1. Confessions on a Dancefloor – Madonna
2. Supernature – Goldfrapp
3. The Reminder – Feist
4. The Fame Monster - Lady Gaga
5. Lovers Rock - Sade
6. FutureSex/LoveSounds – Justin Timberlake
7. Kala - M.I.A.
8. The Greatest – Cat Power
9. 100th Window – Massive Attack
10. A Rush of Blood to the Head – Coldplay

1. “Idioteque” - Radiohead
2. “Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)” - Arcade Fire
3. “7/4 (Shoreline)” - Broken Social Scene
4. “Paper Planes” - M.I.A.
5. “And I Was A Boy From School” - Hot Chip
6. “King’s Crossing” - Elliott Smith
7. “Y Control” - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
8. “Me and Giuliani Down by the School Yard (A True Story)” - !!!
9. “The Crying of Lot G” - Yo la tengo
10. “RIP Static” - Gentle Friendly
11. “All Our Base Are Belong To Them” - The Books
12. “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” - Daft Punk
13. “Disco Sheets” - Wolf Parade
14. “Electric Feel” - MGMT
15. “I Want Wind to Blow” - The Microphones
16. “Sister Savior” - The Rapture
17. “Banquet” - Bloc Party
18. “(Antichrist Television Blues)” - Arcade Fire
19. “All My Friends” - LCD Soundsystem
20. “Playhouses” - TV On the Radio
21. “All I Need” - Radiohead
22. “The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth” - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!
23. “Obstacle 1″ - Interpol
24. “Black Rice” - Women
25. “Persons & Machinery” – UNKLE featuring Autolux

*She really wishes she could include Rage Against the Machine’s Battle of Los Angeles, released in November 1999, but I wouldn’t let her.

Here they are, roughly in the order that they were released:

1. Figure 8 – Elliott Smith (2000) – This was the last album released before he died, but I didn’t really start listening until about 2002.
2. BB Queen – Bahamadia (2000) – Why doesn’t this lady put out more albums?
3. Amnesiac – Radiohead (2001) – It’s tough to pick a favorite Radiohead album, but “Pyramid Song” and “I Might Be Wrong” decided it for me.
4. Blue Horse - The Be Good Tanyas (2001) – Not sure what it is about these gals that I like so much.
5. The Listening – Little Brother (2003) – Amazing production by 9th Wonder, fascinating lyrics by Phonte and Big Pooh.
6. Remember Who I Am – Girlyman (2003) – Some of the best times I’ve had with my best friends have been accompanied by these sweet harmonies.
7. Grey Album – Danger Mouse (2004) – A bootleg mashup of Jay-Z’s Black Album and the Beatles’ White Album. Enough said.
8. Arular – M.I.A. (2005) – Sadly, I didn’t start listening to M.I.A. until a couple years after this was released.
9. Illionois – Sufjan Stevens (2005) – Epic pop.
10. Jeanius – Jean Grae & 9th Wonder (2008, kinda) – This was actually leaked on the internet in 2004, so most fans have been listening to it for years.

Hmm, I notice that no albums released past 2005 have wormed their way into my heart quite yet.

I haven’t really been listening to Tracy Chapman for the past several years, but I just found something that will make me stay a while and enjoy the music.

Her website design is brilliant: You can select colors from a rainbow palette and color in the letters, trees, grass, houses, clouds, and even the birds as they fly by! All while listening to “Talkin’ Bout a Revolution” and other tunes.

Best idea ever. Not only does it give fans a reason to stay and interact with the website; it shows off some gay pride too.

Some of the best (or at least most memorable) concerts I’ve been to have been the free ones: the Roots on Pier 54 in July 2005, one of the best nights of my first summer in New York; Little Brother in Fort Greene Park in 2006, where they said hello to me before the show on my way to the bathroom, but I was too shy to respond; Cafe Tacuba in Central Park in 2007, where I was knocked around in a humid, smelly, dusty mosh pit; Girlyman at Madison Square Park in 2007, when we took awkward pictures with Ty and found out that Doris used to be a camp counselor of someone my girlfriend knew from college; Lauryn Hill at Wingate Park in 2007, even though she showed up three hours late, looked and sounded almost unrecognizable (and, well, not that great); Jean Grae, 9th Wonder, and Talib Kweli at Fat Beats in 2008, where I stood five feet from the Jeanius herself.

Here are some I might make it to this summer:

• June 20 at Empire Fulton Ferry State Park: Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival featuring Dead Prez, Smif n Wessun, Pharoahe Monch, etc. ($10 suggested donation)
• July 9 at Herbert Von King Park: MC Lyte
• July 18 at Central Park: Q-Tip
• July 22 at Crotona Park: KRS-One
• July 31 at Prospect Park: Soulive
• August 12 at Brower Park: Black Moon and Smif N Wessun with live band

As cute as she was, it was far from a cutesy/feel-good film. As a young girl, Priscilla became the breadwinner of the family, as the early profits from her music career allowed them to pay all of their bills and move into a more spacious apartment. The family went through a lot of problems, from trying to track down their druggie mother to sorting through trust issues with record executives. And as P-Star’s rap career started to go downhill while she was still only 11 or 12 years old, viewers were left wondering if she and her family (and especially her father) had really been making the right choices.

Check out the trailer here! (I couldn’t embed it.)

Priscilla, her sister, and her father, as well as the filmmaker (Gabriel Noble), were all at the screening to answer questions from the audience. The family seemed to be doing well, and P-Star—upon request—spit a nice verse for us all.

I hope to hear more from P-Star as she gets older!

My friend Heather, who organized the conference, asked me to make a 30-minute “soundtrack” that would be played before and after the opening and closing sessions of the conference, as people were walking in and out, and waiting for the program to begin. She said the vibe should be “more M.I.A. than Jack Johnson.” So I looked for songs that were positive and energizing, with thoughtful lyrics and good beats. Here’s what I came up with:

1. M.I.A. – “Galang”
2. Santogold – “Creator”
3. K’naan – “In the Beginning”
4. TV On the Radio – “Dancing Choose”
5. The Roots – “The Next Movement”
6. A Tribe Called Quest – “Can I Kick It?”
7. M.I.A. – “Pull Up the People”
8. Emmanuel Jal – “Warchild”
9. Santogold – “Unstoppable”
10. OK Go – “This Will Be Our Year” (covering the Zombies)

The M79 crosstown bus referenced in the song is just one of the New York City bus routes that risks losing its overnight service as part of the MTA’s proposed service cuts. Most of us in the five boroughs will be affected by the proposal, which includes huge fare hikes, less frequent subway and bus service, and completely eliminating some bus routes.

Visit the Comptroller’s website to find out more and to send a message to New York politicians letting them know how you feel about the proposed service cuts!