G'roh!!!!

All I asked Virginia to do was score seven more points that Fresno St. They had that accomplished until 4th and Goal with :11 remaining in the game. They blew it and then sank in OT. My hopes drained faster.

Now time for one of those harsh best of lists. This one is devoted to music. But it isn't like the ones you see everywhere else listing favorite song or album. This is devoted to the bands I discovered, was turned on to, saw live or chose to delve into deeper.

This year I was turned on to My Morning Jacket, The Shins, discovered Idlewild, Interpol, Kings of Leon, The Mooney Suzuki, Sloan, Loose Fur, figured out what makes Jimmy Cliff cool, and Roxy Music influential and immersed myself into Dylan. I'm sure there were others, but my two favorite albums of the year that I never would have predicted were Interpol's Antics and Kanye West's College Dropout. Through the Wire and Jesus Walks are constantly in my lobe.

I also gifted myself U2 who I used to loathe. I can't imagine why I was so oblivious. My favorite new trick of the year is to order fast food or make pointless announcements in my Bono voice full of grandiosity. "I'll have a number faur with a Coke" the Irish accent is key...

This year I saw some really great bands live. I had a lull in the last few years, but made up big this year by seeing The Bottle Rockets, Lucinda Williams, Liz Phair, Wilco, and John Hiatt. Liz Phair was the biggest surprise. I did not have high expectations for her performance, but it was tremendous. I had really high expectations for Lucinda Williams, but felt she was upstaged by The Bottle Rockets. She was great but not what I had hoped. Of course Wilco played the best show of my live experiences with them. That is saying a lot for me, I have half of Jeff's guitar from years ago lets not forget. And I left John Hiatt's solo acoustic performance a fan for life. That guy is awesome. I love stripping back a song the way he did, raw and fresh.

So your three tunes for the day are my favorite three songs I heard live this year; Buffalo River Home, John Hiatt...Favorite, Liz Phair and finally Still I Long for Your Kiss, Lucinda Williams.

Until next time.