Photos from this weekend's trip to Lobo Castle are here.

( The decade of lists continues. We're up to 2007. )

Before we get to the 2005 tedious lists, a few announcements: The Corner Laughers are playing at the Grant & Green tonight with KC Bowman, Anton Barbeau, Allen Clapp, John Moremen, Paul Myers & Allyson Seconds. I know it's a Tuesday but that is about the finest lineup you're ever going to see in San Francisco.

Yesterday we were the in-studio guests on Rob Black & Your Money. For the podcast, click December 14th - 1st hour. Yeah, I know - why would a stock market guy on a right-wing talk station have the Corner Laughers on? Well it just so happens that Rob Black is not your average AM talk show host. He's relatively young and likes to support local bands and local businesses. He really has no political affiliation, he just loves money (and music).

And in case you don't follow The Corner Laughers' Facebook group, we were recently reviewed by Pop Matters and Blurt; two legitimate music sites, and interviewed by The Dagger Magazine.

( 2005 End Of Year Lists )

( 2005 Nivison Survey )

I found a post in my archives entitled "Tedious Lists 2003, Part One". Although this suggests that there should be a part two or three, none seems to exist. I did find a year-end survey that was making the rounds back then and included that as a bonus.

( 2003 Lists )

( 2003 Survey )

More lists of the decade, you say? These were postmarked December 18th, 2002. I no longer post my year-end lists before the year ends. It seems fairer that way. ( 2002 )

Re-posting of tedious lists from the '00s continues today with my 2001 end-of-year lists. I'm copying and pasting these exactly as they were written, even though in hindsight I don't necessarily agree with all my past choices. For instance, Kitty In The Tree as #2 album of 2000? I still think it's a good album, but I doubt it will make my top 100 of the decade. This one appears to be in survey format, and most likely it was myself who made up the survey to send out to various email lists and bulletin boards because that's how we communicated way back in 2001. The "previous years" categories are instituted here for the first time. As a bonus, I've included the 2001 Nivison Survey (tm) and my top 10 least favorite songs of 2001. I sure do love talking about my own lists that no one else cares about.

( 2001 Lists )

( 2001 Nivison Survey )

( Least favorite songs of 2001 )

Not only is the end of the year drawing nigh; for those of us whose entire existence revolves around making tedious lists there's the extra bonus this year of being able to rank our favorite things of the '00s. (And yes, in the list-making community it is accepted as gospel that the decade begins with the 0 year, not the 1 year as some historians would have you believe.) It's a big job, going over 10 years of lists and figuring out which items have aged well and which should merely be considered embarrassing remnants of the '00s if there is yet such a thing. Unlike in the 90s, I was already old when the '00s started so I really don't have much perspective on the culture, having retreated into my own little world years ago. All I know for sure is that the '00s was the warmest decade in history and that I got married, bought a house, made a few awesome albums and acquired many small pets.

While I'm working on my end of the decade lists, I thought it would be a good opportunity to re-post my end-of-year lists from the past 10 years.

( 2000 )

And just like that we have reached the end of another yard almanac. The change from November to December is the most dramatic of the year on our street, as you'll no doubt glean from seeing all the months lined up.

You might not notice this unless you click "all sizes" and look at the largest versions of the photos but the 6 poppies that we planted in the spring have multiplied and taken over most of the front yard, as we had hoped they would. You might also notice that It's almost impossible for us to keep small plants alive in the backyard. I attribute this to a combination of lack of sunlight and invasion by squirrels and raccoons. We'll probably keep trying though, against the odds.

For posterity's sake and scientific study here are my 2007 and 2005 Mountain View almanacs again. (2005 is only 4 photos across and I'm not sure how to get it to display correctly in Flickr.)

For several years goldenmoonbear and I have had a tradition of watching the entire Back To The Future trilogy on Thanksgiving weekend. This year was the first year that we felt we had a suitable environment in which to invite other people to take part. Photographic evidence is here. It was so much fun that I'm already planning bigger festivities for next year with costumes, live music and maybe even a special appearance by Claudia Wells. But probably not.

Instructions: List 10 musical artists (or bands) you like, in no specific order (do this before reading the questions below). Really, don’t read the questions below until you pick your ten artists!!!

1. George Formby
2. Run DMC
3. Stew
4. Kirsty MacColl
5. Robert Johnson
6. Phil Ochs
7. Buck Owens
8. Tarkio
9. The Loud Family
10. Kara's Flowers

( The Questions )

Happy birthday to goldenmoonbear!

The Corner Laughers have been on a slight "tour" in support of our new album Ultraviolet Garden. So far we've done record release shows in San Francisco, Mountain View and Los Angeles. This Saturday we'll be in San Jose at South First Billiards with The Shebangs & The Bobbleheads. KC Bowman will be also be guest-starring. I'm keeping a running photo journal of our activities on my Flickr page.

The LA show on Thursday was a last minute decision and zimbra1006 unfortunately couldn't make it due to work obligations. We were invited by The Orange Peels who were down there to promote their own awesome new album 20/20. Luckily there was hardly any traffic; we made it in 5 hours, most of which were spent playing "iPod-shuffle-name-that-tune" with jimmi_vacant's iPod. It was an education for me because he has a lot of darker and more aggressive music than what I would normally listen to: punk, thrash metal, gangsta rap, etc.

The show was at The Bootleg Theater and as soon as we got there I kind of knew there might not be much of a turnout. It's nestled away in the ghettos of Silverlake, in a construction zone, and it's not really visible from the street or from anywhere. It was a fun show though. We gave it our finest effort and although there were only about 20 people there, everyone was really nice and supportive. The most heartwarming thing was looking out and seeing a 6'5", 300 lb. German dude wearing a Slayer shirt bopping along and seemingly really enjoying us. Only in LA?

The 2009 almanac has been updated through November. You might not think we have seasons in Northern California but we do, if you look really closely.

The big news is that The Corner Laughers are playing a gig with KC Bowman tomorrow night. KC has long been one of my favorite musicians and songwriters and he rarely ever plays in public so this is a special event indeed. I certainly wouldn't want to miss it if I were you. It's at Red Rock Coffee House in downtown Mountain View. We'll be starting around 8. You can download some of KC's songs here.

halphasian, globalesque and clyde_park have a little meme going about which writers they've read the most works by. I'll play (fiction only):

1. Douglas Adams - Read just about everything, loved it all.

2. Tom Robbins - Read all of his books. Older ones are fantastic, newer ones kind of lame.

3. Jasper Fforde - I believe I've read everything he's ever published and I'm eagerly anticipating his new novel that's coming out at the end of the year. How I discovered: I'm an equally huge fan of George Formby; I own all of his movies and recordings. While researching GF's bio on Wikipedia I discovered that he was listed as a character in the Thursday Next series: in fact, in that universe he was still alive and had become Prime Minister. How could I resist?

4. Haruki Murakami - I've read all of his books except the non-fiction ones. I love about 1/2, the rest are kind of the same story over and over.

5. Scarlet Thomas - I haven't read all of her books but the ones I have read are among my favorite books of all time.

6. Jacqueline Winspear - Read the entire Maisie Dobbs series. It's set in 1930s England and references WWI constantly so it's right up my alley.

7. Nick Hornby - Haven't read the new one yet, but one of the main characters is on the same record label that The Corner Laughers are on, so what am I waiting for?

8. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - Read most of the Sherlock Holmes series, as you might have guessed by my Halloween costume.

9. J*** G***** - I will not discuss this one but I have read WAY too many of her books.

10. Honorable mention - C.D. Payne, Carl Hiassen, Kurt Vonnegut, Louise Wener, Christopher Moore.

Introducing Mayor Goldie Wilson: She's 3 years old and we adopted her from the animal shelter in Santa Cruz. We're not exactly sure what kind of chicken she is. Golden Sussex seems to be the closest match, but she may be a mash-up of several breeds.

Although she was christened with the honorary title "mayor", she is actually the lowest ranking chicken in the household behind Guad (speaker of the house), me (archbishop) and Karla (supreme chancellor). Yes, chickens do recognize human authority if you spend enough time with them.

Too much self promotion... don't know where to start..

#1. There's a small photo of me in The San Francisco Chronicle today, adjoining an article about the movie Why Isn't Chris von Sneidern Famous?, which is playing this Saturday night at the Landmark Clay Theater which was built in 1910 and is one of the oldest in San Francisco. Who cares about the movie? I'm going just to see the theater.

#2. Ultraviolet Garden is now available on iTunes. We need some reviews and ratings so even if you're not going to buy it, go ahead and click 5 stars. It won't cost you anything.

#3. The Corner Laughers will be on KZSU's Palo Alto Pop Overthrow next Thursday morning between 7 and 9 to promote our new album and play some songs live on the air. We'll also be playing a CD release show at the Make Out Room on October 31st, also known as Halloween.

#4. Blurt magazine has an interview with Nick Hornby in which he discusses the Popover record label, which happens to be exactly the same label that The Corner Laughers' new album is on.

#5. You can download the debut single "Night Circling Sharks" from the KC Bowman / Karla Kane collaboration here. It's truly excellent if I may so so myself.

Last weekend we lost our beloved Rita to a raccoon attack. She was a great chicken; she loved humans and was always following us around and doing funny things. We feared that Guad was gone too, but she showed up the next morning miraculously unharmed. From now on we'll be taking greater security precautions although there's no 100% safe solution. We live in a high-raccoon area and even if we found a way to get rid of them, more would move in. Hunting down and eradicating the raccoons that did it would not make anything better anyway - they're just following their instincts and trying to survive. (Although I did see a vulture eating a raccoon on the road and secretly hoped that it was the one.)

Chickens are very social and hate to be alone so we quickly adopted a friend for Guad from an animal shelter in Santa Cruz. We're not yet giving the new chicken an official name or taking any photos of her because we don't want to get too attached in case she doesn't work out. So far it's going pretty well. They had their inevitable battle for pecking order and Guad won. Hopefully they'll bond in the next few days.

First the newsly items:

1. The 2009 almanac has been updated for October.

2. Ultraviolet Garden is now available as a legal download:



3. There's an interview with the Corner Laughers at Voice Of Energy. There are a few slight errors and misquotes but overall it's very flattering.

4. I have several upcoming events in October: on the 15th I'm playing piano with John Wesley Harding at the Rickshaw in SF. On October 24th, I make my big screen debut in Why Isn't Chris von Sneidern Famous?, which is showing for one night only at the Landmark Clay Theater as part of the Cinema By The Bay film festival. The Corner Laughers will be playing a special Halloween / record release show on October 31st at The Make Out Room. There will be costumes and candy and contests. We hope to see you there.

Now the complaints: Hardly Strictly Bluegrass is the worst thing in the world. Every year I proclaim that I will never go back again and every year they tempt me with free shows by my favorite artists. This year it was Robyn Hitchcock, Billy Bragg & Aimee Mann. As is usually the case there were about 8 million people there and there was really no way to see or hear any of the shows. It was cold and dusty, parking took about an hour and we missed the entire Robyn Hitchcock set. At the Aimee Mann portion, the people in front of us stood the whole time, blocking everyone's view even though there was no need to. It reminded me of the old "parable of the commons" or whatever - 1000 people go to a concert, at first they're all sitting down and everyone can see just fine. Then one person decides that if he stands up he'll be able to see better than everyone else. This in turn causes the people behind him to have to stand up, then pretty soon everyone is standing and no one can see any better than they could in the first place but they're all a lot more uncomfortable. The only positive note was that Karla bravely went up to Robyn Hitchcock (who was riding in a golf cart) and gave him a copy of our album. He's kind of connected to us through the Popover label, but I don't know if he understands or remembers that. Anyway, I swear to you that I am not going back ever again.

There's only one good reason to wake up before 7 on a Saturday and that is a condor release event at Pinnacles. There hasn't been one since 2007 that the public was invited to. My long time LJ friends might remember a 2004 post in which I described how I became obsessed with condors at a young age after watching the cartoon "No Man's Valley." It has since been posted on Youtube, so you too can now witness the preposterousness with your own eyes.

This year's release went better than the one we attended in 2007 due to the fact that TWO condors decided to avail themselves of the opportunity to fly free rather than zero. What usually happens is that the older condors show up at the release site expecting treats. The entire animal world (humans included) operates on the principal of treats. Animals know instinctively when a treat is being offered (as opposed to standard food) and will do anything you ask them to in order to get it, which brings up the old freedom vs. security debate: Every single California Condor alive today spent some time in captivity or is descended from ancestors raised in captivity. Sure, some of them were raised by puppets, but they know what's going on. Can I still check their box on my life list, or are they to be thought of as escapees from a zoo? Maybe the next generation will count or the one after that if there is one?

It was a free day at Pinnacles, set to coincide with the hype over the new Ken Burns documentary that you're all currently obsessed with (OK, I am too). John Moir, author of one of my favorite condor books of all time "Return Of The Condor" was there to give a talk and answer questions. If you haven't read "Return Of The Condor", please do. The 2 mile uphill hike in 108 degree weather was the only downside. Even so, about 300 of us hardcore con-dorks made the trek.

I posted some photos but the condors were only visible with binoculars and my camera is not that powerful.

(For more information about California Condors, listen to the song "Thunderbird", from the new Corner Laughers album, available now. What, you thought I'd get through a whole entry without plugging the album?)

Thanks to all of you extremely good looking voters out there, The Corner Laughers have been crowned The Deli Magazine's artist of the month. What do we win exactly? I think just a banner ad that links to our Myspace, but it looks pretty nice. Throw in this positive review from the Charleston Gazette and John Wesley Harding's announcement of our signing to his record label and we've had a pretty good 2 weeks. I would have thought this might lead to a boost in album sales, but no; grand total for the past 2 weeks - absolutely zero. Damn kids these days and all their free downloading!

goldenmoonbear posed this question to me on the train this morning: "Do you think when a married couple are in a band together, one of them is always the bass player?" It does seem that way although I have not yet done much research into it. We can assume that the average band consists of 4 people (bass, drums, guitar, singer) and the average married couple consists of 2 people; therefore we would expect the bass player to be part of the married couple roughly 50% of the time (unless my math is crazy). In the real world it's more like 90% of the time. Why should this be? More insight into the major characteristics and psychology of bass players is probably needed. Bass players tend to be the most anonymous members of bands. Watch any live music show on TV and count how many times the bass player gets a close-up compared to everyone else. It's rare that they get more than one, unless they're also the singer or a scantily clad woman. How many bass players from your favorite bands can you name (that aren't also singers or scantily clad women)? Face it, no one cares about bass players except for other bass players. There was a running joke about this in the movie That Thing You Do. The bass player was never given a name and in the closing credits he is referred to as "T.B. Player." Bass players are also usually frustrated guitar players who switched to bass because it was what the band needed, meaning they're flexible musicians who are willing to give up the spotlight for the sake of the common good. I'm not sure how any of this fits into the previous thesis, in fact it probably doesn't at all. How about this: the best way to secure a decent bass player is to marry a guitar player and convert him/her?

By the way, your favorite examples of married band couples that *don't* include a bass player are welcome and solicited.

Attention LJ friends: I need your help in harnessing the awesome power of the internet to ensure that The Corner Laughers become The Deli's next artist of the month. Please go here and vote for us, then go to your other computers and vote again and tell everyone you know. We're currently in the lead but it's far from a sure thing.

Photos from the epic Labor Day weekend recording sessions with William Cleere and The Corner Laughers are up on my Flickr, as well as the latest updates to the 2009 almanac.

Vulture Awareness Day!!

A look back at some older posts that I tagged with "vultures".