Days of Lore

A GLUTTON FOR PUNISHMENT Christmas really takes it out of me, I tell you. Yes, a trip to the ol’ Lore residence during the holidays requires the ability to ingest large amounts of food and drink—a non-stop cycle of beer, ham, turkey, wine, Bloody Marys, coffee, deviled eggs, potatoes—all mixed in with naps and reruns of This Old House. By the end of the weekend I felt like crawling into my new mummy bag and rolling myself off the nearest cliff to let the coyotes pick at my bloated frame. But it was good fun as usual.

“WHAT CAME FIRST, THE MUSIC OR THE MISERY?” I received High Fidelity on DVD for Christmas from someone who knows me all too well. It’s definitely one of my favorite flicks and I’ve seen it plenty of times, but for whatever reason I never bought it. I finally read the book about a month ago, too. That Nick Hornby bloke is brilliant at capturing all of the male traits that make women think of us as childish, inept, yet loveable fools. Well, after reading and watching High Fidelity, it did three things: A) It made me wish that my parents would hand over their record collection, B) It made me realize that Lisa Bonet is still sexy and C) It reaffirmed my proclivity for the list.

Everybody loves a list, right? I know I do for the following reasons:

1) Lists cater to people with short attention spans, i.e. Americans.

2) Lists are fun to make.

3) You have the option of ranking things.

4) Hall and Oates wrote a song called “Kiss On My List.”

5) I just like the word “list.”

So in the spirit of the book’s characters Rob, Dick and Barry, whose entire existences revolved around lists, I’ve decided to come up with a few of my own Top Fives to sum up 2005 as well as to look to the year ahead. Read ’em and weep.

MY TOP FIVE ALBUMS OF 2005 THAT WERE SENT TO THE CN&R BY RECORD COMPANIES OR CONRAD NYSTROM:

1) Worlds Apart, And You Will Know Us By The Trail of the Dead

2) Celebration Castle, The Ponys

3) The Woods, Sleater-Kinney

4) Alive & Wired, Old 97’s (thought I wouldn’t.)

5) Face The Truth, Stephen Malkmus

TOP FIVE LOCAL BANDS OF ‘05:

1) Oubliette Perish, like jazz it takes a few listens to get the hang of it.

2) Squirrel vs. Bear, great until things unraveled at the end.

3) The Makai, metal rules and so does The Makai.

4) The Americas, what needs to be said here, really.

5) The Yule Logs, probably the most fun I’ve had at any show this year.

MY TOP FIVE SHOWS OF ‘05, LOCAL AND BEYOND:

1) Green Day at Arco Arena.

2) Old 97’s at The Independent in S.F.

3) Machine Green CD release show at Off Limits with La Dolce Vita, Squirrel vs. Bear and Deerpen.

4) And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of The Dead at The Phoenix Theater in Petaluma.

5) Kinski, West By Swan, Lott Lyzzyrd and Sleepyhead at Off Limits.

MY TOP FIVE PREDICTIONS FOR 2006:

1) Daniel Taylor will talk shit about the CN&R and/or The Orion.

2) Someone (and I have a very good idea as to whom) will open an all-ages venue, and it will last more than two years.

3) People will go to shows other than their friends’.

4) Audience members will actually move at shows, and I don’t mean rocking back and forth with your arms folded.

5) I will have the last laugh.

So there you have it. And keep in mind that these are the end-all, be-all of lists. Have a splendid New Year’s and I’ll see you around.

I love you—