Download these songs, burn them to a CD and listen to them in your car or on a long walk. These are the songs that followed me most in 2006, not just because of the songs themselves (which I admit are not ground-breaking or terribly unique, but nevertheless beautiful, perfect, etc), but mostly because of the memories attached, the feelings evoked (listening to these I am reminded of: random road trips in the United States and around Ontario; early morning drives to work before the city and highways have really woken up; walking to my apartment on Spadina late at night or sitting on the balcony, legs propped up against the railing; huddling close with friends at concerts; old friends; driving to Montreal with all my stuff in my car; playing the first record in our new place; etc). I wish I could write an essay about each song and its intricate relation to 2006, but this holiday time is too precious. Instead, listen and make your own memories.
Books are as important to me as music and I’ll probably add more book reviews to this blog in the upcoming year. Here are my top ten favourite things I read in 2006 (alphabetically):
1) The Extra Man – Jonathan Ames: When I really like a writer I will become a completist about them, so after seeing Jonathan Ames perform one of his one-man storytelling shows at the Gladstone in March, I proceeded to read all of his books of personal essays, his fiction, books he edited, articles online. His personal stuff is like David Sedaris, but with more emphasis on sexual neuroses - it's funny, the kind of stuff that manages to charm you even when he is talking about, I dunno, the self-loathing he feels after seeking out transsexual prostitutes in Paris. What I liked most, though, were his two books of fiction - "The Extra Man", which I read first, and "Wake Up, Sir!". They're neurotic versions of Wodehouse and Hemingway - refined, but weird. 2) Drugs Are Nice: A Post Punk Memoir - Lisa Carver: I felt the same surge of energy I felt after reading this book as I did with any of Chris Kraus’s books (see below). In some ways I feel like Lisa Carver is Chris Kraus’s younger, punker sister. This memoir of Lisa growing up in Dover and discovering zines and punk and performance art made me want to make things. It’s when I read books like this that I remember why I have always been so obsessed with creating things, keeping track, recording – not so much for the end result, but for the process of putting something together, the sparks that fly as a result. I guess it’s, like, passion or something.
3) Life and Times of Michael K – J.M. Coetzee – I started this book at the beginning of 2006, and then put it away when I got distracted. I found it again when I was unpacking in Montreal, and reread the whole thing from beginning to end in one day. His writing is so clear and so simple that sometimes you forget what a genius he is.
4) Mainstays of Maine – Robert Peter Tristam Coffin: This is my favourite souvenir from the New England roadtrip Andrew and I took in April, found in a huge used bookstore off of the highway in Maine. Robert Coffin writes rapturously about Maine cooking, makes it sound so decadent and heavenly. My favourite kind of food-writing is this hyperbolic kind, and ever since I read his essay on how to eat a lobster (with only your hands, of course, hot off the coals, without any actual crackers), I’ve been cutting my hands on shells.
5) The Projectionist – Michael Helm:For the first six months of 2006 I took a correspondence course with Humber College with Michael Helm as my mentor. The first book of his that I read was “In the Place of Last Things”, which is good, but I suddenly felt foolish for picking him as a mentor. The book was too good; it seemed too smart for my silly coming-of-age attempt at a novel. But then I read "The Projectionist", his first book, which is a lot scrappier than his second. It's just as smart, but funny too. In the end I was really glad to have Michael as a writing mentor - he recommended great things (see: Karen Solie), and gave me the kind of feedback I needed. As a result he's included in the list of teachers I will forever be a little bit in love with (see: Wendy, the TA from the Pop Culture class in 3rd year university, my old International Economics professor, etc etc).
6) A Moveable Feast – Ernest Hemingway: Fun to read for typical reasons (starving writer living in Paris, lots of wine drinking and betting on horses, etc), but also for gossip reasons. There’s this part where F. Scott Fitzgerald confesses to Ernest Hemingway that Zelda has made him feel self-conscious about the size of his penis. Ernest counsels him to size himself up against the statues along the edge of the Seine. I mean, come on. I can’t believe Hemingway wrote about that! Actually, of course I can.
7) I Love Dick – Chris Kraus:I'm trying to figure out exactly why I loved this book so much. A large part of it, I think, has to do with my frame of mind when I first moved to Montreal. There is a certain disappointment you get when you move to a new city: all the build-up, all the plans and preparations, then the unpacking and figuring out of quotidian matters - the grocery stores and the utilities and the bus routes. And after all that is done, things are the same again and huh, okay, what next? I hadn't written anything substantial in a few weeks. I was starting books and not finishing them. I was anxious about work, about my life, etc etc. And then I read this book and it was like a light went on. YES. Chris Kraus wrote about disillusionment and confusion and writing in the first person and failure. She wrote about monogamy and sex and obsession and leaving things behind. And art criticism and theory. It was just very exhilarating to read. It gave me hope and it helped me refocus.
8) Modern and Normal – Karen Solie: Karen Solie writes about things succintly and perfectly, touching on subjects that take me thousands of words to express. (From “Possibility”, which I realized I had copied not only into a Word document on my computer, but on a page of my 2006 journal, “It will be all right. It’s not/ too late. We left on the sly and nothing bad/ happened. Every desire ponied up, in fact,/down to the nod, as though our due. We used/them well, and barely ate. The roads/are there. The rooms, the bars, the manic/ distractions and sublime yaw of geographical events/ are there. Picked by a whim, we blew town/with something like intent. It’s hard to say.”)
9) Lullabies for Little Criminals- Heather O’Neill:One of the best things about Montreal is its seediness – the neon signs advertising Danseuses Nues, the tattoo parlours on Ontario, the sex shops. This book captures its seediness in a beautiful and heartbreaking way. Heather O’Neill is the most talented new writer I’ve read in awhile – she is gorgeous and evocative and pretty magical. (On the drive from Montreal to Toronto this morning, I found out that John K. Sampson has been hyping it for Canada Reads.)
10) The Emily Valentine Poems – Zoe Whittall: I read this when I visited Toronto in October. It was a quiet weekend, and I didn't want to do much – I felt nostalgic, pensive. I mostly drove around in my father's car and read this book. It’s small and square, a blend of fan letters and perfect sentences. It inspired me to write my only fan letter (well, email) of the year and when she wrote me back I made a little squeal. You know.
Come On! Let's Boogey to the Elf Dance! - Sufjan Stevens
DOWNLOAD Tie up your boots! Jump off the ladder! Pack up your clothes! Nothing's the matter! Mistletoe hangs up in the bedroom! Your sister's bangs, she cut them herself!
Santa is here! Sleighbells are ringing! Twenty-one elves! They are all singing!
K-Mart is closed! So is the bakery! Everyone's home! watching TV!
Santa Claus is coming! Hear the banjo strumming! Santa Claus is coming! Hear the banjo strumming!
Etc!
I kind of like this song all throughout the year, but especially now. Merry Christmas everyone! This holiday season has zipped by too quickly, but I'm looking forward to a few days of unabashed gluttony, presents and fun Christmas songs.
One of my 2007 resolutions is to not abandon the things that keep me sane when I'm stressed out, so I will be updating this more frequently, work be damned. I will also be doing my own little year-in-review-in-music before the new year, so stay tuned, I suppose.
In the meantime, stay safe and warm. My love to all of you.
Oops. I'm still here, promise. Work got out of control and when I'm stressed out I don't think about, you know, blogs. To tell you the truth, I haven't been listening to anything groundbreaking or unique enough to be blogged about - I really like the new Regina Spektor, I've been listening to more Rilo Kiley than usual, and I'm 90% sure that Joanna Newsom's Ys has become my favourite album of 2006, which is weird considering how much I didn't like it at first and my natural aversion to songs that are longer than 5 minutes.
I was in Orlando for a week, and spent an evening at Universal Studios. It was a bit surreal to walk in and hear The Organ's "Memorize the City" being blasted through the park. I also outlet shopped to stores playing Camera Obscura and Arcade Fire, and I know it's not so unusual anymore, but it's still a little surprising. It's kind of nice to sing along to some of your favourite songs while looking for deals on shoes.
Montreal is getting colder and icier, and more often than not I wear my down-filled furry-hooded parka. I bought a new Moleskine planner for 2007 and I'm kind of looking forward to making resolutions. More than ever, right now, I want to make things, plan things, do things.
I've been reading more books than listening to new records. You should read this one.
It occurs to Charles that songs are always appropriate. Once, on a date in high school, when he was going to tell his date he loved her, Elvis Presley came on the radio singing "Loving You." It always happens: politicians are always crooks, records are always applicable to the situation. - Ann Beattie, from "Chilly Scenes of Winter"
