5th Annual TAD Awards

OK, real quick now because I'm on work-time, here's the 5th Annual TAD Awards for the best Strange Music and books I've noticed over the last year....
* BEST NEW-TO-ME SONGS OF THE YEAR -- Bonnie Raitt: "Angel From Montgomery," Aretha Franklin: "I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You," Irma Thomas: "The River is Waiting," Tedeschi-Trucks Band: "Made Up Mind," Bo Diddley: "Mona" (can you believe? This song is older than me!) ... and ... wait for it ... Janis Joplin: "Kosmic Blues."
* BEST BEST-OF -- Against some REAL heavy competition, the winner is THE SUPREME AL GREEN. This is the best-of I've enjoyed the most, played the most, learned the most from. And I'm still finding new greats on it. How come I never heard "Love and Happiness" before? Because I'm ignorant....
* RUNNERS-UP -- Best-of's by Deep Purple (a real ear-opener), Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Tower of Power, Sly and the Family Stone ("M'Lady" and "Sing a Simple Song" are really great -- why weren't they hits?), Earth Wind and Fire ("Serpentine Fire"!)....
* BEST MUSICAL-LISTENING TREND -- Soul/R&B/Funk/Blues. I got bored with everything else, so stuff I ignored when I was 12 years old sounds brand new to me now....
* BEST RADIO SHOW -- KPLU FM's "All Blues," every Saturday and Sunday from 6 p.m. to midnight Pacific Time. The show's so great I don't have to bring CD's to work with me on weekends. And they're streaming at kplu.org. If you're bored with music like I was, you should check 'em out. And I've learned a LOT....
* BEST NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR -- Paul Theroux: SIR VIDIA'S SHADOW.
* WRITER OF THE YEAR -- Paul Theroux. I read four books by him and re-read three others....
* BEST LOCAL PLACE TO BUY MUSIC -- Port Orchard Goodwill. People around here are donating a TON of great CD's ... a few dozen of which I emptied my bank account to buy, a few months back....
* BEST NEWS OF THE YEAR -- I wrote two more e-book memoir/novels, and a short story (which got rejected), and I'm halfway through another book. The short story marked the first time I'd submitted something to a fiction publisher in almost 15 YEARS.... And I'm slowly sneaking up on 800 blog posts.... I ain't done yet.
Truly there isn't much in this list that could be called "Strange Music" as I used to define it, but all the music mentioned here was new to me, and Ghod knows I'm happier with my listening these days, so....
More soon....