bring it down to a slow dance

Okay, 2011, listen up. 2010 was a year for the books - these past few days I have been trying to decipher the code and deem 2010 either a bad year or a good year. Guess what? I can't. The jury's out and will remain out on this issue for me personally. So, I've decided to compile a list of the top Life Altering Events of 2010, (the order of events lack significance). They are both grand and terrible. I will note on which side the event is on by a unicorn icon for good, sad puppy face for bad. If you, the reader, only want to read the good ones, find the unicorn. If just the sad ones, as some of you sadists are, search for the puppy.

Commence.

I LOST MY JOB. What a dumb ass year for employment nationwide. Non Profit institutions in Indiana had high death tolls this year. Dumb ol' Mitch Daniels slashed budgets by about a gazillion dollars. Somehow in my pompous youth, i thought for sure that I was safe from the lay offs. I was definitely wrong. In April I was told that i could continue working until August, and I tried. But every day was torture. Let's remember, I was very good at being a social worker. and by very good, I mean it. Passing out my clients to some social workers who were far less compassionate and thorough was torture. (Some of my colleagues were super great) So, though I got laid off, I felt bullied out of where I called home for nearly 5 years. Bull shit alert.

BEAR TOWN. This may not seem awesome to anyone but andy and me, but we took an awesome vacation to the Smokey Mountains this year. It was glorious. Andy, Blue Ridge Mountains and BEARS! Once, when I was in middle school, I saw, for a few seconds a Grizzly Bear and that was sweet. But this trip was FULL OF BEARS, beautifully cute black bears. It was totally tubular. For real. We felt threatened a few times, we felt warm hearts a few times and mostly we just felt like "these bears rule the school". Honestly, may sound lame to everyone but me, but for sure worthy to be called mind blowing.

MORTALITY SITS NEAR. This year was a tough year for my family on my dad's side. My papa, who happens to be one of my favorite men of all time, had a fire in his barber shop, he had mutiny in his shop, sold all his father's belongings... AND nearly died in a terrible car accident. He said it started because he was sneaking ice cream and he didn't buckle his safety belt due to needing two hands for the delicious treat. Anyways, some little 16 year old idiot ran a stop sign, hit his truck and flipped it. My papa went flying out of the truck and into the field. He didn't sustain too many injuries, but when something like that happens, it hits you, ya know? Like, tiny details of every day can cause a life to spiral down hill in a matter of minutes. I asked for the name of the kid. All I wanted to do was bully him into apologizing to one of the men who make my world a brighter place, but being graceful and full of mercy, he wouldn't give me the little jerk's name. Sometimes a girl just thinks about life and death and even the thought sitting near is sad and scary.

INDECISIVE BROTHER FINDS HIS WAY. I remember the days my brothers were born. Never, ever, ever was I jealous. Having siblings is one of the best parts of my life. It's definitely one of the saddest things in my life that I don't get to see my brothers on a more regular basis. It's heart breaking really because I think there is nothing cooler than having people who are part of you yet so different. The family of origin is a tricky beast sometimes, but mostly, in my case, it's an okay thing. My brother, roger, who rules, btw, he had a rough time deciding where to put all his talent. Because he is talented beyond belief. He's so smart, athletic, super social, so adaptable and sensitive to people around him. He's the full package. Anyways, this year, he enlisted in the Navy - which some on this blog might not love, but I love it. I love it. and i'll yell it down every street in fort wayne that I love it. He's been hand picked for the Honor Guard in DC - which is awesome. He did amazingly well in boot camp and I just know, as corny as this sounds, he's where he belongs at this moment in his life. it's a beautiful thing, really, seeing someone bloom over the span of his life.

SOMETIMES PEOPLE GROW UP. It's been sort of heart breaking watching my little community disband. I fought with myself whether or not to put this event on 'ze blog, but it seemed obvious. Some people will disagree and argue that I shouldn't feel this way. But i got big news for you people, i feel deeply and I am sad that Bryce is moving to Korea. And I am sad that Jim and Anna moved out of the house. I have lived with Anna since 2003. For a short time in 2007, we lived 30 seconds apart, but basically, that still counts. Sometimes, you build a need for people to be close physically. My definition of survival looks differently than most. And even though it's a good thing for them, Bryce and Anna and Jim, when I come home to a home without them, I feel incomplete.

I BECAME A LIBRARIAN AGAIN. So, after months of waiting tables (and loving it). And months after applying and interviewing for a sundry of jobs around fort wayne, BOOM, the Allen County Public Library hires me as a Children's Librarian at the Main Library. This is earth shattering in a terrific way: watch out, let the Outside Hire through. I still can't believe it, seriously. I suppose I just decided in the interview, welp, yeah right, like I'll get hired, let's go all out. So I did. And so I got the job. It's weird. And it's hard. But it's good. I get to walk to work every day and a residual effect is better cardiovascular health. I get to wear these fabulous green pants at least once a week and I get to help kids who like to read. I get to know the low down on all the best kids' books and I get a magnetic name tag that unlocks doors! All of these things are pretty radical. I also get to write incident reports, see poop in the Great Hall and hear people being really mean to kids - which, that's not so awesome, but e'ry thing good outweighs the crazy.

A DECADE LATER. Time has this way of completely obliterating my mind. I turned 27 in the summer. And on June 11, 2010 - my dad's death-iversarry was TEN YEARS. Ten years is a long time. Ten years is a long time to be without someone. Mostly, I still feel 17 about this whole ordeal. I still can't believe it. But when I realized that a it's been a decade, well, it blew my mind. The thing about time is, it just is so fake. I can't believe we measure years the way we do, I guess it's good otherwise we'd all be confused. For instance, if we didn't, i wouldn't know if my dad died yesterday or eons ago, because basically, that's how it feels: so far and so close simultaneously. But, here we are, a decade has passed. Does that make sense to any one else?

APRIL & POEMS. This past spring, you'll never guess what i did. Maybe you will, especially if you know me at all. But i'll got ahead and say it, since it changed my life. I wrote a poem a day every day for the month of April. I've never done that. Along with the writing, I was always super afraid of writing about certain items... but in April I was all like "watch out, bitches, imma go there and go there with grace. " and I did. I basically like lots of my April poems, but I like what happens after you know you can do something that seems hard. Pride. Achievement. yada. yada. yada. Brett Jenkins was instrumental in this whole ordeal and basically, she's totally awesome. Also, I'm going to do it again some time. Just, it's hard to do. :)


Let's face it, this list isn't complete. Tons more shit went down then i have documented, but, at it's core, this list represents the major life changing events in 2010. I left out little stuff, like kids throwing trash in my face, some other events that went down in the summer, dropping my phone in the lake, getting my ear lobes pierced at the mall and promptly removing them... you know, big stuff that has happened, but didn't change me drastically.That's what i left out.

so, there you go, list friends.
a real, vulnerable list that blows the internet apart.
welcome home, 2011.
2010, see ya never.

Jonny's Top Hits of 2008

A Quite Quiet Listing

With Kings of Convenience gearing up to release a new album called Quiet IS the New Loud, a follow up to Quiet Is the New Loud, I thought I’d go with the flow and just throw up my favorite quiet time albums of 2008 (even if it means dropping Marnie Stern and Deerhoof like bad habits!). I dug deep into the soft-veined recesses this year, eschewing hip-hop and hot chip for hot little ditties about horses, death, and Chicago. I finally got over trying to listen to new albums and really just listened to last.fm and decided I liked some artists I thought I didn’t, and found some albums no one else but sad, white northerners were listening to, too. So here’s a list, of some of the albums I loved in 2008, and why I loved them, and how quiet they were, and how loud I played them, and really none of those things at all.

P.S. I don't even really like Kings of Convenience. And I wrote this list from 25-to-1, but I'm posting it oppositely. Some of the entries might be confusing in backwards order. Oh, well.

1. Rachel Ries – Without a Bird / For You Only
Gal of the year! These albums were the first CDs I bought in over two years, and I had already downloaded one of them. For that, Rachel Ries is a miracle maker. She’s basically all I ever wanted from Over the Rhine since they started sucking, only from North Dakota and Chicago, rather than Cincinnati and Kentucky. I have decided that North Dakota is superior to Kentucky. And I always knew Chicago was better than Cincinnati (I mean, look at the Bengals). Rachel Ries has the sweetest voice in the world, and she reminds me of Amy Griffin so freaking bad. They should meet and be BFFs 4evah!

2. Horse Feathers – Words Are Dead / House with No Home
Horse Feathers is Justin Ringle, who comes from Idaho I think, but now lives in Portland, which kind of makes me jealous. Sometimes I google-map Portland and look at all the spots I remember from when I was eleven. Which is basically OMSI and the Rose Garden and the Zoo. I bet Justin goes to the zoo all the time. I’m so jealous.

3. Vetiver – Thing of the Past
I've listened to a few Vetiver albums in my lifetime (two), but this one composed of covers takes the cake. Bye cake! Have a good time with Andy Cabic! So many good songs on this one. I just want to eat the cake, too. And this album.

4. J. Tillman – Cancer and Delirium / Long May You Run / Minor Works
Whoa, nice bird! Josh Tillman is my singer of the years. Go, Josh! And then he started playing with Fleet Foxes, I think by drumming. His songs are way quieter and I heard about him through Damien Jurado so maybe that should tell you how awesome he is. They're basically soul mates.

5. Fleet Foxes – ST (Ragged Wood) / Sun Giant EP
My tags in iTunes are janked up. I downloaded the ST CD right after I got the EP and it was called Ragged Wood then but then they changed it to Self-Titled and I never made the change and now last.fm says I’ve listened to them over 200 times but their full-length only 3. I love stats.

6. Marla Hansen – Wedding Day
I stumbled across Marla Hansen on last.fm, apologized, then discovered she’s a pal of Sufjans. But not until I had listened to the songs four or five times. And he’s on a couple of them. It’s only an EP, but I really really want her full-length to appear suddenly or rapidly or now. She’s the bee’s knees.

7. Damien Jurado – Caught in the Trees / Walk Along the Fence
Is it frustrating that I’m not describing these albums well? Well Damien dropped a new album! And it’s got a swear!! My pal, Damien! I think he got divorced. And quit being a full time preschool teacher. Now he tours with a guy and a girl and they should have a sitcom. He also is the narrator in Rosie Thomas’ Christmas album. Why isn't that on this list? I smell a Christmas list soon! (And Scott, IMO "Everything Trying" is this album's "Denton, TX." Very repeat friendly, especially after the break-down near the end. I have to start it all over again after that sweet, sweet goodness.)

8. Nina Nastasia – The Blackened Air
I saved this album for 2008. Every other Nina Nastasia album I downloaded and consumed like jars of Tostidos Salsa Con Queso in 2007 (which is quickly and sort of pigishly). But this one I waited for. And it was just like my middle school pastor said sex would be like in a marital relationship. Beautiful and tender and passionate. That was such a weird paragraph.

9. Smog – Supper / A River Ain’t Too Much Love
Bill Callahan is my new hero. Alongside Mark Kozelek and David Bazan and Damien Jurado (who we’ll get to) and Will Oldham (who I left off this list; boo! hiss!). Slowish, repetitive ditties, sometimes about horses. And death. I don’t know why I didn’t get into his guy earlier.

10. Mount Eerie with Julie Doiron and Fred Squire – Lost Wisdom
Phil Elverum. What a guy! Julie Doiron. I used to have some of your tracks from Epitomic! Fred Squire. Who are you again? This album got lost in all the lists. Which is sad. Because it could easily be my favorite album of the year if the year had a few more weeks to it.

11. Laura Gibson – If You Come To Greet Me
I found Laura Gibson though Pandora, which I kind of hate, but it gave me her, so it’s not all bad. She sings pretty and plays pretty and pretty much is good winter music. For fans of My Brightest Diamond who want a little less drama.

12. Madeline – Kissing and Dancing / The Slow Bang
Madeline is like the Jonas Brothers, only with boobs, and kind of punkier, and she knows the dude from Phosphorescent. Her new album (kissing and dancing) is okay. The first three songs are killer. And use the same two chords over and over. But her other album (the slow bang) is heartbreaking and pretty and better than tom petty and the heartbreakers. But not the Petty Thieves. Those guys ruled.

13. Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago
Whoaaaaaaa. This album has been loved all over the Webkins. I loved it last winter. And loved it come spring. Summer scared it away. Fall forgot it. But we’re wintering again. And it I can’t keep a good man down. Also, I love mispronouncing the name. Because it pisses people off sooooo much.

14. Beach House – Devotion
I liked this record for two really good reasons. One, Jason Martin from Starflyer 59. Two, Yo La Tengo. Neither of them plays on it. But it’s kind of like what if they did? It’s a nice Elseworlds thought.

15. Alela Diane – The Pirate’s Gospel
Pirate folk! Paul, this one sounds like some of the Southern Journey series, but not all the time. It needs more shaped-note singing (it has none) and yodeling (also none). But good, nonetheless. (Also, pssst. She's beautiful.)

16. Robert Deeble – Thirteen Stories
Do you remember Robert Deeble? Do you remember Jackson Rubio Records? Do you remember Havalina Rail Co.’s little indie label? Do you remember a sampler I bought at the Anchor Room? With Havalina and Mandy Troxel and Robert Deeble? My brother goes to school with someone who knows Mandy Troxel. Havalina reformed minus the girl as Matt Death and the New Intellectuals. And Robert Deeble released some damn fine records. This one included. (It's next to impossible finding a picture of this guy. Please, buy his stuff so he can be more famous and google searches for him work better. Thank you.)

17. Le Loup – The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations’ Millennium General Assembly
These guys are like the Animal Collective, sort of produced by those ISAN guys, with more banjo than usual for normal records, but not as good as you’re thinking it sounds. Still, it’s a really good record. Just not as good as you’re imagining it. I hear they’re even better live, though.

18. Phosphorescent – Aw Come Aw Wry
Did you really think this list was about 2008? Haha! I got you! If the two Langhorne Slim albums didn’t give it away, this did. It’s like three years old. But it’s good, Steven. I swear. And you should, too. SWEAR! Shit! There! We swore! Hot damn!!! Damn this record! It’s too good for 2008!!!11!1one!!

19. Department of Eagles – In Ear Park
I like Grizzly Bear. I think. But I really like these Eagles. I know. Plus, badass album cover, man. I mean, seriously. Bad. Ass.

20. June Madrona – The Winged Life
Where’s this guy from? He doesn’t even get a Wikipedia entry. I found him on Last.fm, too. Just like Beatbeat Whisper, and Tallest Man, and Jordan O, and Le Loup, and et al. Some duets on this album. And funny lyrics, too. Nice guy, man.

21. Sun Kil Moon – April
O Mark Kozelek. You are my old couch. You are my basement in Michigan. You are the oak tree. That held the laundry line. And that blocked fly balls from breaking windows. Except for that one time. When I hit it over you and broke the one next to the side door we let our dog out of. When my mom was in the kitchen. She didn’t get mad.

22. Beatbeat Whisper – ST
Quietest quiet album of the year, except for the closer, which is about rain and boots and hot chocolate with a sweet, sweet hook. I dare you. (Plus, I love it when bands smile for pictures. They're brother and sister!)

23. The Tallest Man on Earth – Shallow Grave
This man is mysterious. People keep comparing him to Bob Dylan, but I don’t see it. He’s Swedish right? That’s cool.

24. Langhorne Slim – When the Sun’s Gone Down / Langhorne Slim
Let’s say you’re pretty good friends with the Avetts and Clem Snide and Old Crow Medicine Show (but OCMS kind of get on your nerves sometime but that’s okay). Then Langhorne Slim will probably be your friend, too. Or, at least, you’ll probably get along okay.

25. Jordan O’Jordan – Not Style Nor Season Nor Hard-Handed Lesson
Jordan O’Jordan is not a real person, or at least I don’t think he is. He IS one mean sumbitch banjo player. And one ranky-dank singer. I guess there’s a certain freak folker he could be compared to, but that doesn’t do the man/machine justice. He’s pretty funny, not funny like ha-ha, but funny like I told you so. He’s a pretty man, a dandy man, and kind of sounds like the Promise Ring circa 1853. I like that about him. You should, too.

Amen? Amen.