You Are 24% Republican

You’re a bit Republican, and probably more conservative than you realize. If you’re still voting Democrat, maybe it’s time that you stop.

How Republican Are You?

But never fear…

You Are 12% Democrat

If you have anything in common with the Democrat party, it’s by sheer chance. You’re a staunch conservative, and nothing is going to change that!

How Democrat Are You?

Awesomer than The Fan. And how.

VCU’s men’s basketball team won their eighth straight game last night, beating Cinderella George Mason 75-62. The Rams are 9-0 in the CAA and 17-3 overall with those three losses for a total of 7 points. They’re even getting votes for rankings now, 23 in the AP Poll and 13 in the USA Today/ESPN Poll. They keep this up and they’ll be playing in March.

And one’s a familiar face:

Serving as Communications Director will be Shaun Kenney, who runs the popular ShaunKenney.com website, and was recently the manager for a winning Congressional campaign in Colorado, despite being targeted by the national Democrats. Shaun has extensive ties to the Virginia Republican Party, having served as the Unit Committee Chair in Fredericksburg City and Spotsylvania County. Shaun brings expertise both in dealing with the traditional press and the ‘new media.’ We figured, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em… or get ‘em to join you.

2006 was a rather skimpy year in new music purchases for yours truly. I mean, sure, I bought quite a few CDs, but most of them are old discs. Very few are 2006 releases, which makes the effort needed on my end to put this list together that much easier. And even then I’m going by the copyright date more than the actual release date so some of these may have been late 2005 releases that I picked up in 2006 but, hey, it’s my list so deal with it. Also, I suck at reviews. So pardon the fanboyish tone of some of these. Just go listen to ‘em and love ‘em yourself. I promise, you won’t be sorry.

So the Top Five of 2006, in order of greatness in my very humble opinion:

Damien Rice - “9″ Ah, a fix of new Damien Rice. His first album, “O”, is an amazing work and a constant in my music rotation. Low key, acoustic, moving work and “9″ is on the same track. It might sound depressing to some but to me it’s uplifting and just really good music.

o’death - “o’death” Early November found me up in New York City for the annual CMJ convention, nearly a week of seminars, free concerts, and drinks to go along with it all. One of the acts I caught up there was o’death and they put on an amazing show. Their self titled album is a great listen but really doesn’t do this band’s live performance justice. I say grab the album, get a listen and gear yourself up for catching these guys live the first chance you’ve got.

Jose Gonzalez - “Veneer” Even more low key than Damien Rice but still moving, “Veneer” is another acoustic-guitar-and-guy production. It’s a bit more depressing than most of the top five here but it really fit the mood and resonated with a good portion of the year for me.

Deadboy And The Elephant Men - “We Are Night Sky” Mmmm… Tessie Burnette is cute. She makes up the drummin’ and background vocal half of what is Deadboy And The Elephant Men. This year’s Top Five is really hanging on this for any sort of indy cred so I guess I should hype it up well. Let’s see. It’s got this guy who plays the guitar and sings. And this cute gal who does the drumming and background vocaling. And the whole minimal thing’s pretty sweet. It sounds nothing like White Stripes so don’t think you’re walking into another Jack White wannabe. Good minimal rock numbers with a couple acoustic and just great all around pacakge. And, if I recall correctly, the CD comes with a moneyback guarantee. Which you won’t need to use. But it’s certainly nice to have.

Gnarls Barkley - “St. Elsewhere” This puppy’s gonna be the top of a few lists and rightfully so. Forget the first single “Crazy” or the cover of the Violent Femmes’ “Gone Daddy Gone”. No, there’s better yet to come. “Just A Thought” with it’s building nature and drums from nowhere. “Smiley Faces” with its catchy tune and just the layers and depth to it. The whole thing, with Cee Lo’s vocals and Danger Mouse’s production, you can’t beat it. Danger Mouse shows why he’s one of the best DJs and producers out there today and Cee Lo shows why he’s been deserving a hell of a lot more respect for his work for years now. You haven’t listened to music this year until you’ve listened to “St. Elsewhere”.

Best Album I Bought This Year: Bonnie “Prince” Billy - “Master And Everyone” I guess one could call this the honorable mention, but this album came out back in 2003 so it’s not entirely new for 2006, just new for me. This is one mellow album, but damn if it didn’t do it for me this year. The lyrics are great, the guitar work simple but effective, just a great all around album and one that’s been stuck in rotation since I got it.

Earlier this week Norm signed off over at One Man’s Trash creating a huge hole in the VA political blogosphere that won’t be filled any time soon.

Then Conaway ups and gets a job with the new Senator from Virginia and turns out the lights at South Of The James.

Who shall be the next to fall?

Best of luck to both gentlemen on their future endeavours.