2006

I’ll give you a B/B-, with some appropriate encouragement towards 2007 and that A- I know you’re capable of. James Brown? Not cool. Dem sweeps of the House and Senate? Better, but my party will probably find a way to screw it up (in no small part due to the “librul” media constantly asking us why Nancy Pelosi hates America, baby Jesus, and freedom). Gerald Ford? I have no waking memory of him, but people tell me he was nice and inconspicuous at a time when those were two things people wanted desperately from their White House. Iraq? About where we were in 2004, which is to say, fucked. Saddam Hussein? Not going to lose any sleep over it, but really, what was accomplished other than making the Sunnis even angrier than they already are? Books? I was woefully under-read this past year, and what I did get to was a lot of re-reading. One of my resolutions is to finally get to unread Yukio Mishima novels, but as brilliant as he was, I’m finding that my fascination with him is waning in some ways. I finally read Murakami’s The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle though, which was great, but felt a bit long. I blame the internets. Still poring over Michael Palmer’s A Company of Moths, which is simultaneously inspiring and frustrating, if only because it’s hard to sit down and try to create something fresh when the man has obviously spent years, if not decades, thinking through some of the opportunities and problems with the lyric in English. Then again, I probably just need more Billy Collins in my life.

There were also far too many great albums out for me to get to. I’ll mention three — The Evens’ Get Evens (I used to wonder what would happen if Ian Mackaye got old and became a folkie, like it would be some sort of bad joke, but turns out, he’s pretty good at it, and capable of remaining angry while sounding mellow), Make Believe’s Of Course (Kinsella & co. make music that will never impress your friends, and it can border on tedious, but when it’s on it’s really engaging), and the new/last Johnny Cash (a “creep up on you” album if there ever was). I’m also currently enjoying Nas’ new single.

And if you’ve never heard it, go out and pick up James Brown’s Love Power Peace, a live recording from Paris in 1971. His talent was rivaled by that of his band on this recording, but the whole effort is more about symbiosis rather than showing off. He knew he was the bomb (and that he paid the salaries of the guys behind him), but it’s all about cooperation towards the end of great music rather than anybody’s ego. Few albums have so perfect a title.

So there you go 2007 — Love Power Peace. Words to live by, and a goal for both of us.