January again

So my last entry was around this time last year. It's funny... it's January of 2009 and I can't really think of a hip hop record from '08 that I loved more than American Gangster. The tracks I skipped this time last year I listen to all the way through; the ones I loved I love even more now. Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends was on my playlist this past year; I am not going to lie I played Mariah Carey's E=MC2, like, a lot. Stop singing my part, baby! Despite copping a lot of CD's I can't really think of many I play start to finish except the old stuff that I bought to replace lost *ahem* cassettes or LP's (Dinah Washington was high on the list; Miles is always on play, and so is Coltrane). Hip Hop is lacking; R&B is lacking . . . do y'all think music is in a slump, because I do. Where is the person who makes me feel electrified about what's going on? And please DO NOT say Kanye.

Bookwise I actually made a lot of progress in '08. I tore through a lot of stuff, not in least part because of Auntie Patsy's altbookclub. Some of the most enjoyable: The Bastard of Istanbul; I Was Told There Would Be Cake; On Chesil Beach; Faith Evan's autobiography; and The Story of Edgar Sawtelle which made me cry. Hard. For pages and pages. I learned from his book about his sister that Christopher Ciccone is a drug addicted ingrate who is in denial. I learned that I don't have as much patience as I once did for the precious conceits of Anne Rivers Siddons. I would still highly recommend Peachtree Road and Colony by her, however. I learned that I can still read and watch tv.

So onward and upward with the arts. Let's hope that there will be some exciting something or other in '09.