the times we never even thought to speak

dear friends,

1. 2006 did not begin in tears thank god but rather with a kiss*, some dancing, & an early-ish walk home that was amusing & sweet. thanks to contributors phil & tina for throwing a new year's eve bash where pump up the volume was played & contributor stephanie could show us her serious power moves. & shoeless! man, I wish there was footage of that...

anywho, I've been waiting for contributor jeremiah to do his top ten list ballots but I'm not sure that's gonna happen...& since contributor christina v's asked me where on earth the soft communication best of '05 list was, I thought I'd fish for your thoughts & selections & put it up as one big best of post. as you know I'm not even particularly concerned whether it came out in '06 (I'm inaccurate & therefore, BAAAAAD) but whether or not you liked it in '05. dig? dig. that is why we are small, but potent, fry.

so please let me know any or all of the following, along with your relevant asides either by emailing soft communication at gmail OR by babbling in the comments:

best song(s)
best albums
best shows
best films (I know we do music, but why the heck not? we have eyes too!)
best tv shows (ditto)
best ? (insert random category such as: liver, billboard, feline, kitchen aid, crutch, drug etc...)

2. amerie may or may not be a hot pants clad cutie. I have no idea because I have never seen the video to 1 thing & I'm glad. this song definitely belongs on my top ten of 2005. this is r&b as it should be; a vital declaration of intent that makes you want to move. whenever I hear this tune, I get this mini-movie in my head where I'm going down the stairs into the herald square subway station after fruitless weekend shopping & I'm hit with this blast of sound. standing there is a young woman wearing a pink scarf singing her melismatic heart out. no 808 for her though; her companion is a big bad drummer who is going buck nutty hitting things HARD. & a guy with a guitar & a tiny practice amp, playing a chord now & again. bliss on the beat. yeah, yeah, I know. some of you are r&b hataz. still. I think even you'd stop in confusion & then, delight. it's like a heatwave burning in your heart. throw in your dollar. give it a shot.

3. colin meloy from the decemberists sells an ep of covers entitled colin meloy sings morrissey on his tours. on it he does a tune that used to bring a tear to my teenage eye back in the day, a little ditty called I know very well how I got my name. unfortunately, unlike the original, there's no weaving cello in meloy's take on this tune of teenage lost love. but that's ok. the feeling of being all dressed up with nowhere to go, totally alone is still palpably there. a kicking the cans, watching the cars go by on a friendless friday night type of number. highly recommended to all of you with a penchant for sad bastardry. & yes, I know very well that that's not a word. but I got a feeling you know what I mean.

4. special soft communication shout out to contributor mike, who along with his partner callie, took turns passing an egg back & forth in a lonely valley in antarctica & were rewarded for their efforts with baby girl named abigail (7 lbs., 2 oz.) born 12/29/2005. congratulations!

love, d

songs to seek: 1 thing/amerie, I know very well how I got my name/colin meloy

* photo courtesy of contributor jenny who seems to be the only person capable of taking a photo of me & the monkey where I don't look like a swarthy, three-chinned landmark-climbing beastie with a lithe blond in hand. she's got magical photo powers!