OK, three important Christmas contest things:
1. Dr. O’C spent the weekend wading through limericks and has come up with a winner. Now I want to point out that the limericks were given to her without names attached, so there was no favoritism involved. I say this because the results are slightly dodgy. The winning Anti-Christmas [...]
Archive for 2008
Florida-style politics
A Free Man’s Top 10 of 2008: No. 7 – Frank Turner – “Love, Ire & Song” and MORE CONTESTS
Just a reminder of where we’ve been thus far:
10. The Hold Steady – “Stay Positive”
9. The Black Angels – “Directions To See A Ghost”
8. Sun Kil Moon – “April”
Well I guess I should confess that I am starting to get old.
All the latest music fads all passed me by and left me cold.
All [...]
Better living through chemistry?
A commentary in today’s issue of Nature authored by a group of attorneys, psychiatrists, M.D.’s and journalists proposes making cognitive-enhancing drugs (so called brain boosters) available to mentally healthy people. The argument that the group puts forward is that enhancing our brains is something that we should strive for as a species, making use of [...]
A Free Man’s Top 10 of 2008: No. 8 – Sun Kil Moon – “April”
Just a reminder of where we’ve been thus far:
10. The Hold Steady – “Stay Positive”
9. The Black Angels – “Directions To See A Ghost”
I was really struggling to come up with a way to write about the latest LP from Mark Kozelek (aka Sun Kil Moon). I knew I loved it. I knew it was [...]
Tales of Girls and Boys and Marsupials
At some point in the last few months, my baby son crossed an invisible line to to become a little boy. It may have been when he took to two legs and began, literally, toddling. It may have been when he began to exhibit some degree of understanding – when “Where are the fish, Boy [...]
A Free Man’s Top 10 of 2008: No. 9 – The Black Angels – “Directions To See A Ghost”
It was Boy Z and Papa Party Day today which means that I am, as usual, brain dead. Lucky for me I already wrote a pretty thorough review of my choice for the ninth best album by an unsigned artist or an artist signed to a truly independent label. So, I’m going to take the [...]
The Black Angels - "Never/Ever" [8:34m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download The Black Angels - "The Return" [4:32m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadSucking and blowing
Get your mind out of the gutter, you pederasts, this is about kids and Christmas and stuff. I had a vivid preview of my future as a parent (and no doubt decline into penury) this weekend. While wandering around Adelaide’s South Australian Museum, Boy Z found these plastic penguins (definitely penguins, Runs Deep) with which [...]
The Decemberists - "Please Daddy (Don't Get Drunk This Christmas)" [3:27m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadA Free Man’s Top 10 of 2008: No. 10 – The Hold Steady “Stay Positive” and CONTEST.
Craig Finn is an Everyman’s rock hero. He’s living proof that you don’t have to look like Jon Bon Jovi or Michael Hutchence to be a rock star. Finn, who leads Brooklyn’s The Hold Steady, could pass as an engineering graduate student anywhere in the world but he leads one of the most blistering rock [...]
I’m a man who doesn’t know how to sell a contradication
I heard Culture Club’s “Karma Chameleon” on the way to the post office today. It was a welcome change from the syrupy Christmas Muzak that the City of Adelaide has decided to pipe into Rundle Mall to inspire that festive spirit and loosen the purse strings. Every time I hear “Karma Chameleon”, I have a [...]
The most wonderful time of the year.
04 Dec 2008 at 21:01
A Free Man
American artists, Australian Artists, Brooklyn, MP3s, Music, Portland, Seattle, Sweden
No, not Christmas. Christmas can bite me. I’m talking about the time for end-of-year Top 10 lists. I love a good top 10 list and have always wanted a venue on which to present one. When I was thinking of starting a blog, and this is true, one of the things that motivated me to [...]
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