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(My) Top 10 Albums of 2007

ps-but generally, "proclubitras" is right. what an AWFUL year for music.

December 14, 2007 at 1:47 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

(My) Top 10 Albums of 2007

that's ok, i say the same thing when the kids try to tell me that JT is the new michael jackson...no fucking way. you don't know how many times i've had to say, "the strokes?, i liked it better the first time when it was the velvet underground." there's nothing worse than when a kid with no historical basis tries to tell you how awesome the new stuff is. but seriously, kanye is for real. for starters, go to the first album and just listen to We Don't Care and All Falls Down. worth the $2 if you itunes. i am NOT a huge hip-hop fan but i think College Dropout is the most important album of the last 10 years. part of that statement is b/c he's that good. part of that is b/c there are no rock bands making important albums. the beatles and the stones of today are in the rap world; as much as i wish it wasn't that way. wilco? radiohead? maybe, but there isn't an overwhelming argument.
there really isn't an argument to be made until you've taken in the albums. i can understand that if you're not really into him he's just another obnoxious guy from MTV. but i remember when that first album came out, before Jesus Walks was a single, and before he was too popular to be cool: i had the conversation with countless (rock)music snobs in bars all over lawrence (no, not brothers or the hawk), all asking, "have you heard this kanye guy? he's fucking amazing!" i even remember when i heard him on KJ. of course stardom, as we all know, tends to taint the hip image for some reason.

December 14, 2007 at 1:45 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

(My) Top 10 Albums of 2007

OH CRAP, how could I forget? hand down, best album of 2007 no question, Mavis Staples 'We'll Never Turn Back"

December 12, 2007 at 9:06 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

(My) Top 10 Albums of 2007

i felt the exact same way about graduation at first, but i came back to it on the suggestion of a friend a few months after i had purchased it, and was very glad i did. kanye doesn't do anything (musically) w/out perfecting it, and it took me awhile to get what he was doing on this album.
the key lyric to unlocking it is:
"50 said go ahead and switch the style up
and if they hate then let them hate and watch the money pill up"

kanye has injected his tunes with so much important commentary over the last 5 years that he should be considered public enemy with dance beats. but still, the street cred goes to 50. it's like the kid who thinks they're enlightened b/c they buy an Eazy album, while KRS-One sits on the rack. on graduation, kanye is pissed about it and almost every song contains an element of 1) great beats/production, 2) why aren't you kids listening to what i've been trying to say?; and 3) fuck it, i'm just going to make money. the entire album is a concept. not to mention the bonus with john mayer is freaking amazing. he's done it in between the lines on this album, and done it without all those 30 seconds intros that hip-hop albums have to shove down your throat, to boot. also samples steely dan and elton john.

why have i been listening to so much hip-hop? because like most of the posts have provided, rock in 2007 was a huge let down. Arcade Fire, The Shins, MM, Wilco, Radiohead, and Animal Collective make a lot of these list, and those artist didn't even produce their best albums, let alone great albums. Spoon did produce their best album, so did LCD Soundsystem, that's why they have to be up there.

4 that didn't get mentioned

4. Magic: The Boss, nough said.

3. Historical Conquest of Josh Ritter: Only really works if you got into Amnimal Years (which if you haven't, please treat yourself) and you can compare his mood swing. Temptation of Adam is the song of the year.

2. Icky Thump. Pure Punk/Blues. Have you seen Jack White live? Maybe he's lost his hipster appeal, I don't know, but I believe in 50 years, this is one of the few artist we'll still be talking about.

1. Jens Lekma's Night Falls Over Kortedala

December 12, 2007 at 7:51 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

(My) Top 10 Albums of 2007

what, no kanye?

December 12, 2007 at 2:23 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Wheatfields Bakery

PS: and they were out of 3 of teh large breakfast items on the menu (which there are 10 I think?) 1 is understandable, but 3? Come on. I was late to work waiting on my second choice.

November 16, 2007 at 11:30 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Wheatfields Bakery

I think all of the buzz and awards for this place over the last few years have finally gone to their head. It used to be so good. I've lived in Lawrence for 7 years, and if someone comes in from out of town for breakfast or lunch, there was no question, I wanted to take them to Wheatfields. After today I will avoid it at all costs.

The food has become average at best. The bread, still great, if all you get is bread. But the meat and egg prep are about as good as I could do in my kitchen; which isn't great. The prices are just stupid. Last time I was in, I was charged $6.50 for a two egg omelete (provolone and turkey, nothing special) and about 3 bites of hashbrowns. I'm not one for huge portions, but it was literally 3 bites. The worst part, I waited over 30 minutes for this! last time I was in for lunch, 45! I can go to Teller's on a Friday night and get a MUCH better meal in 15 minutes.

Now for service. In this business, you bend over backwards to please the costumer. Just in my one visit this morning, an elderly woman was mischarged by $5 and the cashier was so indignent that the woman who got short changed actually ended up apologizing for wanting her money back. Before I left, another lady looked at the piece of bread she had ordered with her meal (off the end of the loaf, about as big as a playing card) and commented in a playful way, "Is this what a bakery let's pass for a piece of bread?" Her server looked at her. That was all. Then walked away. No bigger piece, no apology, didn't even acknowlage her expect with her body language, which said, "I heard you and I do not care."

WOW

November 16, 2007 at 11:22 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

The Java Break

So many great things about the Break, but service kills them all. the night manager seems to hate working there and hates everyone that comes in. The super-cool, Lawrence-Emo-kid thing is good for a show at the Replay, but NOT cutomer service.

May 30, 2006 at 9:44 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

The Gospel of Judas?

ps-To rednekbuddha,

It's a popular and logical theory among scholars that Judas wasn't ratting out Jesus. From what we know of the area that Judas hailed from (the beliefs of the people there), and knowing what we do of what the Hebrew people expected from a Messiah (a warrior who would bring salvation by physically removing them out from under the thumb of Roman oppression) Judas, instead of trying to collect some extra cash, was trying to start the revolution. Beliving tht Jesus was the man and had the capability of overthrowing the gov't, he was trying to stir things up.

April 7, 2006 at 6:05 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

The Gospel of Judas?

In a sense, yes, that is the argument. Teachings of Jesus are attributted to those who would have known him (Apostles) or served under the big 12, ahem, 11. The Gospel of Judas dates to AD 187 at the absolute earliest. Again, not making an argument for truth or fiction, just saying that it makes sense that the farther away you get from a source, and the less numbers you have to back it up, and the more it deviats from the originial, the more you have to question. Again, get away from the Bible and think of it in terms of translation of beloved secular books. Say we find a copy of Macbeth written in 1806 that begins with the 3 Amigos instead of3 women, and Macbeth has a gay cowboy friend who visits him in the summer for a few weeks and they go fishing. Literary blasphamy. Now apply that to a religion that people have committed their lives to and are willing to die for, the stakes get raised to the point of (right or WRONG) destroying what is perceived as heresey. The Gnostics (yes, knowledge) were marginalized, b/c they were a small band of believers who believed they had recieved special knowledge about Christ apart from what was popular. While it seems like early Christians were just being snooty, I think it's understandable. Again, if Jesus lived, what we're calling the original texts would have had a direct line to him, and here comes these fly by night prophits and their new knowledge?
Also this evil christianity thing is played out. Is it true, sure, at times. Is it also true that the men and women who started it started as marginalized, crucified, fed to the lions, hiding for their lives, etc. I just think it's interesting how the Gnostics are automatically accepted and felt sorry for. I think it's less for who they were, and more simply b/c Christianity didn't like them--and it's hip to say any enemy of christianity is a friend of mine.

April 7, 2006 at 6:01 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )