2004 in Music.
Concerts. It was an incredible year for music and concerts. Most of my concert-going decisions were heavily influenced by ticket price, but even if I was a bit of a cheapskate, I saw more good shows this year than in any in recent memory. The following are my ratings of shows in order of preference/enjoyment:
1) Delbert McClinton. Rio Grande Zoo.No flash, hardly any talking to the audience, but Delbert delivered musically, and even got the zoo to allow people to dance in front of the stage. An absolute blast!
2) Rod Stewart. Journal Pavillion. Two Rods, one show. The first half was rock n' roll Rod and the second half was slick crooner Rod singing old standards. The most I paid for a show last year ($50.00 for lawn seats), but worth every penny. Great production, great music and the old boy still has it!
3) Tower of Power. Sandia Casino. Fourth of July show, with after concert fireworks. An awesome show of old school East Bay Funk that got you up shakin' your rump. These guys are brilliant, and their new lead singer is incredible. Added bonuses, we picked up our tickets early and got to hear the sound check, plus the setting is great with the Sandia mountains in the background!
4) Morris Day and the Time. Isleta Casino. I was undergoing a slew of emotional crises when I decided to just give in and go to this show by myself, and man, am I glad I did. It felt like 1983 all over again. Morris and Jerome were slick and funny as every, and the Time, in their brightly colored suits, kicked out some major funk. Lots of audience participation and a generally house party atmosphere made me forget all my troubles.
5) Wailin' Jennys. BioPark. My new favorite folky band. Two of the Jennys actually bought stuff at my shop the day after the show. The cute punky one Cara, has been replaced by a scary looking chick, so lets hope they are stil good. When they were here they provided a great show with lots of personality, great harmonies and thoughtful lyrics.
6) Natalie McMaster. Rio Grande Zoo. Damn this gal is a firecracker! Coming to the Kimo agin in February. Great Celtic/bluegrass.
7) Winton Marsalis. Lensic Theatre, Santa Fe. A jazz master. Smooth and technically amazing.
8) Austin Lounge Lizards. Rio Grande Zoo. Funniest concert of the year. Parody and satire set to bluegrass. Love the German rap songs too.
9) Taj Mahal. El Rey Theatre. Hawaiian blues-boogie. Never have seen a band with a ukelele section before.

10) Latinas: Women of Latin America. Popejoy Hall

11) Rickie Lee Jones. Lensic Theatre, Santa Fe. Great music but Rickie, stop taking yourself so seriously.

12) Syd Masters and the Swing Riders. Wildlife West Nature Park. YeeHah! Lots of good western swing, a great setting and BBQ food too!

13) Chicago & Earth Wind and Fire. Journal Pavillion. Too many drunks, but the music was good, especially when the two bands combined to perform as a supergroup.

14) Indigo Girls. Rio Grande Zoo. Great songs, a muffled sound mix and lots of women with bad haircuts.

15) Albert and Gage. Bio Park. Great husband and wofe folk duo. Especially liked the French Edith Piaf covers.

16) Mary and Mars. Bio Park. Good folk harmonies, but one guy was trying too hard to imitate Bob Dylan.

BEST FREE OUT OF TOWN CONCERT:Tears For Fears, Pioneer Square, Portland OR. Went to visit friends and we stumbled on the sound check for this free show, so we stuck around. The guys still sound great, and are even more trippy than usual. The 80s do live. Only drawbacks: they only played for one hour and were the "opening act" for Five for Fighting, whom we did not stay to see.

Show ruined by It's Audience:
Los Lonely Boys. Rio Grande Zoo. Note to Zoo staff: Instead of IDs check for alcohol, check IQs instead.
In A Class of It's Own: Agrippina at Santa Fe Opera. I gots me summa that culture then.
Worst Show of the year: Syd Masters, Lynn Anderson and Michael Martin Murphey. Civic Plaza.Watching Lynn Anderson was like watching my grandma trying to be funny after she downed six Margaritas. Honey, drinkin' and singin' don't mix. Also, Muphey is a redneck gasbag.
Best Venue: Albuquerque Bio Park. Mellowness, nature's beauty and I live next door!
Runner-up: Sandia Casino Ampitheatre. No bad seats, and a great view of the mountains.
Worst Venue: Journal Pavillion. Lines, crowds, drunk morons and traffic jams, what fun!
Next Worst: Rio Grande Zoo. This would also rate as third BEST due to the outdoor surroudings, but what sucks about the place is the parking, the long lines to get in, scrambling for a spot to sit and the fact that they don't allow people to dance, but do serve booze to idiots.

Oops, Forgot one! Left out one movie I saw last year, Hellboy. Not bad as superhero/comic book movies go, but it was weak in comparison to Spiderman 2. Biggest problem, too much action and CGI, not enough character and emotion. Ron Perlman is a great actor, and he IS Hellboy, but it was pretty much a big monster fight in the end.
Support Your Local Musicians. I'm on a big local music kick all of a sudden. Katie and Debra Jean of the Buckarettes just put out a great Christmas CD called Snow Angels, and it's awesome. They will have a new "regular" CD of cowgirl tunes out soon. I can't wait! Katie has dubbed me the Buckarettes biggest fan, and dammit I intend to live up to that monicker. Buy all their music now! Katie Gill also has a great solo CD called All in Good Time.
I also bought three other discs from local folk, all available at CD Baby. Make Everything Alright is the latest from Santa Fe blues wunderkind Alex Maryol. Why Alex isn't on a major label I'll never know. Some of the best contemporary blues out there.
Keep It On the Road from Albuquerque's Breaker 19 is a collection of gritty truck-driving songs that recalls the best of the 1970s trucker country fad. Funny, a bit goofy and lots of fun.
Then there's No More Music By The Suckers from Bernadette Seacrest and Her Yes Men. Okay, I mostly was attracted to this by the cover. Bernadette is a super hot tattooed bad girl, whom I just happened to see dining at my neighborhood Mexican restaurant a couple weeks ago. She also has an awesome voice, and the album is a collection of smoky, sexy and slightly creepy jazz tunes....sort of like music you'd hear in a David Lynch film. Very cool and different.
Albuquerque is full of great music and musicians. Many of these people deserve to make it big time. Show your support by going to their gigs and buying their CDs. Okay?

2004 in Film. Between about 1982 and 1990, I saw and reviewed at least 2 movies a week for public radio and public access TV. This year I probably saw fewer movies in the theatre than ever before. Normally, I would do a top ten film list for the year, but I don't think I even saw 10 films upon their original release this year. so in lieu of a top ten list, I'm going to list what I saw, and sort of put them in an order of preference.
Finding Neverland. I actually saw this on 1/2/05, but it's a 2004 release. A magical, heartwarming, beautiful film about art, hope and the imagination. If I had anything to say about it, this would win the 2004 Best Picture Oscar.
Spider Man 2. Simply the best superhero movie to date. Grand, compelling and nearly operatic in its melodrama. A comic book fan's dream come true.
Hero. I actually saw this on DVD 2 years before its American theatrical release, but I'll count it anyway. Beautiful, exciting and thought provoking. Much more interesting than Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. A fantastic variant on the martial arts film.
Spanglish. A wonderful dramedy with believable characters. The emotional situations in this film are very realistic and very relatable to most people, even if you can't relate to the upper class lifestyle of the main family. Adam Sandler has never been better or more subdued, and Paz Vega is the most gorgeous woman on the face of the earth as well as a spectacular actress. She may only be eligible for supporting actress, but give this woman an award NOW!

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. A very strange movie that has really grown inside my brain since I first saw it. Funny, touching, weird, and highly original.

Shaun of the Dead. The britcom meets the zombie movie, with hilarious results. Side-splittingly funny, tense and exciting all at once. Goes a bit over the top on the gore at one point, and the zombie attacks diminish the laughs toward the end, but a very fun film nonetheless.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. A wonderful blend of teen angst and light horror elements, great teen actors and just-dark-enough-direction from Alfonso Cuaron make this a pleasant surprise.
What the Bleep do We Know? Okay, the backlash on this film is in full blast, but whether you accept the film's scientific and philosophical views or not, you have to admit it is skilful filmmaking. The blending of talking head documentary, conventional narrative storytelling and computer animation makes for an interesting experience. Ramtha's involvement does bring the film's credibility down a bit, but it is thought-provoking and inspiring nonetheless.
Kill Bill Volume 2. I know I hated the first "part," but this film more than makes up for it. Character, emotion, and plot finally take precedence over action, and Tarentino comes up with a lyrical modern Spaghetti western-inspired revenge saga that owes more than a little to "Once Upon a Time the West." We finally get to see David Carradine as Bill, and he makes a fantastic villain.
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. My favorite broad comedy in many moons. It doesn't always work, but it has the guts to go "out there" and achieve some very bizarre inspired moments. Will Ferrell's best screen moments so far.
The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi. My favorite samurai movie character brought back to life by Japanese new wave film maker Takeshi Kitano. The result is a a CGI-laden comedy-musical with copious bloodshed. What the hell was he thinking? An absolute mess. ANY of the Shitaro Katsu original films are better than this.
Worst Movie of the Year:
Laws of Attraction. What a smelly pile of poop this film is! An attempt to do a Cary Grant-style romantic comedy falls flat on its ass by making Pierce Brosnan an obnoxious pratt and Julianne Moore a sub-moronic twit who are both supposed to be the sharpest divorce lawyers in the country. Awful situations, poor writing and totally absent direction. Not believable or interesting for a microsecond. ICK!
That ain't much of a year, but I'm setting a goal of seeing at least 20 films in the theatre this year!

New Year's Resolutions. Okay, tomorrow we are doing the burning bowl service at church and writing our letters to God, in which we let go of stuff we don't want and write about what we want to manifest in the new year, so here goes:
Goodbye:
Self-doubt. Fear of relationships and intimacy. Self-criticism and self-hate. Procrastination.
Hello:
Wholesale belief in myself and my abilities.
Continue to grow in love, both for myself an others. Demonstrate this love daily.
Continuing to embrace my dreams and follow them to manifestation.
Discover more dreams.
Continue working on comedy. Both in performance and through writing.
Continue to pursue acting.
Actually write a short story, novel or screenplay this year.
Have more outdoor adventures, see more of the state and other places. Appreciate and wallow in nature's beauty.
Meditate twice a day every day forr a minimum of 40 minutes a day.
Ride my bike more. At least twice a week.
Exercise more by liftting weights at least twice week.
Walk the dogs every day.
Eat better food.
Eat more food I really enjoy.
Live every day with joy.
Bring love to work and into my work. Continue find ways to improve my business.
Go to more concerts I want to go to, regardless if others want to go along or not. Surround myself with music daily.
Journal every day.
Be more punctual.
Blog more.
Pick up the guitar again.
Do Qi Gong at least once a week.
Go to good movies more often.
Think big!
Create.

2004 In Review. It's been quite a momentous year for me! Lots of changes, a big personal growth spurt, and finally a year in which I've felt like I really "lived life." Not all of it "felt good" at the time it happened, but the results were all positive. Top events this year from my personal perspective, not necessarily in order of importance:
1) Moving into a new house. The single biggest "deal" this year, and in many years. A much needed change, as the old house and neighborhood were really getting me down. Put the old house on the market in early February, sold the house, for less than I really wanted, but to some people I really liked, in early April. Used the money from the sale mostly as down payment on a MUCH nicer, bigger house in a gated community. A big financial risk for me, and a big step in abundance thinking. Some real financial scares and worries right after moving into the new house, but it has all worked out well. The whole experience was frightening, exciting, nerve-racking, but ultimately joyous and affirming.
2) Following a dream. Finally acting on my dream of becoming a comedic genius. I embraced the dream of developing my comedic talents this year. I began studying stand-up comedy this year, first on my own, then finally starting taking classes at Laff's in December. I also discovered Improv comedy thanks to two classes at Gorilla Tango Comedy Theatre. I also took an acting class to aid the improv stuff. I have never auditioned for anything in my life, until this year, when I auditioned for a sketch comedy show and the student improv troupe at GT. I got neither part, but I do not consider this a setback. It was an indication that I was not ready yet, and that I need to focus on developing my skills first. Up to this year I had never done anything on stage except a few grade school things, so there is much room for growth. I really love improv and intend on pursuing it.
3) Learning about relationships. Had two eye-opening, weird bouts with relationships this year, marked by bad communication, confused feelings on my part, and a poor self-image. I learned to NEVER ASSUME anything. I learned to ASK QUESTIONS. I learned to NEVER OBSESS about a person. I learned NOT TO BE UPSET OVER NOT GETTING SOMETHING YOU REALLY DIDN'T WANT IN THE FIRST PLACE. I learned to never pursue a possible relationship only for the sake of having a relationship. I learned that I need to love and respect myself first before I can love and respect someone else. I think God made these two experiences happen back-to-back so the message would sink in. I don't think I learned everything I need to know yet, but it was a big growth step.
4) Learning to love the message, and not necessarily the messenger. My minister Guy Lynch left Christ Unity Church this year, and it was a big blow to myself and many others. Guy was a major part in helping me deal with life after mom's death, and many other personal issues. He was a real role model and mentor for me. All the politics, grieving and changes that occurred after he left made me realize that nothing had really changed. The message Guy gave is still around and still powerful. Unity principles are what really changed my life, guy was only the messenger. The church is in a major state of change, and we will have a new minister probably by March. I know it will all work out for the best.
5) Realizing that life doesn't happen to you, you co-create it with God. I am learning that you must take an active role in your life to get the desired results, you can't sit back and wait for good thing to happen.
Also, I am very grateful for all the people who had such an effect on my life.
My father, for always being there to help, and being a great guy even though I wasn't always nice to him.
All my friends, especially Sue and Karen, who have been great "counselors" this year, and were always around to listen. They're also just great fun to "hang" with. Karen has also been instrumental in helping me embrace my inner child. To Barbara, Sonya, Sheryl and Leah, who may not realize it but have provided encouragement, love, inspiration, and numerous life lessons for me.
Guy and Jan, for not only being great spiritual guides but great friends as well.
To all those who have taught me new skills these year: Master Mokurai, Todd Thatcher Cash, Kelly Williams, Dan Abbate and Eddy Tafoya. You can never learn enough.
I've learned to live every day with love. Bottom line, do not worry about what you think others think of you. It's what you think of yourself that matters. Do not judge others by how you judge yourself, or judge yourself by how you think others see you. You are no better or worse than anyone else, and no one is any better or worse than you. What matters is I AM BETTER THAN I USED TO BE! This is what really happened this year, thank you God!