The Best Albums of 2008 . . and . . . others.

That's right. I'll rarely blog about the events of my life, but when it comes to pop-art-prosthelization, I'll do you a service.

But first, an update about the events of my life:

Played at the 400 Bar two nights ago within two incarnations: Welaware and The Jonathan Rundman band. Both sets were decidedly different - Welaware was raucous, unpolished, and slightly tipsy. Rundman was tight, fun, and it was cool to play with his friend Mark LaForest, who simply demolished the set with face-melting guitar work. A fun night, and even though the weather was crippling and the show was late, we had a healthy turnout. I got back late (2:00) and paid the price when O woke up at 6:30. Thus ever to rock stars.

And at the show, Jonathan reminded me to weigh in on my top picks of the year, so here it is -- My top-11 list.

11. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
Cool harmonies and mellow arrangements. What a beautiful album!

10. Yo-Yo Ma - Songs of Joy and Peace
Late in the entry field, but a cool collection of Christmas songs and almost-Christmas songs (Here Comes the Sun?) from the world's foremost celebrity cellist, with special guests like Allison Krauss, James Taylor, and Chris Thile. Only a few skippable tracks.

9. Mates of State - Re-Arrange Us
The whole album is like a hook that sticks in your head. Exuberant.

8. Punch Brothers - Punch
Chris Thile's newest band is ridiculously talented, and this experience is boundary-explorative. The four-movement "Blind Leaving the Blind" is worth listening to alone.

7. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
This album received a lot of hype early in the year, and the months haven't faded it much. If you're still not familiar with it, think college-indie-rock mixed with an east african paul simon feel and hyper-literary lyrics.

6. Lucinda Williams - Little Honey
Bookended by the unusually-joyful "Real Love" and the smoking AC/DC cover/closer "It's a Long Way To The Top" are beautiful ballads and sharp, gutsy ballbusters. Williams' band is a perfect example of musicians who know how to play - there's a great use of empty space, active listening, and I'd be surprised if most of the tracks weren't live-recorded first-takes.

5. Barenaked Ladies - Snacktime!
Owen's vote goes for this effort from my long-time favorite Canadians. It's trendy to do kids' stuff now-a-days, but this one has so many little gems with songs mostly about food, imagination, and . . . wildlife? And the best alphabet song ever.

4. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
Another much-hyped album, but appreciating it fully takes some sort of insight into the way it was recorded. When you can imagine him sitting in a cabin in the dead of winter, heartbroken, (with ProTools?) the songs are haunting and sublime.

3. Flight of the Conchords - Flight of the Conchords
You can spend part of your time modeling, and part of your time listening to this album . . . and the rest of your time doing your normal job.

2. Sigur Ros - Med sud i eyrum vid spilum endalaust
Almost #1. I finally tuned in to Sigur Ros this year, and this album catapulted me into a deep, deep appreciation. It's emotional and tidal, and just-oh-so-right.

1. Jon Foreman - Winter, Spring & Summer EPs
What to do with a bunch of EPs (Fall understandably excluded, since it was released last year) that aren't "albums" technically (?) but are so amazing? The songs on these albums are redemptive proof of Jon Foreman's genius for everyone burned-out on Switchfoot. For an introduction, try "Equally Skilled," "Your Love is Strong," "Resurrect Me," "Learning How To Die," aw, heck. Just buy them all.

On a similar note - I'm greatly looking forward to Fiction Family's self-titled release early next year, with Foreman and Nickel Creek's Sean Watkins. You can download the first single, "When She's Near" for free off of their website, and you'll get how cool this album will be . . . probably.

I say "probably," because this was also a year of massive disappointments for me in terms of new music. Here's a short list of establishedly-favorite artists whose albums I was looking forward to, only to be let down:

Coldplay
Ben Folds
Weezer
The Hold Steady
Mike Doughty

This isn't to say these albums were awful, they just fell short. I expected more from artists I trusted enough to spend money on. On the bright side, this year introduced me to a lot of new artists, and for that I'm glad. Overall, I'm noticing that a lot of those albums (and a few honorable mentions that didn't make the list) are unusually cheerful or hopeful. I hope this is both a testament to the state of the world and a new direction in my life. This was, after all, a pretty joyful year:

Who Daddy Day Cares?

There's a pattern forming here. If you're a stay-at-home-dad (SAHD), you'll know what I'm talking about.

I can't stay home with the boy all the time, so we usually venture out once a day. If we don't have a pressing engagement, I usually have to make something up, so we'll go to Target, or run errands. But usually, at least once a week, we'll hear something like this from a stranger:

"Oh, looks like you get a turn with the baby today!"

or

"Look who gets to spend time with daddy today!"

To which I'll reply . . .

"Yup. Today and every day . . ."

There's still an assumption out there that women are the primary caregivers for their kids, and that's ok, I suppose, since that was a safe assumption for a long time. I just started hearing these comments all the time, and I thought I was the only one, until I went on the North Dakota tour with two other stay-at-home dads last month. And it turns out it's an epidemic. And I don't do epidemics.

Ow.

I was in a minor automobile accident this afternoon. I won't go too deeply into details here, because my insurance card says not to admit fault, but let's just say that it was totally my stupid fault, and I feel like an ass. I was in the parking lot of Best Buy, and must have mistaken the accelerator for the brake. When this happens, your car smashes into another (parked) car, and that car goes into another car. It's all very complicated.

Owen wasn't with me - I had just handed him over to Haley. Thank you, God. But my back hurts now, although my car is fine, except for some paint on the bumper. I feel DUMB, and emotional, and rained-upon. And I need to blog this, because there's no way I'm getting any of my intended work done in this state. Still, it was the friendliest car crash I've ever been in:

I'm sitting in my car, thinking, "Shitshitshitshitshitshitshit," and the owner of the most-damaged car comes out, and wouldn't you know it? She's the nicest person I've ever met. Her name is Britney, and she's apologizing to me, but she's the one with a dog in the smashed-up car, so she should be pissed at me, and yadda yadda yadda. So I see "AUGSBURG" written on her pants. "Do you go to Augsburg?" I ask, as the EMTs are cleaning up her radiator fluid, and she's cheerfully like, "Yeah! I'm gonna be a teacher!" And I say, "I went there, too! My wife's a teacher! Do you need a ride anywhere?" She didn't. And the police officer on the scene says, "I went to Augsburg!!"

So that's something that your tuition can buy you.

Oh no, YOUTHS!

I'm totally useless after a great weekend in Wisconsin. Fuller Still played for the NW WI Synod LYO Gathering in Eau Claire, and those folks know how to do a youth event. The weekend flew by like gangbusters, mostly because we were having such a good time. It's usually sometime in November like this when I remember that I love event season.

The high schoolers in Eau Claire are a peculiar breed. I say this because usually, when confronted with music they don't know (because it isn't on the radio), high schoolers will stare at you like you've got a third arm growing out of your head. And if you actually DO have a third arm growing out of your head, forget about it. But get this: Youths in Wisconsin will not only sing along to sing-alongs, they will worship along to worship songs. And when you play your own, original music, they will clap along, or dance along, and then APPLAUD at the end, as if you've accomplished something. Outrageous.

Then they will do original skits, but these skits will last a reasonable amount of time and have redemptive theological value. Then (get this) the theme for their convention will not be freaking dumb. Where do they get off?

Weekend played out like this:

Thursday our friend Jay Gamelin flew into towns (Minneapolis/St. Paul) and went out to dinner with me, Graham, Troy Loken, Joel and Aimee Pakan, Theresa Hunter, and Kristen Holien (sp?). Fun times were had by all. Jay crashed at Casa De My House, where we showed him hospitality by keeping him up until midnight talking about our plans to infect Asheville, North Carolina. And I'm not talking about biological weapons.

Then Friday Jay and Fuller Still (hereafter referred to as "Jayler Still") drove to Eau Claire and set up and stuff. We then played music and talked a good talk. Then? Bed.

Saturday morning I got up and worked out for 45 minutes. I know, right? I need to get my act together, because my heart is in negotiations to take an early retirement. So I ran on a hamster wheel. After a morning gathering, Graham and I watched the first episode of "Spaced," which rules, it would seem. Then, after some workshops, and more music, Jayler Still was done for the day, so did we hunt down kids and change lives? NO! We went to the new James Bond movie. This movie has explosions, and things that make you say, "Gigguhhhh!" If you like your movies to have big things on big screens, it's movie time. Then Green Mill with Margaritas and a sharing of too much deeply personal information.

Then, while sleeping, my dreams got weird. I've had strange dreams lately -- vivid. Not gruesome or scary, just odd situations. I won't tell you this one, but suffice to say I was doing things I would never do in real life. Well, maybe half of them.

We woke up, and I exercised again. We played music for the worship service, and booked it outta there. Overall, a great weekend. And we get to do it again next week (but without Jay . . . single tear). Still, . . . jealous?

President-Elect Obama

Well, that's super.

Unnecessarily Obvious Blog Post

Today was election day.

I Hate Smoke Detectors

Ok, the title of this post is a little misleading. I don't HATE smoke detectors - I know they serve a useful purpose. I just hate them when they need their batteries changed. At 3 AM.

Last night the smoke detector in the basement needed new batteries, and the one upstairs caught on to the bright idea. Can someone tell me WHY this always happens in the middle of the #^@#&% night?!?!?!? The upstairs one was RIGHT outside Owen's room, so he woke up, too, but he was all, "Hey, what's going on? Time to play?"

Whatever.