2008 in Review

Hey guys, the blog is back. Here is the 2008 year-in-review:

I got engaged! Rachel and I are living together and absolutely loving every bit of it. We are also planning a wedding which is going really well. She is now used to Ames and Iowa State for the most part and progressing towards a degree in community and public health.

As for me, I began 2008 again at Iowa State and am still progressing towards my master’s which should be just months away. I also took on the job of Maintenance Shop director. There were lots of great experiences involved. Seeing and speaking with really great bands and individuals including Jonathan Richman, Oxford Collapse, Bishop Allen, Joe Price, The Dutchess and the Duke, The New Year, The Uglysuit, and HENRY ROLLINS! Lots of work but lots of payoff.

Hey, let’s talk about politics. We have a new president, but we had a lot of other crazy stuff to make it to that point. Remember when Tom Vilsack was running for president? That was fun. Actually, my year started with the Iowa Caucuses. It came down to Sen. Obama as the victor, followed by Sen. Edwards, followed by Sen. Clinton. Remember when Mitt Romney was running for president? That was fun. On the Republican side there was some interesting things that came along as well—remember when Fred Thompson was running for president? That was fun (boring). Either way, the races on both sides continued for quite some time which made the circus of words that much more interesting or tiresome, depending on the viewer’s mood. It came down to Sen. McCain and Sen. Obama, the latter being the victor, for which I am pleased.

We also saw the beginning of two conflicts between Israel and Palestine. Unfortunately only one came to somewhat of a close and the other continues. Another conflict between Russia and Georgia began, but the Olympics were too interesting, even for our own Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice who used some fightin’ words but failed to actually do anything. She did meet Michael Phelps though!

That is enough gloating and/or bashing. Let’s get to the fun stuff (at least for me). The following are my picks for the best music of the year in no particular order:

Top Ten:

Fleet Foxes :: Fleet Foxes

TV on the Radio :: Dear Science

Blitzen Trapper :: Furr

Cut Copy :: In Ghost Colours

Fuck Buttons :: Street Horrrsing

Girl Talk :: Feed the Animals

Frightened Rabbit :: The Midnight Organ Fight

The Dutchess and the Duke :: She’s the Dutchess, He’s the Duke

The Mae Shi :: Hlllyh

No Age :: Nouns

Next Ten:

Okkervil River :: The Stand Ins

Wolf Parade :: At Mount Zoomer

My Morning Jacket :: Evil Urges

Li’l Wayne :: Tha Carter III

Crystal Castles :: Crystal Castles

Black Moth Super Rainbow :: Dandelion Gum

Portishead :: Third

Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks :: Real Emotional Trash

Lykke Li :: Youth Novels

Deerhunter :: Microcastle

2008 Mixtape (as meant to be played):

1. Fleet Foxes :: White Winter Hymnal

2. Bon Iver :: Skinny Love

3. The Helio Sequence :: Lately

4. Vampire Weekend :: Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa

5. Cut Copy :: Out There on the Ice Hearts

6. Hot Chip :: Read for the Floor

7. Estelle :: American Boy [Featuring Kanye West]

8. Kanye West :: Love Lockdown

9. Lykke Li :: Tonight

10. Blitzen Trapper :: Furr

11. The Dutchess and the Duke :: Reservoir Park

12. Santogold :: You’ll Find a Way

13. Clipse :: S.L.U.

14. Li’l Wayne :: A Milli

15. Portishead :: Machine Gun

16. Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks :: Dragonfly Pie

17. TV on the Radio :: Golden Age

18. MGMT :: Time to Pretend

19. My Morning Jacket :: Touch Me I’m Going to Scream Part 2

20. Frightened Rabbit :: The Modern Leper

You can check out all of these tracks on imeem.com.

I hope you like the list. Let me know your favorites!

Also, make sure to check the M-Shop schedule and justify our existence. Please. Thanks.

Blog Password!

So I found my blog password and here is my first post in, yes, a very very long time. Soon I will be putting up my reaction to 2008, including music, politics, and general world events. I'm back--hopefully for more than two blogs a year!

Until then.

Grave Digging

Hey everybody. I hope everything is going well. I am at work on my fifth consecutive 11pm to 7am (graveyard) shift at the main desk of Iowa State's Memorial Union. Here are a few observations:
*Both Radiohead's In Rainbows and Panda Bear's Person Pitch sound really, really good echoing in empty, vaulted, seasoned hallways.
*nbc.com just posted all three seasons (1960, 1961, and 1962) of the Alfred Hitchcock Hour program for free viewing. They're pretty intense. Mr. Hitchcock does little bits before and after commerical breaks that are dark and halarious. The very first episode has a now-famous actor whose name rhymes with Gobert Bedford.
*The night custodial staff at the Memorial Union have some interesting stories and perspectives on life and I am in the better for having heard them.
*Booking agents generally do not return emails during the hours of 11pm and 7am central time. To be honest, no one really does--and they are in the better for it.
*Sleeping during the day is difficult when windows are not covered by blankets or sheets and when the body is not under the influence of perscribed muscle relaxers that are better at being sleep aids than their intended purpose.
*If someone really loves you, they (she in this case) will send you (me in this case) a half-asleep text message at 3:17am to tell you just that.
Speaking of booking agents, the M-Shop stuff is going pretty well. I have run into some disappointments, mostly because 195 Iowa State students and/or others would likely not pay $32 each to see an artist that will be opening for Sir Elton John in Europe coming up here--I do not blame them, I blame the bad luck. At times I feel that I am too ambitious in my hopes and band selection and I should accept the fact that some bands are just too big for the M-Shop. That's a hard realization for me because I really do love the venue and I would love for any of you to visit me there sometime. Thanks.
Hey! Next week I get to go to Pennsylvania with Rachel and the gang (her family--I thought Rachel and the gang sounded cool). We will be away for about a week and we hope to visit my old haunts in the District and Hershey, Pennsylvania, the place where chocolate was invented (by "chocolate" in this case I mean American, mass produced chocolate...not that there's anything wrong with that*). I'm pretty excited.

###Political Part!!!!###
As most of you probably already know, I am not a huge fan of Senator John McCain. But honestly, besides his riding around in a bus called the "Straight Talk Express" (which I believe is fueled by the tears of Iraqi children and bullshit), his denouncement of America's use of torture on anyone as a result of his own imprisonment an torture during the Vietnam War followed by his recent vote against a bill that would outlaw torture by the United States, and his overall dickitude, he is not that bad, right? Oh, and then there is his anger issues. Oooooooook. I can hear the opponents to my views now--"you crazy liberals using 'facts' to try to 'prove things.' I hear Barak HUSSEIN Obama," (this being yelled with incorrect pronunciation, obviously), "is a Muslim!" (also pronounced incorrectly) (and possibly yelled by Iowa Representative Steve King). Everybody knows that all black people with non-European names are Muslims--that's just a no brainer, people. I really do think that it is sadly halarious to think that with nothing but his Christian pastor Jeremiah Wright and Christian preacher Michael Pfleger on the 24-hour news networks as well as the major networks, people still believe that Senator Obama is a Muslim. Ha ha...mmmm.
I hope your summers are going well and that I will be able to catch up with you at some point over the summer. Maybe party in Ames some weekend--you come, we drink beers, we smile, fun, yes?
Yes.

Lou Dobbs is still an idiot

After Sen. Obama's speech that has been, probably a bit too strongly, the speech of the century, Lou Dobbs argues that America is the most progressive country in the world...and makes it pretty evident that he is a "cotton p..." racist. Check it out here. Also, I do feel that Sen. Obama's speech was pretty well written and presented--try to find another person, politician, entertainer, social activist, elected or unelected official, who has spoken on race with the same candor, intelligence, and directness.

Good.

"Stay gold, Ponyboy"

I feel like I always start these with, "well, it's been a long time since the last time..." I usually forget my password to be able to post another in the interim. I really have to get out of school. Hey! Guess what the benefit of being in school is--getting to make decisions over what bands come to my favorite venue. Yes, I have received the opportunity to be the M-Shop co-director next semester. I already have a list of bands that I would like to invite and I am welcome to your suggestions as well, but you will have to remember that I am a music snob and the M-Shop has a fixed budget. In other M-Shop news, this Thursday will be my 40th concert there--Thao Nguyen and the Get Down Stay Down opening for Xiu Xiu. I am excited.

In other news, the Democratic primary process is still going on. I really do not think that either candidate is unfavorable. Of course, one is dealing with the double standard that comes with being a woman in America and the other is a nearly equal departure from the norm (as well as being best friends forever with "the terrrrsts," oh western Iowa, will you never leave the 1950s?). Some people say it is lasting too long or hurting the party, but, as long as the beloved 24-hour, and otherwise, news networks do not crush any public spirit the people might hold and the candidates themselves do not follow suit, the excitement of the primary season should carry into the general election. My applause to Sen. McCain for proposing that the campaign financing process is a bit more under wraps with both major party candidates accepting government funds instead of the millions to be spent otherwise. It should be fun.

In worse, but expected, news, the president recently sent his final budget request to Congress. As most of you know, public broadcasting has a special place in my heart--growing up without cable, with traditional mail being faster than email, Sesame Street still one of my favortite shows, and the internship--it still bothers me to see this report: "It’s a familiar dance: for eight straight years, the Bush administration has proposed deep cuts in federal funds for public broadcasting, and seven times so far, Congress has restored them." Yes, even during the years of Republican leadership and majority, funds were restored. So why the cuts? Continued, the education budget request is no rosy picture either--in the seven years of No Child Left Behind there has been a cumulative shortfall in funds of $70.9 billion. As for college students, especially from low and middle economic classes, the Pell Grants have been stagnant: "From 2003 to 2006, the maximum Pell Grant award was frozen at $4,050 while the cost of higher education shot up 22 percent" when it was promised to increase by $290 this year, which it is not proposed to do.
If you would like, you can check out the summary of the president and former Representative from Iowa and current Budget Director Jim Nussle's proposal here. One specifically comic area is the one entitled "A Record of Economic Success--But Challenges Ahead" or you could learn about the 74% increase in the Department of Defense budget from 2001, and a total amount of $651 billion. Yay! Now let's look at Agriculture ($95 billion), Veteran's Affairs ($92 billion), Education ($63.5 billion), and the Department of State ($39 billion, $4.8 billion going to "Foreign Military Financing"). Not so yay.

I guess I cannot get too in the dumps, the economy is booming, right Mr. President? No? Ok. Well, at least you know how to and are happy (because of his record number of vacation days during his presidency along with many other records) enough to dance.

When the plane is going down and you, the passenger, do not have a built-in parachute in your siut, remember to "stay gold, Ponyboy."