Though I like to read them, I’m not one for writing year-end lists. Honestly, I have a hard time remembering what I did last week, let alone months ago. But off the top of my head here are 21 thoughts for the year 2021…….

Let’s jump right in with my Spotify wrapped for 2021. Sure they screw artists like myself but streaming brings me so much joy I cannot stay angry with our robot overlords for this injustice. It’s like having a library on my phone. Last year I spent 54,721 minutes listening to Spotify, which puts me in the top 7% of listeners in the USA. My mood defined by my music selections was described as “Boisterous and Hopeful.” Considering we are still in the middle of a global pandemic, that’s either nice or I’m delusional.

I listened to 1,010 different artists across 76 different genres. This seems like a lot but when you boil it down to my top five, I basically like songs with 3 chords played in 4/4 time recorded with varying degrees of distortion and tempo. 1) Classic Rock 2) Power Pop 3) Alternative Country 4) Blues Rock 5) Heartland Rock. That’s pretty sad, really. And what is Heartland Rock other than just Johnny Cougar?

I cannot argue with my top five artists, though I am surprised Lindsey Buckingham didn’t make this list. I went to see him a few months ago and went on a deep Lindsey dive. In fact I put together a pretty sweet playlist along with my review of the show, both of which you can get by clicking here. Top five artists: 1) The Rolling Stones 2) Cheap Trick (duh) 3) The Beatles (?) 4) Creedence Clearwater Revivial 5) The Mavericks. One and two make sense but I’m mildly surprised by #3-5. I did see both John Fogerty and The Mavericks last year so maybe the hidden spyware loaded in my covid vaccine sent Spotify bonus points for actually attending the shows. More on The Beatles later. Click here for my review of The Mavericks.

I was in the top  99.99% listening to The Rolling Stones for 2,669 minutes in 2021. Eat your heart out, Jim Johnson. I also got the Tattoo You box set for Christmas. Click here for my thoughts on Steve Jordan replacing Charlie Watts, before we knew how sick he was. RIP Charlie. 

Ok, I have to admit, though these are supposedly completely objective numbers, the top 100 songs always seem a little fishy. I completely buy at least two Cheap Trick songs in my top five, but any Paul Stanley solo song other than “Wouldn’t You Like To Know Me” seems like a stretch. I did give Paul’s latest record a favorable review in 2021, but it’s not like I wore it out. Click here for the story and my best headline of 2021.

My Top Five Songs According to Spotify: “Light Up The Fire,” “Boys and Girls and Rock n Roll,” “Another World” (all by Cheap Trick) , “Fortunate Son” (CCR) and “Why Oh Why” (Paul Stanley). Hmmmm. There is no hiding from the fact this is a pretty weak top five. It gets better with a quick glance through the next ten songs with The Mavericks, Lindsey B, The Connells, Teenage Fanclub and The Dirty Knobs mixed in with more Cheap Trick and new Watershed. 

My top five podcasts confirm what is becoming painfully obvious by this point; I’m a shallow and uninteresting person. 1) Bill Simmons Podcast 2) Boxing with Chris Mannix 3) The Sports Reporters 4) Ryan Russillo Podcast 5) Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History. I suppose the boxing and history podcasts add a little flare to my intellectual resume. Other favorites include: Rivals, Broken Record, The Daily, Unspooled, Music Exists, Cheap Talk with Trick Chat and 1991: The Year AOR Ate Itself. 

I swear I do read books all the time, though I can’t remember exactly what. Right now I’m reading Tinderbox - The Oral History of HBO and some Alice Munro short story collections. My news sources are NPR, The Washington Post, Apple News, CNBC, NYT, Columbus Business First, The Ringer, Five Thirty Eight, Pencilstorm and InfoWars. The Athletic is by far my favorite website and if you are a sports fan and do not subscribe to this I pity you. I also subscribe to newsletters from Bob Leftetz, Dan Rafael, and Will Leitch. So much content, so little time.

Get Back - The Beatles. Wow. It is perhaps both the most tedious and the greatest thing I have ever seen at the same time. If I ever decide to read Moby Dick I imagine it would be a similar experience. Painful in the moment but rewarding when finished. Being a musician who has made records I can tell you first hand this is exactly how it is done. There are no shortcuts. Even The Beatles fumble about trying to get songs together. It’s tough to watch but I couldn’t stop watching. 

I was struck by how much the guys still liked each other. Sure, Paul could be annoying but he was the only person driving the train. It’s not cool to like the boss.  And John never disagreed with Paul, he let Paul do his thing; even when Macca would disrespect George, John never stepped in to defend George. As Paul said in the famous flower pot scene, “We both know you are the leader of the band, nothing happens without the approval of John Lennon.” John doesn’t argue with him. And when Paul has the opportunity to throw Yoko under the bus he doesn’t do it. 

And boy, they are a great band. Even messing around playing Chuck Berry and Hank Williams songs they sound like The Beatles. As in awesome. The vocals are always stunning and Ringo is a total pro. Never offers opinions, shows up on time and doesn’t complain when others are late. He knows this is a sweet gig and he doesn’t want to lose it. George doesn’t quite feel the same and who can blame him? When the band are struggling for new material he offers up “All Things Must Pass” which is promptly ignored by Paul & John who instead decide it might be a better idea to revisit songs they wrote together when they were 15 years old than work on this future classic George song. Ouch.

2021 also saw the release of McCartney 3-2-1 featuring Rick Rubin and Sir Paul listening to different tracks recorded by Paul through the years. Before Get Back, this was the coolest Beatles thing I had ever seen. It literally brought tears to my eyes a couple of times. If you aren’t ready for Get Back, give this a try to get things started. Each episode is just 30 minutes long so it’s not a tough road. Or put in book terms. 3-2-1 = Harry Potter, Get Back = Lord of the Rings.

I never read Lord of the Rings. Held it in my hands once at an airport, looked at all those words and said, “easy, nerds.” Picked up Harry Potter and thought, “This looks manageable.”

Colin’s Coffee survived another year of the pandemic. Worked lots of hours and mopped lots of floors but feel very lucky to have a place to go. Trying to keep everyone safe, we have removed all chairs from the shop and stayed with a to go only policy. While this bothers folks who want to camp inside for hours nursing a small decaf, it’s the most responsible policy considering the public health threat we are all facing. We don’t run you right out the door, but no sitting inside. And our staff has remained and will remain masked for now and maybe forever. What is the downside? Obviously I’m very happy to be vaxxed x 2 and boosted. Bought a new espresso machine that cost $3,000 more than my car, which is either a compliment to the new machine or an indictment of my gently-used 1999 Lexus, depending on your perspective. Also, on Halloween someone smashed our 20-foot window and stole our cash box. We still have the rock. Dude had a big arm.  All fixed now.

Watershed played a big blowout show and live-streamed the whole event thanks to CD 92.9. It was fun to do a set with Pooch and Dave Masica. (click here for review from JCE.) We also returned to The Loft to visit our pal Tim Patalan with hopes of a new Watershed album in 2022. It’s an 8-month wait just to get a record pressed, so chop chop. 

Speaking of Dave Masica, Herb’s job moved him to California in March, throwing 10 years of rehearsal with The Lonely Bones and The Bowlers out the window. It was a tough blow but that’s the reality of us older rock n rollers. Life happens and you just have to figure it out. In this case, Dave had remarried and his health had improved to the point he was ready to play drums again. I’m really happy for him to have this opportunity. So while I miss Herb, it’s great to see Catman back on the skins. The Bowlers have been rehearsing like crazy and now know upwards for 60 songs. Sounding good. Real good. Next gig is Day Drinking at Woodlands Tavern Sunday, February 6th, at 4 pm. 

The Buckeye football squad may have ended the season finally getting their comeuppance from the Team Up North (much to Jeremy’s enjoyment), but they started 2021 whipping the ever loving shit out of Dabo Swinney and the Clemson Tigers. That was fun.

My favorite professional athlete Joey Votto had a comeback season at the ripe old age of 38 including a historic home run streak.  

My all-time favorite athlete in any sport is my son Owen Gawel who has missed the last two high school basketball seasons with two different ankle injuries, endured literally hundreds of hours of rehab without ever complaining and is back on the court for his senior season at Upper Arlington. The only thing I wanted for Christmas was seeing Owen not on crutches for the first time since December 2019, and I got it. 

Watching his grit and determination has been an inspiration to me to improve as a person and a parent. This season I’m reminding myself what I learned as a musician and small business owner, but is easy to forget sitting in the stands watching your son do what he loves: It’s not about winning and losing. You cannot control the outcome no matter how badly you want to. Crappy bands sell millions of records and great bands flounder. That’s the way it goes. It’s the journey not the blah blah blah…..the ONLY two things you have control over are your effort and your attitude.  

How many thoughts is that anyway? Got to be close to 21. At any rate, that’s plenty. Happy New Year and thanks for reading Pencilstorm. 

Colin Gawel plays solo, and in the bands Colin & the Bowlers and Watershed. He wrote this at Colin’s Coffee.