end of year boo-shee

where in the hell did 2006 go, anyway? i blinked and it was november, and january seems like a long, l-o-n-g time ago. whatevah.

anyway, my pal phil overeem, who pays more attention to these things than i do, informs me that both the "dean of american rockcrits" robert christgau _and_ his evil minion chuck eddy have been given the bum's rush by the village voice. perhaps this means that whoever is taking their place will realize that i am no longer a "real" rockcrit and stop sending me a ballot for their annual pazz & jop poll. perhaps not. while i admittedly operate within a very circumscribed 'n' predictable orbit, if somebody were to ask for a list of good rekkids released this yr, i'd include the following:

1) various, top secret...shhh
2) hochimen, tierra del gato
3) me-thinks, make mine a double e.p.
4) sonic's rendezvous band, easy action box set
5) boris, pink
6) yayhoos, put the hammer down
7) george clinton, how late do u have 2bb4ur absent?
8) radio birdman, zeno beach
9) ghostcar, too strong / the art of transition

i should mention that i haven't yet heard the rekkids released this yr by ornette coleman, the who, sonny rollins, charles mingus, the theater fire, or black tie dynasty. perhaps i will.

of equal significance to any rekkids were the releases on dvd of two fine, fine, supafine rawk docs: we jam econo and new york doll.

also important in my neck of the woods (to me, at least): the emergence of fred's cafe as music venue; jhon kahsen's bimonthly avant-garde evenings at sardines (next one's the second tuesday in december, so mark yr calendars); sam walker's thelonious monk tribute; and new bands barber mack and stoogeaphilia. (yeah, i play in one of 'em. you wanna fuckin' fight about it?)

next yr, i wanna do a better (e.g., more consistent) job of supporting the arts other than music here in the fort, which i always intend but often fail to do. my bad.