THE YEAR THAT WAS
so...my extended treatise on 2006. the year that was. some intro commentary followed by the list thingy... btw, in tribute to the scene we *almost* have now in bham.. a good bit of the list will be locally focused... and although it's a music awards list, i'mma throw in some other notable shit as well.
2006 has been the most productive year for me, since moving to bham. its also been the first certifiably good year of the century... although '04 and '05 weren't bad. civilization was greatly altered by the "mini-ice age" that lasted from 1350 to 1800. and we owe our entire existence to a meteor that dropped to the ground around the gulf of mexico.
a year ago i was in a situation of focusing my efforts on getting out of debt. i had recently gotten back from LA and was preparing to make another trip to LA for NYE. i remember taking stock last year and remembering how much my life has changed since 2000. this year, even more so. 6 years ago i was living in phoenix working for a private psych school, in the midst... and soon at the end of... a more than decade long relationship. living in the burbs. bored. manipulation behind every door. distracted. there were no significant hurricanes in 2006. i miss remix albums.
i moved to bham the week after 9/11... my 27th birthday was a week to the day later. from summer 1999 to summer 2001, my life had gone from near perfect to nearly destroyed. i pretty much emotionally slept thru the rest of 2001 and 2002. my emotional, creative, and financial state improved in 2003 and 2004... and i was in a long term relationship during that time to a gorgeous but vapid female. its been hit and miss ever since.
the first "big" show i ever watched in bham was cutgrass/the strokes at 5 points music hall. this year, the "child" of cutgrass kicked ass live, especially at the show we played in murfreesboro... the strokes however, sucked when they played here at sloss in may.
people really phreaked out over pete yorn when he came to laser's edge this year. being involved with numerous bands has kept me creatively in the moment and in 2006 it was multiplied.
shortly after returning from LA, i moved back to southside and started playing in an experimental groove band called the spots. just this alone would have been enough to qualify as a good year, although we don't play enough shows lately. we don't write, sing, rehearse, etc... we just show up and KILL. sometimes i almost wish i WASN'T in the spots, so i could sit back and watch the brilliance unfold before my eyes.
coolest thing i heard while playing live with the spots this year... "are you kidding me?" : brian t. murphy gasped aloud after clint wells played an incredibly mind blowing improvised guitar line at a private party.
this summer and fall i've rehearsed and played shows with john strohm and duquette johnston, as well as a hastily composed co-headline show with the spots, and the never-ending recording behemoth that is wiseblood.
after almost three years of piecing together demos from all of the place, we finally finished the wiseblood record. NOW it looks like we might be splitting it up into two ep's or albums. but that's another blog entirely.
shittiest shows i played because of sonics or crowd issues: cave 9 / german club. although artwalk was fun.
its safe to say that i've played with some of the best bands and musicians in town this year and i'm humble that i was invited to the party. all of the guys i've played with are very different musically, but i think i found a way to put my stamp on all of their songs. the biggest thing that i didn't see coming was my return to playing drums. thank or blame duquette johnston for that one. i royally sucked during a few shows.
also this year, i've made a ton of new friends that i feel like i've known forever, even though i met a lot of them after moving back to southside in feb.
i played a small part in making 3 short comedy films this year... two of which were for the sidewalk scramble and the 3rd was screened at the film festival. all well made. some friendships were also done away with. our short-lived affiliation with instant karma studios went up in smoke and everyone affiliated with it all scattered... it was for the best. but out of that meltdown, i actually met more people as well.
i had some relationships that came and went but fortunately there was zero drama or bad vibes. i bought "metal" furniture for my office. i need a big living room rug. i REALLY need to get to nyc again. i didn't shave very often. however i DID shave my head in april.
i normalized my on again off again friendship with my ex, got in touch with a few old friends and kept in touch with others. i framed a bunch of prints and got back into my art-mode. didn't do much photography though. wiseblood did a photo shoot with josh shoemaker that went pretty well. i think my bets look shoot was for either the band stars below or cordova.
city stages weekend was crazy. as was the 06.06.06 nin show. interesting plot twist.
the biggest scene altering event was the opening on bottletree. this place is so unique and vital. i hope that it is successful for decades. its actually made me want to play live again. i'm pondering grad school. i think i want a tan. i started yoga this year. and bought a stand alone dvd burner. the best trip i took was to chicago for my birthday. amazing.
tea is an amazing substance. most of the whiskey in the world is still made by traditional means. i did some editing on some really good records this year.
i started working with/for skybucket records in april may... i've worked on numerous projects and i think they should get tax exempt status.
i might skip nyc and just move directly to europe.
i REALLY wanted to see madonna in concert. i changed my attitude about drugs. i got a stitch in my chest. my knee has been injured since sept. i'm addicted to sun chips, vitamin water, myspace, csi and political news programs.
i was looking forward to reading the OJ book.
entire side projects came and went without ever playing a note. others are in the works. i realized that i'm a great editor of audio, and a decent mixer, but i can't eq worth a damn. vocals are my strong point, production-wise. we came really close to getting hit by an asteroid a few years back.
the vegan chili at bottletree is worth dying for.
most of my friends are women.
i hate my couch and my bathroom.
i need a new cell phone.
the summer went quick, but the fall lasted forever.
some friends and myself are planning a NYE party at bottletree... its going to have an 80's theme. you should drop all of your plans and go with ours.
alas, the 2nd annual shanky awards...
best album: etowah, duquette johnston
best rock (live) band, duo or group: dexateens
best electronic(live)band: the album leaf
dirtiest record made by an old man: neil young's war record
best band PERIOD: the spots
cheesiest rock show that i actually liked: eagles of death metal at the nick
best male pop vocal: (tie) justin timberlake & jamie cullum
best female pop vocal: all those girls in the bridges
number of issues of paste magazine in my apt: 1
number of issues of rolling stone from the 70's and 80's: 52
number of issues of playboy from the 60's and 70's: 41
record that most reminds me that there is nothing new in music, and that REALLY, the last time anything real ever changed in pop music was when this record came out: u2, achtung baby
best beatles bass line: paul mccartney, if i needed someone
best song that through the sparks didn't release: last dispatch
best local group or duo: tie, through the sparks / wild sweet orange
best local live venue: bottletree
worst local live venue: still superior grill... also cave 9 needs work.
cd i can't wait to get for xmas: the beatles - love
artist i listened to the least, which is kinda unlike me: jeff buckley
best 80's groove: robert plant, little by little
best local singer/songwriter or solo artist: tie - preston / duquette
coolest noisy 80's rock song that i want to cover: fascination street, the cure
most surprising artist at city stages, 2006: that emo band from texas with the chic singer
best live shows in 2006: too many to list
most listened to "guilty pleasure" album: the cars, candi-o
best classic rock band of 2006: steely dan
best music oriented re-release: t-rex, born to boogie
best japanese dj: cornelius
best dance remix album that wasn't released in 2006: nin, further down the spiral
tv show i didn't watch any of, but thought i would: grey's anatomy
tv show i was hooked on like a rock monster: jericho
music blog, who's span and influence is most likely to end in a government sanctioned raid / standoff with a commune of people belonging to the musica obscura cult, located about 17 miles south west of las cruces, new mexico: red blondehead
tv news host whom i wish was actually my father: keith oberman
most appreciated interweb development: being able to watch a network tv show anywhere, any time.
best net-based show: YACHT ROCK
most hyped band that i should really like, but i don't: any new band with wolf in their name.
most over produced and uber-hyped mega-band of 2006: the killers
most hilarious lead singer: still that blonde chic from i-nine
most telling sign that the rapture is upon us: paris hilton does a reggae track
best song by xtc: mayor of simpleton
american idol that i'd most like to f&*k: still kelly clarkson
american idol that would most likely want to f&*k me: clay aiken
american idol that OWES ME $28: taylor hicks
the 2006 band that kids are supposed to like, and buy the record, but in actuality... some of their songs kinda suck: caliphone (award formerly given to stereolab)
band that i MISSED seeing live by 8 mins, but that i really wish i'd seen: tv on the radio
most interesting observation i read, during an online chat: "we are talking on IM about a comment of a myspace blog..."
most creative film: the science of sleep
movie i can't believe i haven't seen yet: casino royale
most hyped movie that sorta, eh... kinda... lived up the hype: borat
favorite current video: tv on the radio... the one with all the werewolves
most impressive music software of 2006: (3 way) protools 7, reason and garage band
band most deserving of a lynyrd skynyrd-like plane crash in the woods: evanescence
coolest thing i've noticed in 2006 about a beatles recording: the matching of the orchestra with the rest of the track... which had to be manually pitch shifted, on strawberry fields