Tracks of my years
Prince—“1999” (from 1999)—Predictable, but come on, this is the perfect New Year’s jam! We’ll still be dancing to it in 2099, by which time we’ll have a Prince clone to keep the party going.
Fleetwood Mac—“Don’t Stop” (from Rumours)—Look to the future, people! We’ve got a brand new decade ahead, so think hard about how you want to fill that blank slate.
James Brown—“Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine” (from Sex Machine)—Get on up! Shake your moneymaker! Hit it and quit it! Obey the Godfather of Soul and your final moments of 2009 cannot go wrong. Now, take us to the bridge!
Parachute—“The New Year” (from Losing Sleep)—A year ago these local pop-rock exports played this timely tune in Times Square. In 2010 they’ll be hitting the road with Kelly Clarkson and kicking back on VH1’s “Best Cruise Ever.” We’re jealous…but proud, too.
Otis Redding and Carla Thomas—“New Year’s Resolution” (from King & Queen) —What resolutions are you making this year? Take Otis and Carla’s advice and go for something realistic: “Let’s make promises that we can keep,” they sing on this Memphis soul classic.
Drunk Tigers—“Winter Party” (from Three-Song Demo)—This is what a local New Year’s throw-down should sound like: messy, melodic and unabashedly rocking.
The Zombies—“This Will Be Our Year” (from Odessey and Oracle)—It’s been a long year, but let’s summon up some ’60s optimism and look at 2010 as our time to shine. You will land that new job. Everyone will get affordable healthcare. Our economy will recover. All right, go get ’em!
The Beach Boys or Jimi Hendrix and the Band of Gypsys—“Auld Lang Syne” (from Rarities / Live at the Fillmore East)—We’ll let you pick between the sublime surfer dude approach or the unhinged guitar-melting method for ringing in the new year.
D.B.B. Plays Cups—“Go Out On A High Note” (from Sequel to Cups)—The final song on local eccentric musician David Baker Benson’s second album is the perfect depiction of those final wistful moments of a fading party—and a fading year.
Paul Curreri—“Tomorrow We’ll Wake Again” (from Songs for Devon Sproule)—This is a soothing ditty to throw on once the champagne bottles are empty and every last piece of confetti has hit the floor. Put off cleaning until the morning and drift into some sweet 2010 dreams.—John Ruscher
What to watch besides the ball
“Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve”
10pm, ABC
I will not belabor the point that Dick Clark—who has only partially (though admirably) recovered from the stroke he suffered years ago—should really step down from his annual New Year’s hosting duties. I know he’s been doing it since God was in shortpants, but it’s just uncomfortable to watch at this point, even though he’s largely marginalized while lapdog Ryan Seacrest oversees the proceedings. And that’s uncomfortable for a whole different reason, one that smells faintly of douche. Seacrest will be joined by “Bachelorette”/”Dancing With the Stars” runner-up Melissa Rycroft as a special correspondent, plus musical guests Daughtry (set to perform four songs live) and Jennifer Lopez (who will “sing” her “hits” “live”) in Times Square, plus remote numbers from Black Eyed Peas, Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber and Robin Thicke, all gigging it up in Vegas.
“NBC’s New Year’s Eve with Carson Daly”
10pm, NBC
The cautionary tale that is Carson Daly (the two-fold warning being: don’t date Tara Reid, and that you really should eat a hamburger now and again) presides over NBC’s coverage of the New York City ball drop. Hearkening back to his salad days at MTV, Daly will bring in big-name musical guests like Rihanna and Green Day to perform. And somewhat quizzically, there will also be a number by the current Broadway cast of Hair. Which was set in the 1970s. And revived in March of last year. And so is not even really remotely relevant to 2010, so far as I can tell. But that’s NBC for you. I guess the cast of Hello, Dolly! was busy.
“New Year’s Eve Live with Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin”
11pm, CNN
CNN came up with a good thing last year by pairing silver-fox news anchor Cooper and brash comedian Griffin. Together they spiced up the NYE pro-ceedings considerably, like when Griffin inadvertently outed Cooper with the now-classic line, “I don’t go down to your job and knock the dicks out of your mouth.” In Griffin’s defense, Coop was getting awfully swishy at that point, and it was funny. (And almost certainly true.) Thankfully CNN ignored the minor uproar that ensued and brought Griffin back, and this time has added former boy-bander Lance Bass, who will be reporting on the action in Vegas. I can’t imagine a gayer trio than Griffin, Cooper and Princess Frostylocks. This should be good.
“Billboard’s New Year’s Eve Live!”
11pm, Fox
This youth-skewing special is hosted by, per the official site, “world-renowned entertainer Carmen Electra.” Now that you’ve had a good laugh, prepare for another one: The musical line-up includes the most recent “American Idol” winner, Kris Allen (whose post-“Idol” career has been totally overshadowed by his controversy-baiting runner-up, Adam Lambert), plus “AI8” also-ran Allison Iraheta (whose album totally bombed) and irritating dancehall artist Sean Kingston, who is legitimately popular, although I cannot figure out why.—Eric Rezsnyak
Click here to return to the FEATURE
