Tag: Year end review

2023: living on rock and roll

An abstract landscape image of a lake at dusk
Looking southwest, where the Petawawa River feeds into Whitson Lake.

2023 rocked.

Albums of the year:
Cat in the Rain – Turnpike Troubadours
Weathervanes – Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
History Books – Gaslight Anthem

The Turnpike Troubadours and Gaslight Anthem both ended extended hiatuses by releasing excellent albums.

Jason Isbell continues to kill it, his 2023 album “Weathervanes” has been endorsed by both Barack Obama and Ellsworth Bell.

Shows of the year:
The Mallett Brother’s Band – The Waterhole, Saranac Lake NY
Bruce Springsteen – UBS Arena, Long Island NY
Eyelids – The Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto ON

Emmanuela and I saw the Mallett Brothers rip up the Waterhole in Saranac Lake on NYE. The band played from 10 pm to 1:15 am. I was tasked with dropping balloons from the balcony at the stroke of midnight and met Dean, a groomer operator who records concerts on his days off – the guy has sound board recordings of Grateful Dead shows in the 90s (and much more).

I lived the American cliche, going to a Springsteen show with my father, balancing out my newly minted Canadian permanent residency.

Books of the year:
The Violent Bear It Away – Flannery O’Connor
The Frackers – Gregory Zuckerman
A Late Encounter with the Enemy – Flannery O’Connor

After reading O’Connor’s A Good Man is Hard to Find, I was hooked. Her writing doesn’t cater to you, it drops you into the plot and pulls you out into stream of consciousness expositions. But, her stories and prose are so rich that flipping back and rereading doesn’t bother me at all.

I love satire – I still remember reading Swift’s A Modest Proposal in high school and laughing out loud when I caught on. A Late Encounter had a similar ah-ha moment.

Travel back in time: review 2022, 2021, the highly anticipated 2020 review, _ _ _ _ of 2019, 2018.

the highly anticipated 2020 review

Well, it’s been a year. Last year “_ _ _ _ of 2019” was published at 12:01am Jan 01, 2019. This year we’re appropriately behind schedule.

Books of 2020*: Canoe Country: The Making of Canada by Roy MacGregor, The Legend of Colton H. Bryant by Alexandra Fuller and My Year of Rest and Relaxation, by Ottessa Moshfegh

Very different books, all great reads.

The Legend of Colton H. Bryant was recommended to me by my brother as the only book he has ever read (and probably the only one he ever will). It’s a great portrait of the oil and gas industry so long as you can look past Fuller explaining that you can hear perf guns above ground.

I first read it on my cell phone in one go, waiting on a rig in Louisiana. All LA jobs are messed up. On this particular location the board road** flodded and washed out. We were stuck on site for ~36 hours. Good times.

Album of 2020: Gangstabilly by Drive-By Truckers

Originally released in 1998, the first DBT album is still the best southern basement rock around. In particular: The Living Bubba, 18 Wheels of Love, and Sandwiches for the Road. Turn it up loud.

Audiobook Author of the Year: Herman Wouk

Wouk’s historical fiction was critiqued in its time for being too predictable. But, for me (someone who doesn’t know much beyond who won WWII) War and Rememberance is thrilling and works very well as an audiobook. The Caine Mutany is equally gripping and relatable.

Bonus Track: Gimme Back My Dog by Slobberbone

Bar band rock and roll from Denton, TX.

*Not published in 2020, read or re-read in 2020.
** On particullarly swampy well sites in LA some operators put down boards (mats, really) of particle board and cheap lumber all around the rig and on the lease road.