Patton Oswalt ANNIHILATION (2017)

Favorite stand-up; unfathomably brave and graceful performance. I, for one, am not worthy.

John Mulaney KID GORGEOUS tour (2017)

Pretty impressive that Mulaney can fill up two shows at the venue the dang Pixies just played, without any big-tent stuff besides 13 episodes of a bad Fox sitcom.  Does everyone know he created Stefon with Bill Hader? Netflix comedy specials have reach!

I knew he was a top-notch crafter of jokes but I didn't expect a guy who could fill up an opera house with his charisma, burst and stage presence.  One of the greats!

seen live power rankings

10. Tig Notaro
9. Aziz Ansari (2)
8. Demetri Martin
7.  Chris Gethard
6. Gary Gulman

5. Mike Birbiglia (3)
4. Michael Ian Black
***John Mulaney***
3. Amy Schumer (3)
2. Maria Bamford (2)
1. Patton Oswalt

Wolf Parade CRY CRY CRY (2017)

Really encouraging to hear Dan and Spencer still rolling on--true believers weathered worn and unbroken. They split songwriting and vocal tracks as always, but they feel better integrated than the last two albums.  Dan is still Bruce-Kurt-Bowie while Spencer is Bowie-Neruda-Vonnegut, and that overlap ties their visions together and makes a coherent and urgent album.  

Dan's Weaponized has my favorite music on the album, where they upgrade the formula with a nitro boost of M83.



Spencer's lyrics and performance on Lazarus Online make it one of his best, which is saying something.



There aren't the all-timer bleed-with-me anthems of ATTQM but these two are wise rejoinders; youthful firework memories sparkplugging the diesel old-man strength; endurance-living through long winters.

Tom Petty FULL MOON FEVER (1989)

This was one of the first CDs I ever bought, at Music Millenium naturally, and drove around to it incessantly.  "Yer So Bad" is my favorite Petty song. The man was so wry and laconic, he was like a Sam Elliott character or a Raymond Carver short story.  Exactly as many words and chords as needed, no more.

His music is the best pick-me-up I've yet found--an instant cure for beleaguered days.  I go into full Petty-mode in the month of April, when winter is survived, baseball is momentarily interesting, and the earth is beginning to look habitable again.  Joyful and stubborn, quiet and defiant, what a fucking cool dude.

I hope he's leading the Traveling Wilburys in the sky.

Miles Davis SKETCHES OF SPAIN (1960)

Free Catalonia!  Free Kurdistan while we're at it!  Who the fuck wants to impede self-determination?!

I had no idea Alan Lomax went abroad to make folk recordings as well; apparently they inspired this album.  What a hero.