Live Music:
Olu Dara (Club Helsinki, Great Barrington) # 1 best show of 2007!
Bob Wills' Texas Playboys (Bearsville Theater)
Jason Kao Hwang (Alt Bks Uptown, Kingston)
Slavic Soul Party (Spiegeltent at Bard)
Jason Slack and the Slick Slack Brass Band (Hudson, TSL on the riverfront)
The Detroit Cobras (Stray Bar, Hudson)
Chops and Seth (Bert's Inn, Craryville)
Porter Wagoner (Madison SQ Garden, opening up for White Stripes and Grinderman)
Elvis Costello SOLO (opening for Dylan, Times Union, Albany)
Toumani Diabate (Zankel Hall, NYC)
Preservation Hall Jazz Band (Mahaiwe Theater, Great Barrington)
Youssou N'Dour (UPAC, Kingston),
VISION FESTIVAL opening night, especially performances by William Parker, Hamid Drake, Marc Ribot and Cooper-Moore (Angel Orensanz Foundation, Norfolk St. NYC).


Records:
Agitpop's new one!!(find on myspace),
Levon Helm "Dirt Farmer" (Vanguard)
the Blue Ribbon Boys with Julia Gottlieb (self produced)
Lee Hazelwood "Cake or Death" (BPX)
Joe Strummer soundtrack for "The Future is Unwritten" (Sony)
Rufus Wainwright "Release the Stars" (Geffen)
John Coltrane Box set the Impulse Albums Vol. 1 - 5
William Parker & Hamid Drake, "First Communion and Piercing the Veil" (AUM)
Johnny Thunders Box "You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory" (3 CDs:Castle US)
Oxford American Compilation CD Southern Music Issue 2007
Tinariwen "Aman Iman" (World Village USA)
Melverne Taylor; "Fabuloso" (P-1 Music)
Howard Fishman Performs Bob Dylan and the Band's "Basement Tapes" Live at Joe's Pub (Monkey Farm) with DVD of concert footage.


Radio:
Doug Schulkind's "Give the Drummer Some" broadcast of the John Coltrane audio documentary, How Long's Train Been Gone on WFMU (Fridays 9am - noon)

Laura Cantrel's Radio Thrift Shop returns to FMU via internet only every other wednesday, 6-9am WFMU.ORG


Food:
Philmont Public House, Costa Rican food at the Black Swan in Tivoli,

Le Gamin, Hudson


Films:
I am Cuba
Gypsy Caravan
Moriarty
No Country for Old Men
No End in Sight
Charlie Wilson's War


Books:
Flying Too Close to the Sun by Cathy Wilkerson,
The People of Paper by Salvador Plasencia
No Smoking by Luc Sante
Shout Sister Shout! The Untold Story of Rock-and-Roll Trailblazer Sister Rosetta Tharpe by Gayle F. Wald


Personal Highlights:
Marching in the NYC Halloween Parade!
the i-pod classic
the Blue Ribbon Boys live on my radio show
Tivoli United craft fair
the pirate bar in catskill
playing with the MERMAID KILLERS!!