I love lists. I’ve been compiling lists since I was five years old. I’m still compiling lists. My recent 2013 Top 10 CDs still stands…but, as any scribe will tell you, it only reflects how I felt on the day I handed it in. These 10 are just as valid. And I might think of a new list tomorrow. Please note: some of these entries are not 2013 but, indeed, made their impact on me this year. This was fun.
Alternate Top 10 CDs Of 2013
1) Songs Cycled, Van Dyke Parks.
2) Traces Of You, Anoushka Shankar
3) Thanks, Shelby Lynne
4) To All The Girls, Willie Nelson
5) The Original Mono Recordings, Miles Davis
6) Another Self-Portrait 1969-1971: The Bootleg Series Volume #10, Bob Dylan
7) The Complete Columbia Album Collection 1972-1988, Herbie Hancock
8) Miami Pop Festival, The Jimi Hendrix Experience
9) I Can’t Stop Loving You: The Songs Of Don Gibson, Mandy Barnett
10) The Human Rights Concerts 1986-1998, Various Artists
Top 20 Books I Finished In 2013
1) Respect Yourself: Stax Records And The Soul Explosion, Robert Gordon
2) Lush Life: A Biography Of David Strayhorn, David Hajdu (1996)
3) Furious Cool: Richard Pryor And The World That Made Him, David Henry and Joe Henry
4) Be Cool, Elmore Leonard (1999)
5) Wild Tales, Graham Nash
6) Minor Characters, Joyce Johnson (1983)
7) Nilsson: The Life Of A Singer/Songwriter, Alyn Shipton
8) In One Person, John Irving (2012)
9) Water For Elephants, Sara Gruen (2006)
10) Willie Mays: The Life The Legend, James S. Hirsch (2010)
11) 11/22/63, Stephen King (2011)
12) Back To Blood, Tom Wolfe (2012)
13) Townie, Andre Dubus III (2011)
14) Freedom, Jonathan Franzen (2010)
15) The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen (2001)
16) Tough Guys Don’t Dance, Norman Mailer (1984)
17) A Widow’s Story, Joyce Carol Oates (2011)
18) The Hilliker Curse: My Pursuit Of Women, A Memoir, James Ellroy (2010)
19) Samaritan, Richard Price (2003)
20) Positively 4th Street: The Lives And Times Of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Farina And Richard Farina, David Hajdu (2001)
Top 20 Live Shows Of 2013
1) Brian Wilson and Jeff Beck
2) Marty Stuart and Roger McGuinn
3) Steely Dan
4) “A Night With Janis Joplin”
5) Elvis Costello
6) Preservation Hall Jazz Band
7) Steve Earle
8) “Motown: The Musical”
9) Hot Tuna
10) Macy Gray and David Murray
11) Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
12) MarchFourth Marching Band
13) Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes and George Thorogood
14) The Family Stone
15) Buckwheat Zydeco
16) Ladysmith Black Mambazo
17) Dave Davies
18) David Bromberg
19) A.D.D.
20) Bad Company
Top 10 DVDs
1) The Rolling Stones: Crossfire Hurricane (2012)
2) Willy DeVille: Live In The Lowlands
3) The Doors Live At The Hollywood Bowl
4) Springsteen And I
5) Ain’t In It For My Health: Levon Helm
6) Jews And Baseball (2010)
7) Jimi Hendrix: Hear My Train A Comin’
8) Jimi Hendrix At Berkeley
9) Teenage Babysitters
10) The Doors R-Evolution (2014)
Top 20 Movies
1) 42
2) Mud
3) The Iceman
4) Gravity
5) Side Effects
6) Mama
7) White House Down
8) The Purge
9) You Don’t Know Jack
10) On The Road
11) Man Of Steel
12) Elysium
13) Stand-Up Guys (2012)
14) The Great Gatsby
15) Lovelace
16) Oz The Great And Powerful
17) The Counselor
18) The Paperboy (2012)
19) Lawless (2012)
20) The Impossible (2012)
Top 10 Favorite TV Shows
1) American Horror Story
2) Treme
3) Boardwalk Empire
4) Breaking Bad
5) The Walking Dead
6) Dexter
7) Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
8) Homeland
9) Blue Bloods
10) The Newsroom
