Joy Makers

Happy New Years Day to you! Here are the top five musical releases that brought me joy in 2007:

1. TRAVIS--"The Boy With No Name"
2. CROWDED HOUSE--"Time On Earth"
3. BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN--"Magic"
4. WILCO--"Sky Blue Sky"
5. MARIA McKEE--"Late December"

I know many will be surprised that Travis made it ahead of Springsteen for me. I just cannot escape the fact that the band's fifth studio album, THE BOY WITH NO NAME, seeped into my soul this year. I love "Battleships" about the ups and downs of relationships, presumably marriage. I can really relate to the song "My Eyes" about lead singer Fran Healy's baby son. But, most of all, it's track #9, a song so powerfully uplifting that it can take me out of any dark cloud moment. It's called "Under The Moonlight" and I just cannot express the joy I feel when listening to it. Ironically, "Under The Moonlight" wasn't written by anybody in Travis, but they execute the song so amazingly! The Travis boys' songwriting abilities have ample opportunity to shine on the album though.  I really do love the entire album.

Buggin' Me

Off the top of my head . . .

TOP TEN THINGS I'M SICK OF

10. Anti-bacterial anything
9. E.D. (impotence) advertisements
8. Grocery Store Club Cards
7. Ticketmaster
6. Combo Classes
5. Paris Hilton
4. Democrats
3. Republicans
2. Al Gore
1. The 2008 Election

Poetry Review II

Way back in September of last year I posted my first Poetry Review in which I listed all poems I had previously posted on my blog. I figured it was about time to create a list of all the poems I posted on my blog since then. You can click on the titles to read the poem. Here they are:

Soul Seduction
Burned Innocent
Daddy's Boy
Trespass Nullification
Temporal Pains
Shadows and Illusions
Disrobed
Renewal
In My Neighborhood
Up In Flames
Cathedral in the Woods

Let me know which one you like the best.

New Seven Wonders of the World

I'm not sure why I'm into stuff like this, but I love voting in polls. Swiss author and filmmaker, Bernard Weber, launched a campaign to come up with the New Seven Wonders of the World and he's looking for votes. I just voted for the following seven:

1. Acropolis, Athens, Greece (400 B.C.)
2. Chichen Itza Pyramid, Yucatan, Mexico (800 A.D.)
3. Colosseum, Rome, Italy (80 A.D.)
4. Easter Islands Statues, Chile (10th-16th century)
5. Great Wall of China (220 B.C. through 1600 A.D.)
6. Pyramids of Giza, Egypt (2500 B.C.)
7. Stonehenge, Amesbury, U.K. (3000-1600 B.C.)

Maybe you want to counter my vote with something more patriotic like the Statue of Liberty or something more religious like the Christ Redeemer? I tried to write in Bruce Springsteen, but there was no spot for that! Here's where you can vote: New Seven Wonders. Let me know how you voted.

Top 100 Living Songwriters

Back in March I posted my top twenty Best Living Songwriters. I put mine in alphabetical order because I couldn't bare to try to put say Kris Kristofferson before or after John Hiatt or whatever. Ranking seemed difficult. In that post, I noted that Paste Magazine was conducting a poll in order to put out a list of the top 100 living songwriters. The new issue of Paste is out and they have published their top 100. This is their list as decided by their writers and critics. Keep in mind that these are LIVING songwriters.

I like this massive list. I am so pleased to see Bruce Springsteen at number three. I just can't tell you how cool I think that is. I decided to bold the 15 songwriters from my list that made it to the Paste list (I had five that didn't make it). Why would I do that? It's all about me and my correct opinion of course! That said, I would love to hear what you think. I put links for each block of ten. If you want to read the commentaries then just click on those. The write-ups are pretty good. Again, this is NOT the reader's poll. Here is their list:

1-10
1. Bob Dylan
2. Neil Young (Buffalo Springfield & Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young)
3. Bruce Springsteen
4. Tom Waits & Kathleen Brennan
5. Paul McCartney (The Beatles, Wings)
6. Leonard Cohen
7. Brian Wilson
8. Elvis Costello
9. Joni Mitchell
10. Prince

11-20
11. Randy Newman
12. Mick Jagger & Keith Richards (The Rolling Stones)
13. Paul Simon
14. Stevie Wonder
15. Willie Nelson
16. David Bowie
17. Brian Holland/Lamont Dozier/Eddie Holland, Jr.
18. U2 (Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullins, Jr., Adam Clayton)
19. Patty Griffin
20. Van Morrison

21-30
21. Lou Reed (The Velvet Underground)
22. Lucinda Williams
23. Elton John & Bernie Taupin
24. Jeff Tweedy (Wilco, Uncle Tupelo)
25. Chuck Berry
26. R.E.M. (Peter Buck, Billy Berry, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe)
27. Radiohead (Thom Yorke, Jonny & Colin Greenwood, Ed O'Brien, Phil Selway)
28. Robbie Robertson (The Band)
29. Tom Petty
30. John Prine

31-40
31. Carole King
32. Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller
33. Pete Townshend (The Who)
34. John Fogerty (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
35. Steve Earle
36. Beck
37. Smokey Robinson
38. Kris Kristofferson
39. Led Zeppelin (Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, John Bonham)
40. Burt Bacharach & Hal David

41-50
41. Ray Davies (The Kinks)
42. Loretta Lynn
43. Ryan Adams (Whiskeytown)
44. Al Green
45. Jackson Browne
46. David Byrne (Talking Heads)
47. Sufjan Stevens
48. Gillian Welch & David Rawlings
49. Cat Stevens
50. Public Enemy (Chuck D, Flavor Flav, Hank Shocklee, Eric Sadler)

51-60
51. Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham
52. Paul Westerberg (The Replacements)
53. James Taylor
54. Aimee Mann
55. Dolly Parton
56. James Brown
57. Morrissey (The Smiths)
58. Sly Stone
59. Jack White (The White Stripes, The Raconteurs)
60. Jimmy Webb

61-70
61. John Hiatt
62. Sting (The Police)
63. Richard Thompson (Fairport Convention)
64. Andy Partridge (XTC, The Dukes of Stratosphear)
65. Bill Mallonee (Vigilantes of Love)
66. Charles Thompson aka Frank Black (Pixies)
67. Conor Oberst aka Bright Eyes
68. Allen Toussaint
69. Merle Haggard
70. Alex Chilton (Big Star, The Box Tops)

71-80
71. Vic Chesnutt
72. Michael Jackson
73. Julie Miller
74. Over the Rhine (Linford Detweiler, Karin Bergquist)
75. Rox Sexsmith
76. Will Oldham aka Bonnie "Prince" Billy (Palace Music)
77. Bruce Cockburn
78. Robert Pollard (Guided by Voices)
79. Stephen Malkmus (Pavement, Silver Jews)
80. Pink Floyd (Syd Barrett, Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Richard Wright, Nick Mason)

81-90
81. The Flaming Lips
82. John Darnielle (Mountain Goats)
83. Fleetwood Mac (Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks, Christine McVie)
84. John Linnell & John Flansburgh (They Might Be Giants)
85. David Bazan (Pedro the Lion, Headphones)
86. Sam Beam (Iron & Wine)
87. Lyle Lovett
88. Parliament (George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Bernie Worrell)
89. Victoria Williams
90. Nick Cave (The Birthday Party)

91-100
91. Drive-By Truckers (Patterson Hood, Mike Cooley, Jason Isbell)
92. Alejandro Escovedo
93. Joseph Arthur
94. Sam Phillips
95. Patti Smith
96. Jimmy Cliff
97. Josh Ritter
98. Jay Farrar (Son Volt, Uncle Tupelo)
99. Outkast (Andre Benjamin, Antwan Patton)
100. T Bone Burnett

Best Living Songwriters

Paste Magazine is taking a poll so they can publish the TOP 100 LIVING SONGWRITERS. Well, I love lists and they've listed everybody. You can only vote for your top twenty. I just voted. In ABC order, here are my votes:

1. Jackson Browne
2. Bob Dylan
3. Donald Fagen/Walter Becker
4. Neil Finn
5. John Hiatt
6. Elton John/Bernie Taupin
7. Kris Kristofferson
8. Gary Louris/Mark Olson
9. Lyle Lovett
10. Paul McCartney
11. Maria McKee
12. Joni Mitchell
13. Van Morrison
14. Bruce Springsteen
15. Sting
16. Pete Townshend
17. U2 (Bono/Edge/Mullins/Clayton)
18. Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam)
19. Paul Westerberg
20. Neil Young

Let me know who you like and then VOTE!

Top Ten Television Shows

As many of you know, I am a compulsive list-maker. That is I love "top ten" lists of all kinds. I love reading them. I love making them. I love ranking things. When my family is driving in the car, often we'll play a game we call "Either, Or" which means you just roate asking questions and everybody answers. For example, "If you had to choose to give up either ice cream or steak for a year, which would you choose?" You get the idea.

Driving back from Arizona over Christmas break, somebody asked: "If you had to choose to give up television or music for the rest of your life, which would you give up?" As often happens, our family split down the middle: Wes and Dad would give up TV whereas Max and Mom would give up music. (The girls don't really play yet). Although I would never change that answer, and, like I read on a bumper sticker once, "Life without music would be a mistake," I did get to thinking about television shows since then. Thus, here is my top ten television shows of all-time list. Keep in mind, these lists are always fluid and they can change on any given day. Also, I am excluding variety shows such as "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson" which would make my list or "Saturday Night Live" because I'd have to specify a time period like 1975-1979 only; so, I'm talking "episodic television" here. You know the "Academy Awards" may be my Superbowl, but I can't say watching the Oscars being handed out is a favorite show. And, I may be totally hooked on "Survivor" but I'm not ready to put reality TV on a list like this yet. Best comment you could give me is your own top ten list, that is if you like this sort of thing.

DOAH'S TOP TEN TV SHOWS OF ALL-TIME

1. PICKET FENCES
2. TWIN PEAKS
3. THE ROCKFORD FILES
4. SEINFELD
5. THE X-FILES
6. LOST
7. L.A. LAW
8. THE LARRY SANDERS SHOW
9. THE TWILIGHT ZONE
10. STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION