2010: A Bad Year for Rock....Or Was It?

I just read the latest issue of Rolling Stone. The one with Bieber on the cover. No...I did not read the article about "the Bieb." I don't care about him.

But, there were two articles that caught my attention.

The first and most obvious one was the concise, honest and passionate history of my favorite band, the Clash. I know the story well...so nothing new for me except a couple pictures I had not seen. However, two thoughts here. One, if you don't know much of the Clash or their records, read the article. You may find yourself compelled to check them out. Two, the last line of the story says, "The tragedy of the Clash is that we no longer allow the room for their sort of voice."

Which leads me to the other story in the magazine that caught my attention - a story outlining how in the entire history of rock, 2010 was a commercial low. Rock. OK...not dance, country (or what passes for it these days), pop, techno, rap or anything like that. Rock. Rock and roll has hit an all time low in terms of selling music. The article goes on at some length as why this is and that rock bands actually can do well by just touring and/or releasing their music on their own via the Internet. However, it's disconcerting to know that frickin' ROCK AND ROLL is not something the American public wants to hear enough to buy records. That's just depressing. Of course, it may just be the thing the doctor ordered as often when things get stale, boring and predictable...along comes a blast of aggressive great music. See the UK in the late 1970s or the USA in the early 1990s.

Anyway, the article does not mean there were not some really good rock and roll albums out new in 2010. For example, check these sets out if you have not:

• The Gaslight Anthem - American Slang
• Manic Street Preachers - Postcards From A Young Man
• The Courteeners - Falcon
• Sound of Guns - What Came From Fire
• Vampire Weekend - Contra

Throw in new ones in 2011 already by Social Distortion (Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes) and British Sea Power (Valhalla Dancehall) and things are not all that bleak for the last 12-14 months.

Oh, and finally, there were two other really good stories in the same issue: apparently Bevis and Butt Head are coming back as a TV show and Matt Tiaibbi's expose on why key figures on Wall Street are not in jail.

What I Am Thankful For 2010

Here are the things I am thankful for:

1. My wife Diane - simply said, my life. I lover her the whole world.
2. My health and that of Diane - no substitute for being healthy. So far so good!
3. Family - immediate and extended family bring us a lot of joy every year.
4. Friends - all friends old and new add so much to our lives.
5. Employment - hey, having a paycheck any time is good, but especially in these times!
6. Travel - it gives us a new perspective no matter where we go - in the U.S. or overseas.
7. Art - music, film, paintings, photography, sculpture or other forms of artistic expression are wonderful...either indulging us in something we already know and love or challenging us to think differently.
8. Our cat Josie P. Jones - yes, she has her own full name. The "P" stands for "Pussycat."
9. Good peripheral vision and quick reflexes - click HERE to read why.
10. Humor - imagine trying to get through life without having a sense of humor yourself or being around people who didn't have one.

Grading Summer 2010

Summer 2010 is now officially over as of tomorrow. Many of us were decidedly not impressed by the weather this year, but I got to thinking that there's lot more that goes into how I remember a summer and what makes a good summer. Here are a few things I consider and how I think they went this year...

WEATHER: D
This summer was a bummer given the great run of weather we had in summer 2009. Too many ill-timed rainy weekends, too many foggy mornings that cleared off only after 2 or 3 p.m. and not enough days in the 70s and 80s. It wasn't worse than a few I can remember, but definitely below average, and, therefore, very disappointing. The only saving grace for us was that we got out of Seattle to Iowa and Arizona and experienced hot, sunny weather there. Throw in our late May trip to Egypt (hot!) and it didn't seem too bad this year. But, for Washington state itself...D!

TRIPS: A
I'm giving this summer and A for activities. Lets run through a few of them:

• July - trip to Iowa to visit my grandma over the 4th of July weekend
• August - trip to the Grand Canyon with a one day kicker in Las Vegas
• September - long weekend in the San Juan Islands

CONCERTS: A
While there is no clear "dear god, I can't believe I just saw these guys live and I'll never be the same" concerts for me this summer, it rates an A because of how many good shows we saw.

• Jimmy Cliff outdoors at the zoo
• Buddy Guy/Robert Cray outdoors at the Tulalip Amphitheater
• Carbon Leaf outdoors at the zoo
• Problem Child at the Seattle Hard Rock Cafe
• Crowded House outdoors at the St. Michele winery
• Gaslight Anthem at the Showbox SoDo
• Willie Nelson at the Puyallup Fairgrounds
• ..and I'm going to include The Beatles Love show at the Mirage in Vegas too.

SPORTS: A-
This was actually a very good summer for sports - at least for me.

First, the bad news. As an admitted "fair weather" Mariners fan I lost interest in them in early May when I realized they were horrible. So, the grade is a little degraded because I think to get an A or A+, the Ms at least would have to have been competitive and in the mix into June and July.

But, the rest of summer 2010 was dy-no-mite. Here's why:

• An exciting World Cup in which the Team USA performed well and there were many great matches to watch
• A hugely compelling Tour de France that engrossed me
• The Seattle Sounders started their season turn-around starting this summer and that was fun to watch too.
• My Oregon Ducks football team returned to the gridiron and has sprinted out to an impressive 3-0 record before the end of summer

ACTIVITIES: A
Lots!

• 5K run in Iowa
• Started training for the Bellingham half marathon
• Biking on San Juan Island
• Sea kayaking in the San Juan Islands
• Biking around Ballard instead of driving
• Hiking up Granite Mountain

OVERALL: A-
Summer 2010 gets an A- in my book. Lots of fun and activities, but not great weather and pitiful Ms team. More sun and warm weather would have meant more hikes or more outings on our bicycles. A competitive Ms would have provided one more great sports story to pay attention to. But other than that...good stuff!

Marc's 2009 "Best Of" Top 10 List

It's the end of another year. I don't know about you, but this one ZIPPED by fast for me.

Last year I put together a list of the "best of" 2008 as a way of signing off from one year and moving into the next. That post can be viewed by clicking HERE.

This year, I'm going to do something similar. However, with all the stuff that happened around the world, there are plenty of Top 10 lists re-capping the best and worst of the past 12 months. For example, see the Time Magazine "Top 10 of Everything" story by clicking here. So, I'll leave it to Time and others to judge the world's top tens and instead give you a list of ten more personal things that were significant or meant a lot to me in 2009...

1. Another great year married to my sweetheart - simple and very true. The most important.
2. Staying employed - I rate both Diane's and my continued employment in 2009 - one of the worst for unemployment in recent memory - as a significant accomplishment.
3. Our Trip to the South - Diane and I thoroughly enjoyed visiting a part of the U.S. that we had not been to before. You can read about our vacation by clicking HERE.
4. My 40th Birthday Bash in Hawaii - along with a number of friends from the mainland, we celebrated my entrance into my fourth decade on the planet with a big bash over on Maui. A very good time and memory. You can read about that adventure by clicking HERE.
5. Seeing the Manic Street Preachers Live in Seattle - this is one of my all time favorite rock bands. Over in the UK and Europe, these guys play big venues, but when they come to the U.S. they play small clubs. My buddy Paul and I were thrilled to see the Manics and meet their lead singer. Read my review of this show by clicking HERE. A close second was seeing Glasvegas live. More on that show HERE.
6. My Alma Mater Wins the Pac-10 Football Championship and Goes to the Rose Bowl (And So Do I) - OK, only the first part of this headline happened in 2009, but based on that achievement in 2009 the Oregon Ducks are playing in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1, 2010 and I will be going there with some friends to see the game and have fun.
7. Going to the U2 Show in Vancouver - we love Vancouver. We really like U2. The combination made for a delightful weekend up north.
8. Our Ski Weekend at Whistler/Blackcolmb - we don't go skiing very often, but not because we don't want to. When we do go, we like to make it count, so in February we went to Whistler/Blackcolmb to downhill and cross-country ski. A great time and good memories.
9. Discovering Delancey in Ballard - discovering new restaurants is something both Diane and I really like. We also like pizza. Finding this new, wood-fired pizza joint on a residential street in Ballard rated as our best "find" of 2009.
10. The hot summer we had - I loved it! Except for a couple days in the 100s, the hot summer helped us enjoy the summer more with hikes in the Cascade mountains, bike rides on the Burke Gillman trail, walks around our neighborhood and generally being outside much more than we were able last summer when temperatures were more often in the 60s.

So there you go. My personal 2009 Top 10. No, no political observations, comments on the good and bad going on the world, celebrity f-ups or similar. Just ten things that struck through as the most important and/or interesting in my own little life.

As a reminder, you can see my own "2009: The Year in Pictures" feature by clicking HERE.

Here's to a good 2010.