A Dozen of everything : End of year humbuggy anti-list

I’m not a great fan of all this end of decade , ampoule end of year list thing…seems like an excuse to pretend you know more than someone else or purchased more than someone else…

So here things that really impressed me this year…yes impressed..not made me feel miserable, buy or reach for a doggy persona…or generally resort to spitting vitriolic posts at the perpetrators ….impressed….here goes…could be hard to get to 12 😉

BEST SONGWRITER
Slaid Cleaves: Everything you love will be taken away
http://www.slaidcleaves.com
If one person personifies the best of the american songwriter tradition then Slaid is it. This record is to my ear his finest performance and best production..and that means it is very good indeed. Notable mentions in this field…Sam Baker, Malcolm Holcombe, Vanessa Peters and Gurf Morlix.

BEST GIG
HOWE GELB – BROADWAY CINEMA NOTTINGHAM

This was easy as I only saw about ten performances this year. Winner hands down was a brief solo set by Howe Gelb late one Friday night at our local cinema Broadway where Howe was introducing his film. Superb stuff….both film and songs..shame so short a set but hey glad to have him here however briefly. Second best was Gurf Morlix at The Maze followed closely by a bonkers but brilliant Norwegian folk set at one of Nick Butcher’s local Folkwit gigs (http://www.folkwit.biz)

BEST BOOK
PHILIP ROTH: EVERYMAN

I hardly read at all these days – everything is snippets from web and paper BUT I spent a week back home in Oxfordshire at my mother’s house and I read this straight through in one go. I have since purchased Exit Ghost. Stunning tale of an ‘Everyman’ sliding backwards from his ‘death’. Amazingly well written.

BEST POEM
JAMES WRIGHT: In Ohio

Again I hardly read poems nowadays at all but a chance purchase of James Wright’s ‘Above the River’ – the complete poems (Bloodaxe) opened my eyes to a wonderful poet.

WIKIPEDIA ARTICLE
MORE

BEST MEAL
I am blessed with a wonderful partner who cooks better than most chefs but when eating out this year two meals came joint first. One was freshly barbecued local fish on a verandah in Ayamonte in Spain as our friend Mike and his family made our honeymoon as perfect as a dream…..closely followed by a meal in Vila Real de Santo Anonio (Portugal! – a ferry across the water from Ayamonte)
Also deserving of a mention in despatches was a meal at The White Horse in Blakeney
http://www.blakeneywhitehorse.co.uk/

BEST SOFTWARE
ubuntu 9.10
http://www.ubuntu.com/
EASY IT NOT WINDOWS YET BUT IT GETTING DAMN CLOSE….and it free and not owned by capitalists (yet)
lets hope we all headed to a open source future 🙂

BEST CLOTHING ITEM
again easy..some black Pikolino shoes purchased day before my wedding…not only got me out of jail with future Mrs Belcher but are cool, and comfortable…and supposedly Eco friendly AND Spanish to boot…..

BEST DRINK
SAGRES BOHEMIA – could be because straight from fridge in a blazing hot Portuguese side street …but….very nice

BEST GADGET
ACER ONE NETBOOK ( cheap from Tescos)
Still not sure exactly why I have one but it brilliant as a MP3 player….running Ubuntu…sweet…

BEST FOOTBALL TEAM

Only one answer to this and despite major dissapointments The Arsenal still the most beautiful game out there 🙂

BEST EXHIBITION
ED RUSCHA – HAYWARD
A brilliant career and eye opening how much he done. The Johnny Cash of painting….enough said….

Mention for PRUSSIAN PROJEKTE in Sherwood, Nottingham for proving that not everything in the art world is bollocks ..well not locally anyway….well done Ed and 3rd Space…good stuff intelligently done…

BEST NEW ART GALLERY
CORNERSTONE : DIDCOT, OXON ARTS CENTRE
Half as pretentious as local edifices and probably twice as well designed. Good to see my ‘shitty’ home town take a giant leap forward..and have something after years of being in Oxford’s smug shadow….now guys just give me a show and I’ll love you forever

Now if only Nottingham Contemporary would put on an Elvis show 🙂
http://www.cornerstone-arts.org/8.id