Star Tribune Twin Cities Critics Tally 2007

I turned in my top ten albums list in on time, but since I didn't make deadline with the rest of my response, I humbly post all my responses to the annual poll below.

My Best local albums of 2007

1. Ed Ackerson – self-titled
2. Stook – When the Needle Hits the Wax
3. Terry Eason – Sentimental Vanity
4. To Kill a Petty Bourgoisie –The Patron
5. James Buckley Trio - Stitches
6. Evening Rig – Never Been’r
7. Alarmists – Ghost and the Hired Gun
8. Glad Version – Make Islands
9. White Light Riot – Atomism
10. Twin Town High Music Yearbook - Various

My Best local songs of 2007

1. Baby Guts - Staplegun
2. Dance Band - Shake Your Baby Maker
3. Dan Wilson – Cry
4. Ed Ackerson – Wired Weird
5. Stook – Lovesick Firecracker

My Best live acts of 2007

1. Gospel Gossip
2. MC/VL
3. Mouthful of Bees
4. Dance Band
5. Big Trouble

My No. 1 sign the local music scene was alive and well in 2007:

The Mad Ripple Hootenany and catching such acts there as Golden Smog, Elvis Perkins, Marc & Janey, and many other fresh songwriters. Hearing Phil Solem of the Rembrandt’s perform “I’ll Be There For You” with Ryan Smith of the Melismatics was truly another 2007 “you shoulda been there” Hoot moment.


Read the entire report in the Star Tribune:

• Top Local albums article
  
• The critics ballots
• The vote totals
  

Google Street View

I finally got around to using Google Street View on my house. (Been busy, and it wasn't quite on my priority list.)

Well, it looks better than I thought, and we appear to have been home judging by what are clearly our cars parked in front of the house. I'm guessing this photo was taken between March and June of 2007.

Anyone slightly freaked that the Google camera car or truck passed right by your house while you were inside and you didn't even know about it? This article links to a photo of some fellas in Minneapolis leaving a strip club in broad daylight. Aaron Landry (S4xton) makes a cameo. (In the article, not in the linked photo.)

I haven't explored much yet, but once they get the whole world done, this should completely eliminate the need to travel anywhere ever again. Just sit on the couch and go to Amsterdam or poke around Paris while lying in bed.

Actually, despite possible sinister uses, for worldwide travelers, this could be used as a great service to see if those photos of the hotel you plan to stay at represent the place accurately, and you can also get a feel for the neighborhood.

Street view your own house, and share your reaction in the comments.

More here from Julio Ojeda-Zapata : Google Debuts Street View in the Twin Cities

Follow me

New Year's Resolution #1: Get to 100+ Twitter followers by Groundhog's Day.

Why? 'Cause my Twittering is my bestest work ever. (Or at least my most concise.)

http://twitter.com/howwastheshow

HowWasTheShow/Minneapoliscast CD Reviews for December, 2007

HowWasTheShow's special holiday podcast, featuring 9 songs and 8 guests.

1. Humanboy – “Something Familiar” – selected by Jason Nagel (http://www.myspace.com/humanboy)
2. Alicia Corbett/Tea & Sympathy – “1st & 3rd” – selected by Mei Young (http://www.myspace.com/corbettinorbit)
3. Terry Eason – “Megalomaniac” – Selected by David de Young (http://www.myspace.com/easonic)
4. Dreamland Faces – “Je Sais Comment” – Selected by Jon Behm (http://www.dreamlandfaces.com/)
5. Dance Band – “Shake Your Baby Maker” – Selected by Stacy Schwartz (http://www.myspace.com/mydanceband/
6. 757s – “Repeater” – Selected by Pat O’Brien (http://www.the757s.com)
7. Little Sister – “Fever” – Selected by Jen Paulson (http://www.myspace.com/littlesistermpls)
8. Sick of Sarah - “Hello Good Morning” – Selected by Andrea Myers (http://www.myspace.com/sickofsarah )
9. Trailer Trash – “Do You Hear What I Hear (You Really Got Me)” – Special Holiday extra (http://www.trailertrashmusic.com)


MP3 File

Utah Phillips Benefit Concert 12/15/07 at the Eagle's Club

Press Release:

Utah Phillips Benefit Concert
Saturday, December 15th - 6 PM
Eagle's Club - 2507 E. 25th St.

The "Golden Voice of the Great Southwest" has a bum ticker:

U. Utah Phillips, a former NPR host who was blacklisted in the state of Utah after an unsuccessful bid for U.S. Senate in 1968 on the Peace and Freedom party ticket can be described as a raconteur extraordinaire, a radical historian well-versed in the sorrowful details of the bloodiest social justice struggles of the last century, a hobo, and one hell of a musician whose songs can break your heart and bring your blood to a boil.

Sadly, Utah Phillips has recently been forced to quit performing because of Cheyne-Stokes - a respiratory condition that causes severe disturbances in breathing and debilitating heart irregularities, leaving him with no means of support.

So on Saturday, December 15th, come join friends, admirers, and kindred misfits at the Eagle's Club (2507 E. 25th St) at 6 PM for a benefit concert featuring:

• Duluth's own favorite son, Charlie Parr (6 PM sharp)
• alt-country rocker Bernie King
• the sad folkie from North East, Gabe Barnett
• fiddle player Mary Dushane
• the mustachioed man who can tell you a story whilst entangling you in a lasso, Pop Wagner (& friends)
• the Joan Baez of the Twin Cities, Maureen McElderry
• a couple who actually hung out with Bob Dylan and aren't just making it up to sound cool, Judy Larson & Bill Hinckley
• classically-trained guitarist gone folkster, Phil Heywood
• the "pit bull of folk," Paul Metsa
• who's-your-daddy-Papa John Kolstad
• the mysterious bearded man who plays so well that it requires a different Hawaiian shirt each time, Dakota Dave Hull
• and Peter Lang whose talent needs no corny byline in a press release.

So come on down to the Eagle's and give a little back to a man whose part in the struggle for justice and whose gifts as a story teller and musician have kept the oral and musical traditions of resistance alive and kickin'!


This event is sponsored by the Twin Cities General Membership Branch of the Industrial Workers of the World