Best of 2006

Music

1. Johnny Cash – American V (A Hundred Highways)
2. Bob Dylan – Modern Times
3. Sparklehorse – Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain
4. Band of Horses – Everything All the Time
5. Cat Power – The Greatest
6. Morrissey – Ringleader of the Tormentors
7. Belle and Sebastian – The Life Pursuit
8. Jenny Lewis – Rabbit Fur Coat
9. Gnarls Barkley – St. Elsewhere
10. Sun Kil Moon – Tiny Cities

Johnny Cash was an authentic, original, and honest person and this is really obvious when you listen to his last recordings on “A Hundred Highways”. The more I listen to this album its clear that these qualities are not often found in most modern musicians. The first track Help Me is as fragile a song as I’ve ever heard. I just read a great tribute article about him that highlights some of the characteristics that led us to name our son after him.

Best Books I read:

Simply Christian – N.T. Wright This book has been called the Mere Christianity of today. I recommend that everyone read it. Excellent.

The Way of Ignorance – Wendell Berry I’m convinced that if there are prophets today like Isaiah, Amos, or Hosea, then Wendell Berry is one of them.

The Brothers K – James Duncan A must read for anyone who grew up in a family of four boys who loved playing baseball. Andrew has my copy if anyone’s interested.

Best Movies I saw:

A Prairie Home Companion Robert Altman’s last movie ironically deals with coming to terms with death. I’ve liked every Altman movie I’ve seen so far. His style is so different than any other filmmaker’s.

An Inconvenient Truth The plot of this documentary is that Al Gore is awesome and we would have all been better off if we had listened to him, the sub-plot is that global warming is a serious issue that we should pay attention to. Anyways it was very interesting and worth watching.

Sports:

Was there any other sports story this year that compared to the Detroit Tigers? I still get the warm fuzzies when I think of Rogers torching the Yankees lineup or Magglio’s blast to put us in the World Series. Rooting for the Tigers is fun again. Here’s to you Jim Leyland!!

You Tube: 2006 was the year of youtube. Here are my top five web videos.

1. Home shopping mishap
2. Boom goes the dynamite
3. Pastor Mishap
4. Prison Mike – The Office
5. Skateboarding Bulldog - Ben, Becky you gotta make that happen!!

What a year 2006 was!! Here’s to Eden, Grace, Greyson, and Cash. I have this vision of us all moving to Brighton in 11 years. Norm comes out of retirement to coach the Maltby Bullpups one last season. Grace breaks the gender barrier and plays point guard. Greyson is dominating in the paint, Cash is jabbering at the referee, Eden is entertaining the crowd with his gunslinging after a basket, and Caleb is in the stands mackin the ladies!! Oh yeah. I predict two new additions to the Gaines-Lampi clan in 2007 who will it be????jk

Wes