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I’ve seen a lot of live shows but many of the most memorable have come from a single guy: Jon Brion. Brion used to play every Friday night at Café Largo in Los Angeles and I was there for a ton of them. What made him so compelling was that he always took the stage without a playlist. His set ended up being a mix of whatever inspired him at the moment and requests shouted from the audience. Some nights would be comprised mostly of ragtime and moody jazz. Others would be giant singalongs – the greatest hits of The Police with Brion accompanying on xylophone, for example. One night he asked the audience to name a song. Someone suggested “Dream On” by Aerosmith. Then he asked for a genre. Someone yelled “Bossa Nova”. Brion picked up an acoustic guitar, cued up a samba beat, and did it on the spot.

You truly had no idea what to expect when you walked into Largo every Friday (and neither did Brion).  The concert was unfolding in real-time as a collaboration between performer and audience – a marked contrast to the overly-choreographed shows we normally see. There is a reason he sold out every week and has become something of a living legend in clubland.

Now humor me as I segue into marketing: to what degree do your brands engage without a script and how important is it to actually do so?

This year in two parts: the first part a series of lists that I would have tried to illustrate if I had any sort of design skills whatsoever, the second part a succinct, totally unfair snap judgement on every act I saw. Feel free to disagree and yell at me in the comments.

LIZSTOMANIA

THE FIVE BEST SHOWS OF COACHELLA 2010

1. Muse
2. King Khan and the Shrines
3. Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
4. The Avett Brothers
5. Vampire Weekend

9 days until the greatest thing to happen in a desert since Jabba the Hut forced Princess Leia to wear that bikini – the return of Coachella. To prepare for the release of the final schedule, I’ve broken down the acts into star ratings that work as follows:

****  Do not miss this show

***    I really want to see this and will do what I can

**      Would love to see but may get sidetracked by a churro

*        Would rather watch Perry Farrell DJ (just kidding)

Comments and/or snark follows each act. Within each star grouping, I have then mercilessly ranked each act in order again. So, for example, I would really like to see The Specials. It’s just that I want to see Them Crooked Vultures a bit more.

As always, a few comments for perspective:

+ I like seeing stuff I haven’t seen before when I go to festivals so most acts get heavily docked if I’ve seen them a few times (unless you are Muse and you are headlining). I note who that applies to in each case so adjust accordingly.

+ Mellow and singer/songwriter rarely work as well at large festivals like this so acts like Local Natives slip a bit most of the time.

+ I like to gamble on acts that will likely either amaze or disappoint and these ratings will continue to change up until the moment I’m at the show. Thank me if you love a show I recommend but don’t blame me if you don’t. Fair?

Without further ado, the ratings:

There is something strangely satisfying about subscriptions. In a world where we increasingly browse and Stumble Upon to find things of interest, a subscription means something in our mailbox (real or virtual) on which we can rely every time. Subscriptions feel trustworthy in a world where the rest of our content is found through the sometimes-thrilling but sometimes-exhausting process of trial and error. It finds us instead of us needing to seek it out. And the best subscriptions have the capacity to surprise us again and again.

Here are five of my current favorites:

Here it is again, my favorite 100 songs of the past year. This, of course, is not an exact science but that didn’t stop me from painstakingly ranking each one. The list follows but first some rules and caveats:

+ They are listed in reverse order because that is the only real way to do a list. Any of you with any sense of drama will listen to the whole thing from 100 slowly building up to number 1, at which point you will practically be bursting with excitement.

+ These are tracks, not singles. Again, radio is dead. I don’t even know if a lot of these are even singles or not. It’s like knowing what time your favorite TV show is on. Who cares?

+ I only have one song per artist because the list is way cooler that way. No one wants a list with a bunch of tracks by one band hogging up the Top 50. I had more than 100 great tracks by different artists so let’s share the wealth a little.

+ They were all released in 2009 on either an album or as a single. “Use Somebody” by Kings of Leon made a lot of lists this year but came out December 15, 2008. No cheating, people.

+ If I’m wrong about the release date of something, blame Wikipedia and Rhapsody.