Movie of the Year -- The Hangover. Few movies can pull of the twin trick of being crazy funny and also crazy anxiety-inducing. You have the drama of trying to locate a groom who went missing sometime in a debaucherous Vegas night. You have the twists and turns of three guys who blacked out discovering just how debaucherous was that Vegas night as they look for clues. A lion, a baby, Mike Tyson, and a naked Chinese man figure prominently. If you didn’t see it already, I know you want to see it now.
Album of the Year -- In the coming year I’ll have one of those dreaded birthday milestones. Listening to Girls’ Album makes me feel like I found the fountain of youth. True: they seem a bit bratty, self-involved, immature… and those don’t sound like virtues except when paired with the fact that they do indeed rock. Girls quickly pushed aside Handsome Furs and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart in the competition for Album of the Year.
Music Video of the Year -- If you haven’t checked out Girls based on the paragraph above or my earlier raves, you should check out the “Lust for Life” video now, which also received consideration for this category, but in the end loses out to the Harlem Shakes' "Strictly Game" -- a cool song with a cool video that's rewards your close attention.
Best Sports Moment -- As a Chicago fan, I’m still reeling from a disappointing Cubs season and a Bears coaching staff and O Line that is destroying Jay Cutler. Did anything good happen in 2009? Well, there’s always March Madness. My favorite storyline was that of Syracuse and the unexpected run they made after this unbelievable six-overtime game against U-Conn in the Big East tourney.
Best TV Moment -- My favorite TV moment was when TBS started running weekly three-hour marathons of reruns of The Office. And I finally realize the wisdom of the dozens of people I ignored in 2004 who said ‘you really should be watching The Office..’ I know I should have been laughing at these moments years ago, but indulge me, and revisit some of your favorite moments of Jim and Dwight.
Best Celebrity Moment --O.K. I’m not going to start listening to Taylor Swift, but I’m glad she exists. A talented Hanna Montana? A wholesome, countrified Britney Spears? That would be an accomplishment in itself. But the fact that this 19 year-old apparently wrote out her own SNL monologue that in a funny, charming way laughs at the worst celebrity moment of the year (a moment that brought my into rare agreement with President Obama) – well, it gets my vote for Celebrity moment of the Year.
Best Blend of Humor and Politics -- James and Hanna win hands down. The whole concept still cracks me up (see John Stewart’s funny recap), and it did more than anything this year to expose corruption in American institutions, politics and media. (With the possible exception of the still unknown whistleblower at East Aglica -- another much ignored story that John Stewart has helped legitimize as Larry noted last week (click for video clip).)
Most Welcome Return of an Obscure Past Musical Love -- I played a lot Green over the summer, and posted a bit about the never-appreciated indie rock god that is Green’s bandleader Jeff Lescher. And then the band’s eight-year hiatus ended with the release of The Planets, which I like but don’t love (as mentioned in my earlier review). And therefore, my pick for Most Welcome Return of an Obscure Past Musical Love is the A-Bones. You might call them retro rock or something, except that they play it 100% straight. That is, they don’t seem to realize there’s anything campy about backing vocals that go “oom bop bop.” They believe rock and roll reached a state of perfection in 1957 when it was raw and loud, unpretentious and unashamed, so they don’t acknowledge much of what’s happened in the last five decades. And as long as an A-Bones song is playing, it’s very tough to argue with their philosophy. And while your pitiful iPod earphones will never be able to convey the thrill of a live A-Bones experience, the new LP Not Now sounds as good as the rest of their catalog. Listen to A-Boner Miriam Linna on "Bad Time" -- she's must be 50+ but has more real rawk and roll sass than any teen I know of.
Best Concert -- I feel a tad guilty for not having a hip selection here, but maybe wholesome is the new hip? Whatever. My Best Concert of 2009 was the Brad Paisley show that I raved about back in July. Fun from beginning to end. Paisley's "Welcome to the Future" gets an honorable mention spot on my 2009 Playlist for writing a graceful acknowledgment of what was cool about Obama’s election (without any leftyism or cult-of-personality garbage). He did it within a song that marvels (in his down-to-earth folksy way) about technology and globalization, before getting to thinking about 1/20/09: “I had a friend in school, running back on the football team/ They burned a cross in his front yard for asking out the homecoming queen/ I thought about him today, and others who have seen what he’s seen/ From a woman in a bus to a man with a dream…” Paisley’s a class act and talented too. Definitely my show of the year.
Best Thing About Pop Culture in 2009 -- Not a peep of scandal from Britney Spears.
Worst Thing About Pop Culture in 2009 -- As odd as it seemed to have Kate Gosselin on the cover of virtually every issue of People magazine this summer and fall, she was just about the most interesting thing in each of those issues of People magazine.
And now, my 2009 Music Playlist...
- Elvis in Perkinsland, "1 2 3 Goodbye" (Ray Davies couldn't do better - wistful pop about love and loss)
- Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes, "Home" (best use of since "Young Folks" -- dig the badass western vibe)
- Telekenesis, "Tokyo" (shoulda been a #1 song in an alternative indie pop universe)
- M. Ward, "Never Had Nobody Like You" (bridging the gap between M's gravelly folk and a fun T.Rex stomp)
- Vetiver, "Everyday" (the year's best lullaby for your summertime nap)
- Electric Owls, "Magic Show" (damn catchy)
- Handsome Furs, "All We Want, Baby, Is Everything" (my favorite of an album full of favorites)
- Crocodiles, "I Wanna Kill" (Jesus and Mary Chain for a new generation)
- Strand of Oaks, "End in Flames" (the musical score for the final scene of the everything-goes-to-hell movie you're working on)
- Diana Birch, "Fools" (is this a lost track from Tapestry or what?)
- Reservoir Park, "The Ducchess & the Duke" (tough guy acoustic rock)
- Girls, "Summertime" (rarely has something sounded fresh while kicking up a dust storm of nostalgia at the same time)
- Rooftop Vigilantes, "Oscar Want" (picking up where New Times Viking leave off in the lo-fi revolution)
- Green, "Farther and Farther Away" (not a representative Green track, but I love wallowing in this country-tinged weeper)
Good picks..."Never Had Nobody Like You" just missed my playlist, and "The Hangover" was hilarious - I love the way they explained they tied up all the 'night after' loose ends (e.g. the tiger in the room, the missing teeth) in a plausible way. I also missed Taylor Swift's monologue song...
Posted by: LarryK | December 07, 2009 at 12:50 PM