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As I get older, and as time flies faster, I find that my happiest moments occur when my interests converge. The more I can combine the things I love, the richer life seems to be.
Of course, the variables in life often disrupt planned convergence; a thunderstorm ruins an outdoor concert on a spring night, or a mundane phone call interrupts a meaningful face-to-face conversation.
Nightly, I appreciate one example of happy convergence at our house:
Kids + Books + Dogs
Every night that we’re home, we read for at least 30 minutes (usually closer to 45 minutes). Inevitably, one of the books we read has a canine protagonist. I’m very critical of kids’ books (and ice cream, and sports-celebrity tweets, and car model names, and most all things), and I decided to evaluate a literary genre that gets a lot of run around our house.
I’ve made a list of our top ten kids’ books about dogs, and I already know what you’re thinking — for some strange reason, this guy is putting his favorites in this list and his kids probably don’t care if the books are about dogs or robots or guinea pigs building sand castles. Well, that’s true. But, I’ll tell you the secret requirement that every good young-children’s book MUST have: adults have to enjoy reading it to them. Otherwise, it’s not as much fun for reader or audience.
Our favorite children’s books about dogs
The Best Pet of All
There’s something about the illustrations in this book that I love, even if I can’t put my finger on it…something about the Californian, 1950’s style. More importantly, I never get tired of reading this one. It has some very funny parts, and the moral of the story is evident from the title.
Go Dog, Go!
If I judge this book by the typical criteria for kids’ or adult books, then it’s a dud. There is no plot, and there are no characters. However, it works as a great beginning and ending to early childhood (bookends, if you can excuse the punny metaphor). It’s simple and colorful enough to engage a baby, and the clear connection between text and images make great material for a child learning to read.
The Blue House Dog
I have read this aloud to my kids only four times total. Each time, I was sobbing uncontrollably before getting halfway through. I mean full-on weeping, unable to speak. Jackie and McLain give me confused looks, and assure me that “it’s okay Dada.” In fact, the last book that sparked this kind of emotional outburst in me was Where the Red Fern Grows. That book, and this one, reveal why dogs are so amazing.
Dog
Great photography, with creative moving parts and simple text. Two GSPs are featured, and the part that reads, “all dogs poop…all dogs pee” never fails to get laughs.
How Rocket Learned to Read
I’m teaching Jackie to read now, and sometimes she’s really averse to instruction. This book reminds me that nothing worth doing is easy, and that anything worth learning requires practice.
Duck Soup
This one tops the list of all-time McLain favorites. In fact, it was the first book that McLain requested on a regular basis. It’s a stretch to include it in a list of books about dogs, but one of the main characters is a Saint Bernard named Brody (my first family dog when I was a kid).
The Diggingest Dog
We all like this classic, but I put this on the list for Katie’s benefit — it’s one of her favorites, and Nana tells us that she memorized it when she was 5 or 6. If you want to overanalyze it, I think there’s a theme in the book about how dynamic (and even fickle) childhood friendships can be in group settings. No? I’m reaching? Well, we’ll just have to ask Al Perkins about that.
Pipiolo and the Roof Dogs
The plot in this one is too complex for McLain, but I read it to them every couple of months for two good reasons:
1) It teaches how important the olfactory system is to a dog, to the point that the lives of roof-confined dogs are changed when they are given uprooted plants to smell. Awesome.
2) Jackie always has lots of questions about other cultures, and this book provides talking points for the role of animals in other places, in other times.
Skippyjon Jones
Another McLain favorite. This one is a fun tongue-twister to read, and the idea of an imagination-crazed cat pretending to be a dog is plain funny. Add Skippyjon to the list of McLain monikers (along with LOB, John C. McGinley, and Budbud).
Puppies
This one is a nostalgic pick for me. The edition we have was a gift from my Grandmother Jones, with an inscription from her, dated 1982. It’s really just a picture book of puppies, and it almost seems that it was created with the sole purpose of making people see pictures of cute puppies so they will want a puppy of their own. Another interesting fact about this and other animal books from this publisher — there are at least 4 different covers.
The Best Pet of All?
Maybe I shouldn’t feel heat from a self-imposed deadline for a post that a handful of people will read, but I will kick myself later if I don’t document my favorite jams of the year. With an hour left in 2012, I’m getting this list of 2012 music out the door in the nick of time. Of the thousands (hundreds of thousands?) of annual best-of lists, this one might be the last to be filed. And, if you hadn’t already figured out my low-key New Year’s celebration, it mostly involves blogging at home.
Last year I wrote about a sea change to the way I procure and listen to music. I’m sold on Spotify from the perspective of the consumer; I can’t deny that it’s more or less a music-lover’s Utopia. As for artists, I understand that the tiny-fraction-of-a-penny-per-stream model is not sustainable. The way I reconcile these interests as a listener is to support artists in other ways, which includes paying for downloads, live shows, and a little merch. I also do my best to talk up the recordings I like the best to friends and family throughout the year.
This year I added two Sonos Play 5 speakers to my home audio setup. Sonos is compatible with Spotify, which means I can play anything from the Spotify catalog in the kitchen and living room (a stereo effect in our house) or different songs in each room, all from the controller app on my phone. Moving the music to my bedroom is as easy as unplugging a speaker and carrying it upstairs.
2012 was also the first year I attended the Hopscotch festival in its entirety, as much as I could do so without teleporting from venue/band to venue/band in downtown Raleigh. With my brother and cousin in tow, we saw 14 bands in three nights. Katie went along with us the final night of the festival. I also took Jackie to a day party on Martin Street. The experience was magical; I plan to soak it in for the same full festival weekend in the future just as I did this year. Hopscotch 2012 deserves its own post (which won’t happen), but the highlights for me were somewhat surprising: The Future Kings of Nowhere, Thee Oh Sees, Hiss Golden Messenger, Zola Jesus, and Danny Brown. I should note that my cousin Matt led the moshing at the TOS show (I’m a tough guy), and I cried a little during the ZJ show (with a sensitive side). Here’s some Danny Brown and Matthew E. White with a full ensemble:
Danny Brown at CAM Raleigh during Hopscotch 2012
Matthew E. White and friends at Fletcher Opera Hall
Last but perhaps most importantly, McLain had his first spontaneous sing-along to something other than kids music. Fittingly (because they share the same initials), it was the My Morning Jacket song Wordless Chorus. I love how that, perhaps coincidentally, the song kind of matches his personality, just as Jackie’s personality matches her first sing-along to Daddy’s jams — Grizzly Bear’s While You Wait for the Others. I didn’t see a page in their baby bo0ks to document this specific “first”, so I’m putting it here for posterity.
Below are jams that made me happy this year.
Albums
A few quick notes about my experience with new albums in 2012:
- There are no jazz albums included in the following list, but a few of the ones I got to know this year are flat-out gorgeous. By a Little Light by Matt Ulery and friends is an outstanding record, and at night, if I’m lucky, I hear this song in my dreams:
Another jazz release that I really liked was Gregory Porter’s record from earlier in 2012…especially this song: Gregory Porter – Be Good (Lion’s Song).
- For me, 2012 was an better-than-average year for hip-hop. I’d guess that you could classify one-third of what I listened to this year as rap. Although I included only three rap albums in my top 20, I’d probably include Captain Murphy, Nas, Roc Marciano, Odd Future, and El-P if I stretched it out to my top 30.
- Let’s suppose that you had an internet connection and a love of hip-hop and EDM, but no money to spend on music. If you were smart, you’d wait with bated breath for every mix that Ryan Hemsworth shares with the world. I listened to this one in particular about a hundred times throughout November.
These are my 20 favorites of the past year, classified in four tiers. Underneath those are my favorite EPs of the year.
Tier One
Tame Impala – Lonerism
Frank Ocean – channel ORANGE
Father John Misty – Fear Fun
Kendrick Lamar – good kid, M.A.A.D. city
Grizzly Bear – Shields
Tier Two
Royal Headache – Royal Headache
John Talabot – Fin
Schoolboy Q – Habits & Contradictions
Daphni – Jiaolong
The Men – Open Your Heart
Tier Three
Thee Oh Sees – Putrifiers II
Killer Mike – R.A.P. Music
Dr. John – Locked Down
Lower Dens – Nootropics
Cloud Nothings – Attack on Memory
Tier Four
Purity Ring – Shrines
Heaven – The Walkmen
Spider Bags – Shake My Head
Grimes – Visions
Baroness – Yellow & Green
Best EPs
Dum Dum Girls – End of Daze
Burial – Kindred
Todd Terje – Its The Arps
AlunaGeorge – You Know You Like It
TNGHT – TNGHT
Songs
My 75 favorite songs of 2012 are listed below, and here’s the link to the Spotify playlist. Or, you can use the player below.
- Pyramids – Frank Ocean
- Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings – Father John Misty
- Climax – Usher
- Brains – Lower Dens
- Stay Useless – Could Nothings
- Inspector Norse – Todd Terje
- Between Friends – Captain Murphy feat. Earl Sweatshirt
- November Skies – Tomas Barfod feat. Nina Kinert
- Yet Again – Grizzly Bear
- There He Go – Schoolboy Q
- Igoyh – Kwes.
- Get Free – Major Lazer
- Hurting (Tensnake Remix) – Friendly Fires
- Gun Has No Trigger – Dirty Projectors
- Heaven – The Walkmen
- Oblivion – Grimes
- Nancy From Now On – Father John Misty
- Know Me – Frankie Rose
- Oldie – Odd Future
- A Simple Answer – Grizzly Bear
- Feels Like We Only Go Backwards – Tame Impala
- & It Was U – How To Dress Well
- I Belong In Your Arms – Chairlift
- Werewolf – Fiona Apple
- Backseat Freestyle – Kendrick Lamar
- Shape I Was In – Spider Bags
- Hole in the Ocean Floor – Andrew Bird
- Lay Your Cards Out – POLICA, Mike Noyce
- Really In Love – Royal Headache
- Ivory Coast – Pure Bathing Culture
- I’ve Seen Footage – Death Grips
- Default – Django Django
- This Heat I Hold – Electric Guest
- Lupine Dominus – Thee Oh Sees
- One Second of Love – Nite Jewel
- Back From the Grave – Chromatics
- Brodermordet – War
- Lost – Frank Ocean
- Monoliths – Lotus Plaza
- Why Won’t They Talk to Me? – Tame Impala
- The Reflection Of You – Bear In Heaven
- Open Your Heart – The Men
- You Know You Like It – AlunaGeorge
- Hood – Perfume Genius
- Give Out – Sharon Van Etten
- Cos-Ber-Zam Ne Noya – Daphni
- Unless You Speak From Your Heart – Porcelain Raft
- All Of Me – Tanlines
- Let Me Be Him – Hot Chip
- Lord Knows – Dum Dum Girls
- Tiffany Lou – Daughn Gibson
- Breezeblocks – alt-J
- Ashtray Wasp – Burial
- Untitled – Killer Mike feat. Scar
- Adorn – Miguel
- Betty Wang – Hospitality
- Getaway – Dr. John
- Down The Lane – Royal Headache
- Baby – Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti
- Locked – Four Tet
- Grown Up – Danny Brown
- Black Treacle – Arctic Monkeys
- Losing You – Solange
- I Bought My Eyes – Ty Segall Band
- 76 – Roc Marciano
- Simple Song – The Shins
- Duquesa – Las Malas Amistades
- Only You – Taken By Trees
- The Full Retard – El-P
- Sinful Nature – Bear In Heaven
- The House That Heaven Built – Japandroids
- Slow Down – Poolside
- Compton – Kendrick Lamar feat. Dr. Dre
- Candy – The Men
- March to the Sea – Baroness
I’ll start by admitting that living in Raleigh has tested me over the past year. I’m a Carolina alum and sports fan, so there hasn’t been a lot of good news since Butch was (rightfully) kicked out of Chapel Hill. The college-sports enthusiasts with west-Raleigh ties are not making it easier for me, but I don’t resent them for finding our closets, and mostly, I’m trying not to resent their resentful poking and prodding of a rival school’s academic and athletic skeletons.
Also, I don’t hold it against the local media that they have to dissect every tweet, interview, rumor, blog post, or newspaper story about the scandal as it unfolds. I am glad that I don’t work in local media; I wish that I could tune it out a little better, but I find that to be really hard.
So, I’ll talk about what’s good, and why I’m proud to live in Raleigh. The Hopscotch Music Festival is at the top of the civic-pride list. How many earthlings can boast 175 bands in three nights, all within a mile radius of their civic core, for less than the price of a Sonos Play 3?
I have proof that I’m into this — see my spreadsheet below for a glimpse of how I spend my free time. But first, here’s a little personal history.
The inaugural Hopscotch was in 2010. Katie was 8.5 months pregnant with McLain, I had a one-year-old daughter at home, and I skipped it.
Last year, I put a toe in the Hopscotch water. There was no choice about attending at least one City Plaza show — Guided by Voices was playing two miles from my house (with The Dodos and Drive-by Truckers opening).
This year, I’m all in. I got a three-day wristband, and I’ve been thrilled about it ever since the etix transaction back in June.
Unlike last year, one of my favorite bands of all time will not be playing in 2012. But, I think the following shows are worth seeing, regardless of where they are playing:
- The Roots
- Built to Spill
- Yo La Tengo
- Liars
- Sunn O)))
- Thee Oh Sees
- Danny Brown
- Deerhoof
- Baroness
- Lambchop
- Killer Mike
- The Spits
- Oneida
- Holograms
- Sister Crayon
- Doldrums
- Whatever Brains
- Guardian Alien
It’s not necessarily about the music you or I know and already love; it’s about the potential for discovery. For the record, I believe that this year’s Hopscotch line up is bigger and better than the Moogfest line up in Asheville, which I would not have claimed last year.
Here’s my homework, or at least my personal effort to educate myself about the bands at the festival this year (google docs): Hopscotch 2012 Line Up Analysis
Here’s what the first tab looks like:
A look at my subjective analysis of the Hopscotch 2012 line up
Some notes about the spreadsheet:
Priorities worksheet
- Shows are marked and organized by column according to how interested I am in seeing them — it’s an effort to prioritize and make tough decisions about shows to seek out, shows to happen upon, and a few shows I might want to disregard. If you don’t like my priorities, or even if you do, you should come up with your own.
- I forced all of the bands/artists into 9 genres (one of which is “other”). This is certainly not an effort to label all of them precisely, but it helps to classify the types of acts at a given venue on a given night. It also yields a surprising snapshot; for example, there are 15 metal bands this year, and not nearly as much 80’s-influenced dance rock (considering how that sound seems so common these days).
- There are links to live performances for most of the artists. This should at least give you a feel for the band’s stage show. Note that some of the smaller, local artists (generally found at the bottom of the list) don’t have much live performance video online.
- Prioritization is a work in progress, and maybe it can be used for planning purposes.
The Venue, Thu, Fri, and Sat worksheets are self-explanatory.
In every orderly house, the members follow a set of conduct guidelines. We try to be good people, and Katie and I practice and enforce the moral standards that we inherited from our parents. But, the golden rule and other tenets don’t always apply directly to certain situations (especially if you are three-and-a-half or almost two years old).
How does a family deal with these situations, that often occur daily, on White Oak Road?
We’ve come up with the following set of principles and accepted truths to help keep our household happy and productive:
- Be sweet to Robah… he never done nothin’ to nobody (and when you recite this rule, use Robah voice). All the rest of us have been mean or rude one time or another, but Robah never done nothin’ to nobody. Here’s McLain, mouth full of eggs, proving why this rule is necessary as he comes close to crossing the line.
McLain tests the limits of rule #1
- At any time, in any place, JAMS will be played on request. For example, let’s say Cokie Roberts’ Monday segment is on NPR when we get in the car to go to Ms. Rose’s house, and Jackie says, “Play some JAMS, Dada.” Then, it’s goodbye Cokie, hello Bear in Heaven, Guided by Voices, J Dilla, etc.
Note: “Dada” is the keeper of the JAMS, and this is the only situation in which a “please” is not required (see rule #4). - Always thank Katie/Mama for dinner; we’ve got it really, really good. On the rare occasion that Dad cooks, try washing it down with your milk.
- Manners matter; good manners is an easy way to show respect to your co-eaters. Exception: good manners are postponed if McLain is practicing for his future in competitive eating.
- If Baxter brings you something, and you throw it he will fetch it and return it to you. If you continue to throw it for him, the result will eventually be Baxter passing out or maybe even perpetual motion.
- Every story told to Jackie at bed time must feature at least two of the following characters: a mean witch, a nice witch, a family, mean or nice animals, and girls with pretty dresses (including, but not limited to princesses). The more of these characters you work into the narrative, the more positive her post-story review is likely to be.
- Try not to show off at the playground, even though Jackie might swing better by herself than an older boy being pushed by his mom.
- Any statement that begins with, “I want…” automatically gets the following response: “Oh, you want something? Okay, well, I want a new custom-built home computer and compatible wireless music system.” Please ask nicely for something that you want, and understand that you might not get it.
- If McLain takes off his shirt and runs around the house or yard, don’t be alarmed. He has been possessed with his alter ego, Party Boy. In extreme situations, you can change Party Boy back to McLain by putting him in a bubble bath.
- As you go through life, assist other people (the Kendall Marshall rule). When you’re the recipient of an assist, be grateful and give credit to anyone who assists you (the Dean Smith corollary).
Katie keeps reminding me that it’s late January and I still haven’t posted any Thanksgiving or Christmas pictures and video on this blog. She’s right (as usual). I’m tardy.
In my defense, there have been plenty of distractions around here during the past couple of months. What better way to justify my delinquency than with a Letterman-style top ten list?
The Top Ten Excuses Why I Haven’t Yet Posted 2010 Holiday Memories to this Blog
10. I’ve been busy with a statistical comparison of Kendall Marshall and Larry Drew II.
9. Robah’s reluctant new year’s resolution to lose 10 lbs. has resulted in more jogging and less blogging.
8. McLain spat up on our Mac (and grinned through the whole ordeal).
7. A lot of our bandwidth is tied up with an initial Carbonite backup…continually for the past month (only 25 GB left to go before it’s finished).
6. Katie has been dragging me out all hours of the night to see indie bands in Carrboro.
5. Baxter and I are attending Impatient Owner – Neurotic Dog relationship counseling sessions every Wednesday. There are no breakthroughs to report yet, but after almost six years together we’re both committed to making it work.
4. I sprained my typing muscles while hand-washing baby bottle parts.
3. My eyes are watering and I can’t see — I’ve been laughing, then crying about the future of Wake County Public Schools.
2. Our computer was inaccessible after I stored a massive shipment from diapers.com in our office.
And the top excuse why I haven’t posted holiday pictures/video of our kids is…
(drumroll)
1. I’m still going through all the video. Between her birthday gifts and Christmas gifts, there is 27 total hours worth of video footage of Jackie opening presents.
I think I spent the dog food money 