Why I Oughta...

I'm crawling into a long winter's blog nap til Monday. We're heading out of town for a party. Wish I could be with you all standing in moldy lines waiting for drinks, etc. Seriously. I wish I could. Instead, we'll be, um...doing a lot of nothing. Nice. Happy New Year. Don't drive, if you don't have to. Please?!? Smell ya later!

Doing an entire 'Year in Review' would be daunting, as I can't quite remember what happened 6 weeks ago, let a lone 6 months ago, but what I can do is tell all you--my loyal readers--what I think was/is the biggest story of 2005 in and around Chicago. ....Drum roll please........... The Biggest story in 2005 was the City of Chicago's 'about-face' on live, outdoor music in the City's parks. What? Live music as the biggest story of the year?!? WTF, Parrillo?!? What about the 'Drought of '05', or the White Sox, or Hired Truck, or Marshall Field's closing? Well...those are all good stories. They're all qualified for 'Biggest Story of the Year', but they don't have the same impact to me as the City's Leaders embracing live music. I wrote about it back in July when both Lollapaloza and Intonation were put on to rave reviews, despite the repressive heat. Dunno if you realize what is happening here. We just went from th

  As the calendar turns, we here at RhodesSchool and at The Club Coca are focusing our efforts on 2006. Club Coca has a full schedule of events including our annual 'Film Festival'   during the late summer and, more importantly, our annual Ski Trip during January/February. Due to other scheduling conflicts, we're proposing to have the ski trip the last weekend in January. January 27, 28, 29th.   Accomodations will be hosted by the Club Coca Remote Lounge in Coloma Michigan on the snowy shores of Paw Paw Lake. Skiing will   go down at Bittersweet Ski Resort .   Plan now. Let us know if you're interested in heading up there.

Each year the Library of Congress preserves films and footage for, I guess 'posterity's sake'. They've been doing it since 1989 and to date have 'saved' 425 films. This years list includes 'Toy Story' and 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High  among others. It's an interesting mix: "Baby Face" (1933) "The Buffalo Creek Flood: An Act of Man" (1975) "The Cameraman" (1928) Commandment Keeper Church, Beaufort, S.C., May 1940 (1940) "Cool Hand Luke" (1967) "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" (1982) "The French Connection" (1971) "Giant" (1956) "H2O" (1929) "Hands Up!" (1926) "Hoop Dreams" (1994) "House of Usher" (1960) "Imitation of Life" (1934) Jeffries-Johnson world championship fight (1910) "The Making of an American" (1920) "Miracle on 34th Street" (1947) "Mom and Dad" (1945) "The Music

So...are people buying 'good' music these days? The answer, plainly is  'no' . Compare the composite of tons of critic's 'Top 10' records of the year with the 'most selling' records of the year: Here are Metacritic's top 10 albums of the year based on highest average score: 1. Illinois by Sufjan Stevens 2. Z by My Morning Jacket 3. Wearemonster by Isolée 4. I Am A Bird Now by Antony And The Johnsons 5. Hypermagic Mountain by Lightning Bolt 6. The Woods by Sleater-Kinney 7. Arular by M.I.A. 8. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah 9. Minimum-Maximum [Live] by Kraftwerk 10. Thunder, Lightning, Strike by The Go! Team Now, here are the top 10 albums of the year based on sales: 1. The Massacre by 50 Cent 2. The Emancipation of Mimi by Mariah Carey 3. Breakaway by Kelly Clarkson 4. American Idiot by Green Day 5. Monkey Business by Black Eyed Peas 6. X&Y by Coldplay 7. Love.Angel.Music.Baby. by Gwen Stefa

Hope Santa brought you guys everything you ask for! I had a good few days with family and friends. The holidays always go way, way too fast. Next up: New Years Eve. What's on the docket, you ask? I'm not sure. Nat and I may be heading to a few 'house parties' in Chicago or we might be heading to Coloma Michigan. Interested in joining us? Drop me a line. As for gifts, Nattie Claus gave me the Sirius Sportster Replay and she activated my Sirius account. Too cool. She also got me a 'home' dock, so I can listen to Stern at home! I've only begun to fool around with the radio and I'm already all geeked up about it. This should be lotsa fun. Santa Claus scored me a new pair of courderoys (not Corederoys!) and a vaccuum (not a Dyson !), which was needed. Inside the family, we do a 'grab-bag', where you only buy for one person with a limit of $75 or so. Shaun had me. I got Blind Faith's self titled release , Cream Live, Volume 2 , and Rick Danko

Anil touches briefly on Blogging awards and their explosion : The last reason that blogging awards are so popular isn't usually mentioned, but a powerful incentive for hosting and running an awards competition is to help make the host a center of power in the community. By creating the forum, inciting the inevitable drama, setting the rules, and (likely) helping to entrench one's friends and supporters as powers within the new community hierarchy, those who create awards are likely to reap significant benefits from doing so. Hmmm...there's an 'awards' deal that we're still working on for JoinCross.  Illinois Fifty is set to 'rock out' during the Spring Legislative Session. I'm awaiting some information before development is complete. Should be cool. Maybe Corederoy Partners needs to give out 'Political Blogging' Awards. Hmmm....that may not be a bad idea...

I have never really considered myself to be a Yahoo! guy. I use Google. I use Gmail. I use AIM. But...  now I'm a total Yahoo! guy .  In addition to Flickr, now Yahoo! owns del.icio.us, which powers savedstuff , a little project that Rick and I and a few others use. Flickr is an incredible project. It takes you about 5 minutes to 'go pro' and use the hell outta that site. If you want to have stuff populate 'Saved Stuff', just tag it 'savedstuff' in del.icio.us. If you want me to see it for this blog, tag it 'forjake'. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, then it's time to go noodle around there . Once you 'get' del.icio.us, you'll be hooked...especially if you use Firefox!

Christmas music doesn't do a helluva lot for me. I dig Mele Kalikimaka , but I have disagreements with Nat over listening to the Lite --which plays all Christmas songs. (she has great taste in music normally, but around Christmas, she goes a little batty with the tunes and decorations...I like it, I'm just not used to it!) Regardless, maybe this EP can change my mind . It's the Arcarde Fire doing a few Holiday tunes!

WTF, Robert Scoble ? What? Is Chicago a 'Second Class City' ? Live Local, which launched in beta today as promised, has such views of 12 American cities (notably missing is Chicago), which are beautiful high-res images better than any other mapping service is offering right now, but for a couple reasons they're not nearly as useful as they could be. You want us to believe that you're listening? Then, get me Chicago! Its the greatest city in the world, and you don't include it? WTF?!?

This morning was the first morning in a year and a half that I've truly appreciated having a garage!

Stylus plays God with Radiohead's Pablo Honey : It’s easy to forget that in 1993 Radiohead didn’t have much of a future. A more menacing Fine Young Cannibals, the band had just released Pablo Honey, a record with one smash single (“Creep”), a spattering of mediocre Pixies-aping album tracks, and wretched baby/candy/flower cover art. They were one name-change removed from presenting themselves to the world as On a Friday, and Thom Yorke sneered hilariously in press photos. Pablo Honey failed to produce even the semblance of a second US hit.

Nat started a new job with the American Red Cross a few months back. She's in charge of events in Chicago and she's really into it. I mean 'TPS Reports'-into it and 'proximity card'-into it. Tonight it all pays off with her first event. She's worked really hard on it and its bound to be a success. Metromix covered it, too , which is nice. Flirting for Disaster The Kerryman 661 N. Clark St.  Dangerously attractive  We know, fellas: When you sport the fitted jeans and vintage shirt, the bar-ometer goes into overdrive. Flash your hazards at other young professional singles at The American Red Cross Auxiliary Board's Flirting for Disaster networking party. Includes Corzo tequila sippers, apps and raffle prizes, plus $3 cosmos and $2 beers. Dec. 1: 5:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. Price: $20-$25. Proceeds benefit the American Red Cross of Greater Chicago If you have no plans tonight, make sure you get there. I have to go to the Village's Tree light