leftovers

Even though a lot of terrible things happened to a lot of people this year, I personally can't complain too much as I had a good year despite some major heartbreaks. The loss of my aunt Mary, and my collaborator Amy Crosby, were both extremely sad moments this past year. My hometown of Paradise, Kansas, suffered terrible floods in the spring, and then just a couple of weeks ago, catastrophic wildfires that destroyed many peoples' homes and livelihood. My ancestral home, the Stielow/Strecker farmstead, was one of the places decimated by fire. We had just all visited it following the celebration of life for my aunt Mary back in July. Having said all that, I had many great moments this year, if things were different due to the continuing pandemic. I got to spend time with my parents, niece and nephew several times throughout the year, including a great Thanksgiving trip together to Newport Coast. I was able to make it to the 4th annual Paradise Fall Festival to see my uncle Ronnie...

If ever there was a year that proved the importance of art and music, it was 2020. None of us will ever forget the shutdowns and quarantine, the covidiots and maskholes, and all the drama that surrounded the presidential election and the protests following the murder of George Floyd by police in Minnesota. All together, it combined to make a steaming shitshow of a year that most of us had no choice but to watch from afar in the confines of our own homes. But what kept me - and millions of others - going through the groundhog-day style monotony of working from home and isolation from friends and family was music. Whether it was discovering new musicians online, getting ear candy from favorite artists, or taking the time to practice or even learn an instrument, music is what saved many of our souls. I had some intense reactions to new music this year, discovering at least one new favorite artist, and releasing some new and old music of my own in the form of my retrospective "Recolle...

Life goes on, and even as you get older, some things never change. There were many sentimental moments for me this year, a year that in many ways felt like the world was ending, yet it just kept going. Personally, it was a very big year for my own music. I released my second solo album, "Art Damage," in March, preceded by two singles and videos, "Anyone Can Break Somebody's Heart" which featured the amazing Wendy Ho on lead vocals, with a killer remix done by Scott Anderson, aka Mr. Anderson; and "By My Side" which had an awesome 80's halloween-themed video made by Ravensview Films. I started performing at jam nights around Los Angeles where I met so many talented, cool, and friendly musicians who have become friends. I did a short tour for my album in September which took me to places like Bisbee, Arizona, and my tiny hometown of Paradise, Kansas. I got to play at Hotel Cafe three times - which had been a "bucket list" item, now accompli...

2018 was a tough year - full of lots of great moments, but some very difficult ones, as well (see my one previous blog entry from this entire year). Luckily for me, music is one thing I can always turn to in the tough times that helps me focus on the good in the world. Some amazing new music came out this year from some of my old favorites, and there was definitely not a lack of things to listen to at any given time this year. I had some great performance moments of my own, too: playing with Boynanarama at Make Music Hollywood and San Gabriel Valley Pride, to making my debut on guitar playing with Shitting Glitter, the first time we have played songs off our debut album "Post No Bills" in many many years (we plan to re-release it next year). I also ran my first two 10 K races this year, fueled by some of the music on this list. Here are the top 10 songs (plus a couple extra) that kept me going this year. Honorable Mentions "Under the Sun" - Roosevelt Roosevelt i...

Here we are in the eleventh year of this annual countdown. Did I ever think I'd be doing it this long? Did I ever not? I'm aiming to continue this into my 100s. And I'll show you crotchedy! For now I'm trying to keep up, to snake through the chaos with a smooth noodle map, and I even feel ready to divulge a couple of guilty pleasures. Spotify does a scarily accurate job of tracking my actual listening habits so I'm not gonna lie about it. Honorable Mentions "Fool's Gold" - Aaron Carter As I said, I'm not gonna lie! I did enjoy Aaron Carter's comeback EP, if that's what it was. It had great, cool songs on it and it made me interested in him, which I'd never been before. Although, admittedly, I had watched most of House of Carters .  "Praying" - Kesha This is more for Dylan, who is just in love with her entire new album, Rainbow, and keeps playing his vinyl proudly so I'm getting into it too. I think it's a g...