I Can See Clearwaterly Now

Some exciting news has just come off the teletype here at JJHQ.
Friend of the blog Dindas has been tapped to be the festival director for this year's Great Hudson River Revival in Beacon, NY.
This means you can expect plenty of coverage of the festival here at JJ, including exclusive interviews, photos and much much more.
Congratulations to Dindas from JJHQ. The press release follows.

Clearwater Taps Jon Dindas as Festival Director for This Year's
Hudson River Revival

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY - Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, America's flagship environmental organization, announced today that Jon Dindas of All Phases Events Group will take the helm as festival director for this year's Great Hudson River Revival. An annual two-day music and environmental festival that attracts audience members from around the country, the Revival will take place this year on June 20 and 21, Father's Day weekend, at Croton
Point Park in Croton-on-Hudson, NY.

A genuine "Clearwater kid," Dindas grew up in the New York metropolitan area and recalls attending his first Clearwater festival in the early 1970s; his earliest concert memory was when his parents, both New York City school teachers, brought him to Carnegie Hall for a performance by the Weavers, a folk music group that included Pete Seeger, a Clearwater founder.

Dindas, who has spent much of the last two decades in the music and entertainment industry interspersed with frequent stints of political and advocacy work, presently oversees the New York office of All Phases Event Group, a national events company that has presented or managed aspects of over 1,000 events, including the Rothbury Music Festival, Democratic
National Convention, Green Apple Festival, Special Olympics, All Good Festival and X Games.

Jeff Rumpf, executive director of Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, said, "Jon Dindas comes from our grassroots and represents the next generation of environmental leaders here at Clearwater. His wide professional experience in festival planning and deep understanding of our mission will ensure that the year's Revival will be the most inspiring, entertaining and fun-filled one yet."

The roots of the Great Hudson River Revival go back to the informal "Hudson Valley Folk Picnic" started by Pete Seeger, his wife Toshi and others in the mid-1960s to raise funds for the building of the Sloop Clearwater, the floating classroom that has become a symbol of the fight against pollution. This year's festival holds special significance, as it will mark the 40th anniversary of the boat's launch as well as Seeger's 90th birthday.

"I am really looking forward to coming 'full circle' and helping to maintain the Clearwater tradition while finding new ways to improve the festival, expand its message and reach a new generation of music fans and activists," said Dindas.

Rick Brodsky, chairperson of the Revival Planning Committee, said, "Hundreds of dedicated volunteers work on numerous committees to put the Revival together each year, and we're all excited to collaborate with Jon. The 2009 Revival will certainly be a success and continue on this wonderful tradition started by Pete and Toshi Seeger long ago."

The Exclusive Dindastic Year End Music Lists

It's that time of year when everyone gets inundated with all sorts of year end lists. Here at JJHQ, we have received no fewer than 82 lists on a wide variety of topics. As a public service to our loyal readers, JJHQ has reviewd all of the lists and will present only the cream of the crop.

So without further ado, we present you with the 2008 edition of one of our most popular lists, The Dindastic Year End Music Review. These lists are compiled by friend of the blog Dindas. And even more exciting, we present these lists exclusively. Good luck finding them on some other blog.

Records of the Year

1) The Hold Steady - "Stay Positive"
2)My Morning Jacket - "Evil Urges"
3) Kings of Leon - "Only by the Night"
4) Ryan Adams and the Cardinals - "Cardinology"
5) Jenny Lewis - "Acid Tongue"
6) TV on the Radio - "Dear, Science"
7) Conor Oberst - "Conor Oberst"
8) David Byrne & Brian Eno - Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
9) The Raconteurs - "Consolers Of The Lonely"
10) Fleet Foxes - "Fleet Foxes"
11) Vampire Weekend - "Vampire Weekend"
12) Drive By Truckers - "Brighter Than Creation's Dark"
13) The Black Keys - "Attack and Release"
14) Black Mountain - "In the Future"
15) Death Cab For Cutie - "Narrow Stairs"
16) Sia - "Some People have Real Problems"
17) Duffy - "Rockferry"
18) Bon Iver - "For Emma, Forever Ago"
19) Q-Tip - "The Renaissance"
20) Metallica - "Death Magnetic"


Shows of the Year
1) Ryan Adams and the Cardinals - The Apollo Theater, NYC - October 31
2) Wilco - Tangelwood, Lenox, MA - August 12
3) Derek and Susan's Soul Stew Revival - All Good Music Festival -
Masontown, WV - July 11
4) Wilco - Schubert Theater - New Haven, CT - February 24
5) My Morning Jacket - Radio City Music Hall, NYC - June 20

Songs of the Year
1) "Jack Killed Mom" - Jenny Lewis
2) "Lord, I'm Discouraged" - The Hold Steady
3) "Magick" - Ryan Adams and the Cardinals
4) "Tiger Mountain Peasant Song" - Fleet Foxes
5) "The Girl You Lost To Cocaine" - Sia

The Year End List Extravaganza Continues

Friend of the Blog Schwarter has offered a new list exclusively to the blog. This is the only place on the vast interweb where you will find Schwartzer's Top Twelve Months of 2008. I probably would have ranked June higher than August and October a little lower, but Schwartzer, who owns a surprising number of calendars, clearly knows what he's talking about.

Schwartzer’s Top Twelve Months of 2008

1. November
2. April
3. March
4. May
5. October
6. July
7. August
8. February
9. June
10. January
11. December
12. September

Vintage Year End List

Year end lists are nothing new. People have been compiling such lists for as long as they could count. The earliest evidence of such lists have appeared in the tombs of some Egyptain pharaohs.
As an added year end bonus, we present a vintage year end list. The year was 1920 and an enterprising sportswriter for the Brooklyn Daily Mudflap compiled a list of the greatest names of baseball players who played in the major leagues that year. The list is presented below with a special thanks to friend of the blog Schwartzer.

Top 50 Baseball Player Names (1920)

1. Jigger Statz
2. Greasy Neale
3. Sweetbreads Bailey
4. Gavvy Cravath
5. Ivey Wingo
6. Heinie Groh
7. Hippo Vaughn
8. Chippy Gaw
9. Pickles Dillhoefer
10. Zack Wheat
11. Mack Wheat
12. Shovel Hodge
13. Grover Lowdermilk
14. Ping Bowdie
15. Urban Shocker
16. Amos Strunk
17. Bubber Jonnard
18. Baby Doll Jacobson
19. Dud Lee
20. Lyman Lamb
21. Hal Leathers
22. Pinch Thomas
23. Happy Felsch
24. Chick Shorten
25. Slim Love
26. Chick Fewster
27. Bibb Falk
28. Stuffy McInnis
29. Braggo Roth
30. Mule Watson
31. Nig Clarke
32. Cy Fried
33. Pug Griffin
34. Pie Traynor
35. Rowdy Elliott
36. Eppa Rixey
37. Rabbit Maranville
38. Bunny Hearn
39. Possum Whitted
40. Howdy Caton
41. Sheriff Blake
42. Mutt Wilson
43. Dutch Wetzel
44. Dixie Davis
45. Howie Shanks
46. Fred Merkle
47. Hod Leverette
48. Roxy Walters
49. Max Flack
50. Wally Pipp

Big Changes for 2009

All of the fans of Japanese Jesus have flooded the inbox here at JJHQ with accolades for our 2008 and requests for the blog for the new year. In 2008, Japanese Jesus grew by leaps and bounds with scores of new readers and an incredibly high post count. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the 2008 posts have been mysteriously scrubbed form the internet. (Anybody with any info, please contact JJHQ.) All we are left with are the memories.

Big things are in store for 2009 including new features, exclsuive interviews, JJ merchandise, giveaways, the First Annual Japanese Jesus Retreat, guest bloggers, and much much more.

But 2008 is not over yet, so stay tuned for the exclusive, highly anticipated Dindastic year-end list.

Cinemisery

Thy name is Indy

More Shredding

A lot more shredding was done yesterday. Here is a list of things that I would like to put in the shredder.

- Chedder Cheese ("There's chedder in the shredder!")

- Eddie Vedder ("Vedder in the shredder!")

- My hand

- A necktie that I was wearing

- One of those new ultra thin macbooks

- Lettuce

- Ice

- That weird squishy pig face that I got in China

- Blackberry

- Loaf of bread