It’s not a good look to brag about your own work. Unfortunately, I am about to have a bad look. I can’t help myself. I wrote the hell out of the following columns and I would like to re-share them for your holiday season reading enjoyment.
1. I really like writing about great albums. But I love writing about bad albums. And one of the most enjoyable reviews I wrote in 2023 was about Måneskin’s ultra-skanky sleaze-rock opus Rush.
2. My favorite concert of 2023 was Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band in March. I wrote about the show and the various emotions and controversies associated with it.
3. I have found that people enjoy my paragraphs more if I put numbers next to them. So, I write a lot of columns in the form of lists. The most popular column of this sort in 2023 was the one I wrote about the best debut albums.
4. My favorite TV show of 2023 was The Bear. I particularly enjoy the soundtrack. For the past two seasons, I have interviewed the two guys who are in charge of picking the songs and it’s always a good time.
5. A truly bonkers and wonderful movie starring Bob Dylan and called Masked & Anonymous turned 20 this year. I was thrilled to track down the film’s director and co-writer (with Bob), the legendary Larry Charles, and he told me lots of wonderful stories about making it.
6. The National put out two albums this year that were just okay. Then I put together a compilation of the best tracks from those albums and it was awesome. I wrote about it here.
7. The second best concert I saw this year was U2 at the Sphere. (Sorry, I mean just Sphere.) It was quite an experience and I had a blast writing about it.
8. Garth Brooks put out a new album this year that was available only at Bass Pro Shops. My editor asked me to be the first music critic in the world to buy the Garth Brooks album from the Bass Pro Shops. I followed his orders and then wrote about it.
