Another year coming to a close

Well, another year coming to a close, and it’s been a great up and down roller coaster as usual. I have to be thankful that Kristen and I both have good jobs, and we have a healthy daughter. I got to go to some amazing shows over the year. ACL was amazing for the fact I got to meet the Flaming Lips and be on stage for a major festival show, but the one show that keeps standing out to me is The Hold Steady in Dallas. Sometimes you find yourself down and to me music is probably the most uplifting thing you can listen to, to get you up a little. It was the first time I ever went to a show by myself, and I couldn’t have picked a better band to see. The best thing about Craig Finn’s lyrics is he doesn’t sugar coat anything, he lets you know that you aren’t the only one that is having a hard time. It was the best medicine for that time for me. If you want to check out the Hold Steady, I recommend the album Boys and Girls in America.

Well, I do have two shows on deck for the New Year, Kristen and I are going to see Girl Talk in Austin in January, and yours truly won two tickets for Tokyo Police Club in Dallas in February. I am pumped about both; hopefully Kristen can get that day off too, so she can go with me. So I have a few things on deck for next year. I am hoping that the ups and downs of this year will just give all of us a better new year. We do get to have a small Christmas vacation and go to Houston for Baylor’s bowl game, one thing that we have been planning since we became bowl eligible, so Kristen and I have been looking forward to this, not only for a few months, but the five years I have worked for Baylor. Well I hope everyone has a great Christmas and a very happy and lucky new year.

Well I guess it’s time to do my top 30 albums of 2010. The Rolling Stone and Spin both released theirs this week, so to keep up with them I might as well do it too. Check out these albums, I don’t think you will be disappointed . So with that said here we go:

30. The Roots- How I got Over
29. Yeasayer-Odd Blood
28. Spoon- Transference
27. M.I.A.- Maya
26. Beach House-Teen Dream
25. Neil Young-Le Noise
24. Big Boi- Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty
23. The Walkmen- Lisbon
22. Robert Plant- Band of Joy
21. Against Me!- White Crosses
20. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists- The Brutalist Bricks
19. Sleigh Bells- Treats
18. WAVVES- King of the Beach
17. Gorillaz- Plastic Beach
16. Cee Lo Green- The Lady Killer
15. Best Coast- Crazy For You
14. Kid Cudi- Man on the moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager
13. Tokyo Police Club- Champion
12. The Gaslight Anthem- American Slang
11. Drake- Thank Me Later
10. Kings of Leon- Come Around Sundown
9. Eminem- Recovery
8. The National- High Violet
7. The Dead Weather- Sea of Cowards
6. LCD Soundsystem- This is Happening
5. Vampire Weekend- Contra
4. The Hold Steady- Heaven is Whenever
3. Kanye West- My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
2. Arcade Fire- The Suburbs
1. The Black Keys- Brothers

Good luck comes in pairs

Well, once again, it’s been a few weeks since I wrote a blog. I haven’t had much to write about, and we have been busy as usual. I had a great birthday and even better surprise present that Kristen got me, not only did she get me Pearl Jam- Backspacer on vinyl she also got me a guitar as well. I have always wanted to learn how to play the guitar, and now I have no excuses. It was a nice Thanksgiving Break for all of us, and we had a great Thanksgiving with a bunch of our friends over for food and drinks. I got some great gifts for my birthday, got an awesome book, Austin City Limits: 35 years in Photographs. For some reason I feel they have way more pictures than that book could hold. I got some new Adidas kicks, and a few other cool presents. I am very lucky.

Well to start off the week, and to shake the cobwebs out, I started off the week listening to the entire catalogue of Wilco and Dinosaur Jr. Sometimes you forget how great bands really are, and I always forget how much I love Dinosaur Jr. Also I hate to admit this, but Wilco is a new love for me. They have always been out there and I have listened to their stuff, but I really got to listen to them at work (where I do most of my music listening) and man they are an amazing band. Don’t worry I have listened to a few new albums. As of right now I am getting around and listening to Warpaint. They played at ACL this year and opened up an aftershow for Sonic Youth. It’s an all girl band and they are really good. Mostly slower stuff, much like a Sonic Youth type band.

Of course, most of you know, I am a hip-hop fan, so yes I have picked up Kanye West’s new album. I have been interested in it, ever since I read in Rolling Stone and Spin about the album and the unusually very high marks they gave the album. After a few listens it is very good, and I love the way he went very far out of the box making this album. The guests on the album range from indie-folk artist Bon Iver (one of my favs), to Jay-Z, to Kid Cudi, and the one person that I feel comes off the best in the song “Monster” Nicki Minaj. If she holds true she will be huge in the next year.

So to get to why my title of this entry is about good luck. Well to start off the past month, Kristen is going to try and go back to school here at Baylor and finish her degree. Last night we found out that she is officially able to go to Baylor starting this semester. On top of that good news, I constatantly try to enter every contest to win tickets to shows I really want to see. Well on top of her good news, the luck traveled down to me and I won two tickets to see Tokyo Police Club in the best venue in Dallas (the best venue I have seen a show in) the Granada Theater. If you get a chance to see a show there, please go, it is very intimate and you get to see great acts up close. So it was a good news day for us yesterday.

I am going to try my best to get this thing updated. I have a ton of music to write about. Check out Warpaint, Kanye West, Kid Cudi for this week. Also if you have not got the Black Keys album Brother, do so now. My pick for album of the year. Also reminds me, I will have my top albums of the year in the next few weeks.