The Best of 2022
It’s been a year.
In the past, I’ve gotten to be a part of various publications’ end-of-year lists. Last year I got to do some fun stuff for Spin. Years before that, I would do some little end-of-year wrap-ups for XPN here in Philly.
This year, I’m all on my own. So, without any having to worry about saving my best retrospective writing for folks paying me or attaching their respected publication name to my writing, I am going to put together my own Best of 2022 List. I’m not going to number the list, because I don’t think really anything is particularly higher or lower than anything else. I’m not big on ranking art.
Caracara - “New Preoccupations”
Just moments after saying “I’m not going to rank art,” I’m going to go ahead and rank art to some extent by saying this is probably my album of the year, on the basis that it’s the one I think I’ve revisited the most since I first heard it (before its official release date, because I’m an important media personality and got that sweet sweet advance), and I think it’s one of the most interesting, enjoyable and good albums of the year. I said in a tweet a while ago that certain moments on the album sound like really good Incubus songs, and I meant that as a compliment. The four parts of this band complement each other incredibly.
Will Yip can also make a floor tom sound better than any musical instrument maybe ever.
Caracara was the first live show I caught this year. It was a really nice time at Johnny Brenda’s with String Machine opening. I dropped a drink on the floor, but it was club soda in a plastic cup so no harm no foul, right?
I saw Caracara once before at Everybody Hits here in Philly (RIP), and I’m sure the next time I see them will be in an even bigger venue. They’re really on to something.
Bartees Strange - “Farm to Table”
I don’t have a lot to say about Bartees Strange that other publications haven’t (deservedly) said about him already. The dude is just a star. And, based on videos I’ve watched of his performances on increasingly large stages, he’s surrounding himself with a cast of stars, too. And I don’t just mean the big names he drops on “Cosigns.”
Once again, this was just a really interesting album. It’s all over the place. I’ve used the phrase that someone “paints with a lot of different colors” before to describe artists incorporating a lot of different things in their music, but Bartees & co. aren’t just using paint. They’re using sharpies. Glitter. Dry pasta. All kinds of shit. And it makes perfect sense.
I also interviewed him on here back in 2020. He was very cool and I wish him nothing but the highest success in the world, but he doesn’t need me to say that because it’s already happening.
Books that Informed My Writing
I read two books this year that, in addition to entertaining me, made me think about my own writing and how I could do some things better.
The first was Steve Martin’s Born Standing Up, which I read in just about one afternoon. Being that it’s a book about one of the most illustrious comedy careers ever, that says a lot about Martin’s writing. He was able to cram so much information into concise sentences and chapters, clocking in barely over 100 pages in a book that fits in most jacket pockets. I thought a lot about how I could be less precious and more direct, while still injecting plenty of personality and entertainment. My buddy also works for a banjo company, so maybe he can hook me up with one of those.
The other was Flea’s memoir Acid for the Children, which is about four times longer than Born Standing Up and is all about his life before forming the Red Hot Chili Peppers. While the book is long, some chapters are only a few paragraphs long – not even a full page. Quick non sequiturs about first crushes in elementary school, basketball, breaking into pools. It works because it sounds like Flea, and he doesn’t milk a deep lesson out of something that doesn’t organically house one.
Brevity, soul of wit, all that.
Radiation Therapy In Conjunction with Chemotherapy
Admittedly, this one didn’t really click at the time with me. But, like all art, the more you sit with it and look at it within the greater context, the more you might appreciate it.
In January through March, it seemed grueling and unpleasant, and left all kinds of annoying physical effects on my body. But, now, looking back from the vantage point of being in the “No Evidence of Disease” camp of cancer patients, I can appreciate it a little more.
It’s definitely not for everyone. But sometimes the most esoteric things can have the most profound impact.
Fontaines D.C. - “Skinty Fia”
Being a guy named Brendan whose middle name is also Irish as hell, I think I’m predisposed to liking a band like Fontaines D.C.
I’ve liked everything they’ve put out - they’ve worked fast with three albums under a decade. They are media darlings for a reason. They make good songs and they dress cool.
That said, every time I see them I started worrying about how baggy pants are fashionable again and how I look like shit in them. Please, Fontaines D.C., start wearing skinny jeans.
As we age we get frozen in the era of fashion that suited us best, aka when we were in our early 20s. As someone who turned 30, I’m more aware that I’m just treading water until my preferred style of skinny jeans, canvas sneakers (Vans), flannels, sweaters, all of which is very form-fitting, will truly come back through style’s naturally cyclical nature.
The 2022 Philadelphia Phillies
This was so much fun, wasn’t it? When it comes to cool shit, it’s hard to top a home run. The Phillies hit a bunch of home runs, and some of them were at really clutch moments that increased that cool and fun factor. I was one of those guys who was saying, “I have no expectations for them to do anything in the playoffs. We’re getting gifted a postseason position. It’ll just be fun to watch a couple of games in October for the first time since I was in college. Nothing more.” But with each win, my emotional investment grew, and I started thinking “OK, well yeah the Wild Card round was nothing, but I don’t know if we can get past Atlanta. OK well the Dodgers are still going to be impossible. Well, since the Dodgers are out we can 100% beat the Padres,” and soon I was at, “If we don’t make the World Series I’m going to publicly vomit.”
They did, they lost, I still felt happy about the team. I bought a fitted hat for the first time in God knows how long at the King of Prussia Mall because I wanted a Phillies item with “World Series 2022” on the side. I had to try them on in the store because I had no idea what my head size was, and the look on Michele’s face as she served as my mirror, watching a series of ill-fitting flat-brimmed fitted hats pop on and off my head, was priceless. I had to keep reminding her “I promise this will look normal as soon as I can bend the brim.”
I bought it, I bent the brim and took the stickers off, she said, “OK yeah you’re right that looks normal,” and she allowed me to walk next to her at the mall.
I look forward to doing it all again next year.
Haircuts
Before I got cancer, I had been growing my hair out for a while. I had shoulder length hair that I could tie back into a cute little bun. When I was a kid in Catholic school, I frequently pushed the boundaries of how long I could grow my hair. It’s the only time I really ever got in trouble. Then once I went to public high school, I buzzed it all off for a while. In college and the years that followed, I was too poor and too dumb to really pay for a good haircut for a while, and at one point I just decided to go long again.
By this point in October 2021, I had well-maintained and enviable hair. Of course, after a month or so of chemo, I started noticing that a lot of it was staying between my fingers while I washed it. That led to months of pulling out giant clumps of hair whenever I’d scratch my head, often in public or at other people’s houses or in a store. I wouldn’t know what to do in those moments, not wanting to ask “hey, where should I put this wad of hair in your house?” So I’d put it in my pocket. I don’t know why I put it in my pocket. It just seemed like the most logical way to get out of the situation and not make it anyone else’s problem or mess.
My hair grew back, thankfully, and now I’m able to get haircuts that make me feel like a normal human being again, rather than just doing my best to maintain a dry, thinning nest on my head. My hair has regained its normal curl and thickness, albeit with a lot more grays in it. That’s cool with me.
It feels good to get a haircut that I was really happy with for once. I have frequent turnover with the people who cut my hair. I’d get situated with one person and get to a point where I could say “the usual,” and we’d continue our ongoing conversation from the appointment prior. But, like clockwork, those people would move or have a baby or something, and I’d have to start over with introductions about myself and stammering through explanations of what I want.
At one point I was comfortable with a girl who cut my hair and did a good job. One time I was walking down the street and saw her in another barber shop cutting someone’s hair. I waved. She stared back as if she had never seen me before. I was hurt. It felt like we had a good rapport. We always got along when she cut my hair. I thought I tipped well. But on this day, nothing.
Months later, during what was now a slightly awkward haircut with her, she mentioned that she was going to start cutting hair at the aforementioned barber shop I passed that day. I said, “Oh yeah?” knowing full well she was already working there, ignoring her perfectly pleasant existing clients.
“Yeah,” she replied. “My twin sister works there, too.”
NOPE
I didn’t watch a lot of new movies this year. I knew I wanted to see “Nope” though, because I'm like everyone else and think Jordan Peele is cool.
I watched it on my flight to Morocco and, during one scene that included Daniel Kaluuya’s character hiding while rain falls, thought, “Man this reminds me of Jurassic Park.”
Jurassic Park is one of my favorite movies of all time. I went to see the new one in theaters. In my heart of hearts I knew it would suck. I don’t gamble, but there was that better’s spirit in me saying “this time it’s going to be different, bro. Just do it. You can’t win if you don’t play.”
So I bought tickets for opening night. I wore my little Jurassic Park T-shirt Michele got me in Orlando like eight years ago. Before I hopped on the bus, I ran into a friend and told him where I was going. He told me that so far it’s being reviewed as the worst one yet, confirming what I think I already knew, like a kid being told by another kid at school that his parents broke the Santa Claus news to him. He knew that was the case deep down, but he wanted to still believe a little bit, and that confirmation stung.
Spoiler alert: It sucked. It was the closest I think I’ve ever come to leaving a theater early. I had my ostomy at the time and I was perfectly happy to take a few minutes break to tend to it in the bathroom.
I think movie ticket prices should fluctuate based on reviews the same way tickets to the Sixers were cheaper during the Process years. If the movie is objectively bad, I shouldn’t have to pay $20 to see it.
I thought about spending the rest of my medical leave from work writing a spec script for a reboot to send to Steven Spielberg, but I’m already too busy writing my “Power Rangers” reboot spec script.
Nope was sick, though. Definitely recommend.
Songs I Love from Bands That I Never Really Got Into
There were a couple releases from bands or artists that I’d see and think, “Hm. Never got them but I guess I’ll check this out.” That happens all the time, and often I think, “Yeah, still not for me.”
Alex G is one of those guys who I just can’t get. I feel bad about that because he does have a few non-musical traits to root for. He and I both went to the same college. He does funny stuff like laugh his way through a patchy Third Eye Blind cover set. Despite these things, I just never really got into his stuff. That said, “Runner” is just a nearly flawless song. It’s great. It’s catchy, it has just enough weirdness to let you know you’re still listening to Alex G without overstaying its welcome.
I’m kind of glad I never got more into it, because a bunch of people got lice at his show in Philly.
The other was “This Is Why” by Paramore. I have nothing against Paramore. Just, sort of the same thing that when they really were big it wasn’t what I was looking for. Mostly because I was a little shit who didn’t want to admit to liking something because it was popular with Warped Tour kids despite going to Warped Tour almost every year.
When “This Is Why” came out, I listened to it almost constantly. I woke up in the night with it stuck in my head.
I also noticed that the music video looked a lot like the “Turnstile Love Connection” giant music video, until I saw that it was, in fact, directed by Turnstile’s Brendan Yates.
I then devoted more time than I should have to making these little side-by-sides.
“The Night the Lights Went Out” by Drew Magary
I have a photographic memory in that when I hear a song or think of something, I picture where I was when it impacted me.
I read Drew Magary’s brain-trauma memoir “The Night the Lights Went Out” while I was getting radiation. That’s why a book that came out at the end of 2021 is on this list (also because there are no rules). So, when I think of this book, I think about being on the bus riding to and from Penn in the cold.
That all sounds terrible, but reading about someone else getting dealt a really shitty and painful situation and overcoming it by basically saying “Well, this sucks, but what other choice do I have other than just continuing?” really helped me on those shitty mornings. Magary is effortlessly funny while still tugging at your heart, and even though his circumstances are (hopefully) foreign to the masses, he makes it so relatable. So even though he and I were receiving very different medical treatment, I still found a lot to see myself in and learn from.
I felt like we were both part of a club for guys who had to really pay attention to their health insurance come open enrollment time, and that felt good in a way when not a lot of things felt good.
Kevin ‘Spanky’ Long’s “Lucky Shirt” Part
In skateboarding, Thrasher’s “Skater of the Year” title is pretty much the highest honor you can achieve outside of the contest circuit or Olympics. So, in skateboarding, Thrasher’s “Skater of the Year” is pretty much the highest honor you can achieve. At its core, it’s just another publication’s year-end list, but having survived pretty much all of its editorial competition, Thrasher’s word is pretty much a Midas touch.
Tyshawn Jones won SOTY, deservedly. He’s otherworldly and a personification of street skating. Nyjah Huston, the contest-conquering anti-Thrasher “cheat code,” even made a good showing for SOTY with his “Oops, all hammers” part. But it was just too perfect for Thrasher and for me.
Spanky did the skating that got me excited about skating. No giant stairs or handrails. The kind of skating that I could aspire to: using a spot in creative ways, close to the ground. (Yes, I know the thumbnail below is him jumping off a roof, but that doesn’t represent the whole part, I promise.)
It got me excited about skating again after a long break. I’m looking forward to getting back out there once it warms up a little. I just have to stretch more these days.
Sweet Pill - “Where the Heart Is”
When I got to Temple in 2010, all of my cool new friends clued me in on the twinkly emo I had missed out on while I was too busy attending Warped Tour and listening to nothing but The Wonder Years and the bands from Scranton. When I saw Algernon Cadwallader at the Church I felt like I got kicked in the head (because I did).
Sweet Pill sounds like one of those Philly bands – because they are a Philly band, and clearly understand the city’s source material. It sounds like that time in my life without feeling like it’s just copying those bands. It reminds me of that fun, “anything can happen” time in my life. A period of discovery that only comes from being 18 and being surrounded by a million new people in a new city. It’s so good.
The Wonder Years - “Oldest Daughter”
I was huge on “The Upsides” and “Suburbia…” by The Wonder Years when they came out. I’ve written about that connection before. It was really fun to get excited about new Wonder Years music after not being so up-to-date with them. They rightfully got a lot of press around this album. It’s a case study in how to age gracefully in a genre where that’s kind of a rarity.
This year I also realized I like reality shows. Like, the awful ones. I watched that show “The Ultimatum” on Netflix where they basically made awful couples date someone else for a little to decide whether they wanted to go back to their awful original relationship or be in a new one. The one character was named Madelyn, and she was primed to make a really stupid decision for her future.
When this song came out, I saw a lot of “Madelyn I love you but we both know how this ends” tweets, and thought people were talking about the show.
Meditation
I really started meditating in earnest this year, and now all of my problems are gone.
I read a book on meditation during my first spell of medical leave following my surgery in May. By the end of the book, I hated the guy who wrote it so much that I finished it out of spite. That said, I did absorb a few techniques that have stuck with me, so maybe he was just giving me an opportunity to try them out in real time.
Joyce Manor - “40 Oz. to Fresno”
In a year where I felt drawn to pieces of art that embraced the short and sweet, the new Joyce Manor album was right at home. Barry is a hook writing virtuoso at this point. The drums, provided by Tony Thaxton from Motion City Soundtrack, are a real highlight on the album. I listened to “Don’t Try” over and over like a good rollercoaster with no line.
Not Moving
Moving is the worst. I’m grateful for another year of staying in the same house.
“Pressure Cooker” by Militarie Gun ft. Dazy
My Spotify wrapped is wonky because I share my account, but I am very sure this is the song I listened to the most by choice. It’s a perfect rock song. It might just be that I listen to it enough that Spotify knows how to guess, but it comes on automatically after so many different albums across so many different subsets of rock music. That’s because it just fits in with so much. It’s timeless without feeling contrived. It has fun little motifs like the repeated “God damn it!”
If I were a Major League Baseball player it would be my at-bat music. That or “Yakety Sax.”
From a musical point of view, I enjoyed a lot, but I narrowed it down to this little playlist here of some of my favorite songs. I hope that it serves as a way to highlight some great music that I didn’t list here.
That’s about it for 2022. I’m really looking forward to 2023, both personally and professionally. I think this year really warped the way I write, and I’d like to think I got better at it. I sincerely hope everyone reading this has a peaceful and happy new year, and that that energy continues as far into 2023 as humanly possible. Thank you for spending some of your precious minutes reading this blog, sharing it with others and sending me nice little notes about it. It’s appreciated more than you know.
If this is your first time here, I’m still grateful for you! Please consider subscribing!
Today’s Snakes and Sparklers musical guest is White Reaper.