Friday, January 1, 2010

In All Fairness

I've been confused lately. I haven't been able to decide whether 2009 sucked as bad as I (and evidently everyone else with an internet connection) thought it did, or maybe 2006 through 2008 were so tumultuous and fucked up in general that I just couldn't get over whatever tiny hurdles came up in '09 (not that they were that tiny.. but the ones in say, 07, were way bigger.)
The thing that makes me cast this doubt is that 2009 actually had some really cool stuff for me... and I started to feel bad as I thought about this, because I'd been slagging last year and not really talking about the good things that had happened... I started to feel ungrateful.
So let me take care of that real quick...

The Things in '09 That Didn't Suck for Chris Buckridge

1.Played the same music festival as Mudhoney. Yeah, Willie Nelson was there too, but I didn't buy a Willie Nelson shirt when I was 15 and daydream about playing open air festivals with him a la the Year Punk Broke. No, that was Mudhoney.

2.Went to New Mexico with Mo and had an AMAZING time. Discovered the smell of burning pinon and how amazing the desert is in February.

3.Toured with the Ne'ers and Balthrop, AL all over the country. Saw old friends in the process. Made new ones.

4.Worked on my studio with Mike, taught myself to solder cables.

5.Got a Jazzmaster.

6.Joined the Y.

7.Saw Dinosaur Jr play more than a half dozen times, got to know Lou Barlow a little better.

I'm sure there's more stuff than that, but those are the things that pop up pretty much immediately, and I don't want to force it...
Interestingly, I noticed when I went to start this blog that the last time I felt I had anything of note to post here was pretty much exactly a year ago, doing a recap of 2008. I'm too tired to decide now whether I think that's lame or not, but I'll think about it and let you know.