Thank God...

Now that Jesus has turned another year older, we will be spared Celine Dion's further desecration of classic Christmas tunes at every Walgreens/Rite Aid/Duane Reade/7-11, for the remainder of this year. A thinking person can only listen to "Feliz Navidad" so many times before he or she goes nuts. It's not waterboarding, but talk about torture.

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas. I certainly did. They say it's better to give than to receive, but all the same, that hefty lump of clean coal Father Christmas left me under the tree this morning is saving me money on utilities as we speak. Oh, God bless us everyone!

The end of the year is upon us. In the tradition of every music fanatic who marks time by compiling the best albums or best shows of the year, here is one of many superfluous lists of 2008 accompanied by a few mp3's (The Ex, Mekurya, Nine Inch Nails, and Iron & Wine tracks are AAC files. Sorry, I'll convert them later.). Enjoy.

The best (and only) live shows that I attended in 2008:

Cat Power/Appaloosa @ The Warfield
The Dirtbombs/Dan Sartain/Terrible Twos @ The Independent
The Kills/Dax Riggs @ Slim's
Yo La Tengo/Titus Andronicus @ McCarren Pool Park
The Ex/Getachew Mekurya @ Damrosch Park, Lincoln Center
Nine Inch Nails/Deerhunter @ Oracle Arena
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds/Red Sparrowes (2X) @ The Warfield
My Bloody Valentine/Spectrum @ The Concourse Exhibition Center
Sigur Ros/The Parachutes @ The Greek Theatre
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival: Elvis Costello/Gogol Bordello/Iron & Wine/Loudon Wainwright/Emmylou Harris @ Golden Gate Park



Cat Power - Ramblin' Man from eMusic session EP (2006?)
The Dirtbombs - My Last Christmas from If You Don't Already Have A Look (2005)
The Kills - Love Is A Deserter from No Wow (2004)
Yo La Tengo - The Summer from Fakebook (1990)
The Ex - Huriyet from The Turn (2004)
Getachew Mekurya - Muziqa heywèté from Ethiopiques Vol. 14 (2004)
Nine Inch Nails - Discipline from The Slip (2008)
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - We Call Upon the Author from Dig, Lazarus, Dig !!! (2008)
My Bloody Valentine - Sugar from Les Rockincorruptibles promo
Sigur Ros - Ágætis Byrjun [Live] from Hvarf - Heim (2007)
Elvis Costello - Good Year for the Roses from Almost Blue (1981)
Gogol Bordello - Against the Nature from Vio-la Intruder (2002)
Iron & Wine - Sodom, South Georgia from Our Endless Numbered Days (2005)
Loudon Wainwright - Daughter from Strange Weirdos (2007)
Emmylou Harris - Here, There and Everywhere from Elite Hotel (1975)