Nick Offerman Pens Tribute to Jeff Tweedy: "We Are Getting Married. The End."

Nick Offerman Pens Tribute to Jeff Tweedy: "We Are Getting Married. The End."

Photo by Zoran Orlic

Nick Offerman, best known for playing Ron Swanson on “Parks and Recreation”, recently published a book called Gumption: Relighting The Torch Of Freedom With America’s Gutsiest Troublemakers. In it, he wrote a long tribute to Wilco singer Jeff Tweedy, who appeared on “Parks and Recreation” a few times. (Offerman also directed the video for “Low Key”, from Tweedy’s side project with his son Spencer.) Below, you can read an excerpt of those passages via Salon

Offerman says he first became acquainted with Tweedy after hearing Wilco’s first two albums, 1995′s A.M. and 1996′s Being There, which he says spoke to him “with a compelling relevance.” He draws parallels to their Midwestern upbringing—Offerman grew up in suburban Chicago, while Tweedy grew up in suburban St. Louis—and how they saw the arts as “an escape route” from their conservative upbringings. 

He is also very unambiguous about his affection for Tweedy:

Jeff Tweedy is really nice. Jeff Tweedy is really smart. And Jeff Tweedy is really, really cute. He’s what the young ladies of a bygone era would refer to as a “dreamboat.” For my money, he’s also the preeminent American singer-songwriter of my generation. Finally, I would add that I am in love with him. We are getting married. The end.

Additionally, Offerman details Wilco’s struggle to release 2002′s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, and how their protracted label battle actually ended up with AOL Time Warner paying twice for the album:

That kind of happy ending doesn’t seem to happen to artists who are striving for fame and fortune. By sticking to their creative guns, Wilco ended up being rewarded exponentially more than they would ever have had they been trying to produce radio hits or merely capitalize on their cute faces. Especially Jeff.

Read the whole thing here.

Here’s the video for “Low Key”:

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