It's almost February, which means it's time to roll out my 2002 Top 10 lists. I gain about 200 records a year, so making it onto this list isn't easy, and putting this group of favorites into a numbered sequence is really just a formality. These are ALL excellent records. (Same goes for the film & concert lists below.)

A further note: some of the artists in the albums list are friends of mine, but I contend that I'd like their records just as much if they weren't. Either way, you shouldn't hold it against them.

Favorite 15 Albums of 2002:
1) namelessnumberheadman - when we leave, we will know where we've been
2) Aqueduct - Power Ballads
3) Adam Brodsky - Hookers, Hicks, & Heebs (Soiled Doves, Country Gentlemen & the Shoah)
4) Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
5) Wire - Read & Burn 01
6) Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
7) The Apples in Stereo - Velocity of Sound
8) Mates of State - Our Constant Concern
9) Beck - Sea Change
10) Mary Lou Lord - Live City Sounds
11) Sondre Lerche - Faces Down
12) Spoon - Kill the Moonlight
13) Rhett Miller - The Instigator
14 (tie) Tony Romanello - Counting Stars
14 (tie) boondogs - this is the way the world ends

disqualified: Acoustic Ross - News From Around the Bend

Favorite Re-Release:
(tie) The Hives - Veni Vidi Vicious
(tie) The White Stripes - White Blood Cells

Favorite Album From 2001 That I Didn't Hear Until 2002:
Beulah - The Coast Is Never Clear

Favorite From Even Further Back That I Didn't Hear Until 2002:
(tie) Modest Mouse - The Lonesome Crowded West
(tie) Stiffs, Inc. - Nix Nought Nothing

Favorite Concerts of 2002, As A Listener:
1) namelessnumberheadman / The Hillary Step / Mates of State (the Pub, Kansas City, April 6)
2) The Dismemberment Plan / French Kicks / Need New Body (the Bottleneck, Lawrence KS, November 16)
3) Juliana Hatfield / The Capsules (the Bottleneck, Lawrence KS, August 24)
4) Boondogs (4-piece lineup) / Ira (Arnie's, Tulsa, January 12)
5) A short marathon, 10 bands at 3 venues in 2 days (Kansas City, June 1-2)

Favorite Concerts of 2002, As A Performer:
1) Me Head's Show Us Your Shorts Film Festival (Nightingale Theatre, Tulsa, March 13)
2) AntiFolk FootStomp II, also starring Sarah Wagner & Adam Brodsky (Unit D, Tulsa, June 29)
3) opening for Ira (Arnie's, Tulsa, February 9)
4) possibly my favorite open-mike night ever (Seņor Frogs, Pittsburgh PA, August 20)
5) The Prairie Rehab Tour: 3 shows with 40 other performers in 2 states in 4 days (Nov 30 - Dec 2)

Favorite 11 Movies of 2002:
1) Punch-Drunk Love
2) Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
3) Adaptation
4) Spider-Man
5) Minority Report
6) Tadpole
7) The Ring
8) Insomnia
9) Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets
10) Catch Me If You Can
11) Dahmer