PACKERS! PACKERS WON THE SUPER BOWL!

Aloha was pretty terrible but the dance scene with Emma Stone and Bill Murray was quite good. And I didn't find St. Vincent mawkish whatsoever.

I still have a Smash Mouth concert t-shirt that I got when I was still in high school. Say what you will about the band but they slung some quality merch back in the day.

Once I took a vacation with a few friends, a seven day cruise in the Caribbean. I picked up a copy of Erdrich's The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse in the ship library. Reading it was the only part of that trip I truly enjoyed.

I've had a Silver Jews song stuck in my head for the past day and a half. Not complaining.

This is one of my favorite albums. Some time after it came out the Lawrence Arms did a quick little Midwestern tour including a show at an all-ages coffee shop in Madison. It was great, though the highlight might have been running into the band at one of bars on Regent Street before the show.

I really love the Downtown Struts. I've only seen them once, but it was the Lawrence Arms' NYE show with them, Masked Intruder, and Direct Hit! opening. That's a nice little collection of Midwestern punk.

Absolutely right with the Boyz II Men. I worked at an Italian deli in college and for the first year it was always Delilah at night, to the point where I'd stand next to the dishwasher for a brief respite from the soft rock and dedications.

I can't recall where it came from but I have Venkman's 7" Powerviolence & Applesauce. There are like 23 tracks on that record. They are very loud and very fast.

Alejandro Escovedo came through Madison on an acoustic tour and came out into the crowd to sing "Follow You Down" and "Sensitive Boys." He was right next to me and I accidentally kicked over someone's glass when I stepped back to make room, causing him to laugh and tell me to settle down.

My favorite concert this year was Dillinger Four during their 21st Anniversary tour. I'm getting too old for that shit but so are they.

I also was happy to see McMurtry listed here. I've always enjoyed his music but I'd say Complicated Game is my favorite complete album from him. It's so solid front to back.

I missed Josh Ritter's latest but he's swinging through town in a month so I should probably rectify that. The Beast In Its Tracks took me a while to get into but was well worth the wait.

This is my biggest omission of the year. I've been meaning to pick this up for some time but just haven't gotten around to it, though everything I've heard has been really good.

Definitely up there for me. It really grows with each listen.

My top ten:
Titus Andronicus - The Most Lamentable Tragedy
Chvrches - Every Open Eye
Jason Isbell - Something More Than Free
Lucero - All A Man Should Do
James McMurtry - Complicated Game
Justin Townes Earle - Absent Fathers
Turnpike Troubadors - The Turnpike Troubadors
Heartless Bastards - Restless Ones
Tyranny is Tyranny - Th…

There was a sixth floor bathroom in Sterling Hall at the University of Wisconsin that had "Get Well Soon Jim - Charles Martin" written on the insulation wrap around a pipe. It had to be close to 15 years old when I saw it.

I had to turn off the retweets after a while. I know it's an important issue and all but I kind of just wanted to read about the Cubs for a bit.

I had only seen a couple of the ADHD episodes but I enjoyed them well enough. I really liked this as well but I was a bit confused with the changes at first, especially the removal of the father character. It'll be interesting to see where they go with this.

I'm in agreement with you there. The drumming on III took me out of it unfortunately.