A musical selection for this space usually comes to me comfortably in advance of a Friday, but when that’s not the case, I don’t see much point in stretching and possibly further damaging my musical credibility. I’d rather take the week off, go with a textual jam, or drop a visual jam, which we have today courtesy of NASA and the International Space Station:
If you really want a dash of space funk to go along with the visualizations, play this in a parallel window-universe.
We normally do this on Mondays, but with the breakdown of this fall’s orderly football schedule, together with adverse outcomes in the two games I attended over the weekend and the opportunity to post the song below, I figured it was ok to wait until Tuesday this time.
On Friday, the Red Wings lost by a goal on the road to Chicago, and on Saturday, Vanderbilt lost by a touchdown to Cincinnati in the Liberty Bowl. Recaps of both of those games will come later.
There wasn’t much of special note in the NFL’s final week of regular season play on Sunday, except that Steelers’ RB Rashard Mendenhall tore his ACL and is done for the season, a literally crippling blow to Pittsburgh’s Super Bowl chances, especially considering Ben Roethlisberger’s lingering leg injury.
The traditional New Year’s Day bowls were played on January 2 this year, and Michigan State came back to win a triple-overtime game against Georgia in the Outback Bowl, much to the chagrin of commodawg and bpbrady. By the second half, it appeared that nobody wanted to win the game. The officials insisted that there had to be a winner, though, and two missed field goals by Georgia, including one the Spartans blocked in the third overtime, sealed the game.
The BCS games played yesterday were exciting as well. Oregon topped Wisconsin for the Ducks’ first Rose Bowl victory in over ninety years, and Oklahoma State beat Stanford in overtime for all the Tostitos in the Fiesta Bowl.
Tonight, the once-proud Sugar Bowl stakes its claim to irrelevancy when Michigan takes on Virginia Tech. Our bpbrady is there. Watch for him on tv, assuming he makes it into the stadium after a week in the French Quarter.
I’m not much for new year’s resolutions as rituals go, but if I need some suggestions for self improvement in 2012, I’m going to be turning to Woody Guthrie’s New Years Rulin’s from 1941 (click image to zoom):
For a modern analogue:
Today’s Friday Jam comes to you from the road, where I’m beginning my reverse reinactment of the second third of the great blues migration. I will be in Chicago tonight for the Red Wings and Blackhawks, and I’ll be in Memphis tomorrow afternoon for the Liberty Bowl, where Vanderbilt will face Cincinnati. Given the recent spate of hockey head injuries, the most recent victim of which is Nashville’s Shea Weber, featuring Warren Zevon and Mitch Albom’s “Hit Somebody! (The Hockey Song)” in this spot didn’t seem quite right. The other selection never was in question, however, and I was happy to find this particular clip because it was the first time I’d ever heard the tune:
I hope that happens to me exactly, minus the rain and the catfish. I’ve caught catfish. I’ve eaten catfish. Various preparations. I’ve tried. I can’t do it anymore. And the pouring rain. It always seems to rain for the Liberty Bowl, but this year is shaping up just fine.
Thanks for dropping by this week and checking out our year-in-review posts, interspersed with our usual coverage, and thanks to Brendan for a great idea.
Top Sports Moments of 2011
The scoreboard in left field.
If you’re looking for an official or objective list of the top stories of the year, I suggest you go elsewhere. What I like about our year-in-review features is that we’ve written about the stories, albums, and events that were most interesting or important to us, and, as will be immediately obvious, I’m going to follow suit.
1. Detroit Tigers playoff push
The Tigers obviously didn’t make it as far as they did in 2006, but this year was like that year in that Detroit beat the Yankees along the way. What was different about 2011, for me, was that I was a) living in Michigan, and b) writing and tweeting for a sports blog during much of the season. Both of these things measurably enhanced my experience of and connection to this year’s team, its successes, personalities, and volatility. It also was the first time in a few years that I was able to attend a game. I spilled much digital ink on this team in these virtual pages, and the posts are easy enough to find so I’ll spare you any detailed recap, except to say that, a few months later, I am able to appreciate the way the wheels came off as a suitable ending to a dramatic (by Detroit standards) season.
2. Vanderbilt’s football season
I didn’t put the Lions’ season on my list under the rationale that it still is ongoing, so this selection is cheating a little bit, but the college football regular season is over, so I’m running with it. I’ll hit on some of the high points in my Liberty Bowl preview that will go up later today, but first-year head coach James Franklin appears to have changed the culture at Vandy even faster than Jim Schwartz has in Detroit, tripling the win total with essentially the same players. As successful as he was on the field (I’ll always maintain that they were three plays away from a 9-3 record), Franklin may be even more successful on the recruiting trail. He already nabbed a Virginia quarterback recruit away from Virginia Tech, and he took a five-star QB recruit to the wire against LSU and Notre Dame. Next year looks even more promising, when Warren Norman is scheduled to return to the backfield alongside 2011 success stories Zac Stacy and starting QB Jordan Rodgers. 2012 will look even better if the Commodores can win the Liberty Bowl and finish this year 7-6.
3. Misbehaving College Coaches
This was a great year for teams I like– Spartans, Commodores, Tigers, Lions, and Red Wings– and it was a great year for sports writing, with the launch of Grantland, OutKick the Coverage, and The Classical, but like Magalan felt compelled to remark upon the marathon record-setter, I feel compelled to mention the names Jerry Sandusky, Jim Tressel, and Bruce Pearl. Sandusky is in a terrible league of his own, and I already have written here about Tressel and Pearl. Sparing the hand-wringing, defending, and analyzing, what I’ll say in the context of the posture of this post is that it is a welcome development that the NCAA is punishing coaches individually for the violations they commit or otherwise oversee. I hope the days of slippery escape artists like John Calipari, Pete Carroll, and Lane Kiffin are over.
Top Albums of 2011
Creating this list was a bit more difficult, not because I don’t like or know about music, but because I’m not quite as hip-to-the-modern-scene as many of my co-writers here. (See, for example, my punt on Amy Winehouse earlier.) Resort to a list of 2011 releases from a trusted source, something I suspect a lot of people writing bits like this do, was unavailing. That list jogged my memory on one album, Gregg Allman’s Low Country Blues, that Bdoyk actually tipped me off to initially. It didn’t make my list though, even though I had to cheat a little as you’ll see, because I didn’t think it was anything special. I liked it, but I don’t think it deserves to be one of the three best albums of 2011, even if I can’t come up with three.
1. Revelator – Tedeschi Trucks Band
This was an easy number one choice for me. I wrote a full review of the album back in September, and I don’t feel the need to supplement it now, except to add that it was the first record I played on my turntable after recently setting up my new stereo system.
2. June 3, 2011, Pine Knob – Phish
This is a concert, not an album, but I was in attendance, and it was a perfect concert night. Put attendance together with recording (free sample streaming), and I’m calling it an album. I went with a good friend, with whom I’ve seen the band once before, and everything went as smoothly as could be. The weather was perfect, the band was playing at a level they hadn’t reached in years. and it was my first visit to this historic outdoor Michigan venue. It definitely was the best I had ever seen them, and we had the feeling during the show that something special was going on, which made it all the more neat and enjoyable. Because amateur blogging about a Phish show registers somewhere between talking to another person about your fantasy minor league baseball team and a rambling monologue at a loud bar about that “drug trip” you had “back in high school,” I’ll close this by quoting bona fide Phish blogger Mr. Miner (the second Mr. Miner— I held that username as a prior legal nonconforming use on phishows.com), who wrote shortly afterwards that:
Sometimes a show—just one set—can launch thousands of dreams, taking the audience on a voyage so cosmic and coherent; so spectacular and superb that people will look back on it for years to come. Odysseys like the second set of Detroit’s Friday night exclamation reach the very core essence of Phish—four musicians pushing the boundaries of musical possibilities while taking 15,000 fans with them into the depths of the universe. With playing so together and inspirational, Phish opened yet another door last night, inviting us further into the future. And more than ever, the future is now.
…You get the idea.
3. Fall – Root Glen
As I suggested above, I didn’t hear a lot of 2011’s new releases, but I definitely heard this one. One of two releases by this relatively new band from New Jersey, I also wrote a full review of this EP last month. What I’ll add in this retrospective is that it is cool to listen to something for the first time and immediately recognize that it represents an important step up for a band you already liked. Before Fall, Root Glen had been successful at capturing their live sound in the studio, and this was great. After all, it was their live performances that gave them a following in the first place. But a lot of bands play live and just noodle and jam without much focus or commitment, and Fall is evidence of a group redoubling its effort to put forth an even higher quality of music they always had in them.
Thanks for reading us in 2011, and be sure to stick around for much more in the New Year.
Related
Magalan’s year in review
Bdoyk’s year in review
Exexpatriate’s year in review
Bpbrady’s year in review
ALDLAND’s year in review
Top 3 Sports Moments/Things of the Year:
1. Makau breaks the Marathon World Record in Berlin.
Don’t worry, we’ll talk SEC Football soon enough. But records in the Marathon don’t happen every year, and it’s getting much harder to break. So when Patrick Makau runs 26.2 miles in 2:03:38, it’s a big deal. Breaking the previous record by only 21 seconds in a race that is so long might not seem significant, but, umm, it is. I find it helpful to note that the time listed above means Makau ran the race with an average pace of 4:42.9 per mile. If you were a track star in high school, it is possible that you could run a mile in under 5 minutes. Once, maybe twice. To do it 26.2 times is truly difficult for me to comprehend.
2. The ALL SEC National Championship Game.
Since it is a moment that will actually occur in 2012, we’ll say the selection of two SEC teams for the title game. I’ll start by saying the whole situation stinks for Oklahoma State. They were certainly deserving of a shot against LSU. But so is Alabama. I didn’t agree with any of the talk about the LSU-Bama meeting on November 5 – I didn’t think it was terribly boring, and really enjoyed watching it.
Aside from SEC homerism, the moment is significant in that it might have finally tipped the scales for a move to some kind of playoff. It has, at the very least, put the structure of the BCS in doubt going forward. The run up to the national championship may look very different five years from now.
3. The Atlantic publishes Tyler Branch’s piece, The Shame of College Sports, in October 2011.
As should be clear by now, I love watching college football. But its hard to read that article and not feel unsettled by the current state of affairs. As revenues for college football continue to increase, I expect that we’ll eventually see some sort of real payment for players. Which is probably for the best.
Top 3 Albums of the year:
1. Here We Rest – Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit.
He was my favorite part of the Drive-By Truckers when we was with them, and I’ve loved each of the three albums he’s made since he moved on in 2007. This last one is yet another good addition to his body of work. He’s a heck of a songwriter, and you can rock out or relax at various points on the album.
2. The King of Limbs – Radiohead.
I liked it, sorry. Maybe it’s not as groundbreaking as stuff in the past, but I’ve caught myself listening through the album over and over again. I take that as a sign.
3. Barton Hollow – The Civil Wars.
These guys put out an incredible album this year, and then got a ton of publicity when Taylor Swift tweeted about their concert at the Belcourt Theater. The whole album is beautiful, and the title track is all sorts of acoustic kick-ass.
Related
Bdoyk’s year in review
Exexpatriate’s year in review
Bpbrady’s year in review
ALDLAND’s year in review
My favorite time of year is when my go to blogs begin to slowly unveil what they thought was the best of the previous 11-12 months. I tend to nod my head in visible agreement or audibly exclaim a Gob Bluth-esque “C’mon!” as certain selections grace their lists. I anticipate that you, fair readers, will do precisely the same. Thus, without further ado…here goes nothing.
Muzac
1. Bon Iver, Bon Iver
It’s no secret that I adore Bon Iver. I have had their first album and any live material I could get my hands on in frequent rotation for the last 3 years. I’ve even changed the way I say their name multiple times (specifically after being scoffed at when say both Bahn Eye-ver and Bone Ee-vehr, now I just sort of mumble it and tend to swoon over Justin Vernon instead). Anyways, this album was highly anticipated by me and many others, and did not disappoint. In fact, it also produced the best song of the year. And to cap it off, it was the best concert of the year. [note to fans: Bon Iver + Ryman + Acoustic = Unreal]
2. Adele, 21
Similar to Bon Iver, I’ve been waiting for Adele’s sophomore release for a long time. As the days led up to its release, she began her media tour and I fell in love with her all over again. When I lived in New York, I had the chance to see her twice. Both times I was struck that her live performance was better than her first album, a feat I previously thought impossible, and, to top it all off, she was just so damn likeable, chatting with the audience, giggling like an excited school girl. Fortunately/unfortunately she performed a ton in support of this album, so much so she found herself under the knife, and isn’t expecting to make another album for another 2-3 years. In the meantime, I’ll be watching this and definitely not not getting teary eyed.
3. The Head and the Heart, The Head and the Heart
I’m not sure how/when this band popped on my radar, but boy am I glad they did. Their album is simple, but fabulous. Like the previous two on this list, I can listen to it beginning to end, never skipping a song. I’ve probably listened to Down in the Valley close to 2,398,509,259 times since May, and still haven’t gotten sick of it.
4. Kanye West, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Ok, so this is sooo 2010, but I’m going to go ahead and include it. Hopefully ‘Ye will feel better about not getting an Album of the Year nod with this honor. Perhaps even more interesting than the album is the story behind how it came to be. Kanye’s a nut, that’s for sure. He also has a lot of feelings. He also is a pretty brilliant producer and each of these combine for some serious hotness. Throw on the full album next time you’re at the gym and tell me you didn’t do some fist pumping. Also, Nicki Minaj’s verse on Monster is one of the best rap verses maybe ever, and makes me want to get in a fight.
Well I don’t have a 5th so I’m going to throw out my Honorable Mentions and miscellaneous awards here:
Black Keys, El Camino. Haven’t listened quite enough to put it on the list, but I can tell you there are some gems on here. My personal favorite, Mind Eraser, is like a song version of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and I’m super into it. Sister and Lonely Boy are also pretty epic.
Jay Z & Kanye West, Watch the Throne. Seems too easy to have on there. However, it’s really, really good. Some of the lyrics are absurd slash offensive, but the beats are undeniably super hot and may inspire an instant party no matter where you are (don’t ask me how I know this).
Best Cover: TIE! Both are too good for me not to include them
Take Care (Drake), Florence + the Machine
Dirty Diana (Michael Jackson), The Weeknd
Best Jam: Girl I Want You to Know, Lupe Fiasco
Best Love Song: A Million Years, Alexander
Sports Moments
1. The end of the NFL lockout
Sundays from February to August feel empty enough to me as is; thus, the prospect of not having a season was a little bit much for me to realistically consider. There were some desperate points in there. However, as the end came, just days after the passing of the Pats’ owner’s beloved wife, and Bob Kraft played an instrumental role in the negotiations, it felt doubly sweet.
2. The epic collapse of the Red Sox/Eva(n) Longoria’s extra innings walk-off
I am still not in a place where I can talk about this. But, boy, was it memorable.
3. Brees surpassing Marino for single season yardage
See? Sometimes procrastinating has its perks. The inclusion of this moment comes less than 24 hours after it happened. Sure, the talking heads will all point to how the game has changed sufficiently, making the comparison of Marino and Brees’ accomplishments laughable. However, Brees seems like a great guy. His post-game speech in the locker room was as genuine as they come. All in all, excellent work for an excellent dude.
Related
Exexpatriate’s year in review
Bpbrady’s year in review
ALDLAND’s year in review
Top 5 Albums of the Year
5. Everything is Boring and Everyone is a Fucking Liar—Spank Rock: Spank Rock’s sophomore album delivered more of the same electro rock/rap goodness as his debut. EBEFL is a good album to play at parties if you want music that is suitable for partying but you don’t want to cry after hearing LMFAO for the thousandth time.
4. El Camino—The Black Keys: While not as good as 2010’s Brothers, El Camino is another excellent effort from the Nashville based duo. The Black Keys maintain their signature sound, while making things feel a little fresh with more upbeat, rock-y sounding tracks. Plus, the announcement video for the album featured Bob Odenkirk playing Saul Goodman if he was a used car salesman
3. Within and Without—Washed Out: Washed Out’s first LP is going to be hard for him to top in the future. In a year that featured a lot of good albums by chillwave artists, Within and Without was one of the best. Washed Out is the chilliest of chillwave artists, and his music is perfect for relaxing. He also does awesome live shows, so check him out if he ever stops by your town.
2. In the Mountain, In the Cloud—Portugal. The Man: Portugal. The Man has been putting out around an album a year for the past six years, yet they continue to fly under the radar. In the Mountain, In the Cloud is probably not going to raise their profile very much, but it should, because it is an awesome album with a fantastic indie sound. It even features a track that was deemed good enough to be included in the FIFA 12 soundtrack.
1. Era Extaña—Neon Indian: Neon Indian is also classified as a chillwave artist, at least by Wikipedia, however his (their?—Wikipedia is often vague on whether Neon Indian is a stage name for one person or for a group) music is a little more upbeat than that of Washed Out. A lot of his music sounds like it could come straight out of an NES-era video game, which is fun.
Top 5 Sports Moments/Things of the Year
5. Dustin Ackley: When you are a fan of a team as crappy as the Seattle Mariners, good baseball moments are hard to come by. It’s one thing when rookies are struggling to a 70 win record, but when it is a bunch of lazy, overweight vets going through the motions on the field it gets tiresome. That is why Dustin Ackley was such a breath of fresh air—he was a rookie who came in and instead of struggling, lit up the AL for a couple months. If he had been able to get a full season under his belt, he likely would have been rookie of the year, but Mariners fans will settle for the four months of excellent play they got out of him, and hopefully many more years to come.
4. The Detroit Lions 2011 season: Like fans of the Mariners, fans of the Lions will take whatever good they can get, and this year there was a lot of it. Even if the Lions lose out and miss the playoffs, they will have finished with their first winning record in God knows how long. The best thing about the Lions this season is that the players seem to finally care. Stafford, Megatron and House of Spears have provided Lions fans with a lot of good times this season (and in House of Spears’ case a few less than good times). If the Lions make the playoffs, I think I will finally understand what it means to be “happy to be there,” although I hope the Lions themselves aren’t satisfied with that.
3. Michigan—Notre Dame: The first night game in Michigan Stadium did not disappoint. Early on it looked bleak, as Notre Dame jumped out to a 14-0 lead. ND even led 24-7 at the end of the 3rd quarter. But Michigan would not go away, and came back to lead 28-24 with a minute to go. The game was not over, however, and Notre Dame marched down the field to take a 31-28 lead, giving Michigan the ball back on their own 20 with 30 seconds to go. Notre Dame then decided that covering Michigan’s receivers was overrated, and Denard Robinson lead the Wolverines 80 yards in 28 seconds, throwing a touchdown pass to Roy Roundtree to rip the Fighting Irish’s hearts out for the third year in a row. Attending the first night game in Michigan history was a memorable experience, and I even got to see Little Aldland and Mr. and Mrs. Aldland.
2. Michigan—Ohio State: It’s tough to lose to your rival, or any team for that matter, several years in a row. Just ask Vandy fans, many of whom have gone their entire lives without seeing Vandy beat Tennessee. While Ohio State’s streak over Michigan was not nearly that long, it was still annoying and OSU’s off the field troubles provided the perfect opportunity to end it. And end it Michigan did, although not without drama, as the Buckeyes put up a fight, falling to the Wolverines 40-34.
1. Barcelona—Real Madrid/Barcelona—Manchester United (UEFA Champions League): Barcelona’s exit in the 2010 Champions League to Internazionale left a bad taste in the mouths of many fans of the club, particularly this writer who will go to his grave thinking that what would have been the winning goal by Bojan Krkic was wrongly disallowed by a handball call on Barcelona midfielder Yaya Toure. Still, commentators and analysts around the word continued to praise the 2011 Barcelona side as potentially one of the best all time if they would be able to win the Champions League twice in three years (Barcelona also won in 2009). As is often said, to be the best, you must beat the best and “the best” came in the form of Barcelona’s eternal rivals Real Madrid and English giants Manchester United. The semifinals of the Champions League saw a hard fought battle between Barcelona and Madrid, with the Blaugrana narrowly dispatching the team from the Spanish capital. Despite the talent level at Manchester United, the final seemed like a fait accompli, and largely it was. Barcelona dominated possession and the run of play in a 3-1 victory over their English opposition, lifting the Champions League trophy for the second time in three years.
Related
ALDLAND’s year in review
For some reason, I was having a little trouble selecting a suitable jam for today, but then my unconscious floated me this hip seasonal number. It is advisable to engage the snow machine ignition switch:
If you’d rather go full-throttle, cut to the chase, pop the clutch and drop the hammer, direct yourself over here. Either way, merry Christmas.
Although we already find ourselves comfortably inside college football’s bowl season, ALDLAND’s coverage admittedly has been on the slim side. With the Outback Bowl, Sugar Bowl, and Liberty Bowl sure to receive increased attention here in the coming days, we’ll continue the ramp-up with this story about the obscure Bacardi Bowl, which on all but one occasion featured a meeting between an American college team and some assemblage of Cuban players:
I think the Bacardi Bowl was a great idea for any number of reasons, many of which, as exexpatriate might say, fall under the category of “whimsy!” When I think of Havana, though, I think of two things. In no particular order, they are a) my first visit to Long Island, when I flew into MacArthur Airport in Islip and declared that, although I’d never been to Cuba, this certainly looked like Havana if I’d ever seen it (to be quite clear, I had not), and b) the Trio of Doom, a (basically) one-off post-bop/avant garde jazz super group– Jaco Pastorius, John McLaughlin, and Tony Williams– who played for twenty-five minutes together at the Havana Jam in 1979, resulting in one album. Video footage of the Havana Jam is scarce, but the following clip, while not featuring the Trio per se (I only can spot Jaco and the Mahavishnu for certain), should give you a sniff of the scene:
ALDLAND 