If you put a gun to my head and told me to dream up a non-cooking reality show that might be worth watching, I would never come up with this. But here it is and, yes, I’ll probably watch.
Category Archives: Music
My Favorite Books and Music from 2012
I meant to post this closer to New Year’s Day, but so go the resolutions. Here are the books and music I particularly enjoyed last year (no matter when they were released).
Books
I don’t know if these were truly the best books I read, but they are the ones I remember, that particularly enthralled me or have stayed in my mind.
- Gods Without Men by Hari Kunzru
- Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway
- 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson
- Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
- American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Music
Again, these may or may not be the best but the numbers don’t lie. Here are my top 20 most-listened-to artists, tracked by Last.fm. Proving that, while I try to listen to new music as much as possible, most of my musical DNA set fast in my twenties.
Not represented is the music listened to in my car (since Last.fm doesn’t scrobble my old-fashioned mix CDs). If we factor that in, I’m sure you’d see a much higher representation of They Might Be Giants, Tegan & Sara, Fitz & the Tantrums, and Girl Talk.
I know.
- The Mountain Goats
- Metallica
- The Beatles
- Sufjan Stevens
- Phish
- Rush
- Beastie Boys
- fun.
- Fucked Up
- Bob Mould
- Anthrax
- Yo La Tengo
- S.O.D.
- Diana Krall
- Weezer
- Grateful Dead
- D.R.I.
- Group Love
- Brian Eno
- Frank Ocean
A Century of the Vic
The Vic Theatre — home to vaudeville, porn and now rock ’n’ roll — turns 100
Oh, man, do I love the Vic.
Some of my best musical memories have been made here. From watching thrash bands like Testament and Bad Brains during high school to spending several surreal minutes hanging with Les Claypool after a Primus show, to later years seeing Wilco multiple times during their home stands.
And more to come as we’ll be there again in March to see TMBG.
Just so many memories, and I had no idea it had such an interesting history.
15 Years Ago…
November 20, 1994. Jamieboogies and I decided at the last minute, while eating Chinese food from Imperial Palace, to drive up to Madison to see Phish for the first time. Completely changed my college years.
You Say Sacrilege! I Say Dance!
Beatles + Daft Punk + Kinks = thank you, whoever made this.
This piano plays me
One of my favorite surprise moments in a film full of wonderful, surprising moments. Here’s John Linnell‘s cameo appearance in Coraline:
David Bowie
From last night:
Phish Freeunion
If you’re like me, and excited (or at least curious) about the big Phish reunion happening in Virginia this weekend, just a reminder that free MP3s of last night’s show are up on LivePhish.com.
In case you forgot, this is the first Phish show since August 2004. Here’s a quick writeup on the show.
I wanna see movies of my dreams…
And as long as we’re thinking about Doug, let’s watch some video of him playing “Car” outside the Beacon Theater:
Three random karaoke songs I’d sing after a little bourbon
Because this is the catchiest, nastiest song from The Headphone Masterpiece. And because I might need a drunken excuse to sing the lyrics: "Push my seed somewhere deep in her chest, I push it naked cuz I've taken the test."
