Unbelievably, some right-wingers openly supported the officers who, here in America, pepper-sprayed college students sitting and protesting in solidarity on a college campus in California. In 2011. The year that Egyptian and Libyan and Tunisian citizens took down their oppressive governments through the power of mass protest. Let me repeat: Americans actually came to the defense of the people spraying these helpless kids. This is my most lasting memory of the year. I would say I weep for our future, but for fuck's sake, if people don't see the wrong in this, is there anything left to weep for?
Dogs in the capital howling at dawn Someone's driving by with the radio on Someone making noise from the center of town You kick em in the head and you kick em when they're down
And you don't serve the people
50 million souls living underground 50 million people gonna float gonna drown From the north, further north where.... Kids were making noise with their generators on and the cops said move along
Serve the people Won't anyone want to know They don't serve the people Keeping everything under control
And it's diamonds and gold for the idiot sons All the privileged thieves gonna make things run Well I believe in heart and apocalypse sound You kick em in the head and you kick em when they're down
And you don't serve them
You don't serve them You don't serve the people No, you don't serve them No, no, you don't serve the people
Singing oh my god, waiting here so long I'm feeling changed, I feel a change
The race for Vague Space song of the year was incredibly tight between the top four tracks on this chart (which also nicely mirror the top four albums of the year) but alas a decision had to be made and since I fell one way for album, I fell the other way for song so without further ado, here's my favorite track of 2011...
1. "Barnes' Yard" The Rural Alberta Advantage
This track was actually also on the list in 2009 in its Daytrotter form but with the full-out rock band this song turned out to be a surprising favorite on the album among so many great tracks. It's less than 2 and 1/2 minutes long, tells a story from the band's lead singer's childhood, and it just flat out fucking kills. I dare you to listen to this song and not immediately want to turn up the volume. Just brilliant.
I've spent the past 2 weeks "recovering" from my foot surgery but it's been largely a nightmare. The first few days were a blur of Percocet and pain, trying to last 4 hours between doses and trying in vain to sleep through the night. I also had 2 presentations to do for work the next week with no one else at the company that could do them so I had pretty much zero time off. After surgery. Not good times. The next few days were a mixture of trying to ween myself off the heavier doses so my mind could recover enough to focus but the pain in the foot was still pretty intense and actually got worse on the side of the foot where the surgery didn't occur. I went back to the doctor to have him look at what was causing that pain, and in the process he removed the medical wrap that had been on the foot since the surgery to reveal a grossly swollen, miscolored, hideous stump where my foot used to be -- I seriously thought they'd have to amputate... but the doctor assured me this was a perfectly normal appearance a week after the surgery he performed and without the wrap on, the other side of my foot should lessen in pain. Which it did. So there's that. I got off the Percocet a day later so the past few days have at least been better for the rest of my body/mind, but it's really only today that the foot itself doesn't quite hurt so bad all all the time. Again, the doctor says it's normal and that the X-rays (which he showed me -- there's a goddamn piece of metal in the middle of my big toe now) showed everything progressing fine, so it's really just up to me to be patient and let my body heal on its own. But I'm not patient. Nor a good patient. These past 2 weeks have been absolute hell.
This was an incredibly great year for music through about mid-June and then in my opinion the bottom fell out and there were scant new releases to rave about in the second half. While M83, Beirut, and Dan Mangan made the top ten with strong fall albums, they were the exception and some of the only ones to show up anywhere on this list with an album out after June. So 2011 was I guess a disappointment for me in indie music. Not to mention this year saw the "official" end of Wolf Parade and Sunset Rubdown -- two of the bands that basically powered this blog for the past half decade -- as well as veteran indie rock favorites Broken Social Scene and The Decemberists (officially an extended hiatus). There was some new blood, though, as the top of the list features bands on their first or second albums, including a guy who you might have heard me mention here before. Onto the list after the jump...
This guy is leading in polls for the GOP nomination for president right now. This guy. Or should I say this outright racist, misogynistic, scumbag, hypocritical, has-been, money-grubbing, lout of a human being even his fellow GOP colleagues all find despicable is leading the GOP presidential nomination race right now. But yeah, the Tea Party aren't a bunch of dumb racist assholes. Just those they seem to support are. No, let me take that back. Herman Cain and Michelle Bachmann weren't racist. And Newt's not dumb. His ideas are about the most idiotic I've ever heard, although compared to Cain and Bachmann he sounds like a genius. And compared to Rick Perry, my neighbor's labrador is a genius. Well done, Tea Party. Well done, Republicans. For fuck's sake how in the world the Democrats manage to lose any race anywhere to these neanderthals is beyond me. Seriously, just watch this clip. This guy is leading the GOP nomination right now, just a couple weeks out from the Iowa caucuses.
The Rural Alberta Advantage presents a 9-minute extended video version of one of my favorite songs of the year, which I wrote about here. Awesome. Just awesome. Written & directed by Scott Cudmore.
Hmm... OK, well other than Adam Sandler's dated music all I could come up with is a bunch of songs about candles. And a song to celebrate the food that Jewish people eat on Christmas. Oh, and I also have this song about the author of Bee Season. Enjoy?
#3 Syracuse saw #2 Ohio State go down to Kansas early in the day on Saturday and #1 Kentucky go down to Indiana on a last second 3-pointer after the start of their game against George Washington, which turned into an 85-50 blowout for the Orange, who are 10-0 to start the season for the third straight year and are about to be #1 during the season for just the 2nd time in history (following a 1-week stay in 2010). And you know what? They are that good. With all the off-the-court distractions surrounding an assistant coach (which has nothing to do with the current players on the team) and the shaky end to last season (round of 32 loss to Marquette) and the loss of the best player on the team to graduation (Rick Jackson), I wasn't quite sure this would turn into something special. But they really are that good. This version of Syracuse Orange basketball, for the 2nd time in 3 years, is good enough to win it all. And this year's team has something that the 2010 squad did not have, a something that killed it in the postseason after Arinze Onuaku went down with a knee injury and we had freshman center DaShonte Riley playing significant minutes for the first time in his career in a loss to Butler (who went on to the NCAA Finals). Onuaku graduated, Riley redshirted the following year and then transferred because the team that currently wears the Orange is too good for him to even sniff a shot at playing time. For the first time in Jim Boeheim's career (or at least the first time I can remember), this Orange team has depth. Amazingly talented depth. And they are poised to go a long way.
After I recover from my foot surgery, I'm putting my house on the market and planning a move, which has been in the planning stages for a while now and at some point (like when my house is sold), I will have to decide where to move to. Because most likely the people who buy my house will not want me to live there anymore. So yeah. Decision. I've looked at Manhattan, Brooklyn, Princeton, Jersey City, East Windsor, West Windsor, North Windsor (which is probably in Connecticut) and the greater tri-state area. But I've most likely narrowed my choices to (a) the same wonderful town I live in right now and have lived in for close to 15 years and why would I want to leave, or (b) the "hometown" of Yo La Tengo, where I would rent for a year to see if I would really love living in/or near NYC as much as I think I would but I'd still be in Jersey and a quick hop on the Turnpike to come see my friends in Central Jersey as much as I currently do. So we'll see. But this RMF isn't so Random I guess.
Come on, let's leave our misery And crawl toward where we want to be Can't we try? Can't we try? Come on, sleep one night peacefully Then I'll yawn all day easily and rest up my mind
