2005 list - for those that missed it

Before we get to the music, 2005 was a transitional year in so many ways….so….to get you up to speed in Lipshultz world, lets start this year’s wrap up with quite possibly the most uncool “IN” and “OUT” in innie and outtie history.

IN.... OUT
Listening to anything I want, when I want.... Life without music subscriptions like Rhapsody
Lipshultz jokes.... Lipshitz jokes (they were never ‘in’)
Teocalli Tamale in Herndon.... Baja Fresh in Sterling
115k miles on my car.... 110k miles on car (Short commutes rock!)
Your Face.... Of My Face, Get
Sippy Cups for Pete.... Bottles for Pete
Wendy’s guitar lessons.... My air guitar lessons
No way are we having 4 kids.... Baby makin’. It’s all post-game now.
Reston (at beginning and end of year).... Apologizing to kids for being in KC
“Our” Steelers.... “My” Steelers (Zack: Daddy, they’re not just yours)
Segue to next part of year-end wrap up.... This ‘in’ and ‘out’ list


For two days after the series finale of Six Feet Under, I walked around in a funk, just thinking about life and death. The series followed a family that ran a funeral parlor and dealt with different ways to view our time on earth. The series finale was 3/4 of just pure cheese -- wrapping things up in nice bows and way too sentimental for the way the show had carried itself over the years -- but in the final 10 minutes the finale did something I have never, ever, ever seen before: they killed everyone. That's right, every single effing person on the show, dead in 10 minutes. The show displayed the main characters’ future deaths, with their tombstone born - died dates afterwards.

The sequence was set perfectly with a song by Sia called "Breathe Me". It was so perfect and matter of fact about death that it was comforting and disconcerting at the same time. Yes, death is just a simple part of life...but did they really have to find such a perfect song for it? It was so overwhelming...and -- hey hey – it kicks off my yearly top ten list of musical moments, singles, albums, and general knicknacks. This list is much more uplifting as it goes on, trust me.

Starting……………now.

Still kind of a drag, right?

What if I add a smiley face?

Emoticons have the power to heal.

You sure?

It’s awful smiley.

:)

1) The last 10 minutes of Six Feet Under series finale-- Sia "Breathe Me" was played over and over during my two ‘days of funk’. The Six Feet Under Soundtrack was pretty good too.

2) Mike Doughty - Haughty Melodic AND Skittish/Rockity Roll. Mike Doughty was the lead singer for Soul Coughing and is a singer songwriter on ATO. Even if you didn’t dig Soul Coughing, these are MUST listens. He also brings up two very important items.
- Important item #1: ATO is not just my old fraternity, it’s a great record label. I would now listen to whatever ATO puts out (Chris Whitley, David Gray, Patti Griffin, Gomez, My Morning Jacket etc. Get some of the better stuff, here, free http://www.atorecords.com/index.php?title=digital+stuff ).
- Important item #2: My kids still rule. Funny story…Zack (my 5 year old) was making a mix on Itunes with me and specifically asked for Mike Doughty by name. This horrified Wendy (my wife) as, at 5, he is already remembering more artist names than she does. The mix of songs Zack selected had things he knew, song names that sounded ‘silly’ to him, holiday songs to general kids music. My pride in him making a mix was not doused at all as I heard the Beastie Boys “Finger Lickin Good” fade into Dora the Explora then to his new favorite group Relient K and then go right to Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

3) Tracy Chapman - Where You Live. After two crappy albums, this record reaffirms that Tracy Chapman could sound beautiful singing the list of ingredients in a Twinkie.

4) System of a Down - I didn't yet listen to their newer record, but Mezmerize one was amazingly strong.

5a (tie) - Matisyahu - "Live at Stubbs". Hasidic reggae artist. Not joking. No, I’m not joking.
http://www.hasidicreggae.com/

5b (tie) - Martin Sexton - live performance at Birchmere. Convincingly sang like an electric guitar while accompanying himself (with a guitar. Get your mind out of the gutter). Wendy and I don’t get out much, but between this show and seeing King Kong within in six day stretch in late December, I think we got a good year’s worth of entertainment in under the wire. Opener Erin McGowan was a good find, too.

5c (tie) – Becca (my 3.5 year old) “Mr. Golden Sun”. Nothing in the world is more fulfilling than watching her sing with all her heart, “Mr Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun. Please shine down on me”. I may just hobble her ankles so she’ll never grow up.
6) Saturday Night Live - Parnell/Samberg “Lazy Sunday” rap. Defies the usual, unfunny, sometimes offensive and always self-fulfilling nature of the "I am not cool" rap. So frickin funny. Check it out http://www.youtube.com/watch.php?v=zLElfJ9YCh0

7) Relient K - The two singles I've heard. Actually, I've never gotten around to listening to the whole thing, but "Be My Escape" and "Who I Am Hates Who I've Been" are almost good enough to convince me to be Born Again. PS Have you stopped reading and clicked on that link in 6) yet?

8) My 21-month-old Pete anxiously waiting through the 5 second piano intro -- very time! -- before breaking into what appears to be a chicken flailing violently in time to “Here it Comes” by MC Search. I can just see his mind working (“Wait for it…wait for it…VIOLENT CHICKEN TIME.)

9 ) Paste Magazine - Magazine that recommends music with a CD and DVD in each issue. Discovered artists like Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and Mike Doughty

10) Fall Out Boy - "From Under Cork Tree". Never as good as their single, but still good.

Honorable Mentions
Kanye West - Late Registration. Not as good as the great "College Dropout", but what is?
Kings of Leon - Aha Shake Heartbreak
Death Cab for Cutie - You Can Play These Songs With Chords
Paula Paulusma
Brad Paisley – Time Well Wasted. I never thought a country album would ever grace this list, but when something kicks ay-ess like this, I have to give props.
They Might Be Giants - The Spine
Faith - "Hopeful"
Bloc Party
Nickelback – “Photograph”
Gomez – Everything they’ve put out. I finally get it.

Okay since we’re almost done, let’s take a belated November break to note ‘What I’m Thankful For’
- My new big screen TV
- The fact that I got to watch my Steelers in the playoffs on my new big screen TV
- My family (yes I should list them first, actually I had them there first, but it has much more dramatic effect if I don’t)
- The fact that half the country is finally redfaced for voting red
- The kids’ faces when we get to ANY amusement park
- Your sweet lovin’

Disappointments of the year
- David Gray
- Nickel Creek
- Jimmy Eat World
- All TV except ‘Family Guy’, ‘The Office’, ‘Scrubs’ (technically Entourage and Six Feet Under would be part of this too, but they aren’t just TV, they are HBO)
- U2
- Not breaking my recent record of reading a full book before the end of the year. 1.5 doesn’t count.
- The fact that I have about 200 albums I wanted to listen to, but didn’t,

Funniest Movie
Shaun of the Dead. – A Zombie Comedy

Most Heart-Wrenching Moment of 2005
My cat Gomez, breaking down in tears and admitting he had a pooping problem. He was days away from an intervention, anyway. He has subsequently stopped defiling my pool table. It was very emotional.

Fin