Magic with @BeBellanti and @austndiva. @Zelicks, San Marcos.

Dear @Southland_TNT, Welcome back. With a vengeance. I barely missed @SHO_Homeland for the first time in weeks thanks to two new DVR-ed eps.

That I can get @DeschutesBeer in TX = a bit of a double-edged sword. Though delicious, it reminds me that I can't get @GooseIsland Matilda.

There are very few things that would break my heart harder than witnessing this album performed start to finish: http://n.pr/xwvtv7 Leonard!

As a rule, I never turn down Macallan when offered. What am I to do if it's offered it by a passel of fellas in my office tower elevator? ;)

"And we don't want to talk about it. Or we do, but we're afraid to." http://bit.ly/w3Rvvu I may no longer relate, but this is brave writing.

Reading about Kierkegaard, listening to Craig Finn: http://bit.ly/wHrsAX It's working for me. /P.S. Go to the Hole in the Wall next Tuesday.

Be courageous. Be genuine. Be kind. Be thoughtful. Be worth it. If you want the best the world has to offer, offer the world your best.

Universe, Should you see fit to make this happen, you know how grateful I would be and therefore already, always am: http://bit.ly/zTJ4N3 <3

Oh...FINE. I'll wake up and acknowledge how effing LOUD you're being, Mother Nature. There's something to be said for being subtle, ya know?

SOTU Edition... Because I can read all about that ish tomorrow... @JamesMcMurtry, @Contclubgallery A much better use of my time.

Irregular heart rhythms, lottery tickets, brotherhoods, sisterhoods, faith, grace, magic and patience. It's a big day for the believers. <3

For perhaps the eighth time in as many years, I left home without my bracelets this morning. It's pretty much like I forgot my wedding ring.

"You're a comedian
You hide behind your funny face...
You're a chameleon
You hide behind your darker side...
I don't need a punchline..."
KE

As if drinking whiskey, dancing with cowboys, stargazing, dog love, watching games with Dad & acting on a fun impulse hadn't done the trick.

I've been absorbing @kittythefool's stellar new album on my drive back to Austin this morning. Feeling decidedly less bruised as a result.

Driving through the frozen desert at dawn. Looking forward to watching color, light and warmth seep in as I roll eastward.

Drifting off to dream in a house with an equal of number of familial ghosts and sleeping dogs. Feeling blissful and protected all the while.

It's Harbaugh out here for a pimp. /That's neither clever nor funny. //Except for in my head. ///Where it's hilarious.

All I need right now is a sports bar with a heated outdoor patio so I can watch the sky turn colors while I watch the game. That'd be bliss.

I wanted the hot coach to win. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, Belichick may be going to the Super Bowl but he will still be ugly tomorrow.

Bad: Driving back to Austin this afternoon with a hangover. Good: Staying an extra day to watch football with Dad. Best: Having a cold beer.

Re-tweeted by @EileenDSmith and @HCookAustin in the same morning? I must be doing something right. Or very, very wrong.

We now return you to our regularly scheduled hangover, already in progress.

Your desire to judge others and indict them for crimes real or imagined says far more about you than it does about them. Forgiveness >
Fear

Fetchin' beers for cowboys, prospectors. Marvelin' at how the passage of time can shrink a familiar space. Feelin' the love. Droppin' the G.

Spending a calm, clear Saturday with my favorite fella in the world. Time spent with Dad = Serenity.

Safe and sound and snug as a bug in a rug. Goodnight, Beautiful People. Much love.

73,000. Travelling eighty miles an hour through the night. Carrying the light, seeking more in the form of shooting stars, beautiful beings.

I loosen my grip from my palm; put it on your knee.
In my way, I say, "You're the reason I'll move to the city or why I'll need to leave."

If I ever make it past the second track, I might be able to declare @sharonvanetten's "Tramp" the perfect break-up album. Holymotherofeffme.

Date night with Honeybadger. Wings and UNC basketball.

Hitting the reset button. Attended @JamesMcMurtry's Midnight Mass @ContinentalATX following surprisingly close UT basketball @BlakeRocap's.

Listen to Woody Guthrie songs.

Flawed but fearless.

Broken, crazy people need love, too, right?

Can you teach someone to be their best self? Pondering the question... @JamesMcMurtry @Contclubgallery

Sweetness! Marfa's @cobrarock and @LoganCaldbeck via @CultureMapATX: http://bit.ly/xoxIyd One day, I'm gonna need new boots and when I do...

"If we see war as a choice...and if we do all we can to end war, we will succeed." http://bit.ly/xqc8hV Why we should: http://tgr.ph/AaG4fe

Sometimes she was just an actress
But you'll never really know
A shadow moves across her face
You cannot see her soul
Unless she lets you...

Eff you, Show. Seriously.

Finally watching the final two episodes of the first season of (Golden Globe winning!) Homeland. Oh, and Claire Danes won, too. /I love her.

Kathleen Edwards, "Voyageur" via NPR's First Listen: http://n.pr/AoIAiE Today I'm craving an adventure and a deeper connection to the world.

For the record...

Current events http://ti.me/zepmsW have inspired me to revisit this McSweeney's piece http://bit.ly/yQpGwz from start to finish. War is f'd.

"So I'm guessing the study of World War II will now be banned. We don't want anyone to resent the 1939-1945 Germans." http://bit.ly/wFGu2I

Honeybadger sez, "Eff you, Steven Spielberg." I concur.

Stuffed full of yummy Tex-Mex. Now Honeybadger and I are gonna watch a movie about war and a horse. Yes, I reckon there will be tears shed.

Gorgeous. "Gleam" by Ume in honor of Esmerelda Barrera: http://bit.ly/AkbQVr 100% of sales of the download will be donated to Esme's family.

The old men say the earth only endures. You spoke truly. You are right. (Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee)

So, since I'll be in West Texas again this weekend, who wants to volunteer to operate the Michael Phelps Ab Cam for me? http://bit.ly/w7wLWG

A very different sort of wind farm. Effing fascinating. And gorgeous, too, to my mind: http://bit.ly/xmTPf6 (Thanks, Kenneth, for the link.)

Thinking about how effing fortunate and grateful I am to be a member of various mafias, sisterhoods and tribes. We take care of each other.

Hello! @TwentyFourBit has a brand new Leonard Cohen song: http://bit.ly/xZVcr8 "I caught the darkness, baby, and I got it worse than you."

P.S. Louisiana still has better music. And food.

Um... Geaux Saints? Yeah! Geaux Saints!

I can't believe I put on pants for this.

For all my LSU loving friends... I just put on pants and went to the bar in hopes of changing the tide of this game. I hope you're happy.

This does my big, fat, liberal, bleeding heart all kinds of good: http://n.pr/A9yjtZ Shutting up to cry now. Viva Gaby. Viva Tucson. Viva <3

Um, yeah, seriously love this track. @sharonvanetten "Serpents" on Fallon: http://bit.ly/wi5wxH (via @HearYa) Download: http://bit.ly/vdSnVs

Throw me a rope on the rolling tide
What did you want me to be
You said it's him or me
The way you made it
That's the way it will be
Gillian

Snuggling with three sweet, sleepyheaded pups at once is heavenly. A demonstration of just what unconditional love looks and feels like. <3

I highly recommend rounding out the experience by watching Best Worst Movie the documentary about Troll 2. Oddly beautiful and touching.

Family night in San Marcos: Dog love, hot cocoa and without a doubt the worst movie ever. Troll 2. There aren't even any trolls in it. FFS.

Kindness is key. Keep your indignation and judgment to a minimum. Your life is equal to the love you give. There is nothing more important.

Blood = Donated. Finally. I've been running a pint high since Christmas Eve. But they say the blood bank actually needs more donations now.

Feeling nostalgic, listening to @miceandrifles "Carefree Americans" http://bit.ly/w3EPaw in advance of tonight's FREE show at Lambert's BBQ.

This is making my heart - and my ears - so incredibly, indescribably happy right now: http://bit.ly/wIdzRG Mavis Staples, Nick Lowe & Wilco!

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Best of 2011

Oh, why not?  Why not, indeed?

My Top Ten

1. Richard Buckner "Our Blood"  Because "Devotion & Doubt" is my favorite album of all time and this came within striking distance of it.  Because his Calexico backed HoCo Fest set in Tucson over Labor Day weekend was my favorite live show in 2011.  Because he let me get more than a bit drunk and talk his ear off following that set, didn't hit on me and didn't seem to hold my lush-y superfan behavior on that occasion against me when I caught his show in Ft. Worth a month later.  Because he may very well be the nicest dude ever.
2. Middle Brother "Middle Brother"  As much as I love me some Dawes, love me some Delta Spirit and love me some Deer Tick, I love me some Middle Brother all the more.  A bit raunchy, a bit raw, so real.  I listened to this album end-to-end more than any other in 2011.
3. Seryn "This Is Where We Are"  I *STILL* get full body chills every single time I play this album for a new listener.  Exquisite songs captured beautifully.  And it's a such a tremendous honor that they played our SXSW day show for the second year running.
4. Tinariwen "Tassili"  Seeing this band from Africa play in tiny Marfa, Texas haunts me.  Thinking about the sequences of events that had to happen here, there and throughout all involved parties' lifetimes for that to transpire fills me with an endless sense of wonder at the intricate connectivity of this enormous world we all inhabit.
5. Gillian Welch "The Harrow And The Harvest"  Worth.  The.  Effing.  Wait.  All eight effing years of it.  This album will withstand the test of time.  Without question.
6. Tom Waits "Bad As Me"  A friend recently procured a piece of art titled "Stay Focused Bitch, There's A Lot Riding On This."  As the artist says, "Time is tight."  I agree.  And I think Tom Waits nails that sentiment better than anyone else around.
7. Wilco "The Whole Love"  I'm descended from the Summerteeth/Yankee Hotel Foxtrot tribe of Wilco fans.  This album felt pitch perfect from beginning to end.  Attending back to back shows at the Moody Theater - the ACL taping on night one and the full-on rock show on night two - with  my much beloved fellow mega-fan cemented this one's spot near the top.
8. The Decemberists "The King Is Dead"  Having Gillian Welch and David Rawlings as guest stars is practically cheating.  But this would be a damn fine collection of tunes even without their illustrious presences on board.
9. Centro-matic "Candidate Waltz"  Rock. And. Roll.  Quintessential, pure, rad, simple, timeless.  See what I did there?  I could easily have started with awesome, badass, charismatic, dynamic, excellent and worked my way through an alphabet's worth of complimentary adjectives for this one. 
10. Bon Iver "Bon Iver"  Pure poetry.  These songs propped me up through the toughest months of 2011.  I am indebted.

Twenty Twenty-One More

1. The Low Anthem "Smart Flesh"
2. Dan Mangan "Oh Fortune"
3. Deep Dark Woods "The Place I Left Behind"
4. Ryan Adams "Ashes And Fire"
5. Alana Amram and the Rough Gems "Snow Shadows: The Songs Of Vince Martin"
6. The Jayhawks "Mockingbird Time"
7. Dawes "Nothing Is Wrong"
8. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit "Here We Rest"
9. The Pons "The Blackest Shine"
10. Wye Oak "Civilian"
11. The Antlers "Burst Apart"
12. The Rosebuds "Loud Planes Fly Low"
13. My Morning Jacket "Circuital"
14. Robyn Ludwick "Out Of These Blues"
15. Calexico "Selections From Road Atlas 1998 - 2011"
16. Nathan Hamilton "Beauty, Wit & Speed"
17. Blind Pilot "We Are The Tide"
18. Other Lives "Tamer Animals"
19. Lucinda Williams "Blessed"
20. Kurt Vile "Smoke Ring For My Halo"
21. Okkervil River "I Am Very Far"

Not coincidentally, @thelowanthem's "Boeing 737" - and @hearya's live session version - is my fave song of '11 as well: http://bit.ly/xQr5UL

Chicago in April > NYC in January

"You love music? Put some pants on and get in the front row, dude. I can hear her (Esme) saying that." Beautifully put: http://bit.ly/w1YmvW

"War is older than mankind, but it's younger than grace." Bury Me Far... - Joe Pug http://bit.ly/wb49iy But what if...? http://bit.ly/w9ZGsF

In a community full of beautiful hearts and enormous souls, we are all within one or two degrees of separation. We are all in this together.

For Esme.  And for each and every one of you whom I cherish.  http://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/callieellensnyder/posts/332299536787886?notif_t=like

There is something to be said for weathering the storm.

I've had worse ideas. But not many.

72,000. Road trip strip poker. You heard me.

I'm at a Butch Hancock + Jimmie Dale Gilmore show in Marfa with Dad. I am over the moon. Gratitude.

Margaritas and a case of the giggles. Welcome to my road trip.

Extreme happiness has rendered me somewhat unproductive. Please leave a message.

Time is passing much too slowly to suit me today. Can we pretty please do something about this?