I might be lagging behind a slight bit on all the fancy bells and whistles of this site. I just discovered how to see how many times one’s blog has been read. When I saw that mine has been read 1,749 times since I subscribed, it had the predictable effect of creating gelatinous mind-numbing writer’s block. Clearly, I have to put something better up on here. My random musings over the last year just aren’t doing justice to whomever you are who are reading this.
You need lists. Or diagrams. Or end of year, shamelessly biased, Best-of- 2005 compilations. Online coupons to Whataburger. Something. So I’ll throw out something more personal than my usual sarcastic crap. These are things I really enjoyed this year:
My daily reading (these come before breakfast):
www.toothpastefordinner.com
www.frontburner.dmagazine.com
www.gorillavsbear.net
www.texasgigs.com
www.ohmyrockness.com
My favorite podcast:
www.dallasdoesindie.com
Best show of 2005:
Hot Hot Heat at Trees (I’ve heard that Trees will be closing its doors after the first of the year, so this show will take on a vintage sheen if that’s the case.) I went with some of my closest friends, and had the pleasure of meeting HHH and Shout Out Louds at a small party after the show. They shared their tangerines and Heinekin, bantered about the Dallas scene, and generally proved themselves kind and approachable fellows. I hope they do well in the months to come. I kept the ticket stub, and for those who know me, I’m not sentimental that way often.
Best Show of 2005 that did not include free tangerines:
Austin City Limits Festival. When we were fresh home from the trip, all our stories centered around the hurricane, the heat, the dust. In the end, the festival recovered in collective memory to become simply a story of incredible music being offered from stages by artists, exceptional in every definition of the word. Yes, it was 108 degrees. And all three days were worth every second. If that wasn’t the way the festival was, it is the way I remember it now.
Other than ACL, here were some of my other favorite shows in 2005:
TV on the Radio / The Faint
Deathray Davies / Bob Schneider
Bright Eyes
Secret Machines/Moving Units
Unitil We Arrive
Deathray Davies … yes, I saw a lot of these kids this year
Deathray Davies/Louis XIV/Hot Hot Heat
Dogs Die in Hot Cars / Phoenix
Billy Harvey / Salim Nourallah / Sorta
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists / The Oranges Band
Bloc Party
The Roots / Floetry
Aqualung / Cary Brothers
Spoon
Alkaline Trio / Rise Against
David Garza
Deathray Davies… yes, again
Oasis / Jet … mediocre
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Kings of Leon
The Happy Bullets / Say Hi to Your Mom
Shout Out Louds / Hot Hot Heat/Redwalls / Diamond Nights
Just in case I’m revealing that my tastes and interests are sadly narrow in range and somewhat entirely focused on music…
In 2005, I was a bridesmaid three times, my best friend gave birth to her daughter, I had a one-year wedding anniversary. I subscribed to the newspaper and did the crossword puzzles, but for the most part just let them pile up on the floor. I learned to make rum cake. I went through a brutal and pleasantly exhausting phase of learning to salsa dance, and made some wonderful new friends with fun names like Fransisco and Fernando and Miguel and Anash. Despite their best efforts, I remained both white and aversive to driving outside of loop 12 to recreate. For those reasons, the salsa dancing fetish hobby seems to have sadly run its course. I wore cammo once and shot my first deer last New Years Eve. I will wear semi-formal dresses and NOT shoot deer this New Year’s Eve. I have loved my husband the very best I knew how. I have a wonderful city, a deep freezer, and a subscription to Paste magazine. Enough. This is all enough.
I’ve decided to stay Downtown one more year. We’re just not ready for suburbia just yet. The lights and momentum. This ravishing city. We’ll be here a little longer.
Merry Christmas Everyone!
With love,
Alison