgerald Theater stage in Saint Paul, MN for a performance and chat on the popular variety show.

If you happen to be in the Midwest, you can purchase tickets here, but the rest of us will be able to download or stream the broadcast from their site here after the show airs.

This will be Wilco’s second performance on A Prairie Home Companion, as they also stopped by while promoting Sky Blue Sky a few years back. You can listen to that performance here, but if you’re still aching for some Nels Cline guitar riffs, check out this recent video of Nels and Pat Sansone engaging in an impromptu guitar solo duel at a gig this summer (starts around 2:27):

I mentioned this last week, before TwentyFourBit took off on our road trip, but a story that involves Woody Guthrie, Wilco, and Jay Farrar certainly deserves its own post. In an interview with the Austin Chronicle (via The Daily Swarm), Centro-matic’s Will Johnson revealed some huge news about his involvement in the next installment of unreleased Woody Guthrie lyrics set to music composed by a living artist: Jay Farrar, of Son Volt and formerly of Uncle Tupelo, has taken the torch from Wilco and Billy Bragg, helming the recording of the next volume in the Mermaid Avenue series.

What’s more, My Morning Jacket’s Jim James is also performing on the album, according to Johnson. There’s no release date set yet, but the songs have already been put to tape and are currently in the mixing stage.

My initial reaction to this news was that Farrar trying his hand at the same Guthrie project as his former estranged band mate and songwriting partner Jeff Tweedy could permanently burn the Uncle Tupelo bridge, but now I’m thinking the promotion of this volume could make for a pretty awesome reunion tour. I suppose it’s going to take a few more chance encounters in Mexico for that to happen though.

“Every generation thinks it’s the last.” - Jeff Tweedy lyric from “You Never Know” off Wilco (The Album).

“Every generation thinks the next one is the end of it all.” - Roger Sterling on Mad Men, Season One.

Apparently, the feeling’s mutual: check out the Mad Men cast’s celebrity playlists (via kall_) here.