A list, or sorts

Hi. I'm John, friend of Paul, friend of the Paulies. This year I lived for the most part in rural West Virginia, and most the music that hit my ears came from old cds and a great fiddle playin' workmate of mine. The best new song I heard this year had to be "There's a Crawdad on my Dick", as sung by Abram Racine. Trust me, it's epic, and hopefully coming to I-Tunes any day.

Everyone seems to be begging off this year in terms of music, pop culture, et cetera, and I'll be the latest to do so. I think that I've listened to one new album this year, Sunset Rubdown, that a friend burned for me. It was good, but served as background music during its listen. And the "I'm Not There" soundtrack, which is excellent, in large part thanks to Sonic Youth, a Paul favorite. There are a few things that I've unearthed this year that I think are valuable, and I'll move on to 'em.

The Exquisite Benefits of College Radio

I arrived back in Boston in time for the holidays and have spent an inordinate amount of time driving around in my truck, visiting family, friends, and various mountains. My truck is beautiful, but only has a radio (no tape, cd, or ipod hookup going on). What originally seemed a downer became a major boon when i changed my view (and my dial) and found Emerson College's radio station on the dial. I had always thought of college radio as a bit too esoteric for my tastes, but I'm a convert. Here I've heard many, many, many! new songs, just no full albums. Mixed in things like new Dr. Dog and Iron and Wine are old hits from Gram Parsons and Stevie Wonder and old Modest Mouse. So good! And no advertisements!

When I tire of this station (or when my seventeen year old cousin is riding shotgun, which happens surprisingly often) we go to more mainstream venues, where I like the Kanye song I've heard and surprisingly never turn away from the new Jack Johnson song ("eyes like that", or something). Eyes are kind of underrated, I think, of late, and maybe so is Mr. Johnson. And I heard every top 40 hit of this spring from riding around in vans with wild eighth graders and they were all pretty garbage from what I remember...

The Ponderous Evils of College Radio

A Cappella hour. What. The. Fuck. I mean, I'm pretty sure that A Cappella loses all of its charm when not viewed live, if it has any charm in the first place. The sheer democracy of college radio, the well-springs that feed everything good about college radio, is also to blame for bringing you shit like this. Does anyone want to hear this? Even for irony's sake? Did someone donate 100 grand with the stipulation that several hours each week had to be devoted to A Cappella and showtunes? I mean, I love the "tender spot" (not its real name: whatever it is, it's devoted to soul music and always brings an image of panties to my mind along with Mos Def and "Bad Mamma Jamma" to my ears) and some of their other bits, but A Cappella must not take away my only radio station for hours a week! You reap what you sow, assholes! (I was going to pun on "if you sow A Capella, you reap dischord", but it seems kind of lame and certainly not angry enough.

The Benefits of 19th Century Novels

Ever since I was given a collection of Dickens' novels in seventh grade I've been leery of this entire century's novels. Then a year ago I was a serial reader of Jane Austen's novels which collectively blew me away. I read Moby Dick this year, which was surprisingly modern and unsurprisingly good. And I'm as close to becoming a Francophile as I'll ever be. Early this year I read several of Flaubert's novels (they were handsomely recommended by Mark Cummins in last year's Paulies), which were good, especially Bovary. But the last month of my year was in large part devoted to Stendahl (and getting too boozy at Christmas parties. Any connections here?) The Charterhouse of Parma was my favorite book I read this year, only possibly outdone by Stendahl's The Red and the Black. These books, especially Charterhouse, are in that uncharted area where realism and fairytales converge and are hilarious and most savage in their mockery. Cummins on Flaubert:
"His misanthropy is inspiring, a testimony against society that in its absolute materialism is bleaker than anything I've ever read without at all being nihilist in spirit."

Mark, you have to read Stendahl. His books aren't as perfectly composed as Flaubert's, but this ends up as a merit. The most generous and merciless, the most romantic and realistic novels I've read in a long, long time.

Movies I saw this year that you should see

The only films I saw this year were The Darjeeling Limited and I'm Not There. Both are well worth watching.

Runnin' This Rap Shit

I listened to lots of older rap in the past year. Atmosphere, Lauryn Hill, Common (Sense), and Talib Kwali are all pretty great.

And There's Always Next Year

Magnetic Fields, Steve Malkmus, and the Silver Jews, my personal indie triumvirate, are all putting out new albums this year. Dave Berman, the lead singer of the Silver Jews, promises his release to be "Faux Heroic", or at least "Foe Heroic". Kind of dickboy (it's indie rock, right?), but I can't wait.

That's all for now.

-J