“Surprise me” for Christmas

Well, it’s that time of the year again, and for me the hardest time of the year. Having to get Christmas gifts for the ones that you love. For me it’s even harder, not only did I grow up with a mother (who I love a lot) that always year in and year out would say the magic words “I don’t need anything” or “Surprise me”. Well now that I am grown up and married, I get to hear these magic phrases again. Sloan is easy; a kid always knows what they want. A wife on the other hand has no idea the anxiety they put their husband through during Christmas or anytime they have a holiday to get a present.

For me, the “surprise me” thing means something totally different than what they mean. Surprise me, means it’s up to me what to get. That could be a million different things and it’s never the thing they want. It does not help that close to Christmas time they decide to do a little shopping and get things that were going to be gifts. That makes it even easier for me to “surprise” them. Although, I do think that Kristen and I will surprise Sloan with something she really wants for Christmas this year. We are hoping it gets us out of the embarrassing parent’s category back to the cool parents list for her.

As for Kristen, she loves to make it difficult for me. I am easy; anything to do with music, sports (Mets), movies, or video games is golden. She always likes to say I am hard to shop for, but if you stick to my guide lines of shopping, it’s all laid out. Parents is another story, they never want much, but you always want to pay them back A) for being great parents, and B) for getting the loudest, noisiest, most obnoxious toy ever for your kid. I like to mix both A and B together to surprise them when they open it. Something for them to use with the grandkid. I always love to make sure to always bring the loud toy over to their house anytime I get a chance just to pay them back for an hour or so.

As for my sister, I get to give her the gift or music. At least give it back to her, she is wanting what I have from Led Zeppelin, and Derek her husband wants everything I have from Pearl Jam (I don’t know if he understands just how much I have). Plus I am going to sneak some of my favorites from 2009 into their music they want, just to give them something new. All in all, I think I will surprise everyone with something they wanted, and hopefully come out without too many scars from trying to “Surprise” Kristen. I do hope she wanted the autographed picture of Darryl Strawberry for Christmas.

The continuation of my Top 50
Well, I have actually been busy this week getting things tied up before we leave work for Christmas. I know there are so few of my “fans” that are waiting for the rest of my top 50 of 2009. I did just get the Rolling Stone issue and I have to say, U2 really? I think they missed a lot of really great albums to put Springsteen and U2 on their top 10 list. I do wish to retract my #40 The Xx and would like to put them at #10A on my top 10 list. So where they dropped the ball, I guess it’s my burden to pick it up for them, with that said here is 29-20.

29. Mumford and Sons-Sigh No More
A friend from high school let me know about this band from England. I have got into a lot of folk music this year for some reason, but this band is great. Great song writing, great music, and they rock (yes a folk band). Check out the song Little Lion Man.

28. M. Ward-Hold Time
This was my first album into my folk music time of 2009. I had been hearing a lot of good things about M. Ward and decided to give him a shot. This is his 7th full studio album he has released. I think this woke me up to some great folk music that is out there right now. I really like the song Jailbird off this album.

27. Eminem-Relapse
Well, sometimes it’s hard to put things on a list, but you can’t deny Eminem. He writes some great hip-hop lyrics, then you add Dr. Dre to the equation and it’s always a great album. I think everyone was waiting for this album to be finished. It still didn’t crack the top 15 for me for hip-hop albums, but it is a great one for this year. I like the songs Bagpipes from Baghdad and Old Time’s sake.

26. Portugal. The Man- The Satanic Satanist
I liked the album Censored Colors from 2008 and was please this album was getting high marks for this year. PTM is another great band, and this is their 4th album, which they also released an acoustic version of this album called The Majestic Majesty. I really love the first song on this album People Say.

25. Mike Posner and the Brain Trust-Matter of Time
This is probably the second pop album on my list so far (Lily Allen is the other). Mike Posner is still a student at Duke University, but if anyone in the music Industry has any sense he won’t be for long. I love this album and I got the chance to catch him at ACL this year. He should have big things in the future, check out the songs that should be on radio, Cooler Than Me and Still Not Over You.

24. Bell X1-Blue Lights On The Runway
Bell X1 is a bad I heard of that was playing at ACL this summer. This is the 4th studio album from the Irish rock band. After listening to this album I actually went back to listen to their older stuff. I like the song How Your Heart is Wired.

23. Jay-Z- The Blueprint 3
Ok, so two hip-hop albums in this group, and I am sure you are wondering what album cracked the top 10. I love Jay-Z, and this album is great. Maybe the Black Album ruined it for all of his albums after that, being so great. Either way, this is a solid album from Jay-Z, if you don’t have it by now go get it.

22. Dinosaur Jr.-Farm
Another band from my foundation of music that I have. I got turned onto Dinosaur Jr. in college and they are in my top 10 most favorite albums of all time with the album “Without a Sound”. I was excited to when I found out they were releasing a new album. I love the song Ocean In The Way.

21. Deer Tick- Born on Flag Day
This is the bands second album, and it’s another great indie folk album. Lead singer John
McCauley has a raspy twang to his voice which blends well with the music. Another great
songwriter for the indie folk scene, I like the song Smith Hill.

20. The Decembrists-The Hazards of Love
This is the bands 5th album, coming off the break through album The Crane Wife. I really enjoyed The Crane Wife, and I had heard so much about The Hazards of Love that I had to check out this album. This is an amazing album, and it took a lot for me to list it this low. I really wish I could have seen them at ACL, and I plan on seeing them live when I get the chance. I really like the song The Rake’s Song.

Next week is #19-#11; hopefully I have something more fun to write about while on vacation. Happy Holidays.