What we're thankful for in 2014
November 26, 2014
It's Thanksgiving, a time to reflect on what we're grateful for. The Current's staff share some of the music moments from the past year for which they are grateful, and you're invited to add yours in the comments section.
Mark Wheat
My Top Three Things to be Thankful for this year:
1. Sir Paul at Target Field — brilliant, straight into my Top 5 shows of all time!
2. Especially thankful for being MC of the Walker Art Center's Avant Garden event. The New Standards played great, DJ Sye Young from Chicago ripped it up and we
raised a record amount of money!
3. Nobel Peace Prize Forum at Augsburg, where I saw the Dalai Lama speak with Cathy Wurzer.
And — I got to interview Mason Jennings about his career.
Jay Gabler
This has been my first full year at MPR, so of course I've been thankful for the incredible opportunity to be a part of this fun and enthusiastic staff. Over the course of the year, though, I've also been repeatedly thankful for my family, who raised me to love and respect music.
I'm thankful for my grandfather, a pianist who let me play his Baldwin Fun Machine when I was a kid. I'm thankful for my grandmother, who loved the meat-and-potatoes music of central Minnesota — from Lawrence Welk to "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." I'm thankful for my mom, who stocked my bedroom with records I could play on my portable turntable. I'm thankful for my uncle Daniel, who patiently practiced guitar with me. I'm thankful for my dad, who showed me how to make a mix tape on his reel-to-reel recorder and taught me that if you don't know who sang "Wooly Bully," that's kind of embarrassing for you.
Dad also introduced me to Bob Dylan — and took me to my first Dylan show, at the Orpheum Theatre in 1992. This month, Dylan came back to the Orpheum for three shows. I went to one with my girlfriend, one with my uncle Daniel, and one — of course — with Dad.
Jim McGuinn
I'm grateful for a couple of road trips this year that provided some unique musical experiences: the first was my trip to Nashville to visit Third Man Records, where I recorded in Jack White's special booth. A few weeks later, I took a vacation in New Orleans at my first Jazz and Heritage Festival, where I saw dozens of amazing acts, none cooler than an afterhours jam between the Pres Hall band with Bombino, at Preservation Hall. And this fall I went to Chicago to see a magnificent show from Robert Plant, and to catch the Bowie exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art.
All those events resonated in my soul and I'm still thinking about the relationships we have with music and art because of each experience.
Mary Lucia
This year's Rock The Garden was soooo right up my alley. My two favorite bands played back to back: Spoon and Guided By Voices. In all of my concert-going experience I have never stood on stage to watch a band, so having the chance to stand just a few feet from my most beloved bands, surrounded by sunshine and my good friends, was a thrill.
I remember watching the dude whose job it was to keep a freshly lit cig in the mouth of wind-milling guitarist Mitch Mitchell and of course, watching Bob Pollard dip into his beer cooler in front of the drum riser and do his high kicks! Drinking game alert! Forget about it.
I am so in love with the new Spoon record and to hear those songs played live for the first time is something I'll never forget.
Jacquie Fuller
It's not a secret around here that Spoon is my favorite band — I grew up in Texas and have been following these guys since the '90s. So it was the zenith of my career to get to stand side-stage with my best friend (who accompanied me to all those Spoon shows in the '90s) by my side, while Spoon played on a beautiful summer night at Rock the Garden in June. Nate Ryan snapped a shot of me in this moment, and — no lie — the look on my face is the same as in photos where I've just given birth to my daughter. It's a little embarrassing.
Bill DeVille
Thankful for seeing so many GREAT live shows this year, including three this year I never thought I'd ever see: Paul McCartney, The Replacements (twice!) and Neutral Milk Hotel!
Barb Abney
I'm thankful for my family and friends, a home to keep me warm and a job that I love.
Beyond this, I'm thankful for The Afghan Whigs! This year I had more of The Afghan Whigs to be thankful for than EVER before. In April, they released Do To The Beast, their first new record since 1998's 1965.
After a 20-year wait, I got to interview my favorite band on October 15! Later that same day, I saw my favorite band play in my favorite club, First Avenue! A few days later, The Afghan Whigs released Gentlemen At 21. An expanded, 21st-anniversary edition of my favorite record!
Jill Riley
I'm thankful for the opportunity to interview such great artists here at The Current. One interview in particular was with Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age. Our talented audio/visual crew (Nate Ryan, Leah Garaas, Cory Schreppel) and I went on site to the backstage area of the Roy Wilkins Auditorium. We set up in an old locker room/closet area, complete with an old loveseat (perhaps something picked up on free day?). I was nervous to talk to Josh Homme. Not only do I have mega respect for him as a musician, but I really didn't want to screw up the opportunity. Even though he was feeling under the weather, he was friendly, talkative and made my nerves go away pretty fast. When an interview turns out better than you expect, you thank your lucky stars that it wasn't a disaster. I'm thankful for those moments!
David Campbell
I'm thankful that…
…The Replacements reunited and I was able to see them twice.
…Tony Glover put over a year into that amazing Dave Ray Legacy compilation and Red House Records put it out. Now you know.
…Lizzo, Prince, Jeremy Messersmith, The Replacements, Atmosphere, Trampled By Turtles and Poliça all made appearances on late-night television in the last twelve months. Minnesota is where? Yeah. At the top. Dead center.
…Jeremy Messersmith wrote a song like "Bubblin'" and dropped it like a love bomb on Rock the Garden 2014.
…I live in the same town as a guy like Toki Wright, a guy who cares, takes action and believes in the same "one love" he preaches. #Pangaea
…a 15-year-old kid in a do-rag and a white turtleneck can release a record online, make a video for song on that record I'm still not sure isn't a parody, have that video played 1.8 million times, be the source of an impossibly large number of conversations about race and expectation (which were all really covert conversations about judgment), remind us all that music is really best when it's experienced and not analyzed, and then fall in with a groundbreaking quartet of young men whose first tour was all sold out shows (poetic justice). Spooky Black / Thestand4rd taught us all the important lessons in 2014. "Without You" is my #1 jam. Thanks, kid.
…after reporting on Minnesota music since 1997, I can continue to say each subsequent year that I have never seen things this good, and for it to be unquestionably true.
…MPR members believe in the work we are doing at The Current (and all of Minnesota Public Radio) and continue to support us doing the work we believe in.
Luke Taylor
So much to be grateful about; here are just a few:
Bob Mould giving so generously of his time to do the Guitar Collection chat
Standing onstage at Rock the Garden and feeling the entire platform reverberate to Best Coast's unabashed indie rock on a day that, sunshine and outdoor-fun wise, would have stood up to any in Southern California
Getting asked to provide studio hand-claps in a session with JD McPherson
Working social media and seeing how much people were enjoying an awesome afternoon edition of The Current's Morning Show at the MPR booth at the Minnesota State Fair — during what turned out to be the biggest-attendance day ever in Fair history.
Hearing Steve Seel singing "Lady Elaine" to the tune of "Lay Lady Lay", which is exactly how I had misinterpreted the song as a little kid.
Working with such great people and interacting with audience members who really care about and love what we do