Top 20 Books of the 2000s

Much like the Top 100 Albums of the 2000s, this list has some art, some science, and a bit of personal bias (though less bias than the albums list, I think).

1. Gilead –Marilynne Robinson
2. The Corrections –Jonathan Franzen
3. Shadow Country –Peter Matthiessen
4. The Known World –Edward P. Jones
5. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay –Michael Chabon
6. Middlesex –Jeffrey Eugenides
7. The Road –Cormac McCarthy
8. Simply Christian –N.T. Wright
9. White Teeth –Zadie Smith
10. The Hakawati -Rabih Alameddine
11. Shadow of the Wind –Carlos Ruiz Zafon
12. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius –Dave Eggers
13. A Fraction of the Whole –Steve Toltz
14. Any Human Heart –William Boyd
15. Mortals –Norman Rush
16. Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto –Chuck Klosterman
17. American Rust -Philipp Meyer
18. Cloud Atlas -David Mitchell
19. Snow -Orhan Pamuk
20. Blood Done Sign My Name -Timothy B. Tyson

The Spirit Vs. The Kick Drum

Got to see Derek Webb put on an excellent show at The Cactus Cafe last night. In honor of the event, I'd like to share Derek's take on what too many Christians come seeking as an alternative to a real encounter with the Trinity.

I don't want the Spirit, I want the kick drum
I don't want the Spirit, I want the kick drum
I know how it works, oh I'm not dumb
I don't want the Spirit, I want the kick drum

Like sex without love
Like peace without the dove
Like a crime scene without the blood
I don't want the Spirit, you know I want the kick drum

I don't want the Son, I want a jury of peers
I don't want the Son, I want a jury of peers
Mascara's gonna run when you see my tears
I don't want the Son, I want a jury of peers

Like lies without the truth
Like wine without the fruit
Like a skydive without the chute
I don't want the Son, you know I want a jury of peers
I don't want the Spirit, you know I want the kick drum

I don't want the Father, want a vending machine
I don't want the Father, want a vending machine
I know what I want if you know what I mean
I don't want the Father, want a vending machine

Like heaven without gates
Like hell without flames
Like life without pain
I don't want the Father, you know I want a vending machine
I don't want the Son, you know I want a jury of peers
I don't want the Spirit, you know I want the kick drum

Mary and Max

Top 100 Albums of the 2000s

So, there have been 10 years of the 2000s, and that seemed as good a time as any to compile a "best of" list. My criteria is a bit complicated to explain, since it is art as much as science, with a little bit of bias thrown in.

First, the science. I decided that an album couldn't make the list unless it was an album I owned. When a guy owns 1000 albums, the 100 he recommends over a decade ought to be those he owns. Plus, it was a way to narrow things down. Don't own any albums by Outkast? They don't make the list. Doesn't mean "Hey Ya!" wasn't one of the truly great songs of the past 10 years (seriously). It may seem an arbitrary mechanism, but I had to narrow the list somehow. Fortunately, I only own just over 100 albums from the past decade. So, stage one was easily compiled.

Second, the art. Albums need to work as albums to make them great albums, so I was listening to a lot of albums. That 100+ I just wrote about, specifically. Once I got it from 107 to 100 (an easy task), I had to begin ordering them from 1-100 (a not so easy task). Part of this went back to a psuedo-science (grouping those that were assuredly contenders for top 20 status apart from those who certainly weren't) and some were instinct (suddenly moving an album up 10 spots because it hangs together so well as an album).

Then the bias. No popular music magazine is going to list U2 in its top 5 albums of the decade. I'm not sure it deserves to be there (it deserves the top 100 and even the top 50), but it is one of my favorite albums of the decade by one of my favorite bands of all-time. There was no way it wasn't going to be high on the list. Still, personal bias never overrode good taste. All That You Can't Leave Behind is an excellent album. Bruce Springsteen's Working On A Dream is a mediocre album. No amount of love for the Boss was going to get that album on the list.

After all that, this list is going to frustrate and confuse true music mavens. How can this list include as many Coldplay albums as it does Radiohead (see art and bias)? Leave your questions, comments, kudos and concerns. That's what lists like this are for. And let us know what you'd have added and left off. Hope you enjoy this. I know I did.

1. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (Wilco)
2. Funeral (The Arcade Fire)
3. The Rising (Bruce Springsteen)
4. All That You Can’t Leave Behind (U2)
5. Kid A (Radiohead)
6. White Blood Cells (The White Stripes)
7. Heartbreaker (Ryan Adams)
8. Separation Sunday (The Hold Steady)
9. The Trials of Van Occupanther (Midlake)
10. Turn On The Bright Lights (Interpol)
11. The Meadowlands (The Wrens)
12. Dongs of Sevotion (Smog)
13. Sea Change (Beck)
14. When I Was Cruel (Elvis Costello)
15. American IV: The Man Comes Around (Johnny Cash)
16. Come On Feel The Illinoise (Sufjan Stevens)
17. Chutes Too Narrow (The Shins)
18. Fleet Foxes (Fleet Foxes)
19. Blood Money (Tom Waits)
20. Veckatimest (Grizzly Bear)
21. Is This Is? (The Strokes)
22. Kill The Moonlight (Spoon)
23. Apologies To The Queen Mary (Wolf Parade)
24. Andrew Bird & the Mysterious Production of Eggs (Andrew Bird)
25. Transfiguration of Vincent (M. Ward)
26. Black Sheep Boy (Okkervil River)
27. Microcastle (Deerhunter)
28. Visiter (The Dodos)
29. Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots (The Flaming Lips)
30. The Spiral Eyes (Peter Adams)
31. Dear Science (TV On The Radio)
32. Boys and Girls In America (The Hold Steady)
33. Blue Boy (Ron Sexsmith)
34. Secondathallum (Andre Ethier)
35. Feast of Wire (Calexico)
36. The Tyranny of Distance (Ted Leo & the Pharmacists)
37. Are We Not Horses? (Rock Plaza Central)
38. Her Majesty The Decemberists (The Decemberists)
39. For Emma, Forever Ago (Bon Iver)
40. Elephant (The White Stripes)
41. A Brief History of Love (The Big Pink)
42. Neon Golden (The Notwist)
43. Amnesiac (Radiohead)
44. Give Up (The Postal Service)
45. A Rush of Blood To The Head (Coldplay)
46. Everything All The Time (Band of Horses)
47. Album (Girls)
48. I'm Wide Awake It's Morning (Bright Eyes)
49. Blacklisted (Neko Case)
50. Bright Flight (Silver Jews)
51. Micah P. Hinson and the Gospel of Progress (Micah P. Hinson)
52. Seven Swans (Sufjan Stevens)
53. Our Endless Numbered Days (Iron & Wine)
54. Ola Podrida (Ola Podrida)
55. The Life Pursuit (Belle & Sebastian)
56. Lie Down In The Light (Bonnie “Prince” Billy)
57. The Evens (The Evens)
58. Post-War (M. Ward)
59. Return To Cookie Mountain (TV On The Radio)
60. Cryptograms (Deerhunter)
61. Yellow House (Grizzly Bear)
62. Neon Bible (The Arcade Fire)
63. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (Spoon)
64. Almost Killed Me (The Hold Steady)
65. Shine A Light (The Constantines)
66. The Crane Wife (The Decemberists)
67. Oh, Inverted World (The Shins)
68. Rook (Shearwater)
69. Hearts of Oak (Ted Leo & the Pharmacists)
70. Tanglewood Numbers (Silver Jews)
71. You Forgot It In People (Broken Social Scene)
72. Aw Come Aw Wry (Phosphorescent)
73. Ohio (Over The Rhine)
74. Figure 8 (Elliott Smith)
75. 1000 Kisses (Patty Griffin)
76. Control (Pedro the Lion)
77. Don’t Fall In Love With Everyone You See (Okkervil River)
78. Winged Life (Shearwater)
79. The Devil, You + Me (The Notwist)
80. Gimme Fiction (Spoon)
81. Dear Catastrophe Waitress (Belle & Sebastian)
82. Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes (TV On The Radio)
83. In Rainbows (Radiohead)
84. Picaresque (The Decemberists)
85. Tournament of Hearts (The Constantines)
86. Fox Confessor Brings The Flood (Neko Case)
87. Micah P. Hinson and the Opera Circuit (Micah P. Hinson)
88. The Letting Go (Bonnie “Prince” Billy)
89. The Creek Drank The Cradle (Iron & Wine)
90. Fewer Moving Parts (David Bazan)
91. Magic (Bruce Springsteen)
92. Retriever (Ron Sexsmith)
93. Soviet Kitsch (Regina Spektor)
94. Parachutes (Coldplay)
95. Rockin’ The Suburbs (Ben Folds)
96. Low Pining (Monahans)
97. She Must and Shall Go Free (Derek Webb)
98. Meaningless (Jon Brion)
99. I (The Magnetic Fields)
100. Satellite Rides (Old 97's)

Wendell Berry's Questionnaire

1. How much poison are you willing
to eat for the success of the free
market and global trade? Please
name your preferred poisons.

2. For the sake of goodness, how much
evil are you willing to do?
Fill in the following blanks
with the names of your favorite
evils and acts of hatred.

3. What sacrifices are you prepared
to make for culture and civilization?
Please list the monuments, shrines,
and works of art you would
most willingly destroy.

4. In the name of patriotism and
the flag, how much of our beloved
land are you willing to desecrate?
List in the following spaces
the mountains, rivers, towns, farms
you could most readily do without.

5. State briefly the ideas, ideals, or hopes,
the energy sources, the kinds of security,
for which you would kill a child.
Name, please, the children whom
you would be willing to kill.

Everything's Amazing and Nobody's Happy

We're studying Philippians with Immanuel right now, and I am struck, once again, by Paul's reminder to do everything without complaining or arguing. Sometimes our comedians are prophets.

A Family That Believes

A Christian community is evangelized

in order to evangelize.

A light is lit

in order to give light.

A candle is not lit to be put under a bushel,

said Christ.

It is lit and put up on high

in order to give light.

That is what a true community is like.

A community is a group of men and women

who have found the truth in Christ and in his gospel,

and who follow the truth

and join together to follow it more strongly.

It is not just an individual conversion.

It is a family that believes,

a group that accepts God.

In the group, each one finds that the brother or sister is a source of strength

and that in moments of weakness they help one another

and, by loving one another and believing,

they give light and example.

The preacher no longer needs to preach,

for they are Christians who preach by their own lives.

—- Words from Archbishop Oscar Romero, October 29, 1978

Is Your Bible Too Liberal?

Wow

How Willy Wonka Should Have Ended

Always the part of the movie that made no sense to me.