each year the local government in salt lake steps outside itself and allows the arts council to use some tax money on things other than road construction and lobbying oil companies and hosts the twilight summer concert series. each thursday night in the summer, salt lake hosts the biggest free party of the west. before i make my predictions, a bit of history and a few rules to the summer twilight concert series.

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE (read: i’m old and have been around a while)
the twilight series used to be terrible. i went in high school and every week it was a hippie jam band with another hippie jam band opening. usually leftover salmon was on the bill, either as an opener or the headlining act. about 200 people would come, but eventually the 25-minute mandolin jams and smell of patchouli would drive everyone back to their homes. about 2006/2007 the arts council started dabbling with a variety of music styles that appealed to people who shower and have jobs. the shows were still largely hippie gatherings, but artists like martin sexton, the rebirth brass band, yo la tengo, and peter, bjorn and john made appearances. 2008 really marked the beginning of the modern concert series as most of us know it. after years of mediocrity and small crowds (people would bring lawn chairs and sit for the entire show), the arts council hosted a summer with: the roots (which shut the city down), andrew bird, josh ritter, the cool kids, broken social scene and neko case (among others). 2009 continued this trend with artists like bon iver, the black keys, and iron and wine. the popularity of these weekly parties exploded and forced the move to pioneer park (away from the smaller, quaint gallivan center).

RULES
in my experience, there are a few guiding principles to the summer twilight series that need to be taken into account before we can make any reasonable predictions to who the line up might feature.

1. no repeats. the modern summer twilight concert series has not brought anyone back who has previously taken the thursday night stage (this includes openers). in past iterations, michael franti made repeat appearances as did david grisman. there are two modern exceptions that i can think of: neko case played a few years ago and then in 2010 the new pornographers played and thurston moore played last year and his band sonic youth played in 2009. when making your guesses, scratch bands like: girl talk, modest mouse, okkervil river, and delta spirit.

2. categories. summer twilight seems to have settled into some categories that they stick to. these are not set in stone, but you can expect the following categories to show up every 1-2 years:

• hippie jam/reggae night. this category is hard and fast - plan on a night appealing to hippies and plan on being out of town that week. previous entries include: edward sharpe (2011), matisyahu (2010), toots and maytals (2009), yonder mountain string band (2008).
• dad-approved. there will be one night this summer with bands that will make you think: “my dad would really like this, i’ll invite him.” it’s usually funk, soul or jazz of some sort. we didn’t have one of these last year so bank on it in 2012. previous entries include: sharon jones and the dap kings (2010), robert randolph and family band/black joe lewis and honeybears (2009). this category could also be labeled “the NPR darlings.”
• old rockers rock! night. sounds like what it is - music that you weren’t quite into, but you know you should be. previous entries include: thurson moore/kurt vile (2011), sonic youth (2009), de la soul (2008), camper van beethoven (2006).
• hip-hop. this happens every year so plan on it. previous entries include: lupe fiasco (2011), big boi/chromeo (2010), q-tip/b.o.b. (2009), the roots (2008), the cool kids (2008).
• dance party. this is a newer category that has proved to be a crowd-pleaser so i’d expect it again this year. previous entries include: ghostland observatory (2011), girl talk (2010). i bet this year will be some sort of 80s throwback sound or a mashup artist.
• singers with a guitar. doesn’t happen every year, but is popular enough that i expect it. previous entries include: bright eyes (2011),  bon iver/jenny lewis (2009), iron and wine (2009), josh ritter (2008).
• mass-appeal. this one is hard to predict because the arts council is obviously going for a “big name,” but if it’s too big they’ll shut the city down (remember modest mouse two years ago?). previous entries include: the decemberists (2011), modest mouse (2010), iron and wine (2009), the roots (2008). there will always be a “big name” artist somewhere in the line up to drive word of mouth and local news reporting.

3. it’s fairly obvious, but if a band is already coming to salt lake this summer or soon before, scrap them from your list: goodbye wilco, trombone shorty, the civil wars, and the shins.

so there is some background and some rules which i hope you appreciate. obviously something like music and predicting free concerts is completely subjective and this is just one man’s opinion. with that in mind, here are some of my educated guesses:

hippie jam - no guess. some super group combing the bassist of blues traveler, the original percussionist of rusted root and someone from colorado singing vocals. or maybe los lobos. that would actually be sweet.

dad approved - lee fields and the expressions. that’s very speculative and maybe a summer ahead of schedule, but they’d be fun. also maybe the alabama shakes if they’re not half way across europe all summer.

old rockers rock! night - i have no clue, can’t even think of something for this, maybe cowboy junkies or something from the 90s. hopefully it won’t happen this year since it happened last year.

hip-hop - i want to guess chiddy bang, but i can’t say why. drawing a big blank here - childish gambino maybe. del the funky homosapien - there, that’s a solid guess. i’ll go with that.

dance party - i’m calling santigold here. could also be justice, future unlimited or st. lucia. neon indian would be fun, but won’t happen. passion pit maybe? hopefully it’s not skrillex. they couldn’t do that to us could they? com truise would be sweet, or washed out.

singers with guitars - the tallest man on earth! it is perfect, he’ll just be in san francsico the weekend before! could also be the head and the heart.

mass appeal - it should be sigur ros, but it won’t be - their summer dates are already out there and i just can’t see a thursday in july or august where it could work. maybe regina spektor or florence + the machine. jack white, minus the bear or silversun pickups could fit here too.

those are my guesses - i bet i don’t have a single one right. what i really want to know is who are your guesses? post them as comments on tumblr! if you’re a fan of the summer twilight’s, repost this so that by the time the shows are announced we’ll all have guessed at least a few of them.

SO MUCH TO LOOK FORWARD TO - i can’t sit still today…

1. this sunday at the mount, new pilgrim baptist church is joining us for worship.  they’re going to help us get our gospel on.  love it.  can’t wait.  former ute’s point guard tim drisdom will be leading, i’m nerded up on so many levels.

2. just saw on twitter that the civil wars are performing at the grammy’s!  i know the grammy’s are terrible, but it’s cool that they asked the civil wars to play.  i actually had a premonition about this a week ago so i think i should get partial credit for making this happen (finders fee at least).

3. liam’s half birthday is next week (13th)!  can’t believe how much my life has changed since then.  for example:

• i no longer expect to sit down and eat an entire meal at once.  i expect to eat some of it, get up, fix something, sit down, eat another bite, get up, etc.
• a baby and a puppy are the universe’s way of making sure your lap will never be empty.
• the soundtrack to my life, the song i wake to in the morning (no longer at 8 am) and go to be to at night isn’t from spoon, radiohead or st. vincent, it’s liam’s playpen audio player.  this kid has terrible taste in songs that should be played 15-20 times in a row, we’ll have to work on that as he gets older. (side note: i want to invent a docking station for an ipod or spotify so that you can choose your kids play music and thus, save the last shreds of your sanity as a parent)

4. RSL season kicks off march 10th.  watch this video and get pumped up.

5. just saw that explosions in the sky are coming to salt lake city on april 7th.  i can’t wait. 

great, great, great.  can’t wait.

here’s my list of my favorite songs from my favorite records of 2011.  as far as i know all of these were released in 2011. 

m83, wilco, and watch the throne were good i just didn’t actually have a copy of them and therefore never really listened to them.  one through five are my bonafide top five favorite records of the year, the rest are in no particular order.  i’m sure i missed a lot of great records this year (adopting liam took a big chunk out of the year) so share your list with me.

1. tom waits - bad as me.  anyone who doesn’t recognize the importance, greatness, and largeness of this record can jump into a cold lake without clothes on.  it’s simply the best record out there right now and if you need that explained to you, you’ve probably never even heard of tom waits anyway and will never listen to him.  listen to satisfied, it’s one of my three favorites from bad as me.

2. st. vincent - strange mercy.  this is annie clarks de facto best record to date.  it’s an odd mix of indie rock and straight up progressive 1970’s rock.  listen to surgeon and get weird.

3. the black keys - el camino.  man i love the black keys.  this is a great, full-bodied record that’s probably one of their more accessible and should do well attracting new fans while keeping their old fans happy.  listen to dead and gone.

4. explosions in the sky - take care, take care, take care.  post-rock at its best and when it’s done this well it doesn’t need vocals.  listen to trembling hands and think back to their free show in downtown salt lake city earlier this summer (i took this photo).



5. bon iver - bon iver.  justin vernon is at it again with incredible, layered, minimalist tracks with no decipherable lyrical content (like i care).  listen to perth while searching for toadstools in the forest.

paul simon - so beautiful or so what.  great year for older artists to land solid records.  listen to the afterlife.

tinariwen - tassilli.  what - you aren’t hip to the indie/afro beats of rebel music from mali?  me either, but i heard this band on public radio this year and was instantly hooked.  listen to imidiwan ma tennam. if you really like them, their two records previous to this one are better.

danger mouse and daniele luppi - rome.  this is a weird record, supposedly crafted out of love for the old spaghetti westerns and their soundtracks.  if that was the goal they hit the mark because at any point in the record you could expect to hear gunshots or clint eastwood’s flinty voice.  listen to problem queen.

adele - 21.  this is one in my list where the song is great, but i didn’t think the album itself was amazing.  the single rolling in the deep is awesome and adele deserves all the credit and fame she’s achieving because of it.  (i know the record is great, i just thought most of it was too slow for my taste).

beastie boys - hot sauce committee part two.  i didn’t see it coming, but this record was really great and really fun.  if you haven’t watched the video for their first single, make some noise you definitely should.  don’t play no game that i can’t win with santigold is my favorite of the record.

surrogate - diamonds and pearls.  this is only an ep, but it’s from a great band that doesn’t do much outside of northern cal.  listen to old life and get chris keane to produce your next record.

the civil wars - barton hollow. wow!  who knew america was ready for vintage folk with soaring vocals and simple arrangements?  maybe we weren’t, but when an album this good comes along, there’s no denying it.  listen to barton hollow (really if you haven’t heard this single by now, you probably don’t listen to music and stopped reading this list anyways).

maritime - human hearts.  another of the old guard coming up out of nowhere to drop a great album on us.  davey (a la the promise ring) is a legend in our household and always will be.  listen to it’s casual. 

feist - metals.  listen to the bad in each other.

gillian welch - the harrow and the harvest.  it took eight years, but it was worth the wait.  i’m seriously so stoked about how many older artists (paul simon, tom waits, gillian) who turned in a+ papers this year.  listen to the way it goes.

peter, bjorn and john - gimme some.  get poppy and listen to second chance.

a.a. bondy - believers.  he’ll either die this year or win a grammy or possibly both.  great record (i think his last two records have also topped my yearly lists).  listen to the heart is willing and get sad with yourself.

coldplay - mylo xyloto.  listen to every teardrop is a waterfall.

the make - this box.  not sure if the rest of their debut ep is any good (it probably is), but the single get it is a lot of fun.

biggest disappointment of 2011: florence and the machine and the new radiohead.  they weren’t bad records, there just wasn’t anything there to grab me, just sorta blah.

what were your favorites?  what did i miss?