2012, let's get started.

To start off the Top 100 2012 here are some predictions on what will make the list. these are well informed predictions I should add. Here’s  a sampler of the music I bought the past month(s) and listened to so far this year:

• Le Tigre – Who Put the Bomp? is a DVD of live concerts by Le Tigre. I saw Le Tigre perform many years ago in Columbus, OH. The lovely DVD made me also play my Bikini Kill records again. Timeless!
• Andrew Graham/The Alwood Sisters/El Jesus de Magico/Ugly Stick —Music from Columbus, Ohio given to me by their respective performers. The CDs accompanied me on my long drive back from Ohio to Florida.
• The focus and core of my collection has been historical field recordings of indigenous people from around the world. The last new item I found are recordings from 1930s expeditions to the Belgian Congo. On it: some very old recordings of pygmy music, the oldest I have.
• The site Bodega Pop is forwarding the most exciting music at a very high pace. I predict 10%. Outstanding examples so far: Maxima Mejia from Mexico and the Japanese punk/jazz band Midori.
• Talking about Mexico. The local thrift stores seem to have an incessant supply of Mexican records, I’ll buy ‘em all (it seems like it, but not really).
• Exploring a friend’s CD cabinet led me the the music of The Moldy Peaches and the solo work of their female half Kimya Dawson.

I’m really addicted to painting these musicians and I want to do it all the time. So while we’re waiting on the first top 100 paintings to come in, I’ll tell about this little commercial side project I started that hopefully will allow me to paint them all the time: In stead of painting the (mostly obscure) musicians of my own choice, I’m doing a series of musicians based on their popularity, using a style that I’ve learned and devised through the more than a thousand top 100 paintings I’ve made. The celebrity paintings I will offer for sale through a web site and through eBay. First up: Adele. Interested? I’ll forward a link right here as soon as it becomes available.
I just wonder how much of the celebrities will spill over into the Top 100.

Adele
14" x 12"
oil on canvas, 2012