Over the next 3 weeks or so, we will be bombarded by various “Top 10 Lists” from critics as reputable as Roger Ebert to options as dubious as those of Mickey Mouse. Films, movies, music; almost everything that happened in 2010 is going to be ranked until we enter 2011. So, what’s one more….
For the fifth year, let me give you a list of my favorite music of the past year. It isn’t as popular as Billboard (you won’t see Beyonce, or Susan Boyle or anyone who’s been on American Idol), and there are favorites that turn up all the time and you’ll see a number of artists with a long track record – so, I’m 50-years-old. With no further ado…:
10. Interpol – Interpol: the fourth release from the New York rock soundscape style band and I jumped on their bandwagon with their second release “Antics.” Later, I went back and listened to their first release “Turn On The Bright Lights,” which was even better. The band’s third CD, “Our Love To Admire” wasn’t up to the same level as the first two CDs (I guess there was a lot of friction in the band; people leaving, replacements being found, etc.). But I found the latest disc a nice return to form. I was disappointed last year when U2 postponed their US tour because the opening act was to be Interpol; but the good news is that they are scheduled to open for them in Chicago at the make-up show in July.
9. Richard Thompson – Dream Attic: The best guitarist in the world released his best CD in a very long time with Dream Attic. Not a true “live Album,” it was recorded before a live audience, which brought an immediacy and a rawness that doesn’t make studio CDs (like Joe Jackson’s “Big World”). As usual, the sardonic humor, and melancholy view of love and relationships remain, as well as guitar licks and solos that are tasty, sometimes restrained, but still wail. Awesome!
8. Buddy Guy – Living Proof: speaking of guitars, someone must have pissed Buddy Guy off by telling him he’s a shitty guitarist, because the 74-year-old Guy delivers the hottest blues guitar licks I can remember. Every song is a genuine workout, with duets with B.B. King and showing . This is the CD that Eric Clapton should make.
7. Elton John and Leon Ruseell – The Union: it’s been a very long time since Sir Elton came up with a Top 10 worthy release; not that his recent output has been bad, just not inspired. Well, looking to help the career of piano inspiration Russell, John returns to the early 1970s era style playing and the two pianists push each other in good ways.
6. Elvis Costello – National Ransom: as long-time readers know, if there’s a Costello release in a given year, it’s likely to make my favorites list unless it’s a classical piece or some other sideline project. EC continues his journey into Americana with T-Bone Burnett at the controls, and there are some great songs on this latest release, but there are some songs that don’t cut the mustard. Still, the best songs on this CD are worthy of inclusion with the best songs in EC’s catalog, and that’s saying something.
5. Graham Parker – Imaginary Television: like Mr. Costello, you are very likely to find a CD from Mr. Parker on my year end list because, in addition to his fine music, he’s a friend of mine. His latest is an unusual exercise – he has been approached by a company to license his songs for television and movies, and as a result, GP has penned songs for imaginary television shows. As usual, he has come up with songs with humor and some anger, and his usual sardonic worldview.
4. Bruce Springsteen – The Promise: one could make an argument that this should be ineligible since it was produced from 1976-1978, when Springsteen was engaged in a legal battle with then-manager Mike Appel, but the official release of these 21 songs show some of what the artist was going through at the time: the lawsuit; trying to follow-up on the success of “Born To Run” (not to mention the Time and Newsweek cover appearances); and support his band who had no income while the legal problems worked themselves out. Along with the 3 DVDs – 2 live and the documentary “The Promise” (I have the Blu-Ray set myself), this is historic music that previously only existed on bootlegs, and without the story behind what was going on. Personally, since my first Springsteen concern was in 1978 at McGaw Hall at Northwestern (the best concert I have ever seen, and what turned me into a Springsteen fan), it was this period that resonates strongly with me.
3. Cee Lo Green – The Lady Killer: an old friend Todd Allen told me I had to watch Mr. Green’s infectious single and video “F**k You,” saying that I had finally found my theme song. Well, it is what you’d expect, but it is also funny, and has a beat and a hook that you can’t ignore. After hearing the single and reading the Chicago newspaper critics laud the whole CD, I gave it a try, and what did I get? The entire CD was a fusion of old time R&B (which I love) and those old John Barry James Bond themes (which I also love). I know that I am not much of an R&B or Rap/Hip Hop fan because so much of the posturing and chest-thumping is just plain boring to me, but this was a tremendous surprise.
2. Bryan Ferry – Olympia; I have to admit that I haven’t been too enamored of Mr. Ferry’s last few releases – the English glam soul not translating well to his Dylan covers CD or to 1940s torch songs, but he returns to form on the 2010 release. With a Kate Moss cover almost straight from the 1970s (without the nudity), Mr. Ferry once again carries the old, lounge lizard mixed with old fashioned soul. A welcome return to form.
1. Arcade Fire – The Suburbs; this is on a lot of year-end best of lists, and I don’t care if I look like a follower, but the Canadian band came up with the most listenable CD of the year, and the one that I listened to the most in 2010 (which I guess is why it is number 1). It is arena rock in all of the best ways and if I had one disappointment in 2010 it was missing them at Lallapalooza (but then they were playing at the exact same time as the reunited Soundgarden, which I probably would have gone to see just because I figure there would be another time to see Arcade Fire).
Overall, it was a very good year for music (just when we needed it).

We all know it is a cash grab when the Big Ten Conference went looking to expand, adding Nebraska and probably coming closer to bringing Notre Dame into the fold. But, if there’s one thing that the Conference has never been that good at is cutting edge marketing. In September, the Conference announced that it would be splitting into 2 divisions which would set up a conference championship football game for millions of additional revenue on top of the Big Ten Network, a surprise hit and model for every other conference in the nation.
At that time, it was announced that the divisions would contain Illinois, Indiana, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue and Wisconsin in one division, with Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska and Northwestern in the other. But Commissioner Jim Delany promised that we would get names to the two divisions, and I rolled my eyes at the prospects. Since they carved up the divisions, they couldn’t just use East and West, or North and South – this gave the “brain trust” the chance to be creative. (This shows that you should never give old, Midwestern white men the chance to create anything other than wheat threshers and other farm machinery). Of course, they blew it – Big Time!
The other day, the conference unveiled a new logo 18 football awards, each named after two standout Big Ten performers, and the division names. So now the “Leaders Division” will consist of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue and Wisconsin, and the “Legends Division” will be Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska and Northwestern. “Leaders?” “Legends?” Considering how many national championships the conference has crowned over the past 40-50 years (2), how can they consider themselves “leaders?” There have been some legendary players; many of whom have gone on to NFL glory, but no more than the Big 12 or the Pac-10 or the other conferences. It is unbridled hubris, and yet another reason to love the games and the players, but despise the conference and its leadership.
Then there’s the logo, which is a block “Big Ten” which includes those numerals embedded in the last two letters of the word Big. According to the conference, the design firm Pentagram came up with the new logo. I don’t know if this firm has some family members of the commissioner, but it is as lame as the divisional names and I have to wonder if they were paid a lot of money or in food stamps for it. It is boring and dull, but unlike the divisional names, I guess it isn’t ludicrous.
The conference did get it right in introducing the 18 new football awards which will be presented starting in 2011. The awards include the Stagg-Paterno Championship Trophy, presented to the winner of the conference title game, an offensive player of the year award honoring Otto Graham and Eddie George and a defensive trophy which will honor Bronko Nagurski and Charles Woodson. The Butkus-Fitgerald Trophy for linebacker of the year will be inaugurated next season as will the Hayes-Schembechler Coach of the Year trophy.
So, despite moves that have made the Big Ten schools millions of dollars, it again looks like a second rate conference.

Major League Baseball announced that for the first time in history, the average salary of players in the major leagues will top $3 million. Yes, $3 million, even for no hitting position players, bad pitchers, and most of the Chicago Cubs.
But, in one act, the baseball planets may have realigned. Most winters, the Yankees look at the best free agents available, open their wallets, and sign whomever they want. This year, with a stating pitching lineup of C.C. Sebathia and little else, the Yanks set their sights on pitcher Cliff Lee, who led the Texas Rangers to their first World Series. They came out with a $150 million offer, which would have made Lee one of the highest paid pitchers in the majors (with Sebathia). The small-market Rangers tried to keep their ace, but they couldn’t match the Steinbrenner family money without a serious hometown discount (and since Lee was traded to Texas during last season, it’s not like he had serious ties to the area or team).
There were rumors about a third team having a shot, but no one took them seriously, at least until the Phillies signed Lee to a $130 million deal. Lee had pitched with the Phillies in 2007 including a World Series, and wanted to return there instead of face the New York fans and expectations. And with Zach Greinke, Kansas City’s ace not wanting to play in the New York spotlight, the Yankee starting rotation could be downright average, if not bad, (There are rumors that they are interested in the Cubs resident nutcase, Carlos Zambrano, and if for no other reason than getting this madman out of Wrigley Field.)
Either way, it couldn’t happen to a “nicer” franchise, could it?

So, Brett Favre’s shoulder injury was enough to end his 297 game starting streak, just four games before it would have ended anyway at the end of the season.
All things considered, do you think Brett wishes he had told Brad Childress and the Vikings players that came to his Kiln, Mississippi ranch to get off his property last summer?

I work with a number of people in Pittsburgh and many of them are alumni of the University of Pittsburgh and there was always one thing we could agree upon, Pitt Head Coach Dave Wannstedt is a bad head coach.
Dear friends of the Indignant Family, Lee and Kathe Weinman are very good friends of the Wannstedts, and I’m sure he’s a nice guy, but his Bear teams weren’t very good, and neither were his Miami Dolphin teams. After getting fired in Miami, Wannstedt moved to his alma mater and won just enough games to keep his job in the past (42-31 in six seasons, including a 26-12 mark from 2008-10 – Pitt’s best three-season stretch since 1981-83). But not anymore.
Wannstedt is out as Pitt football coach following a disappointing season in which the Panthers were big favorites to win a weak Big East Conference, only to finish 7-5 and qualify for a minor bowl. Wannstedt resigned under pressure last Tuesday, three days after Pitt (7-5) finished the season beating Cincinnati 28-10. Pitt apparently chose to change coaches now, rather than after the Jan. 8 Compass Bowl in Birmingham, Ala., because most top candidates would have been hired by then. Also, the national letter-of-intent signing day is less than a month away.
Wannstedt is supposed to be a “special assistant” to the athletic director at Pitt, which means he has to do something to earn the rest of the money on his contract. He was a fine defensive coordinator under Jimmy Johnson at the University of Miami and the Cowboys, but he is not a good head coach. I don’t know if he will get another opportunity, but, as good a person as he may be, maybe he shouldn’t be a head coach again.

There’s always someone who disagrees with the popular consensus, and I don’t mind being that person from time to time. That said, I don’t get all of the critical praise being heaped on Darren Aronofsky’s “Black Swan.” As I wrote after this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, I didn’t think much of the film. In the past, I have loved Aronofsky movies (“The Wrestler,” “Pi,” “Requiem for a Dream”) and I’ve hated one of his movies (“The Fountain” – one of the worst films I’ve ever seen at the film festival).
To be fair, I wasn’t too big on seeing the film, but it fit the schedule, and the film had a lot of buzz, so I gave it a try. Back in September I wrote that I didn’t much like it, but I don’t think I gave a solid reason why. Natalie Portman was very good as the repressed ballerina who loses her mind trying to find the dark side of her character to play the lead in “Swan Lake.”
Urged on by the stereotypical egomaniacal, artistic director played by Vincent Cassel, who is also trying to seduce our young heroine; the stereotypical overbearing mother played by Barbara Hershey; the stereotypical older, washed-up former prima ballerina played by Winona Ryder; and threatened by understudy Mila Kunis, Portman’s character is losing her mind.
Perhaps that is my problem – too many stereotypical characters in a old potboiler plot. We’ve seen this story going back to “A Star Is Born.” As I said, Portman does a good job with a cipher for a character but may be nominated for doing the dancing herself; Ryder is getting Oscar predictions, but she wasn’t on screen all that much (yeah, I remember Dame Judy Dench in “Shakespeare in Love”), but she overplays being sad and old and bitter.
Not my cup of tea, I guess.

This sounds horrible, but when I see heinous crimes hit the press, on television, radio, newspapers, or online, I cringe because I can see a black person, most likely a young black male, do that. I know that this is unfair and prejudiced, especially when a white woman holds her purse a bit closer when I get on an elevator.
If it wasn’t a black person, at least it has to be an American, right? Charles Manson, Richard Speck, Jeffrey Dahmer were all deranged white Americans who did the unthinkable.
We would never see someone do something horrible in Canada, would we? Especially a crime involving the country’s game: hockey? Well, all points bulletins have been posted throughout Montreal for a week, as some low life(s) broke into the car of Pat Burns’ widow within hours of his funeral. Montreal police said the thieves would have known whose belongings they were stealing when they ransacked Mrs. Line Burns’ car, taking about 30 autographed hockey sweaters from Burns’ personal collection.
Burns, who coached the New Jersey Devils to the 2003 Stanley Cup title in a long and distinguished NHL coaching career, died Nov. 19 after a long battle with cancer at age 58. Burns’ widow discovered the crime on the morning of November 30. The crime was committed between midnight and 9 a.m. that morning. The Burns family and many friends had attended a wake in a downtown bar Monday night after the funeral. (It’s hockey, so its in keeping to have a version of an “Irish wake” at a bar for the deceased. I’ve already told The Indignant Wife that I want one when I go – you’re all invited – just hopefully no time soon.)
The stolen items included two suitcases containing Burns’ and his wife’s clothes, a Movado men’s watch, family photos, bed sheets from the palliative-care unit, an iPad and jewelry.
What scum to steal from a dead man and his family. It’s funny: the latest issue of The Hockey News asks: “Is Hockey Dying in Canada?” Not to thieves.