Remembering the Encores

I feel like this is going to be much less fun than last year's because it is far, far later than most of my readership is watching this.  Damn you, the West Coast. Alright, so we're starting with Beyonce.  I'm not sure I'm loving the gel damp bob?  She is still obviously gorgeous and I can only hope to move one one thousandth  of that well ever in my whole life.  This seems kind of restrained for her?  Just the fog and the chair?  Oh!  Here's Jay-Z.  And there is his hand firmly planted on her ass.  Are they music's biggest power couple of all time?  I'm blanking on any other possible contenders.  So much money talent in one household, yo. Awww, I forgot that LL Cool J always hosts this.  Everyone loves LL Cool J.  Aww, a cold weather joke.  Way to go lowest common denominator, dude.  Reference to his own lyrics!  That only took 85ish seconds. And the first Taylor Swift joke of the night.  Excellent.  I feel like LL is not really saying anything, just n

It's been a while since I've done one of these!  Here's some stuff I've been listening to. The Dirty Guv'nahs / We'll Be the Light This is one of those songs that makes me want to say, "Hey  moron, why haven't you been listening to this for forever?"  'Put your hand in my pocket/ I'll be your favorite song' may be my new favorite lines of music ever. The Colourist / Little Games Patrick Sweany / Them Shoes American Bang / Wild and Young Every time I re-watch the TV show 'Greek' I get super into this song. HiFi Superstar / Sunday Afternoon Marie Miller / 6'2" I cried in my car the first time I heard this song.  So, there's that.

2013 is going down in the record books as "the year I moved to California". There's been a lot of good that's come with that: professional success, proof that I could do it, a pretty kick-ass cross-country road trip, the opportunity to be somewhere else and think about personal reinvention, a profound appreciation for public transportation. But, there's been a fair amount of bad as well: being lonely for the first time in my whole life, a little shake up of my self-perception as a result of that loneliness, some family shitshow nonsense that I'm not close enough to fix. But, despite whatever else happened, like most years, I saw some incredible live music in 2013. Picking a Top 5 was difficult, but these are the shows I'll remember most from this year. Apparently, I was looking for comfort music this year, because 3/5 are old favorites. In no particular order: John Mayer - July 26, 2013 "And then, John Mayer. Holy shit, John Mayer. This

Who: moe. When: December 12, 13 & 14 Where: The Independent/ San Francisco, CA With: hippies of the west cost, my new friends Rob & Jamie Of Note: Oh moe. I love you most of all. So, though my attempts to have a piece of Buffalo in SF by seeing the Goos did not go so well, when I heard moe. was playing three nights less than two miles from my house, I loaded up on tickets and got super pumped because, well, let's be honest. I love moe. more than pretty much anything . So, here is a tale of three moe. shows. Night One Night One, Thursday night, was the day of my company's holiday party. After lunch at a brewery with the whole office, a dozen or so of us spent the afternoon at a couple of bars in the Mission. At 8:30, everyone decided it was time to go home. I decided it was time to head to the show. I stand by my assertion that Californians are pansies when it comes to late nights. Anyway, I arrived at the Independent to find it a pretty awesome