• the 30+ sparrows who gather beneath my window every morning for black sunflower seeds – ever thankful
• recording and then performing with Wilie Aron, Emily Wittbrodt & David Nagler at The Bitter End
• the FolkEast Festival – such a generous vibe…meeting Sandy Denny’s daughter, Georgia…playing with Jon Wilks… hanging with Diana Matheou… and in the company of my daughter and niece
• attending a Brooklyn Cyclones baseball game
• playing The Chapel, SF, and McCabes, Santa Monica, during the April tour with Evie Sands and her stellar band
Sarah Cronin – Sarah’s death cast a large shadow over an already shadowy year, terrible and unfair and a huge loss… I suspect this won’t be the only time she is mentioned in this year’s lists, as is only right and proper.
Poker Face – Columbo meets the Littlest Hobo starring a live action version of the girl from Brave, and who could ask for anything more. It’s great!
New music from old bands – Pulp! Stereolab! Allo Darlin! All still wonderful and so much easier than hunting down new bands that sound a bit like them… and new Heavenly next year too!
True Grit Texture Supply – essential and ubiquitous brushes, tools and effects for your graphics package – have spent a LOT of fun hours playing in that sandpit this year
Plumbers- this year I found a good, reliable, affordable plumber and heating engineer- cannot be overstated.
Sade – I love Sade.
Biscuits – yes, biscuits – they are brilliant, especially the cheap own brand ones – what are your favourites? Drop a couple of packs into your basket next time you go for a big shop, and treat yourself when you get home – you deserve it (unless you are a fascist, a billionaire, or a POS PUSA – then you don’t)
Gilmore Tamny (Weather Weapon, The Mystery, The Yips)
These are things that interested and engaged me this year, which I’d recommendo. Some of them came out in 2025, some of them I just discovered this year. No particular order.
TV
Who Hired the Hitman
The Lowdown
Hacks
The Diplomat
Unknown Number: The High School Catfish
Heated Rivalry
An Update on Our Family
Pokerface
Mo
The Task
The Righteous Gemstones
Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke
The Pitt
MOVIES/SPECIALS
The Perfect Neighbor
Deaf President Now!
Taurasi
Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery
Fairyland
The Wedding Banquet
Come See Me in the Good Light
The Baltimorons
PostMortem, Sarah Silverman
Why Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl Halftime Show Is America, Josh Johnson
Happy Gilmore II
Sorry Baby
The Secret Agent
MUSIC/LIVE PERFORMANCE
oof I need to listen to more music, BUT songs I found and liked very much this year and a few live shows:
Manchild, Sabrina Carpenter
Hold On, Ngozi Family
Denial is a River, Doechii
Chappell Roan generally
Scrawl
Ben Hersey, Non-Event show
Major Stars release show for More Colors of Sound
Ravon Chacon performance, ICA
SOCIALS
TIKTOK
· abbey.joselyn
· doggystylinguk
· kobimcnutt
· nicoleolived
· noodyxbums
· ship_spotting_
· journeyofjackson
· yoleendadong
· dpeezy2099
· oceanscary4K
· notoriouscree
INSTA
koreydior_
olya_with_squirrel
african_brutalism
PATREON
Christine Mcconells
The Cottage Fairy
YOUTUBIO
Broadway Barbara
That Practical Mom
Red Squirrel Studios (for cat enrichment–top notch)
BOOKS (all audiobooks FWIW)
The Unfinished Harauld Hughes, Richard Ayoade
Spent a Comic Novel, Alison Bechdel
The Dead of Winter: Beware the Krampus and Other Wicked Christmas Creatures, Sarah Clegg
Birnam Wood, A Novel, Eleanor Catton
History Lessons, Zoe B. Wallbrook
We Solve Murders, Richard Osman
Heartwood, Amity Gage
Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man), Jesse Q. Sutanto
Generation Darkness, Elizabeth Hand
King of Ashes, S.A. Cosby
Margo’s Got Money Troubles, Rufi Thorpe
Sociopath, Patric Gagne
Rental House, Weike Wang
Havoc, Christpoher Bollen
Creation Lake, Rachel Kushner
Perfume and Pain, Anna Dorn
Glory Daze, Danielle Arceneaux
PODCAST
The Rest is Entertainment (I listened to nearly every single episode)
The White Pube
Crissle’s Couch
The Art Angle
Waldy and Bendy
Grits and Eggs Podcast (have not kept up but love what I heard)
Darknet Diary (selective listening but some NUTS stories)
Caley Conway, Partner
Refrigerator, Get Lost
Jeff Parker, The Way Out Of Easy
Mountain Movers, Walking After Dark
The Special Pillow, Meets The Space Monster
Little Hag, Now That’s What I Call Little Hag
Daga Voladora, Los Manantiales
Shady Cove, Part II
Oneida, Expensive Air
Cornelius, Ethereal Essence
Roger Moutenot, Microcosm
Ava Mendoza, The Circular Train
David Nance, David Nance & Mowed Sound
Alan Sparhawk, White Roses My God
Tim Heidecker, Slipping Away
Alan Licht, Havens
Julie Beth Napolin, Only The Void Stands Between Us
Mark Robinson (Teen-Beat Records, Cotton Candy) Kali Malone, All Life Long (record)
Miranda July, All Fours (book)
Kim Gordon, The Collective (record)
Ruben Pater, Caps Lock (book)
hollAnd, Green Text (record)
Katherine Small Gallery (store)
White Manna, Hackensack, NJ (restaurant)
Henry Smith, Film No.18 (Mahagonny) (film)
Bakar, Halo (record)
Escape-ism Black Gold (record)
Mount Kimbie, The Sunset Violent (record)
Ichiro Kishimi, Fumitake Koga, The Courage to Be Disliked (book)
King Krule, Shhhhhhhh! (record)
Papa Slumber’s Top Ten Listens of 2024 (Slumberland Records) Ability II – Rediscovered (I9M)
Autocamper – Blanche (Safe Suburban Home)
Jesse Garon & The Desperadoes – Janice Long Session 11.11.86 (Precious)
Shabaka Hutchings – Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace (Impulse!)
Rachel Love – Lyra (The Cat Collects)
The Moment of Nightfall & Tony Jay – Winter Dream (Kilikilivilla)
Sharp Pins – Radio DDR (Sharp Pins)
Nala Sinephro – Endlessness (Warp)
The Softies – The Bed I Made (Father/Daughter)
v/a – Lost Paradise: Blissed Out Breakbeat Hardcore 1991-94 (Blank Mind)
I’m not going to get any less angry, so here we go:
Fanzines – loads of brilliant photos, pictures and writing, perhaps replacing record sales. Maybe we all need to evolve…
Clairo – get the latest lp if you haven’t already..
now..
really, are you still here?…
go… get the latest Clairo album, come back, read on…
Do not read on without that Clairo lp
YOU GOT IT? Ok, read on
Heavenly – they have returned just when we need them the most – May I be among the first to solemnly declare allegiance to the flag of FUCK YOU NO WAY
Saturday Night Fever – seen for the first time in 2024, after nearly fifty years of being told “it’s not what you think it is” it wasn’t what I thought it was. Led to me listening to a LOT of disco, good and bad, and buying a LOT of paint.
Italian exploitation soundtracks of the 70’s – turns out it’s the best music there is
Despair – we did our best, it was fun while it lasted, but the cunts have been voted in, promoting the far right, buying politicians and media networks – but remember everyone who didn’t vote for it, we stand together, we are here for each other. I don’t know what it means, but if there is anything I can help with I am here – wiaiwya on most media (fuck you billionaires, we will use your networks while we can) – please get in touch – we are here for each other…
The future – it is ours… it has to be.
FUCK YOU NO WAY
Can you say cunt in America? Hope you can’t and you will anyway- because he is one!
Some books from 2024 that I have read/am reading and thoroughly enjoy – not in hierarchical order, but I do love Joni Mitchell more than most things:
• Traveling on the Path of Joni Mitchell by Ann Powers is my fave of the new books I’ve purchased this year because, well, Joni. There is not a wasted syllable in it, and the “traveling” and “path” is an extended metaphor for both Joni and author Ann Powers.
• How Women Made Music includes two photographs by me, but that’s not why I love it. It is an important reference work of NPR dispatches with thorough curation by Alison Fensterstock. I have lost track of how many people who have received this book from me as a gift. If you still haven’t gifted anyone anything yet – I highly suggest How Women Made Music. And sharing good reads isn’t just for Christmas or year-end lists.
• In Under a Rock, Blondie’s co-founder, Chris Stein delivers a delightful valentine to the NYC of his youth. It’s no wonder Blondie was a pioneering musical project. I wish that NYC still existed.
• The surrealist next door, my former neighbor and lifetime icon of pop surrealism, Robyn Hitchcock also paints a picture of his Groover origin story in 1967: How I Got There and Why I Never Left. He made a companion album to go along with it, which is a fave listen as well.
• The Freaks Came Out to Write: The Definitive History of the Village Voice, the Radical Paper That Changed American Culture. I lived in NYC for 20 years, but I read the Village Voice long before and long after I lived there. What a fantastic biography of a print icon! Bravo Tricia Romano onyour widely heralded book!
• Cue the Sun: The Invention of Reality TV by Emily Nussbaum I’ve worked in television, and I grew up in Santa Barbara and witnessed the Loud family open their lives to the PBS series about them – An American Family, which was the first “reality show” in the early 1970s. Emily Nussbaum nailed this on every point; she has been writing about television for a long, long time and deftly connects all the dots. I am a hard one to convince, since this particular example took place in my very hometown at the peak of my snarky teenage phase. Read for yourself, Emily got it right !
• Miss May Does Not Exist: The Life and Work of Elaine May, Hollywood’s Hidden Genius. I have a personal obsession with the films ISHTAR and REDS, which Elaine May wrote, and co-wrote (no on-screen credit for REDS), and so does the author Carrie Courogen who appropriately identifies Elaine May as “Hollywood’s Hidden Genius.” This is a phenomenal effort and it places my head in a space that helps me understand why I am happy when I’m immersed in ironic satire.
Music and Film – Mostly I was underwhelmed this year – too much hype; too little deliverance. That being said, The The in concert was impressive, with the first set being their new album, Ensoulment, and after a brief intermission, a set of hits and fan faves. Way back in January, I saw Elvis Costello & the Imposters put on the best concert (3+ hours!!) I’ve ever seen and heard.
The Umbrellas’ Top 10 San Francisco Date Spots
Hey… February is right around the corner… Love is in the air… Wink wink!1. Musée Mécanique
2. Vesuvio Cafe, City Lights and an Italian dinner
3. Top of the Mark
4. Lands End/ Sutro Baths
5. Audium, and THEN Tommy’s Joynt
6. Free Gold Watch
7. Royal Cuckoo on Sundays
8. Conservatory of Flowers
9. A cable car ride with a tallcan!
10. Giants game at Oracle Park
image courtesy of Theresa Kereakes
Theresa Kereakes, punk photographer and historian When I was a kid, I recall reading a column in TV Guide called “Cheers & Jeers,” and I think that’s what 2023 calls for….
Cheers: The World According to Joan Didion by Evelyn McDonnell.
All my dots connected in this book – California, women writers, inadvertent movers & shakers. The intellectual rigor combined with passion for their respective subject matters from both the author and her subject make this book a must-read. I don’t want it to end. More than a biography, it is a consideration of the times, and how Didion lived and wrote in them.
Maestro – believe it or not! If you know me in real life, you know I am no fan of Bradley Cooper and a huge fan of Leonard Bernstein. With low expectations, I watched it and was not disappointed. I don’t care that Cooper is not Jewish and he wore a prosthetic nose. Movies are smoke and mirrors and if one chooses to criticize on this point, then criticize the superb Irish actor, Liam Neeson for portraying the German Oskar Schindler in Schindler’s List. Bottom line: for a mainstream movie featuring the movie star as actor and director, this was most serviceable and Lenny is introduced to a whole new audience.
Tim: Let it Be Edition – The Replacements. My favorite album of 2023 is a reissue of an 80s record, remastered to sound the way it should. It’s perfect.
Eddie Izzard- The Rewind Tour. It was a delightful time hearing the old sketches and how prescient Izzard’s comedy was in the 80s. Dress to Kill is probably still my favorite stand up performance by anyone- seeing a reprise of “Tea & cake or death?” made my night.
The Algonquin Cat – best thing about Midtown Manhattan- the historic hotel has a cat. His name is Hamlet and whenever I am in NYC, I stop by the hotel JUST FOR THE CAT!
Jeers: War Barbie – subtle as a flying mallet
Media coverage of Taylor Swift’s dating life
For me, the overall vibe of 2023 is “hurry up 2024,” and I dream of more interesting times.
Top 8 shows Seablite went to in 2023
Sweeping Promises – The Chapel, San Francisco (LM)
Underworld – The Warfield, San Francisco (LM)
The Charlatans and Ride – The Fillmore, San Francisco (GT)
Suede – O2 Academy, Glasgow (GT)
Love and Rockets – Fox Theater, Oakland (JM)
Patti Smith – Golden State Theatre, Monterey (JM)
Mo Dotti – Permanent Records, Los Angeles (AP)
Aluminum – The Makeout Room, San Francisco (AP)
Papa Slumber (right) with Nommi and Gaylord, London, 2022 (photo: Gail O’Hara)
Papa Slumber’s Lucky 13 01 Joe Armon-Jones & Maxwell Owin – Archetype (Aquarii)
02 Autocamper – You Look Fabulous! (Discontinuous Innovation)
03 Nat Birchall – The Infinite (Ancient Archive of Sound)
04 The Clientele – I Am Not There Anymore (Merge)
05 John Haycock – Dorian Portrait (Second Thoughts Records)
06 Kode9 / Burial – Infirmary / Unknown Summer (Fabric)
07 The Lost Days – In The Store (Speakeasy Studios)
08 Malombo Jazz Makers – Down Lucky’s Way (Tapestry Works)
09 Primal Scream – Reverberations (Travelling In Time) BBC Radio Sessions & Creation Singles 1985-86 (Young Tiki)
10 The Southern University Jazz Ensemble – Goes To Africa With Love (Now Again)
11 Sam Wilkes & Jacob Mann – Perform The Compositions Of Sam Wilkes & Jacob Mann (Leaving Records)
12 Yaw Evans – The Bits (GD4YA)
13 The Oakland Weekender – great music, great friends, can’t wait to do it again!
Jennifer O’Connor’s favorite records MeShell Ndegeocello – The Omnichord Real Book (Blue Note) Steve Gunn & David Moore – Reflections Vol. 1: Let the Moon Be a Planet (RVNG Intl.) Emahoy Tsege-Mariam Gebru – Jerusalem (Missippippi Records) Armand Hammer – We Buy Diabetic Test Strips (Fat Possum) Feist – Multitudes (Polydor) King Krule – Space Heavy (Matador) Meg Baird – Furling (Drag City) Roge – Curyman (Diamond West) Everything But The Girl – Fuse (Buzzin’ Fly/Virgin) Mitski – The Land Is Inhospitable And So Are We (Dead Oceans)
Rachel Blumberg (drummer): Top Ten Portland Area Pooches Who Have Spent Time At Our Humble Abode, The Two Fir in 2023…
1. Winnie Dean Underberg! We adopted her in November and shortly thereafter learned she is a purebred McNab! Whoever knows what this is without googling it wins a prize. She is so sweet and super smart and we love her so much.
2. Arrow, fur child of Sarah Fennel (Night Brunch) and Matt Sheehy (Lostlander).
3. Tizate, also known as Sweet T, fur child of Joanna Bolme (many, many bands and also Reverse Cowgirl, the country cover band we both play in along with Rebecca Cole), and Gary Jarman (The Cribs). Sweet T quickly made her way to our heart with her snuggling ways and “dead bug in the sun” pose. She came to Joanna and Gary through Street Dog Hero, a great dog rescue organization based in Bend, OR.
4. Ringo, fur child of Adam Selzer (M.Ward, Norfolk & Western, Type Foundry Recording Studio). He is super smart and recently Adam discovered the most hilarious thing. Sometimes his recently baked sourdough bread would go missing. He could never find the missing bags that held said sourdough, until a few weeks ago he found a stash of plastic bags hidden behind the cherry tree in the corner of their yard! RIngo was hiding them there after eating the bread!
5. Sal, fur child of Sam Farrell (Fronjentress, Graves, Curly Cassettes, Family Reunion Music Festival) and Sarah Paradis ( Cush Upholstery)
6. Rankin, fur child of Rankin Renwick (Oregon Department of Kick Ass)
7. Oney, fur child of Cory Gray (Old Unconscious, Graves, Federale) and Nicky Kriara (Niko Far West Ceramics).
8. Bella, my sister’s pup, who is a golden sweetheart.
9. Sufi, my cousin’s pup. Tall elegant black poodle with sweet eyes.
10. Sparky,my father’s pup.
Cheers to these 13 wonderful Music Related Things of 2023 that I either played or enjoyed from the audience!
1. All Girl Summer Fun Band/Lunchbox/Field Drums summer house show in our basement!.
2. Your Heart Breaks/Matt Sheehy Magic Event/Cynthia Nelson Band house show in our courtyard!
3. Multiple shows and tours and recording and releasing a new record (Villagers!) with Califone!
4. Friday night happy hour shows at the Laurelthirst drumming with Michael Hurley!
5. Two shows at Turn Turn Turn! with Field Drums, the first featuring Jeffrey’s songs based on Shel Silverstein poems, and the second with our new bass player! Recording in 2024 is the goal!
6. Drumming and singing with the Cynthia Nelson Band at our house hosw and at Turn Turn Turn! on many several occasions!
7. Playing with Old Unconscious at the Curly Cassette Family Reunion Music Festival at Camp Wilkerson in August. Playing with GSO there too!
8. Reverse Cowgirl shows and rehearsals. SO fun. Country dance covers with a band of ringers (Joanna Bolme, Rebecca Cole, Anita Elliot and Arrin Schoedinger)
9. ESG at Polaris Hall!
10. The Papercuts at Mississippi Studios!
11. The Softies at Polaris Hall!
12. Quasi at The Doug Fir!
13. Yo La Tengo (two nights) at The Wonder Ballroom!
Michael Azerrad (author): Ten Best Vegetables of 2023 Puntarelle
Castelfranco radicchio
Salad Bowl lettuce
Sugar Snap peas
Leeks
Corn
Shishito peppers
La Ratte fingerling potatoes
Brussels sprouts
Fiddlehead ferns
CF contributor Julie Underwood’s Top 10 Albums:
boygenius – the record
Olivia Rodrigo – Guts
SZA – SOS
Mitski – The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We
L’Rain – I Killed Your Dog
Girl Ray – Prestige
The Tubs – Dead Meat
The Reds, Pinks and Purples – The Town That Cursed Your Name
En Attendant Ana – Principia
Jess Williamson – Time Ain’t Accidental
Lyle Hysen (the Royal Arctic Institute, Das Damen):
Thomas Mosher (My Lil Underground label, A Certain Smile): Top 10 Daycare Plagues we survived this year:
1) Covid (again) [all of us]
2) RSV (all of us)
3) Hand, Foot, and Mouth (Me and Tilly)
4) Influenza A (Me and Tilly so far)
5) Ear Infection (just Tilly)
6) Sinus infection (Me from RSV)
7) double bout of Food Poisoning (Me and Justine)
8) Medication Allergy Rash (Just Tilly)
9) at least half a dozen colds (all of us)
10) there is still 4 days so we will see…
Photo via Shawn B
(OG CF cartoonist) Shawn Belschwender’s Best 2023 “New to Me” Reading discoveries:
Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner (1926). Title character is tired of being a dependable aunt. In midlife, moves to a remote village. Joins a coven. Speaks to the Devil himself and discovers him to be rather stupid, but also, and more importantly, that he will leave her alone. From the Devil, and even the well-meaning, Lolly Willowes wishes to escape.
Lynne Tillman. You’ll know whether or not you’ll like Lynne Tillman if you read her “By the Book” in the NYTimes, as I did. I thought it was one of the best of those things they’ve published. This year I picked up and read What Would Lynne Tillman Do? (a collection of her nonfiction, from 2014) and her novel Men and Apparitions (2018), in which she diagnoses us, through her ethnographer narrator, as The Picture People. Men and Apparitions is about images and their place in our lives, and men and their place in the world after/under feminism. Next Tillman book I am going to track down and read: Weird Fucks.
Some of the tracks I listened to the most in 2023:
“A Sleep With No Dreaming,” k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang, from their album Sing it Loud (2011). Possibly my favorite track on definitely my favorite k.d. lang album, which I think is a tour de force. I got into k.d. lang that first pandemic summer, when I was coming unglued, but it took me until this year to hook on to this album in particular, hard.
“If I Could Breathe Underwater (feat. Mary Lattimore), Marissa Nadler, from her album The Path of Clouds (2021). I would insist that this is objectively Marissa Nadler’s best song. That it features another of my favorite musicians, Mary Lattimore, is a bonus. I saw Mary Lattimore at The Colony in Woodstock, NY in 2022, and it is one of the concert-going highlights of my life. Anyway, I built a “Summer” playlist around this track and the k.d. lang above, I love them both so much.
If you want to talk masterpieces, that Purple Mountains album is one, and the death of David Berman is a tragedy, I don’t need to tell you. I listened to “Nights That Won’t Happen” from it the most.
I was confused when Saint Etienne was at its peak, owing to the Fox Base Alpha album cover, which made them look like they were Camera Obscura only not good (I like Camera Obscura). There was just too much knitwear for me to digest, at the moment. Finally, I downloaded all the Saint Etienne, and now I can’t get enough of “Nothing Can Stop Us.” I was then thrilled to stumble upon the Dusty Springfield track it samples from (“I Can’t Wait Until I See My Baby’s Face”).
“Au début c’était le début (feat. Bertrand Belin)”, The Limiñanas & Laurent Garnier, from the album De Película (2021). One day, before I die or they die, I wish to travel to France specifically to see The Limiñanas and Bertrand Belin perform, separately or together. If I could only see one, it would be Bertrand Belin. Sadly, I can’t find my fellow Belin Heads in the USA, and Limiñanas freaks are thin on the ground here, so I understand that I have to go to them.
“Anti-glory” by Horsegirl, from Versions of Modern Performance (2022). Wouldn’t have known about them if Gail O’Hara hadn’t alerted me to their existence. I missed a chance to meet ’em and take their picture, but it was the second pandemic spring and I was in the process of moving and falling fully apart. Are they referencing Conan O’Brien in this? Or the Barbarian? I don’t know what the lyrics mean, but I don’t care too much.
“Billy Jack,” Curtis Mayfield, from There’s No Place Like America Today (1975). It was written after that embarrassing movie Billy Jack, but it has nothing to do with it. “Ah, it can’t be no fun / Can’t be no fun / To be shot, shot with a handgun.” This is true. Peak Mayfield I’d known nothing about until this year.
Leftover flank steak, fried eggs, homemade tortillas, Air BnB, Napa CA
5-minute egg, rye toast, off-season strawberries, home in SF
Peanut butter toast, my sister’s car after various ocean swims*
*most frequent
Clare Wadd’s Books I Read in 2021: the ones I loved and the ones that will stay with me 1. Dreamland, Rosa Rankin-Gee 2. I Belong Here: A Journey Along the Backbone of Britain, Anita Sethi 3. Small Pleasures, Clare Chambers 4. The Doll Factory, Elizabeth Macneal 5. My Rock ’n’ Roll Friend, Tracey Thorn 6. Skint Estate: A Memoir of Poverty, Motherhood and Survival, Cash Carraway 7. Fake Accounts, Lauren Oyler 8. The Pursuit of Love, Nancy Mitford 9. Mort Sur La Lande (Vera), Ann Cleaves/Claire Breton 10. Pirenesi, Susanna Clarke With apologies to the boys as none of them made the cut
Photo courtesy of Beth
Beth Arzy’s Top 13 Records The Shop Window, The State of Being Human Lancashire Bombers, Into the Sun Wild Billy Childish & CTMF, Where the Wild Purple Iris Grows The Umbrellas, The Umbrellas Massage, Still Life Hadda Be, Another Life Reds, Pinks and Purples, Uncommon Weather Swansea Sound, Live at the Rum Puncheon The Jazz Butcher, The Highest in the Land The Catenary Wires, Birling Gap Durand Jones & the Indications, Private Space Chime School, Chime School Shoestrings, Expectations Beth plays in The Luxembourg Signal, Jetstream Pony, Lightning in a Twilight Hour
Michael Azerrad’s Ten Best Vegetables and Fruits of 2021 1. Snap peas 2. Peaches 3. Ramps 4. Borlotti beans 5. Corn 6. Small russet potatoes* 7. Heirloom tomatoes 8. Golden Russet apples 9. Lion’s mane mushrooms** 10. Red Boston lettuce * Higher skin-to-flesh ratio ** Yes, I know they’re technically not a vegetable or fruit.
Photo courtesy of Gilmore
Gilmore Tamny’s Chronicle of Things of Note 2021 List. 1. I started talking to myself more, drinking my coffee black, painting in earnest, eating lots of wavy potato chips, wearing eye makeup (per resolution 2021), and getting up at 5:30 a.m. 2. Turns out, I like ambient/ASMR video. There are a lot of crackling fireplaces and candles. Are the auteurs morally obligated to show responsible fire safety? I found this question more central to ethical code than I would have thought. 3. I drank coffee and made a to-do list at about 6:00 a.m. while watching a pre-recorded video of myself drinking coffee and making a to-do list about 6:00 a.m. on youtube as part of the Non-Event TV 24-Hour Fundraiser 4. I decided I wanted to grow my hair long at least once before I croak, whether it is flattering or not. 5. I enjoyed hearing Mero (of Desus and Mero) describe watching the Jan. 6 insurrection. 6. My tomato plant grew and grew and grew and finally produced one single chestnut-sized tomato. 7. Cottagecore? Hmmm. 8. I need a soap dish and discovered in resulting search I have a fairly narrow and inflexible idea of the soap dish I want. 9. Was on the receiving end of possibly the dirtiest look someone’s ever given me. No threat, –just weary disgust. 10. After watching and reading about secret societies in history, I tried to figure out a way to talk about secret societies without sounding credulous. Harder than I might have thought. 11. I found a good gingerbread recipe. Works very well with substitutes to make it vegan. 12. I discovered a friend was named after the Hawthorne story “The Old Stone Face.” 13. Learned: always close the door – car door, outside door to your building, your own apt./condo door – and lock it behind you (watch enough true crime—you’ll take my point). Stalin was involved in a bank robbery. My cat doesn’t just want me to throw any toy—but a specific toy—bouncy ball not wool ball, rattle mousekins not stuffed mousekins, etc. Hull isn’t where I thought it was. Lenin and Trotsky were Freemasons. 14. Sciatica. 15. While practicing genuine gratitude for having a roof overhead, union job, good human friends, and cat friend, I stopped smothering my distress to death with gratitude. 16. Miriam Toews’ book Fight Night is great. Gilmore Tamny lives and works and frets in Boston, MA.
Mike Slumberland: The list nobody wants… my top new jazz/jazz-adjacent records of 2021 1. Nat Birchall – Ancient Africa (Ancient Archive of Sound) 2. Tara Clerkin Trio – In Spring (World of Echo) 3. Emanative & Liz Elensky – The Volume Of The Light (Home Planet) 4. Sam Gendel – Fresh Bread (Leaving) 5. Makaya McCraven – Deciphering The Message (Blue Note) 6. Natural Information Society – Descension (Eremite) 7. Sons of Kemet – Black To The Future (Impulse!) 8. Emma-Jean Thackray – Yellow (Movementt) 9. Rosie Turton – Expansions and Transformations: Part I & II (no label) 10. Wildflower – Better Times (Tropic of Love)
Photo courtesy of Angelina
Angelina Capodanno’s 2021 lists (Team CF, also Sony Music / Legacy Creative + Packaging, Brooklynite, Destroyer’s #1 fan)
My favorite 2021 albums: 1. Hand Habits – Fun House 2. Bachelor – Dooming Sun 3. Cory Hanson – Pale Horse Rider 4. Wednesday – Twin Plagues 5. Colleen – The Tunnel and the Clearing 6. The Mountain Movers – World What World 7. ANIKA – Change 8. Dry Cleaning – New Long Leg 9. Dummy – Mandatory Enjoyment 10. Painted Shrines – Heaven & Holy
Plus 13 more albums I liked a lot: Nightshift – Zoe The Goon Sax – Mirror II Pip Blom – Welcome Break Lewsberg – In Your Hands Kiwi Jr – Cooler Returns Mdou Moctar – Afrique Victime Jane Weaver – Flock John Andrews and the Yawns – Cookbook Caleb Landry Jones – Gadzooks Vol 1 Snapped Ankles – Forest of Your Problems Weak Signal – Bianca Goat Girl – On All Fours Circuit does Yeux –io
Favorite Concerts Yo La Tengo Hanukkah + Low + Fred Armisen @Bowery Ballroom Yo La Tengo Hanukkah + 11th Dream Day + Joe Pera @Bowery Ballroom Young Guv @ Cat’s Cradle Back Room Sweeping Promises @ Cat’s Cradle Back Room Wet Leg @ Baby’s All Right Mdou Moctar @Motorco Music Hall
Favorite things I watched: PEN15 The Velvet Underground The Wire The White Lotus Syracuse’s surprise Sweet 16 run in the 2021 NCAA tourney The Card Counter Insecure Curb Your Enthusiasm Breaking Bad
Favorite things I read: But You Seemed So Happy – Kimberly Harrington Love and Trouble – Claire Dederer Empty: A Memoir – Susan Burton Blow Your House Down – Gina Frangello Somebody’s Daughter – Ashley C Ford Sleepovers – Ashleigh Bryant Phillips Detransition, Baby – Torrey Peters
Favorite Podcasts The Experiment Let’s Talk to Lucy The Devil’s Candy: The Plot Thickens Radiolab – Mixtape Ali on The Run Running Rouge Shattered
