Resolutions

Published on Sun 1 Jan 2012

So, the end of another year. One of the more eventful of my life to date, though it feels like there hasn't been that much time for music. My only resolution was to finish off Trinkets and Offcuts, which I managed, so that's good I guess, though I failed miserably to promote it. I was hoping to make some progress with another CD, but I've not. Maybe I'll make that next year's resolution. I'm hoping to do something with the "live" recording we did in a primary school in May if I decide it's good enough to let out. I've not done a great deal of playing, and not much of what I have was especially gratifying (though Jack's birthday gig was good fun and I enjoyed Dalston last week). I've seen quite a lot of stuff I guess - 62 "proper" acts (3 of which are comedians) though that's less than the last few years, mainly due to not getting to any proper festivals.

One step forward I have made is to vastly improve at table football after we got it at work. I'm unbeaten so far in 2012.

The traditional list of what I've seen then, and what I thought. No comment means they were somewhere between not that great and quite good: David Bazan (great), Joseph Arthur (seems to have lost it), Boy Without God (really good), Daniel Kitson (not a band, but wonderful), Wintersleep (x2), The Hold Steady (x2 fantastic), Richard Walters, Dolorean (brilliant), Simon Munnery (very funny), Stewart Lee (very funny), The Golden Retrievers, Katie Costello, Rachel Platten, Bess Rogers, Deer Park (x2, great), Singing Adams (x3, great), John Smith, Josh Ritter (really great), Polly Paulusma, Simone Felice (outstanding), Crazy Arm (great), Two Cow Garage (great), Emily Barker (x2 great), Okkervil River (x3, amazing every time), The Submarines, The Mountain Goats (fantastic), The Pony Collaboration (great), The Wave Pictures (great), Greg Holden, Future Islands, Titus Andronicus, Dan Mangan (gig of the year), The Weakerthans (amazing), Owen Pallett (seemed really good but I was far away), The Vaccines, Beirut, Mumford and Sons, The Arcade Fire, Stephen Fretwell, Rachel Sermanni, The Duke and the King (great), Gary Numan (brilliant), Justin Townes Earle, Frank Turner, Richard Thompson (great), Pentangle (just awful), Raul Malo, Caitlin Rose, Villagers, Femi Kuti (uplifting), Mary Chapin Carpenter (really good), Stealing Sheep, Emmy The Great (great), The Kittens, Rozi Plain, Withered Hand (wonderful), Steve Earle (wonderful), MJ Hibbett, Juan Zelada (really good at what he was doing), Lelia Broussard, Adam Barnes.

I saw this festive scene on the way to work. I'm not sure if it was the wind or if he's just outlived his usefulness and has been put out of his misery before they turn him into glue.