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...