Favorite Tracks of 2010

This is by no way a definitive list of the best music of 2010. There is so much music out there and I'm positive that I've missed the majority of it, but this is me trying to sum up my year in JAMS.

The Apartment is Furnished!

I moved to Chicago about 6 weeks ago and I am pleased to say that the place is now fully furnished! This is a small studio for sure, but the neighborhood/location more than make up for it.

The dresser, tv, and bed.

The screen print from Ork Posters.

The "Dining Room"

The couch/guest bed

15 Fall/Winter Tracks

Let's get mellow with some old and new:

The Radio Dept - The One (Free Download)

The Break and Repair Method - Calling All American Prints

Badly Drawn Boy - The Shining

Kings of Convenience - I Don't Know What I Can Save You From (Röyksopp Remix)

Luscious Jackson - Why Do I Lie

Mazzy Star - Fade Into You

Fiona Apple - Shadowboxer

Ryan Adams - Dear Chicago

Wilco - Sky Blue Sky

Tarkio - If I Had More Time

Erik Balkey - Virginia

Greg Laswell - The One I Love

The New Amsterdams - Full Thunder Moon

Band of Horses - On My Way Back Home

The Radio Dept - On Your Side

9 Favorite Films That Take Place on or around Halloween

This year's October was a little bittersweet for me. I left all of my DVD's in Arlington, so my viewing of horror/Halloween movies has been cut down severely. Here are 9 of my favorite Halloween flicks.

Halloween (obvi)

Trick 'r Treat

Hocus Pocus

The Nightmare Before Christmas

Sleepy Hollow

Donnie Darko

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (Disney)

The Skeleton Dance (Disney)

Mean Girls (One of the best explanations of modern day Halloween)

Satan's Little Helper (Awful B-Movie)

10 Favorite DC Films

The DC Metropolitan Area is and will always be my hometown. I would always get excited about watching DC films because it seems to be a town where not THAT many movies are made. While these films are in no particular order, I must say that State of Play definitely is one of the best movies that utilizes the city as a backdrop. I tried to avoid using the obvious political thrillers as much as possible, but it was pretty tough in most cases.

State of Play

St Elmo's Fire

The Exorcist

Wedding Crashers

Patriot Games

The Recruit

National Treasure

In the Line of Fire

No Way Out

Dave

10 Favorite Chicago Films

I moved to Chicago three weeks ago today. I love this city. It should be known that I love DC/Virginia as well. It's just different here. In the month leading up to my relocation, I watched a slew of films that are set or filmed in Chicago. In no particular order, here are my favorites:

The Blues Brothers

Risky Business

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

About Last Night

Public Enemies

I am Trying to Break Your Heart

Hoop Dreams

The Fugitive

The Dark Knight

High Fidelity

Eating, Drinking and Loving Chicago

The poet Carl Sandburg once called Chicago "the city of big shoulders," but I might have to call it the city of big appetites. Whether you crave food, drink, sports, culture, music or architecture, Chicago satisfies every desire, want and need.

From July 15th-18th, my brother and I experienced more of Chicago than we had on our previous visits. I had been here once in the Fall of 2007 and more recently this past Fall of 2009. This time around, I got to experience more of the neighborhoods that the city has to offer. Let's start from the beginning. You should be warned, I have a lot of movie references in here.

Thursday the 15th we touched down at O'Hare Airport around 12:30pm. You might recognize the place from the film, Home Alone. Compared to Reagan National, this place is rather large.


Since we had not checked any luggage, we were able to make our way to ground transportation pretty quickly. The line for a cab was minimal. After instructing the driver to take us to 230 N Michigan Avenue, where the Hard Rock Hotel is located, we sat back and enjoyed the ride. O'Hare is a good 25-35 minutes from the Loop area of Chicago.

We were not able to check in early, but the hotel held our bags while we went to get lunch. The Berghoff was our first culinary outing in the city. Walking to this place, it becomes quite apparent that it is a major tourist attraction. The restaurant is one of the oldest in the city. It was also filmed for a scene in The Dark Knight. I went with the Wiener Schnitzel with a green bean and asparagus salad with homemade chips. It was great. I washed it down with some of the Berghoff Lager that they make there themselves.

After a satisfyingly filling German meal, we walked a few blocks to Miller's Pub. This place has been around since the 1930s. Many local celebrities, like Harry Caray, used to frequent the place. I had my first taste of Half Acre Pale Ale here. I loved this stuff.

Next, I was on a mission to see the Chicago Board of Trade Building. Why? I'm a movie geek so I love things like this. The interior and/or exterior of the building have been featured in many superb films like The Dark Knight, Batman Begins, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Road to Perdition and The Untouchables.

My picture...

As seen in The Dark Knight...

Down the street we got a couple snacks at Wow Bao. "Hot Asian Buns" is this restaurant chain's tagline. How clever. We opted for four Kung Pao buns. I liked these. They had a good kick to them. They were not anything marvelous, but it was quick street food that was a break from the norm.

Now is the time when we enter into our Chicago-style food mode. Unfortunately, the deep dish pizza was not had, but we still made sure that we hit up Al's Italian Beef and Portillo's. We split an Italian beef sandwich and then walked a few blocks to Portillo's for some hot dogs with all of the toppings.

Stuffed at this point, we did some walking around the downtown loop area and got some shots of the city.

What up, Wilco album cover?

We head over to the Art Institute of Chicago. On Thursdays from 5-8pm, admission to the museum is free. Score! I blogged about this place during the road trip so I'm not going to repeat how awesome a museum it is and the great art that is all over it.

Ridiculously difficult looking jigsaw puzzle at the Art Institute gift shop.

We exited the museum on it's north end and headed east towards Lake Shore Drive and Lake Michigan. To our right was Grant Park where President Obama delivered his victory speech in 2008. We crossed Lake Shore Drive and walked along a path parallel to the lake. We continued towards the Navy Pier for about a mile where we saw numerous sailboats docked in Chicago's harbor.

Entering the pier was a relief, as it was quite hot in the city that day and the breeze off the water felt refreshing. Scoping out a place to grab a drink, we wound up at the end of the pier, opting for a beer from the Beer Garden. I went with a Two Brothers Ebel Weiss. We posted up on some nearby benches, as you can walk around the pier with a beverage in hand. Before we left, an interesting looking mist blew in off the water.


On our walk back to the hotel were were told that Michael Bay and company were filming Transformers 3 in the downtown area. Cool. We saw prop cars being forklifted in and fake rubble being dispersed along the Michigan Avenue bridge.

After some Yelp research, we headed out to Lincoln Park for the evening. We hit up two bars there. On the way, we passed the Biograph Theater. First, we went to Delilah's, a great spot with british invasion era music coming through the speakers and a performance by The Who playing on the television in the corner. There was an amazing selection of liquor and a good selection of beers, especially if you enjoy the Belgian variety. We opted for the Half Acre Pale Ale again. Man, that stuff is good. The second bar, Rose's Lounge, was such a dive. Walking into this place, you feel like you're in your grandmother's basement. It's got the smell, the random kitschy nick nacks, and Old Style on tap. What, your grandmother's basement doesn't have cheap beer on tap?

Delilah's great selection:

With a busy first day under our belts, we cabbed back to the hotel for some shut-eye.

Day 2 was particularly packed with activities as well. We headed to the nearest Metra station at State and Lake. On our way, we pass the Chicago Theater. The lobby was featured in The Untouchables and the exterior in The Dark Knight.

The train stations here are much smaller than DC's and so are the trains. The system doesn't seem as fast and there is no clock inside the stations telling you when the next train will be arriving. We took the Red Line to the Addison Street stop AKA Wrigley Field.

Ready for any type of meal at this point, we went with John Barleycorn in Wrigleyville. The reviews for this place were not great, but we thought it was fine. It had exceptional bar food and every girl on the wait staff was easy on the eyes.

After the meal, we walked about 2 blocks to the stadium. Walking into this place was so odd to me, because it is not very large. After growing up going to Camden Yards and more recently, Nationals Park, I got used to large concourses. Wrigley does not have them. This place is old, like 1914 old.

We made our way to our seats which were in the second to last row of the stadium. The press booth where Harry Caray used to sit was just to our right. The stands were packed as it was a beautiful, but hot Friday. We were very happy to be in the shade. Looking towards the outfield, we could see the bleachers built up on the apartment buildings, some of the Chicago skyline, and Lake Michigan in the distance.

After the game, we started walking south along North Clark Street. We walked through Lake View and ate some falafel at Kleo. It was good and a healthy break from all of the meat we had been consuming.

That night we decided to head to Wicker Park. For dinner, we settled on Mexican at Caoba. The fish tacos here were fantastic and just filling enough.

Walking around Wicker Park, I couldn't help but notice imagery from High Fidelity. This is the movie geek in me noticing it, of course. A good amount of that film was shot there.

We decided to start the evening off at the Beachwood Inn. From the outside this bar did not even look open. The windows seemed to have a dark tint, but the atmosphere was pretty welcoming and the bartender was eager to take our drink order. The jukebox was solid and there were lights strung up all around. This is slowly becoming a pre-requisite to a bar that I'm going to enjoy: string lights. Halfway into our visit there, the bartender threw a copy of Troy into the dvd player. Random, but cool.

Venturing to nearby Ukrainian Village, we hit up Club Foot. Another cool spot with, you guessed it, string lights all around. The DJ was also cranking out some good tunes. I was thrilled to see a 9:30 Club sticker adorning the lavatory wall.

Walking around a little bit more, we came across a few dud bars. It wasn't that they couldn't have been cool, but they were just dead.

We ended the night at Zakopane, a Polish bar on Division Street. This place looked like a bar out of Goodfellas. Someone pointed that out in the yelp review and I happen to agree. The bartender was very cute and hooked us up with free refills of Old Style.

Day 2 was over.

We took our 3rd day in Chicago kind of easy. We took the red line south of the loop to Chinatown where we had MASSIVE bowls of noodles at Joy Yee's Noodle Shop. There was so much of it. It wasn't the best bowl of Phở that I've had but it was good.

After lunch we headed to The Blues Heaven Foundation, hoping to learn a little more about Chess Records and blues music in Chicago. Unfortunately, we didn't realize that you need to schedule a tour in advance, so it was closed. There wasn't much else to do in the Near South Side neighborhood so we hailed a cab and headed to Castaways.

Castaways is much like the bars of Dewey Beach. This place had a band playing and all of the $8 drinks one could ever want. Given the right mindset, I can see this place being a good time. It is strange, but very cool, to look out on the beach and then turn around to see skyscrapers.

Just outside Castaways:

We walked back towards the city along North Avenue passing Lincoln Park and the Chicago History Museum on the way to N. Clark Street. From there we took the Clark/Division red line train back to the Loop and our hotel.

The past two days of constant activity had caught up to us by now, so we chilled the rest of the day. The Fugitive was on TV. That's one good way to see Chicago.

Being in Chicago, it still didn't really hit me that I'm going to be moving there in October. This trip allowed me to get a much better sense of the city, but there is definitely more to do. I look forward to doing it.

Drinking American This Memorial Day? Are you sure?

As we pause to remember those who have served our country in the armed forces today, many of us will be imbibing as well. This is only natural of course because Memorial Day also represents the unofficial beginning of summer.

If your intentions are to drink American today, I recommend that you pay extra special attention to the brand of brew that you reach for in your grocery aisle. As we all know, Budweiser is now owned by the Belgian based company, InBev and Miller-Coors has merged to form an even bigger giant. I say, avoid the big three.

I urge everyone to experiment a little bit today. Try out a local brew. Support your local economy. As Americans, I would like to think that we believe in quality products. If you're in the mid-Atlantic region, why not try out a Dogfish Head (DFH) Shelter Pale Ale? California? How about a Sierra Nevada? Colorado? How about a Fat Tire? New England? Why not a Sam Adams? More expensive you say? True, but some DFH varieties have up to three times (maybe more) the alcohol content (not to mention taste) of Miller/Coors/Bud Light.

Advertising budgets for the big three beer companies are well into the billions annually. Why drink a beer that has to spend billions to convince you that they don't suck? You shouldn't, but then again, it is a free country.

Virginia History Month

Okay, Okay, May is not really Virginia History Month (not sure there is one), but it seems to be for me. This month, I fully embraced the tourist inside me and decided to check out some historical sites in my hometown. There are a few places I've been this month, some I have seen before like Mt. Vernon and Arlington Cemetery, but others I have not, like the Lee-Custis Mansion.

The weekend of May 8-10, my sister, brother-in-law, and baby niece, Katherine (BK), were in town. Upon their suggestion, we headed down to Mount Vernon for the day.

I had not been there since high school, so I figured it would be a good time to actually take some semi-decent newer shots of the place because digital photography was not the norm circa 2002.

We arrived at Mount Vernon by the early afternoon. Tickets are not exactly cheap at $15 a person, but this is definitely something you should go to if you're new in the area or a DC resident that simply takes for granted what is in your back yard. The electricity was out at the residence that day so we had to be given hand written tickets. I mean, George Washington had no electricity, so why shut down the residence for such a minor inconvenience?

The weather was almost perfect, but it was pretty windy, so we had to protect BK in her stroller. The walk around the residence it not too taxing on the body. I got some good shots.







The following Sunday, I decided on an impromptu trip to the Lee-Custis Mansion and Arlington Cemetery. I had been watching a lot of the Ken Burns' documentary "The Civil War" and decided to give the former house of General Robert E. Lee a visit. Currently, the house is undergoing renovations, so there is no furniture in the house, but luckily there are other attractions around the house.







These were both minor trips, but I think having the rich history of the area at your disposal is great. I take it for granted sometimes.

Stuffing My Face in NYC

Last week, my brother and I headed to NYC for a few days. Did I see the Empire State Building? Sure. Did I walk through Times Square? Of Course. Did I eat as much as possible? DEFINITELY.

Whenever my brother and I go to NYC, the trip seems to be more about food landmarks than ACTUAL landmarks. When we seek out these food havens, we pass by and take in all of the sites that New York has to offer.

We arrived at Penn Station at about 1PM, walked to the Hotel Chelsea and were able to check in early. This hotel is famous for, well, famous people staying there. According to Wikipedia, Mark Twain, Sid Vicious, Bob Dylan, Jack Kerouac and, more recently, Ryan Adams have all spent time here. If you want ultra modern amenities, seek them elsewhere.


With our bags unloaded off of our shoulders, we headed out into the city. Our hotel was on 23rd Street, right down in the middle of it all. We went to our favorite ramen place, Ippudo. We had gone to this place at the recommendation of a coworker. We love it. The ramen is AMAZING here. We also got the chicken buns for an appetizer. We drank Yebisu the first time, but we went with draft Sapporo this time. We had been hyping up our meal at this place since our last trip to the big apple in August, and it definitely lived up to it.

We walked around the city for a little bit and happened upon our next food destination for, I guess you would call it 2nd lunch?? We decided on Peanut Butter and Company. I had wanted to go to this place during my first trip to the city, but it did not happen. I had seen it on the Travel Channel once and figured it was worth a try. I went with a fluffernutter. I liked it. The homemade peanut butter was great, but I wish they had grilled theirs like I do at home. They may do that if you ask, but part of me felt they would do it by default. Good experience, but I never need to go there again.

It was a rainy day in the city, so we walked to a movie theater on Broadway and saw a Matinee of Hot Tub Time Machine. Awesome.

After a much needed siesta, my bro and I hit the streets again. On our way to our next destination, we slipped into a Magnolia Bakery for a cupcake. Touristy? Yes, but who cares?! It was a good cupcake. More on this later.

With dessert in our bellies, we sought out dinner. Enter Gray's Papaya. 2 hot dogs and some virgin Piña colada were just what I needed. They were good hot dogs, but I think Chicago still has the advantage here.

Time to drink! We scarfed the dogs down and then hit up our favorite infused vodka joint, Anyway Cafe. Love this place! We went with the strawberry vodka this time. The first sip wakes you up, but by the second one, it's like drinking strawberry juice.

Day one was a success.

On day two we did not pig out as much but we still had some great food. We made our way uptown to theHeidelberg Restaurant. I had seen this place on an episode of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations once. The episode highlighted old and classic restaurants that seem to be fading from the New York food scene. I really liked this place. Great atmosphere and great beer make for a great experience. I went with the pork schnitzel and home fries which came with a side of red cabbage. Loved it. I'd definitely recommend this place if you're into German food.



After the beerfest lunch, we headed to 30 Rock to watch the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon taping. I have to say that it was pretty awesome. If you're planning to go to NYC then you should definitely get tickets to a taping. They're free!



After Fallon, we headed to Bleecker street to have a doner kebab at Yatagan Kebab House. My brother had one of these the night before and, after sampling a bite, I was hooked. Doner Kebabs are the SHIZ!

Day two was another success.

Day three was perhaps one of the best food days of my life. Maybe that is a little over the top, but it FELT like one of the best food days of my life.

We started off the morning in the lower east side. By morning, I mean 11am. The Doughnut Plant was an amazing wake up call for my taste buds. I got the Peanut Butter and Jelly doughnut. A light peanut butter glaze topped doughnut with blueberry jam stuffed inside. YUM. These doughnuts are nearly $3 a piece but it was worth every penny.

Not completely full, we ventured only a few blocks over to Katz's Deli. Again, I've seen this place on countless Travel Channel shows. It was also featured prominently in the film When Harry Met Sally. No duh! We waited in line for quite a while but it was worth it. We split a Reuben sandwich. The corn beef just falls apart in your mouth. A very enjoyable sandwich!

From the lower east side, we walked to Little Italy. On our previous trip to NYC we had a pretty lackluster Italian meal, so we were careful not to make the same mistake twice. We decided on the birthplace of pizza in the US, Lombardi's. The line was long so we had a beer at Mulberry Street Bar. It wasn't until we sat at the bar that we found out the bar had been filmed in numerous movies. The list is on the website.

Before heading over to Lombardi's we had a few more drinks at Spring Lounge. Brooklyn Lager and Schaefer Beer was flowing like wine!

Finally, it was time for some pizza! Lombardi's delivered on a VERY good pizza. We decided on a cheese pizza with onions. Great pizza with an awesome brick oven crust. I definitely recommend hitting this place up.

After a lot of walking, we grabbed a half a dozen cupcakes at the same Magnolia Bakery as before. The carrot cake cupcakes were really good. The frosting is definitely heavier than the regular cupcake frosting.



I'd recommend checking out any of these activities on your next trip up to NYC. Happy eating!

Enjoying this jam right now. Not really sure what the Goth artwork is all about...

St. Patrick's Day Jams

Listen Up:

1. Van Morrison - Star of the County Down


2. The Cranberries - God Be With You Ireland


3. The Wolfe Tones - Come Out Ye Black and Tans


4. House of Pain - Jump Around


5. The Dropkick Murphys - Shipping Up To Boston


6. Theme From Boondock Saints


7. The Wolfe Tones - The Men Behind The Wire


8. Van Morrison - Marie's Wedding


9. Doujah Raze - Irish Cream


10. Wings - Give Ireland Back to the Irish


11. The Wolfe Tones - James Connolly


12. U2 - The Hands That Built America


13. The Pogues - The Sunny Side of the Street


14. The Corrs - Paddy McCarthy(Instrumental)


15. U2 - Sunday Bloody Sunday


16. Van Morrison - I'll Tell Me Ma


17. The Thrills - Whatever Happened to Corey Haim (Irish Band sings of the late actor. That counts right??)

Also, is it just me or does the new Harp label lack style? I prefer the old one.

Old:

New:

School's Out

As of yesterday, I have completed my Certificate of Web Publishing program. It feels great to be done, but now the more challenging part of my life begins, finding a job. I have been applying and looking for jobs all over the place, like Chicago, New York, Denver, and DC. Ultimately, my priority leans toward getting a job in a web related field over moving to a new city, but I'll just have to wait and see what happens. In an economy like this one, I cannot be too picky on where I end up.

Trying to see this band at DC9...

Shutter Island

I recommend this movie. It is one of the few movies where I have read the book before seeing the movie. The film lives up to the book and more. DiCaprio/Scorsese make hits!

Oh Hey 80s Mom!

I was recently watching The Goonies and realized that the mother in this movie was in a ton of great 80s flicks. I think the actress, Mary Ellen Trainor, might be the quintessential 80s mother figure. Ok, ok, Diane Wiest may be more of an acclaimed matronly figure from the 80s, but I think Trainor's films were more bankable.

Trainor has played a mom in The Goonies, The Monster Squad, Ghostbusters II and the tv show Parker Lewis Can't Lose. Her 80s credibility grows with roles in the Back to the Future, Romancing the Stone, Lethal Weapon and Die Hard franchises. She was also involved in Scrooged and a Robert Zemeckis helmed episode of Tales From the Crypt. As you can tell, she was featured in quite a few of Richard Donner and Robert Zemeckis' films. Two of some of the biggest names in the 80s.

In keeping with the 80s theme of today's post, I'm going to recommend you download this keeper from The Goonies soundtrack.

Cravin' for a Cure

I thought that maybe this would be the winter where I do NOT get sick. It looks like I was wrong. I felt the sore throat rear it's ugly head last night and I woke up today with the typical sore throat, muscle soreness and congestion that usually accompanies the common cold.

At the insistence of my epicurean sister, I made a hot toddy. Exactly, WTF is a hot toddy? Well, it is a combination of hot water, honey, lemon juice and your choice of whiskey or bourbon. My choice? A shot and half of the Bushmills that has been hibernating underneath the bar.

Not really sure if this is going to work, but I feel all warm and fuzzy already.

P.S. I've been listening to the following track over and over and over. It's pretty legit.

Snow is upon us!

If there is one thing that frightens Northern Virginians the most, it would have to be snow. Actually, I would have to say that all DC Metropolitans are afraid of snow. Every media outlet in the region goes berserk if you discuss the possibility of only a few inches.

Well, we’re not discussing the possibility of only a few inches. Now, they’re calling for 20-30 inches of the stuff. Cabin fever will be in full effect, but I won’t mind because I’m stuck with good company. That good company is my baby niece, Katherine.



What have I been listening to? I've always felt that Athlete was a great band to listen to during the winter. Here is a newer track from them.

Gettin' My Foreign Film On

Recently, I've been making a solid effort to watch more foreign films. I mean, the U.S. can't be the only one who makes good films right? Does the U.S. even make good films? Just kidding. Some of my recent views include Ladri Di Biciclette, Paris Je T'aime, Outpost, Amelie and Russian Dolls. I also revisited some favorites like L'Auberge Espagnole, Let the Right One In, and Haute Tension.

Fortunately, Netflix is making it easy to feed this habit. Many of the popular foreign films are on instant watch. Most of them show the Criterion Collection insignia on the cover art. Netflix must have some sort of deal with Criterion because they have so many. I just keep finding more that I know I need to see. It's frustrating to know that there are so many good films out there that I haven't seen yet!

Must sees that I need to tackle ASAP include: The Virgin Spring, Y Tu Mama Tambien, Amorres Perros, Le Samourai, Roshomon, Seven Samurai, Band of Outsiders, The 400 Blows, The Seventh Seal, Cinema Paradiso and the list goes on and on and on.

I don't really know why I have a penchant for these films. I think, for the most part, foreign films are about people's lives and American films are about ending them. This is a generality of course. The Virgin Spring and Haute Tension aren't exactly uplifting. I just think these films focus on the right things. There are American films that do this. Some that come to mind include High Fidelity, Away We Go, 500 Days of Summer, etc. Maybe I'm just trying to expand my tastes.

Heard the following track in Paris Je T'aime and really liked it...

The Futura

There are many reasons that I am looking forward to the spring right now. I finish my certificate program, search for a new opportunity, bask in warmer weather, and peruse for new music. Like this new track from that Scandinavian country that consistently produces superb tunes. I have to say that I am very excited for the new album by The Radio Dept. With tracks this good, there will definitely be a spring in my step. Yes, cheesy pun intended.

On a side note, futura is quickly becoming my favorite font of the moment. Original? Probably not, but who cares?

Alt-Country

For some reason, I've been on a huge alt-country music kick. Maybe not just alt-country, but folksy acoustic driven songs in general. I think it may be because these remind me of the road trip a few months back. All of these songs make me think of driving through this vast and open country.

1. Guster - Two of Us


2. Ray LaMontagne - Hannah


3. Ryan Bingham - Weary Kind


4. The Shins - Gone for Good


5. Wilco - When the Roses Bloom Again


6. West Coast Grand - West Coast Grand


7. Billy Bragg & Wilco - Remember the Mountain Bed


8. Jeremy Fisher - Cigarette


9. Wilco - When You Wake Up Feeling Old


10. Lucero - All the Same to Me


11. Billy Bragg & Wilco - Secret of the Sea


12. Ryan Adams - Gonna Make You Love Me


13. Ray LaMontagne - Within You


14. Ryan Adams - Dance All Night


15. Wilco - Either Way


16. Laura Marling - The Captain and the Hourglass


17. Pete Yorn - Life On A Chain


18. Billy Bragg & Wilco - California Stars

New Year

2009 was a great year for me. I became an Uncle, went on a 7500 + mile road trip around the continental U.S., ran a marathon, and left my job in search of something else. What does 2010 have in store? I really don't know, but every January brings a sense of optimism to my spirits. I'd like to wish everyone all the best in 2010.

An upbeat track which I found very late, but enjoy very much. Soooo hipster.