o the rising of the sun

Christmas is upon us.
The BF and I arrived in ATL yesterday afternoon, thankfully spared from all the airport drama oozing out of Denver, and hit a holiday party last night. Good times.
It's 57 degrees here in the sunny South and the sky is a summery blue, not quite the "White Christmas" we've been trained like Pavlov's dogs to long for. Driving to the party last night, the BF remarked that in NYC we never encounter the huge displays of Christmas lights like the ones people put up in their yards here. My response: "Well, we also never see yards."

Anyway, here's a holiday-themed illustration. Happy Christmas and all that.

Blot: A brother and sister got into a fight about Christmas decorations ...

you're my favorite moment, you're my saturday

I've been eyeing all the end-of-year lists that invariably roll out as December hobbles toward Christmas, especially the music roundups.
For example, the fine folks at Rolling Stone dubbed Gnarls Barkley's ubiquitous "Crazy" as the top song of the year — a viewpoint shared by the iTunes Store, which gave the song props on its staff picks list.
Does that make them crazy? Apparently not, because the song also landed in the number four slot on the list of bestsellers, beat out by what might be my least favorite song of recent memory, "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter.
Speaking of things it's cool to hate, Pitchfork pulled a fast one and gave Justin Timberlake the top slot on its Top 100 Tracks of 2006 list; no worries, the other 99 artists selected remain as pretentiously obscure as always.
These lists, to me, are always sort of a joke: Did anybody actually buy the new Bob Dylan CD that the Rolling Stone fogies rave about? And for those who actually did buy Danity Kane (featured on the iTunes bestseller list), there's just no excuse for you.

Anyway, I've crafted my own annual list of favorite songs from the year — a task that's proven particularly difficult for 2006 not just because of the scattershot quality of the material, but because of my own shifting tastes.
This was the year when trends of 2005 reversed and more pop (Fergie, Justin) found its way onto my iPod. I sort of made up with dance music (Offer Nissim, Bob Sinclar) after our amicable split last year. There was no "story of the year" on my personal playlists, but instead deep flirtations with synthpop (Goldfrapp) and a tumultuous fling with Broadway (Grey Gardens, Liza with a Z). Country and folk took a brief retreat, but I think they'll be back in 2007.

Anyway, my neurosis aside, here's my Imperfect List of Notable Songs from 2006. (Mostly.) In no particular order, of course.


1. "Balloon Ranger" Ane Brun
I shudder to call her voice "haunting" or "arctic" or something lame like that, but this was one of the albums I couldn't get enough of in the early summer.

2. "Number 1" Goldfrapp
I caught their show at Irving Plaza this year and loved every synthesized moment of it. This video is also riveting.

3. "Deja Vu" Beyoncé
Miss Knowles and I have come full circle. I loved her when she was one of Destiny's children. We broke it off when she dumped those other bitches. But this year, we tight again. Now everything I see is you, and really there ain't no substitue.

4. "Fidelity" Regina Spektor
Jesus Christ, did I listen to any males in 2006?

5. "City Hall" Vienna Tang
Nope, not many.

6. "Bossy" Kelis
What a fucking diva. I saw her at the Out 100 party and she was such a snotty little cunt. Loved her.

7. "First Day of My Life" Bright Eyes
I'm fully aware this is actually a song from 2005. However, it makes me think of all the Kiki & Herb shows I caught this year: an astounding four performances — five if you count Justin solo. And three of those times they covered Bright Eyes. It really is lovely, though.

8. "Star Witness" Neko Case
Her gig at Webster Hall will be one of my favorite concerts of 2006.

9. "Girl in the War" Josh Ritter
Great line: "Because the keys to the kingdom got locked inside the kingdom." Read the rest here.

10. "Smile" Lily Allen
Gayest Neil gave me this keeper, knowing how much I like both British songbirds and cruelty. It does make me smile.

11. "The Blues are Still Blue" Belle & Sebastian
I got their album The Life Pursuit back in March and barely gave it a single listen. Cut to November and it came back with a vengence. I love not only this track, but also "Funny Little Frog" and "White Collar Boy."

12. "O Mary Don't You Weep" Bruce Springsteen
Not a lot of folk or bluegrass on my list this year, though I did get a lot of pleasure from the Boss's Pete Seeger tribute album.

13. "Sodom (Trentemøller Remix)" Pet Shop Boys
Their latest got zero play in the States, which is a shame. This remix of "The Sodom & Gomorrah Show" was one of the more thrilling dance tracks I heard all year.

14. "Better People" India.Arie
I didn't love the latest disc from the dotted one, but this fell-good ditty is straight up Staple Singers. Guaranteed to lift my mood on even the ugliest day.

15. "I Don't Feel Like Dancin'" Scissor Sisters
I'm sick of it now, but this was a hit of my fall.

16. "The Long Way Around." Dixie Chicks
"Silent House" also really spoke to me from their well-crafted protest album.

17. "Music (Eddie's Bring It Back Mix)" Leela James
Another dance song that actually had something interesting to say. The original, unmixed track came out in 2005, but this track came to my attention via Brett Henrichsen's kickin' SPF 2006.


* * *

UPDATE: For you users of the iTunes Store, I've posted an iMix featuring most (but not all) of the tracks listed here. Enjoy!

TRAYB.com: Favorite Songs of 2006 (and a few others)

blitzen with relish

Call it a hunch, but I'm thinking it's a slow news day. The current headlines on CNN.com:

• Diner selling hotdogs made of reindeer meat
• Angelina Jolie: No plans to marry Brad Pitt
• U.S. agency: We did not target Princess Diana
• Boy, 11, kicks hawk in face to save his puppy
• That Osama, Obama thing nothing but B, S

green, blue

This week's illustration proves my theory that I really have very little do with my better drawings. The ones I like most seem to just happen. I put myself in the right frame of mind, sit down with pen and paper, and an hour or so later I look up and somebody's left a curious new doodle on my pad.
The second half of the process, adding color and deciding the composition, never feels like that, is always laborious. But the original line drawing, when it works, often arrives as an utter surprise.

The Blot: A 29-year-old New York man said he's a member of a band that played one night ...

do you hear what i hear?

I'm ear-deep in holiday CDs, and my round-up of new yuletide sounds appears here:

Ghosts of Christmas Past: Surprising new holiday albums from Bette to Bootsy

People just getting to know me tend to be surprised when they hear about my obsession with Christmas music.
Secretly, it's all an exercise in creating my own annual holiday compilation, sent out with Christmas cards to close friends and family. This year's edition is nearly finished: I'm about 90% done with the cover art, and the playlist itself (always the hardest part) may be complete. As always, I struggled and sweated over the final cut, and there are still a couple of tracks that could get axed before the ultimate mailing. But overall, I'm pleased. To be this far along by Dec. 5 is unheard of — and a nice change from years past.

full circle

The e-mails, text messages and phone calls started coming Friday evening, and they continue this morning. "Are you really leaving your job? What happened? Where are you going?"
Those first two are easy to answer. The third one, well, that's something I think we should all ask ourselves every day.

Am I leaving? Yes. While traveling over the Thanksgiving holiday, I had a sort of epiphany reiterating what I've known for a couple of months, that it's time for me to move on. My last day at the magazine is Dec. 15. Incidentally, I gave notice on the one-year anniversary of switching over from The NY Blade, so there was a certain symmetry in the way the whole thing played out.

Why leave now? That's a harder one to answer, but part of it has to do with the inherent cycle of working for a weekly publication. Once you've been around the merry go round once, you start to know what's coming next. If not, you haven't been paying attention.

Where am I going? The BF and I have a lot of travel planned for the next few weeks, time with our families for Christmas, then a long stint in Mexico with some friends over New Year's. After that, I'm going back to full-time freelancing: not only writing, but getting my illustrations out there more. I plan to finally finish a book I've had in the works for almost a year now.
At first glance, 2007 looks to be nothing like the last two years of my life, which is a vaguely terrifying — but also exhilarating — feeling.