RTP-area local music and culture

["Glenn Boothe / Local 506" <gboothe2 AT earthlink.net>]

As some of you know and some have participated in, each year I compile
my own year end chart.  A la the Village Voice Pazz & Job, each
participant has 100 points to assign to ten CDs.  There is no criteria
for participating beyond caring enough to compile a list.  Although
there is a heavy dose of local peeps participating, there is just as
many non-locals.

With that said, since my year-end CD was somewhat subjective, here is a
less subjective look at what people thought were some of the best local
releases this. The list below includes some ex-partriots (Crooked
Fingers, Ryan Adams) as well as some new arrivals (Mountain Goats, My
Dad is Dead, The Standard) as well as the very dead John Coltrane...

Oh yeah, the first number is how it compared to ALL other release, the
second the number of points received and the last number is how many
people included it in their top ten.

Rank /Artists / Total /Votes
7       Portastatic     151     13
10      Mountain Goats  119     9
16      Rosebuds        89      9
27      Crooked Fingers 66      6
29      Thelonious Monk/John Coltrane   64      5
39      Work Clothes    50      5
47      Ryan Adams (Jacksonville City Nights)   39      3
48      Des Ark 38      4
63      Ryan Adams (Cold Roses) 30      3
70      Black Taj       29      3
72      Nein    28      2
90      Ticonderoga (s/t)       22      2
98      Kingsbury Manx  20      3
99      Moaners 20      3
113     Jeffrey Dean Foster     20      1
118     Audubon Park    19      2
126     Physics of Meaning      18      2
144     My Dad is Dead  15      2
151     Avett Brothers  15      1
166     Standard        15      1
173     Prayers & Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers 12      2
260     New Town Drunks 10      1
261     Old Ceremony    10      1
274     Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion        10      1
283     Tom Scharpling/Jon Wurster      10      1
302     Little Brother  8       1
307     SNMNMNM 8       1
310     David Karsten Daniels   7       1
311     Erie Choir      7       1
317     Spinns  7       1
324     Hellsayers      6       1
334     Ticonderoga (The Heilig-Levine LP)      6       1
340     Bandway 5       1
345     Bringerer       5       1
362     Eyes to Space   5       1
371     Jane Francis    5       1
372     John Coltrane (One Down, One Up)        5       1
394     Pleasant        5       1

When you do the math, Coltrane notwithstanding, there are 35 CDs
listed.  Let me rephrase that, there are three local CDs each month
that someone thought was noteworthy.  And this list doesn't include
some of my personal local faves like The Sames, Bellafea and The
Strugglers...glenn