Trying to strike that whole balance between objectivity and old favorites, what comes out is what’s occupying my ears the most in the car and at home, and a bit of commentary for the ages of what it means in context and in time.

10 – Vandaveer – Dig Down Deep – What made me originally made me fall in love with this group was their pool session at SXSW Austin Texas and later to discover their laundry session in Paris – No matter the venue they’re on my bucket list to see in concert, stunning lyrics, great tempo, and amazing mood the band carries around.

9 – Old 97′s – Grand Theater Vol 2 – 5 stars based on 16 reviews on amazon so far…why?  I have to think we go back to the theme for my 2010 artists where I say its all about the stories in the music, these are completely zany but they work, this album brings me my favorite song of the year, Perfume, and Rhett Miller sings this tune beautifully.

8 - Brandon Flowers – Flamingo – Here’s my sellout moment where I choose lead singer from the killer’s solo act as one of my favorites, but what an amazing juxtaposition, not just in music, but lyrics — my favorite tune, ‘The Clock was Tickin’ — The subtext to me says screw climbing the corporate ladder.

7 – Pickwick – Don’t have an album yet, but its the most anticipated artists of the year 2012 for me.  I can’t wait to see them live, spin their album, buy their t-shirt, tell friends and whatever else humanly possibly to make these gentlemen successful.  Favorite video of the year, favorite video of the year by a long shot, Pickwick singing blackout in the library.

6 – DJ Oetzi – Greatest Hits – If you’ve ever left a trail of puke going home from a festival in Germany listening to tunes by this DJ, you’ll understand.  Enough Said.  Props to the ‘Burger Song’

5 – The Head and the Heart – Self Titled – Caught at the tail end of 2010 while cruising around in Northern Italy, this band is phenomenal yet simple – the crisp voice of the singer will have you coming back for more., mamma did once tell me, you’re already home when you feel loved. G and D chord completely through a song never sounded so good –

4 – Dean and Britta – Back Numbers — I don’t recall at the moment if this album was in my tops last year, if so, it deserves a spot again – Pop this on in the train across Europe and its the perfect soundtrack to contemplating the meaning of life, and there’s not a moment wasted contemplating this and your place in it.

3 – Mason Jennings – Minnesota – Standouts are ‘Raindrops on the Kitchen Floor’, which at first listen gave me goosebumps, and “wake up’, which challenges your potentially conceited point of view and tears away the hubris.  Not to mention this album has a very retro feel in many of the albums, I can only imagine the Electric Fetus in Duluth sells out of this album constantly

2 – Roxette – Charm School – Lyrics that make the world sing, simple yet powerful, ‘have you ever had the feeling, you take it all for granted, the universe revealed and it didn’t make sense at all’ — got these guys off the bucket list this year in Barcelona

1 – Ben Folds – Lonely Ave – A smartass you can grow old with, that’s him, Ben Folds, who proclaims he used to be a sentimental guy — now he’s taking jabs at all the right things.  I plan on recording my commute to work and putting it to song, Doc Pomus will be the tune.  Brilliant combo with Nick Horby, and Belinda has to be my second favorite song of the year.

So there you have it, 2011 resembled something like Boblingen through an instagram lens. The weekends were epic, the week sucked beyond words.  2012 will be an adventure, approximately 100 years before 2112 and Rush’s prophecies.  Stay tuned.

Boblingen

A morning-glory at my window satisfies me more than the metaphysics of books -Walt Whitman

Cinque Terre

A few weeks ago we had the amazing opportunity to see Mt. Fuji, another world.

Mt Fuji

It’s had its twists and turns and excitement, not to mention a brilliant vibrancy.  It’s the difference between seeing something from a wiki page and actually being there.

Ceaușescu built the ‘road to nowhere’, over the Carpathian Mountains — We stumble on it by accident, logic to us to go ‘this way,’ navigation system told us to go ‘that way’, ‘that way’ wound up being a breathtaking drive which culminated by heading down this road filled with switchbacks — Little did we know the road was only open 2-3 months out of the year due to snow fall.

Transylvania is just as eerie or more so than all the folklore tells — Dracula, majestic falls, and a culture not yet touched by homogenization, its amazing.

What we saw, touched, tasted, smelled and felt

What it looked like on the navi, I’ve always thought this is a machine takes the excitement out of a trip, but this time it lead us there.

The macro worldview has lost virtue, Europe appears to be at the forefront of setting the reclamination of virtue as its goal, dragging the politicians, oligarchs, and technology along with it.  It has a great set of invisible hands guiding the path.

The ability to keep rediscovering that goal personally is a constant challange.

In the past I was excited to be a technologist, the days when I mistook productivity for efficiency.  Paddling hard with the daily grind, I forget what’s important and unique….I lose the hunger to transcend, and you forget that there is no true winner in a finite game.

The goals then and the goals now are extremely different, as we all struggle to determine just what is the goal of the 21st century man.

Earth, From a Smallville Kryptonite Induced Lens

Two drinks, two hours, I’m toast, but what a cool experience.

Perkins Park Stuttgart

A paraphrased story goes…

Some Harvard hot shot is sitting in a room for of military generals, talking about all these great things, social networking, crowdsourcing, functioning organzations — all of them nod in accordance, ‘good idea’ they say — The punchline from the Harvard bloke ‘What stands in the way is YOU, and this will all happen when you are gone, and not a minute sooner.’

This got me thinking about the simple principles offered by this guy that would save money and make the world a better place, but as always, we are our own worse enemy. 

This got me thinking of the company ‘The Eraser’, one in which meets with the head of the state and says things like you have 5 portals at this place, we’re shutting off 4 of them, the return on investment is ‘THIS’ for turning all the stuff off.  These sentiments are kyrptonite to the ears of some, so you wouldn’t engage in these point counterpoint arguements with the entrenched, hence you wait for the time when these ideas are ripe on the vine ready to be heard.  The time will come.

Bon Jovi played for the first time in Bucharest Romania, he said “thank you for the patience, we’ve waited 30 years to play here.”  While much of the world needs the pen, the developed world needs to learn how to use the eraser.

Bon Jovi - Bucharest Romania

Balance is always important, and over the years I’ve dropped the word often.  I’ve always thought it to be the main key, but perhaps at this juncture in life the events of the day look like spinning plates.  Got 6 or so plates spinning, and onlookers go, dang, that’s pretty tough, what’s going to happen….only to grab another one and start spinning.

Tonight was the first ‘couch and cheetos’ night in how long I can’t recall,….it was splendid, as I looked out the window and admired the beautiful spring day, I wonder how long and how many plates will continue to spin, past present future.

Wonder how many plates Thom York is spinning.

While you make pretty speeches,
I’m being cut to shreds
You feed me to the lions,
a delicate balance

And this just feels like spinning plates
I’m living in cloud cuckoo land
And this just feels like spinning plates
My body is floating down the muddy river


to the same song in Vienna many years later in some gas tanks