Best of 1998:

• Best Thing to Happen to Atlanta Music: The Opening of the Eyedrum, 253 Trinity, Downtown Atlanta: Ever since Kelly Stocks stopped booking Dotties in '95, I've been at a loss. Dotties was like Cheers for me. I could go there, feel at home, hang with my friends, and watch bands. I was beginning to think that no place could could replace it. Then in October of this year the Eyedrum opened and now I'm no longer the homebody I used to be thanks to those Old Gold Record boyz, Marshall Avett and Ben Young, and friends. Great art, thought provoking music, and cheap beer - what more could you ask for!



• Best Movies I saw: The Shining and A Clockwork Orange on the big screen during Warner Brothers' 75th Anniversary Film Festival, Phipps Plaza, May 29 and 30th: Yeah, I like Kubrick, okay - love, all right - worship. I didn't see a lot of anything this year - Something About Mary was pretty funny & so was Antz, but nothing can beat these two classics. I especially enjoyed listening to the audience reaction while we were watching The Shining - if you didn't know any better, you would have thought they were watching a comedy from all the laughter.



• Spending my 30th with my best friends:I spent way too much time obsessing over turning thirty - I totally dreaded it. But spending my birthday with Kelly, Carter and Hunter made it all bearable and even fun. Thanks guys - you make my world go around.



• Catalina Island and My Sister: I have greatest sister in the world. Move over Mom- I'm her biggest fan! First, she lands a job with Spielberg & Co. and then she takes me on the vacation of my life! She rented a little villa on Catalina Island for us. For five days I thought I was in paradise. I had never seen bluer water, it was so incredibly beautiful. We went on an undersea tour, nature hike, cruise to the Isthmus and to see sea lions. I actually cried when we left and I have longed to be there every day since. Living there is probably out of the question since real estate is sky-high, but I've given serious thought to selling everything I have, paying off my bills and living in a tent at the Isthmus.



• Attending the Titanic Historical Society Convention in Springfield, MA: I got to meet Robert Ballard, the man who found Titanic's resting place and many other lost ships; Don Lynch, probably the most famous of the Titanic Historians (he was the historian for the movie); Ken Marschall, famous maritime artist and visual historian for the movie; and Millvina Dean, Titanic survivor (she was 6 months old at the time of the disaster). Not to mention I met some dear friends Charley and Dave!



• Favorite Listens: I didn't buy a lot that came out this year. I spent a lot of time listening to old stuff.
  A tape I made of Lou Barlow's songs
  High Llamas Hawaii
  Way to Blue: An Introduction to Nick Drake
  Beastie Boys Check Your Head
  


• Fav Shows:
  Don Byron, January 16, Variety Playhouse
  Kronos Quartet, February 4, Spivey Hall
  High Llamas, March 16, Point
  Gold Sparkle Band, July 17, Star Bar
  David S. Ware Quartet, September 28, First Existentialist Church of Atlanta
  Melted Men, October 21, Eyedrum
  Hovercraft, November 13, Point
  Clark Nova, December 12, Eyedrum
  Macha, December 14, MJQ
  Eugene Chadbourne, December 19, Eyedrum
  


• Best TV:
  Homicide: Life on the Street, NBC Fridays 10pm
  Northern Exposure, A&E weekdays 12 & 6 pm
  Dawson's Creek, WB Wednesdays 8pm
  ER, NBC Thursdays 10pm
  NYPD Blue, ABC Tuesdays 10pm
  The Daily Show and Win Ben Stein's Money, Comedy Central weeknights 11pm
  

Ok, now for the Worst of 1998:

• Worst Thing to Happen to Atlanta Music:The Mass Exodus: In August and September, Atlanta lost some of its best musicians. Charles Waters and Andrew Barker moved to the Big Apple breaking up the Gold Sparkle Band -waaah! Andy Hopkins in Flap moved to Chicago breaking up Flap - waaah! Andrew Burnes (William Carlos Williams) also headed to the Big Apple along with others. It was depressing at first, I guess because they all left at the same time. It even had me questioning whether I still wanted to live here.



• Politics:It was every where - Ken Starr, Monica Lewinsky, bad politics, sex in the oval office, misuse of power, Republicans against the Democrats, blah, blah, blah, give me a break. You'd think this was the first time that a president had lied while in office. What's worst is not only did I have to get an earful on the TV everyday, but I had to deal with bad politics at work too.



• Tornado: A twister hit our quadplex in June and took 2 huge limbs from the oak tree in our front yard. I felt like I'd lost my best friend. On the bright side, now we have a bunch of firewood and plenty of sun in the front yard.



• Rheumatoid Arthritis: Back in November of last year, I had a recurrence of rheumatoid arthritis. I had been in remission for 7 years and had pretty much forgotten I even had it. It really wasn't bad at first, but the side effects of the medicine were the worst. My meds caused my platelet count to take a dive causing me to spend a few weeks at home doing nothing. I also couldn't go out to concerts or be around crowds because my doctor's were afraid I might catch a cold or virus that my immune system could not defend. But even those things weren't as bad as the reality that some of my friends didn't want to deal with my illness. They didn't understand what I was going through nor did they want to. I was pretty much abandoned by some of them and that hurt worst than anything I've ever been through. The time alone gave me a lot of time to think and that was good.



• Henrietta ran away: My pet turtle ran away in April just before I was to leave on vacation. I was heart broken. I'm still trying to figure out how she got out of the kiddie swimming pool, off my deck, and down two flights of stairs. I think about her all the time. She's probably over at the Carter Center munching on some Japanese plant.



• Bad TV:
  South Park: Okay Matt and Trey, the novelty has worn off. Four cussing kids, a gay teacher with a hand puppet, the Barry White-ish chef, and token stupid police officer to boot. Yeah, I know I was a fan of this sh*t last year, when it was funny, but I guess you guys have run out of ideas because everything I've seen since last year's Christmas episode has been sh*t. Plus, having a nephew and three people at work constantly talking like f%*king Cartman hasn't helped my opinion about your sorry-ass show either.
  X-Files: Promises, promises. Chris Carter said everything would be explained in that hard-to- follow movie. Well, I saw the movie and it didn't explain sh*t! Actually I'm more confused than ever. And I thought that there wasn't an "X-files" anymore? So why are they still chasing aliens and psychos. Bring back Mulder's old office and the bald-headed boss. This new stuff stinks, but it is still ten times better than that other crap on the idiot box.
  Ally McBeal: Gawd, I hope no one would ever hire this law firm to defend them. That place is a freakin' insane asylum. It's amazing they ever get any work done in that place. They're more concerned about hemlines, fresh toilet bowls, and Ally's new boyfriend. And Ally's supposed to be some new role model for women- let's face it folks, I'm f@&king insulted. If she's a role model, all women should start acting insecure, stupid, and unstable.