Detox January

A couple of weeks ago I had dinner with some colleagues at Hamersley's Bistro in Boston. My host for the evening announced with regret that he would be unable to share any of the fine wine that we were about to consume because he was in the middle of "Detox January". Apparently this is an annual event for him in which he gives up smoking and drinking for a month following the excesses of the holiday period. I complimented him on this admirable strategy for persuading himself on an annual basis that he is not an alcoholic, noting that I achieve the same goal at lower personal cost by occasionally forgoing alcohol for 24 to 36 hours.



So, for me it's been Deblog January. I was all set to post my pick for album of the year on January 1st but somehow things got away from me and here we are almost in Februrary. Well, I still have a favorite album of 2005, pictured above. A quick survey of reviews on the web (see, for example, metacritic) shows this to be an uncontroversial choice. I stumbled on this album when I was back in Australia in September. I always take the chance to pick up some interesting music when I'm in my native land, and while passing time at the excellent Greville Records in Melbourne, I noticed a large cache of Go-Betweens albums. I had become a fan of the band in 1984 while still living in Australia, and their song "Cattle and Cane" was, if not exactly a smash hit, well regarded in indie circles. (It even made it onto Rhino records' 80's underground compilation, Left of the Dial.)

Well, imagine my surprise when I managed to purchase not only an old album from the 80s (Send me a Lullaby) but also an album released in 2005. Unbeknownst to me, the Go-Betweens reunited a couple of years ago and have been busy touring and recording. (I missed their 2005 tour of the U.S. - here's hoping for a 2006 tour.) While the new album is certainly a lot more polished than their music of the 80s, it's still recognizable as the Go-Betweens, and I found some of the songs reminiscent of other iconic 80s bands such as Talking Heads and The Smiths.

So, here is a taste of the album, and my personal favorite:

Darlinghurst Nights

Coming soon: music to repair knees to.

Happy New Year, 2006

Thanks to Matt, my blogging role model over at Los Amigos de Durutti for providing the bubbly for last night's New Year's festivities. Along with half a dozen other friends, we continued a tradition of progressive New Year's Eve dinners, culminating at my place for dessert, champagne and coffee. Charley captured the moment well in this shot. Note the very cool espresso cups, Christmas present from Christy's very cool sister. Many christmas presents were put into service last night, including the Tarte Tatin recipe and baking equipment from Christy, and the excellent Nick Cave CDs from my sister (more on this later).