The Best of 2012: Photos of the Year (and a bit of a Recap)

Happy 2013. I hope the New Year is a great one for you, and that 2012 was as well.

It was pretty good for me, or so I think now. Of course, it helps that I ended the year employed for the first time in the last 4 years and for just the third time in the last 8.

Not that I'm taking anything for granted, nor that things were ever too terrible when I wasn't working--due to the tremendous support of family and friends, as well as the various interests I document on this blog--but with hopes that the outlook has improved (or will soon) for millions of others who have been unemployed or underemployed for far too long, I can't deny that having a decent job certainly feels better than the alternative.

Certainly, it was far from a perfect year. Not only were far too many people, myself included for the first 8 months, tormented by the economy but the number of people horrifically killed--in movie theaters, in places of worship, in shopping malls, in elementary schools, in subway stations, on city streets, etc., etc.--was absolutely heartbreaking.

I was also saddened by what seemed like a great number of deaths among great musicians, including Whitney Houston, Adam Yauch, Levon Helm, Robin Gibb, Donna Summer, Etta James, Duck Dunn, Davy Jones, Dave Brubeck, Fontella Bass and others.

So in trying to live each day as best I can, as I alluded to above I am extremely grateful for the great friends and close family that brighten my world, and for the opportunity to explore arts, culture, entertainment, sports and more to the extent I do.

If you just stumbled upon this blog post somehow, you may be interested in my recent Best of 2012 lists, covering my favorite Albums, Concerts, Plays, Musicals and Movies of the past 12 months.

In no small part, my worldview and happiness were enhanced by seeing four great Springsteen shows (including a phenomenal pair at Wrigley Field) and awesome concerts by the likes of Neil Young, Elvis Costello and the Who, as well as The Hives, Dinosaur Jr. and Willie Nile. I saw sensational renditions of musicals such as Les Miserables, Sunday in the Park with George and The Book of Mormon, but also relished taking in a number of inspiring community theater productions. I saw actors like Nathan Lane, Brian Dennehy and Diane Lane live on stage without having to leave Chicago. I took a deep dive into documentaries, watching 80 different ones, and also truly explored Charlie Chaplin for the first time ever, watching nearly all of his major films. I went to some Cubs games, several Sox games and even a Cubs/Sox game.

Although I didn't get a chance to travel far in 2012, I nonetheless valued what I saw and did in places like Detroit, Davenport, Louisville, Urbana, Milwaukee and Lake Geneva. 

If you want some measure of my year, primarily as a spectator, I put up this gratuitous post (mainly for my own documentation) of 2012 By The Numbers.

But for a bit more illustrative look back at 2012, I went through my photo files from this year and of more than 59,000 photos taken, I compiled the gallery below. Some I picked because I really liked the photo itself, others for the place or activity they represent. Even with 52 photos--I'll do a "page break" after the first 5--it's not meant as a comprehensive summary of my year, but more so a celebration of some things I did and enjoyed. And while my photos rarely include personal acquaintances, many of them are innately included in this "Snapshot of 2012."

All photos by Seth Arkin. Copyright 2012. Please do not re-use without attribution, and preferably permission.

Amidst my Charlie Chaplin exploration, I went to Chicago's old Essanay Studios, where he shot one movie in
late 1914 or early 1915 in what is now an auditorium bearing his name and likeness at St. Augustine College.
Click to see a piece I wrote on Modern Times and a follow-up on my Chaplin foray.

In March, I went to Medieval Times for the first time. It was quite a knight.

I never actually bought anything at Evanston's longstanding Bookman's Alley, but always liked that it existed.
It doesn't anymore, having shut its doors sometime in mid-2012.

Like the Rolling Stones did in 1964, my friend Dave and I ventured to 2120 S. Michigan Ave.,
home of Chess Records' primary studios and now, Willie Dixon's Blues Heaven Foundation.

Speaking of classic recording studios, on an April trip to Detroit for a Springsteen show, I once again visited
the Motown Museum. I was quite interested in learning about the Funk Brothers, who played on hundreds of hits.

The Best of 2012: The Best New Movies I Saw

The greatest challenge, for me, in ranking the Best Movies of a given year, at the end of that year, is a matter of time.

By this, I don’t mean—primarily—the difficulty of comparing a film I saw literally minutes ago with one I watched in early January. Certainly, faltering recollect can be an issue, but I rate all movies in a database shortly after seeing them and refer to those ratings when making a list such as this.

But more problematic is trying to figure out which movies should be eligible for consideration. For instance, the film that is topping many Best of 2012 critics lists—Zero Dark Thirty—won’t be released in Chicago until early 2013. I haven’t seen it and can’t put it on my 2012 list, but am I going to remember that it should, presumably, be on the Best of 2013 list?

Basically, for my purposes, the year of Chicago release—and not just at a film festival—is what I go by, rather than the calendar year criteria used by most professional critics and the Academy Awards. So foreign films—including three that were 2011 Academy Award nominees—that opened in Chicago in 2012 are fair game.

Of course, confusing matters even more is that although I saw about 50 new releases in 2012—out of 280 total films that I watched—I certainly don’t presume to have seen every worthwhile new movie from this year. And while some of the ones I missed were films I had adequate chance to catch in a theater, or even perhaps on DVD, others were pictures that may have only played for a week or two at the Music Box or Century Centre Cinema.

So what all this mishegas adds up to is my need to precede my primary Best Movies of 2012 lists with a couple of other lists.

2011 Movies seen in 2012 that could have made my Best Movies of 2011 list:
Take Shelter, The Ides of March, Drive, 50/50, Terri, In A Better World (F), Incendies (F), The Help, The Interrupters (D), Sing Your Song (D), Bill Cunningham New York (D), Bobby Fisher Against the World (D)

Notable 2012 Movies Not Seen (first 2 not released in Chicago)
Zero Dark Thirty, Amour, The Sessions, The Master, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Holy Motors, Cloud Atlas, End of Watch, Sister, Prometheus, Hitchcock, The Deep Blue Sea, Your Sister's Sister, Rust and Bone, Killer Joe, Premium Rush

The Best New Movies I Saw in 2012
(F) = Foreign Film; (D) = Documentary

1. A Separation (F)

2. Argo

3. Monsieur Lazhar (F)

4. The Kid with a Bike (F)

5. Flight

6. Les Miserables

7. Moonrise Kingdom

8. Skyfall

9. The Impossible

10. Arbitrage

11. Life of Pi

12. Jiro Dreams of Sushi (D)

13. Bernie

14. The Imposter (D)

15. Safety Not Guaranteed

16. Silver Linings Playbook

17. Ted

18. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (F)
 
19. Looper

20. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Honorable Mention

The Dark Knight Rises
Footnote (F)
Hell and Back Again (D)
Marley (D)
Lincoln
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
The Queen of Versailles (D)
The Amazing Spider-Man
Django Unchained
Haywire
Safe House
Chronicle
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
The Avengers
The Bourne Legacy
The Hunger Games
Compliance
Shut Up and Play the Hits (D)
Bully (D)

Other 2012 Films Seen

Jack Reacher, Killing Them Softly, Seven Psychopaths, 21 Jump Street, The Vow, Dark Shadows, The Dictator, Underworld Awakening, Total Recall, Rock of Ages, Goon

My Friend Dave’s Top 12

Like me, Dave saw plenty of movies in 2012, both new and old, but notes that The Master, Skyfall, The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises, The Hobbit, Les Miserables and Zero Dark Thirty are among those he has not seen. His top pick is a movie that opened in Chicago in fall 2011, but had such a short and limited release that he didn't hear of it until after it was gone and only came to see it in 2012.

1) Margaret
2) A Separation
3) Argo
4) The Kid with a Bike
5) Silver Linings Playbook
6) Moonrise Kingdom
7) Django Unchained
8) Bernie
9) Killing Them Softly
10) Looper
11) The Perks of Being a Wallflower
12) Compliance

The Best of 2012: The Best Musicals I Saw on Stage (i.e. the best productions)

In a year that didn’t include any trips to New York or London, and therefore no 4-shows-in-3-days clusters, 27 seems like a good number of musicals to have seen on stage.

And though this included few brand new musicals—excepting two World Premieres (Kinky Boots, Hero) and a recent Broadway-bound creation (Bring It On)—12 shows were ones I saw for the first time, while the other 15 were new productions of musicals I’ve long liked (or at least had seen before).

Of the repeats, five done at the community theater or college level were more satisfying than some elaborate Broadway in Chicago touring productions.

My biggest musical disappointment of 2012 was American Idiot, based on the Green Day album of the same name. I love the band, I love the album, I love the songs, but I thoroughly disliked what I perceived as a mish-mash of a musical without any narrative structure. (You can see my review of it here, and of Bring It On here.) I won’t bother telling you about the other musicals I didn’t much like, but below are the ones I did.

I always like to note that I am really ranking the productions I saw, not necessarily the musicals themselves. But whereas the runner-up on my list was an absolutely sensational rendition of one of my all-time favorite musicals, it lost out to an outstanding production of a show I like even better. So some unscientific blend of source musical and specific production come into play in ranking The Best Musicals of 2012, from among those I saw on stage:

1. Les Misérables – Broadway in Chicago (my review)

2. Sunday in the Park with George – Chicago Shakespeare Theatre (my review)

3. The Book of Mormon – Broadway in Chicago (my review)

4. Jersey Boys – Broadway in Chicago (my review)

5. Kinky Boots – Broadway in Chicago (World Premiere) (my review)

6. A Chorus Line – Paramount Theatre, Aurora (my review)

7. South Pacific – Broadway in Chicago (my review)

8. Show Boat – Lyric Opera of Chicago (my review)

9. Hairspray – Drury Lane Oakbrook (my review)

10. Singin’ in the Rain – Drury Lane Oakbrook (my review)

Honorable Mention (in preference order)

- Sister Act – Broadway in Chicago (my review)
- Fela! – Broadway in Chicago (my review)
- Hero – Marriott Theatre, Lincolnshire (World Premiere) (my review)
- A Little Night Music – Village Theatre, Glen Ellyn (my review)
- Spring Awakening – Northwestern University (my blog post)
- Brigadoon – Starlight Theatre, Wilmette (my blog post)
- Woody Sez – Northlight Theatre (my review)
- My One and Only – Marriott Theatre, Lincolnshire (my review)
- Dr. Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas – Broadway in Chicago (my review)
- Legally Blonde – Devonshire Playhouse, Skokie 
- The Producers – North Shore Theater of Wilmette (my blog post)

The Best of 2012: The Best Concerts I Attended

It makes sense that I would like most concerts I attend, especially because at this point, there are very few artists I am inspired to check out for a first time. Seeing live acts whose music I like and who have previously impressed me in concert, leads—not so surprisingly—to a pretty high percentage of shows I’d deem “great” or better.

Still, it is pretty gratifying as I look back on a year in which I attended 36 concerts, that I rated 10 of them @@@@@, 11 more @@@@1/2 and another 9 @@@@. That makes for 30 of 36 shows that I really liked, with the handful of lesser ones including free festival performances and a Merle Haggard gig that was impeded by audio issues at the awful Congress Theater.

In fact, the only concert that truly disappointed me in full—i.e. beyond wishing some different songs were played and/or the pacing was a bit better—was one by Madonna. You can read my review of that show here, but I was actually anticipating it to be good as I had seen and liked her three previous times.

There was only one artist I saw multiple times in 2012, and the four shows by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band would, honestly, hold down the top four slots on my list below. But rather than have the Boss monopolize 40% of the top 10, I’ll group all four of his shows as #1. However, that still leaves 17 gigs that I gave @@@@@ or @@@@1/2 vying for the nine remaining berths before Honorable Mention. And all I have to really separate them at this point is my eroding memory. So know that everyone listed below up to and including Dinosaur Jr. could easily be considered a Top 10 concert.

And even some of the acts toward the bottom of this Best of 2012 list may have made a case for Top 10 status if but for a few small adjustments. Radiohead and Wilco should have sprinkled a few poppier selections into their setlists; Prince shouldn’t have kept the United Center house lights off for 45 minutes after his set ended, then played “1999” and “Little Red Corvette” after most people left (me included) after the lights came up; and I would’ve liked the always great Garbage even more if it weren’t for my discomfort in the jam-packed and sweltering Metro.

I won’t include Tributosauras—who I saw do Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers—below, even though I really enjoyed their show at Skokie’s Backlot Bash, and I suspect I liked the Rev. Al Green a bit more from the lawn at Ravinia than pavilion dwellers have shared. But everyone else here not only belongs on my Best Concerts of 2012 list, but perhaps even a bit higher than I ranked them.

Note: I will cite opening acts in cases where I enjoyed them in their own right, but my rankings are based solely on the performance of the headliner. All venues are in Chicago area except as noted.

1. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band – September 7 – Wrigley Field (my review)
Also, September 8 – Wrigley Field, April 12 – Palace of Auburn Hills (my review), November 3 – KFC Yum! Center, Louisville (my review).

2. Coldplay – August 8 – United Center (my review)
This surprises me, too, but they were unsuspectingly fantastic.

3. Elvis Costello and the Imposters – September 15 – BMO Harris Bank Pavilion, Milwaukee (my review)
Opening act Willy Porter was also terrific.

4. Neil Young and Crazy Horse – October 11 – United Center (my review)

5. Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators – September 28 – Riviera Theatre (my review)
Another show that pleasantly surprised me by being as great as it was. Opening band Foxy Shazam was the strangest act I’ve ever seen, but surprisingly tuneful too. Another opener, The Lovehammers, were also good.

6. The Killers – December 21 – UIC Pavilion (my review)
I also really liked opening act Tegan and Sara

7. The Who – November 29 – Allstate Arena (my review)

8. Willie Nile – April 28 – Fitzgerald’s (my review)
Nile was backed by the Nicholas Tremulis Orchestra, who also opened the show

9. The Hives – June 30 – The Vic (my review)

10. The Beach Boys – May 22 – Chicago Theatre (my review)

Honorable Mention (in preference order)

- System of a Down – August 15 – Allstate Arena (my review)
- Peter Gabriel – September 27 – United Center (my review)
- Red Hot Chili Peppers – May 28 – Allstate Arena (my review)
- Maximo Park – September 17 – Schubas (my review)

- Roger Waters – June 8 – Wrigley Field (my review)
- Aerosmith with Cheap Trick – June 22 – United Center (my review)
- Dinosaur Jr. – June 23 – Green Music Fest (my review)
- Weezer – July 27 – The Venue at Horseshoe Casino (my review)
- The Zombies – July 31 – Viper Alley (my review)
- Van Halen – April 1 – Allstate Arena (my review)
- Radiohead – June 10 – First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre (my review)
- Wilco – July 3 – Adler Theatre, Davenport, IA (my review)
- Prince – September 24 – United Center (my review)
- Smashing Pumpkins – October 19 – Allstate Arena (my review)
- Garbage – August 7 – Metro (my review)

The Best of 2012: The Best Plays I Saw

To be candid, it can be a challenge for me to stay focused—or even awake—throughout an 80-minute play. So it’s especially impressive that of the 18 non-musical productions I saw onstage in 2012, all in the Chicago area, my favorite one was nearly 5 hours in length.

Not that I would have minded if Eugene O’Neill had figured out how to make The Iceman Cometh just as compelling in half the time, but it was certainly a pleasure to see the epic play performed by a splendid cast at Goodman Theatre, including the marvelous Nathan Lane, Brian Dennehy, Stephen Ouimette and others.

It is also rather gratifying that I liked and would recommend 17 of the 18 plays I saw this year, bestowing @@@@1/2 (out of 5) to the top 5 on my list below and @@@@ to 10 others. Besides the 15 I cite here, I also enjoyed I Love Lucy: Live on Stage, which wasn’t so much a play as an enactment of two classic teleplays, and Black Pearl Sings, a two-woman show at Northlight that had a good amount of singing but really couldn’t be considered a musical.

The only play I truly didn’t like in 2012 was Camino Real, a non-linear work by the great Tennessee Williams, which had many patrons exiting the Goodman Theatre early. I stuck it out, primarily to justify giving it the worst review I’ve given anything on Seth Saith.

Fortunately, that was the only stinker in an otherwise stellar year at the Goodman, where I have long been a subscriber.

A couple of the biggest revelations of the year were 33 Variations, a play that wove a biographical study of Beethoven around a family drama, and an excellent world premiere staging of The Book Thief by Steppenwolf for Young Adults. In bringing Markus Zusak’s novel to life through an adaptation by Heidi Stillman, the fine cast led by Francis Guinan and Rae Gray created a truly first-rate drama.

Before providing my list of the Best Plays of 2012, I should note that I am really ranking the productions I saw, not necessarily the plays themselves. While many of the works are of fairly recent vintage, this should not be construed as a ranking of the best new non-musical stage works, but merely a list running down my favorites from the 18 plays I saw this year.

1. The Iceman Cometh – Goodman Theatre (my review)
written by Tennessee Williams; directed by Robert Falls

2. 33 Variations – TimeLine Theatre (my review)
written by Moisés Kauffman; directed by Nick Bowling

3. War Horse – Broadway in Chicago (my review)
written by Nick Stafford; directed by Bijan Sheibani

4. The Cripple of Inishmaan - Redtwist Theatre (my review)
written by Martin McDonagh; directed by Kimberly Senior

5. The Book Thief - Steppenwolf Theatre (my review)
written by Heidi Stillman; directed by Hallie Gordon

6. Metamorphoses - Lookingglass Theatre (my review)
written and directed by Mary Zimmerman

7. Sweet Bird of Youth - Goodman Theatre (my review)
written by Tennessee Williams; directed by David Cromer

8. Race - Goodman Theatre (my review)
written by David Mamet; directed by Chuck Smith

9. After the Revolution - Next Theatre (my review)
written by Amy Herzog; directed by Kimberly Senior

10. Good People - Steppenwolf Theatre (my review)
written by David Lindsay-Abaire; directed by K. Todd Freeman


Honorable Mention

Black Watch - Chicago Shakespeare Theatre/National Theatre of Scotland (my review)
written by Gregory Burke; directed by John Tiffany

The Odd Couple - Northlight Theatre (my review)
written by Neil Simon; directed by BJ Jones

Freud’s Last Session - Mercury Theatre (my review)
written by Mark St. Germain; directed by Tyler Marchant

Broken Glass - Redtwist Theatre (my review)
written by Arthur Miller; directed by Michael Colucci & Jan Ellen Graves

The School For Lies - Chicago Shakespeare Theatre (my review)
written by David Ives; directed by Barbara Gaines

The Best of 2012: The Best Albums I Heard

2012 was once again a year in which I didn’t hear much in the way of newly recorded music that changed my life.

Or even substantially enhanced it.

This is not for lack of trying.

There are few things that I want more than to discover new music that I find invigorating. Toward that end, I bought at least a couple dozen albums in 2012—either in physical or digital form—and listened to many more via Spotify. I regularly perused reviews from Rolling Stone, AllMusic.com, Metacritic and various newspapers, magazines and websites. I checked out best sellers and new releases on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. I paid attention to who played at Lollapalooza, Pitchfork, Bonnaroo, Coachella and other festivals, even streaming much of them on YouTube. I watched a lot of live gigs on Palladia. And I read numerous Best of 2012 opinions, both mid-year editions and especially of late.

Based on all this, I have sampled a lot of new music, at least within styles I tend to like. And between releases by cherished favorites—Smashing Pumpkins, Green Day, Garbage, Alejandro Escovedo, Dinosaur Jr., Bob Dylan, Soundgarden, Rush, Jack White and more—as well as newer bands oft cited as releasing stellar albums in 2012—Fun., Tame Impala, Japandroids, Howler, Divine Fits, The Lumineers, Titus Andronicus—there has been very little that, especially across an entire album, has made me go “Wow!”

Yes, there have been some decent albums and enjoyable songs, but for me, a truly great album is one that I come back to again and again—upon its initial release or my discovery, but also in years to come.

Looking back now at my picks for the Best Albums of 2011 and 2010, the above criteria has really only applied to my top pick in 2011 (Adele – 21) and perhaps just half of my top 10 in 2010.

And while I genuinely enjoy all the albums I cite below to some extent, at this point I suspect only my top 2 picks will prove to have shelf life in my musical universe. So you may wish to listen on Spotify before buying any of them.

But without any further ado, these are the albums I liked best in 2012:

1. Maxïmo Park – The National Health
I feel somewhat sheepish about awarding the top slot to a band so little known in America, but other folks’ Best Albums of 2012 lists are full of artists with which I’m not familiar. Maxïmo Park’s 2005 debut, A Certain Trigger, still ranks as my favorite album of the ’00s and after a couple lesser ones, I thoroughly enjoy The National Health from start to finish. (Spotify link)

2. Bruce Springsteen – Wrecking Ball
It says a lot about The Boss that I like at least 10 of his previous albums better than this one, yet I still think it’s an excellent record with interesting sounds and a lot to say. (Spotify link)

3. The Hives – Lex Hives
They may not be the buzz band they once were, but the Swedish band continues to produce infectious, Ramones-like rapid fire rock songs. And Lex Hives is full of them. (Spotify link)

4. Paul Weller – Sonik Kicks
The Modfather has been on quite a hot streak in the 21st Century, with Sonik Kicks his 6th stellar studio album of the millennium. (Spotify link)

5. Kelly Hogan – I Like to Keep Myself in Pain
A longtime bartender at Chicago’s Hideout, Hogan proved captivating in an opening set for Wilco in Davenport in July, and though her album doesn’t scale Adele-like heights, she’s an impressive vocalist in a somewhat similar vein. (Spotify link)

6. Susanna Hoffs – Someday
The Bangle beauty showcases strong songwriting throughout her latest solo album. (Spotify link)

7. Neil Young – Psychedelic Pill
With a 27 minute song to open the album and two others clocking in over 16:00, this new work with Crazy Horse isn’t easy to listen to—in full—while driving. But two of the epics, “Ramada Inn” and “Walk Like a Giant” are among the album’s best songs, and there’s more than enough here to remind why Neil Young is one of the greatest rock artists of all-time.

8. Taylor Swift – Red
I’ve never cared about Swift’s romantic melodramas and subsequent musical salvos, but I find her to be one of the few present day musical artists to actually possess impressive artistry. Red showcases a rather impressive range of songwriting and singing styles. (Spotify link)

9. Bob Mould – Silver Age
According to reviews, I was supposed to like Mould’s new album as much as 1993’s great Copper Blue, released with Sugar. I don’t, but he fell short of past glories a bit more satisfyingly than did the Smashing Pumpkins, Green Day, Soundgarden, Garbage and others I had high hopes for. (Spotify link)

10. Japandroids – Celebration Rock
In listening to a lot of artists cited in other Best Album of 2012 lists, the Japandroids seem to be the best of what I’ve heard. The guitar buzz created by the Vancouver duo admittedly fits into my sweet spot, though so far I like their sound more than their songcraft. (Spotify link)

Honorable Mention

Leonard Cohen – Old Ideas (Spotify link) 
Bob Dylan – Tempest (Spotify link)
Dinosaur Jr. – I Bet on Sky (Spotify link)
The Killers – Battle Born (Spotify link)
Van Halen – A Different Kind of Truth (Spotify link)
Slash with Myles Kennedy & the Conspirators – Apocalyptic Love (Spotify link)

Highly worthwhile live albums/DVDs

Blur - Parklive (Spotify link) 
Led Zeppelin – Celebration Day