First off, I have absolutely no business issuing “best of decade” lists, since practically all the artists on the lists are not new to this decade. I tried…I tried to listen to music made by “new” artists, and some of it was really good…but not “best of decade list” material. I promise: Next decade, I will make more of an effort to find brand new music/artists that I feel are “important” (to me, at least) …or maybe next decade I’ll rediscover music from this decade…and just maybe, next decade, new artists will will make more of an effort (for me) too.

With that disclaimer, here are my lists:

Best albums (a baker’s dozen):

Low – The Great Destroyer
Shiner – The Egg
The Life and Times – Suburban Hymns
The Life and Times – The Magician
Viva Voce – The Heat Can Melt Your Brain
John Vanderslice – Pixel Revolt
Tom Verlaine – Songs and Other Things
Sam Phillips – Don’t Do Anything
Dirty Power – S/T
Jon Brion - Meaningless
Carla Bozulich- Red Headed Stranger
Rebecca Gates - Ruby Series
The New Pornographers – Electric Version

Best shows:

The Zombies @ Café Du Nord Date:??? I was the only person in the club able to see/watch Rod Argent’s hands. Consequently, we were also close enough for Rod to flirt with Alison…both of which were worth it all.
Magnetic Fields @ Sommerville Theater, Boston MA Dec. 2000 The best part of this weekend was the hang outs afterwards, on both nights…Lobster Mousse anyone?
Dismemberment Plan @ Northwestern University May 2001 The show actually never happened, got rained out, but the adventure of getting up to NWU from downtown Chicago…and then getting back (in the rain), that was FUN!
Shiner @ SXSW 2002, Austin TX All 4 times I saw this band were amazing, but this, the first time, was a magical night all around.
Low @ Great American Music Hall, SF Date: ??? Most every time I’ve seen Low has been incredible, but the last time with Zack in SF was especially remarkable.
Flare in my hotel room during SXSW 2001, Austin TX Best Flare show ever, for the folks in the room.
Kraftwerk @ Ricoh Coliseum Toronto, ONT April 23,2004 Completely stoned…and in surround!
New Pornographers @ SXSW 2001 Hideout Party, Austin TX …mostly because I didn’t have to see the annoying keyboard player at this gig…and it was the first gig of theirs that I saw.
Viva Voce @ Howlin’ Wolf, New Orleans June 05 I think they played right after Richard Buckner and just before Steve Wynn…so of course, this would be a great show…for me!
Tom Verlaine @ Neumo’s Seattle, WA June ’06 Because of TapeOpCon that year, I had to fly to Seattle to see TV…and almost flew to Chicago as well (had tickets for both shows)
Sam Phillips @ Yoshi’s, San Francisco November 1, 2008
Chris Stamey/Mitch Easter @ Tipatina’s, New Orleans June 2008 I sang along with every song, and cried at points in the set…and I was standing right in front of them…what a dork!
Mission of Burma @ Irving Plaza NYC, January 2002 Inexplicable!
Devo @ in front of San Francisco City Hall, October 2002 We found out about the show 15 minutes before it happened…wow!
Jon Brion @ Largo, Los Angeles CA November 7, 2003 Of course, the dozen+ times I’ve seen JB in the last dozen+ years have always been mindblowing…this one time he played my request of “Not Ready Yet”, and it was exceedingly so…for all 12 minutes.
My Bloody Valentine@ The Concourse at the SF Design Center, San Francisco September ‘08

Reissues:

Kraftwerk – The Catalogue
The Quick – Mondo Deco (vinyl only…fortunately I already have a digital copy)
Ultravox – Monument (waited years for this…includes DVD of concert)
Big Dipper – Supercluster
Elton John – Captain Fantastic and The Brown Dirt Cowboy (Deluxe edition…the live CD is great)
Human League reissues First 3 albums
Bee Gees – Odessa (beautiful on the inside and out)
Stalk-Forest Group – St. Cecilla Sessions (I’ve given Rhino Handmade lots of my money)
Pylon reissues

Like I said…I’ll do better next time.