Bob Dylan performed at the MCI Center Nov. 15. (AP Photo)

I'll admit from the get-go that putting together a list of the year's best music is a silly game that music writers love to play. I'm no different so I've listed my picks below. But this year we'd like you to play along, too. Submit your picks for the best and worst music of the year. Please keep it to 200 words or less; we'll post new reader responses regularly.

Okay, I'll go first. This was an impressive year for live music in the Washington area. Among the many standout concerts were shows by Bob Dylan at MCI, the White Stripes at the Black Cat, Alejandro Escovedo at Iota, Air at the 9:30 and Lucinda Williams at Wolf Trap. I'm still kicking myself for missing U2 at MCI and Sigur Ros at the 9:30, but on the whole I was mostly happy with the 90 or so live shows I did see. So, here are my picks.

Best concerts:
1. Mos Def at Howard University Feb. 10. Progressive hip-hop's most consistently interesting and entertaining figure was at the top of his game.
2. George Jones at the Patriot Center April 6. Not because it was flawless, but because, well, it was George Jones.
3. Femi Kuti at the 9:30 Nov. 4. Kuti's potent mix of Afropop and politics would have made his late father, the great Nigerian bandleader Fela Kuti, proud.
4. Danielson Famile at Metro Cafe March 12. Rock's strangest band displayed all of its magnificent weirdness.
5. Neko Case at Iota Oct 7. Even on a Sunday afternoon, the gifted country singer drew a nearly full house for a brilliant show.

Worst concerts:
1. United We Stand at RFK Stadium Oct. 21. It's hard to ruin a concert for a good cause, but Michael Jackson and ABC were in charge, so blame them both for this debacle.
2. David Gray at Constitution Hall May 5. Gray's blahs give me the blues.
3. Badly Drawn Boy at the 9:30 May 3. A boring mess. Damon Gough is gifted but his sloppy shtick grows old fast.
4. Tori Amos at Constitution Hall Oct. 6. And her appeal is what exactly?
5. I'll stop here before I get in any more trouble.

Best CDs (A baker's dozen in no particular order):
1. The White Stripes "White Blood Cells" (Sympathy for the Record Industry)
Combustible modern blues, straight out of Detroit.
2. Lucinda Williams "Essence" (Lost Highway)
Williams redefines sad on this heartbreakingly good album.
3. George Strait "The Road Less Traveled" (MCA Nashville)
Strait-forward country cool from the Texas singer.
4. System of a Down "Toxicity" (American)
Rocks so hard. Sounds so smart.
5. The Shins "Oh, Inverted World" (Sub Pop)
Beautiful shimmering pop with an indie-rock sensibility.
6. The Coup "Party Music" (75 Ark)
Furious and funky hip-hop for rebels, renegades and radicals.
7. Bob Dylan "Love and Theft" (Columbia)
A powerful argument against any who thought he was past his prime.
8. Modest Mouse "Everywhere and His Nasty Parlour Tricks" (Epic)
Bewildering, yet endlessly fascinating songs from the Seattle rockers.
9. John Mellencamp "Cuttin' Heads" (Columbia)
Johnny Cougar's best record in years.
10. Fugazi "The Argument" (Dischord)
No, not just because the band's from here. This is a great record even by Fugazi standards.
11. The Danielson Famile "Fetch the Compass Kids" (Secretly Canadian)
Strange (make that very strange), wonderful rock with a spiritual core.
12. De La Soul "AOI:Bionix" (Tommy Boy)
Part 2 of the band's Art Official Intelligence trilogy, this is a treasure of clever rhymes and soulful beats.
13. Alejandro Escovedo "A Man Under the Influence" (Bloodshot Records)
Love songs, tragic and triumphant, beautiful and doomed.

Worst CDs:
There were plenty of bad CDs released this year. Why give them any more attention?

CD I can't stop listening to since Sept. 11:
The Flaming Lips album "The Soft Bulletin" came out in 1999, but for some reason so many of the songs on this brilliant record seem to resonate more in our post-All That world.

Now it's your turn. Submit your picks for the year's best and worst music.

Reader responses:

DC: Best Shows --
Bebel Gilberto/Cesaria Evora - Wolf Trap
Julie Dexter - Blues Alley
Sade - Nissan Pavilion
Patrick De Santos & Louis Scherr - Bohemian
Caverns

Worst Shows --
??

Best Albums --
"Calle 54" soundtrack
"Experience" - Jill Scott
"Sao Vincente" - Cesaria Evora

Worst Albums --
anything by Britney Spears, NSYNC, P.Diddy & other such crap artists

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Heavenly on Capitol Hill: Best Shows:

TOOL, MCI Center, October 5
Pete Yorn, 9:30 Club, November 26
PJ Harvey, 9:30 Club, September 10
U2, MCI Center, June 14
The Sheila Divine, Avalon (in Boston), October 27

Best CDs:

"Lateralus" TOOL
"musicforthemorningafter" & "Live at the Roxy" Pete Yorn
"Gold" Ryan Adams
"Where Have My Countrymen Gone" The Sheila Divine
"Satellite Rides" Old 97s
"Welcoming Home the Astronauts" (both versions) Flickerstick
"Bleed American" (now self-titled post 9/11) Jimmy Eat World
"Weezer (green album)" Weezer
"The Golden Hum" Remy Zero
"JJ72" JJ72

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baltimore, md: best concert/show:Le tigre and the Butchies at the black cat

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Washington DC: Deep Dish: Yoshiesque 2

Nuff said...

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Arlington, VA: A few picks - bands I like, yeah, but these are ones with stand-alone live experiences:

Magnetic Fields at 9:30. Audience mesmerized by this acoustic set.
Blonde Redhead at Black Cat. DC seems to have caught onto the fact that this band rocks live and attendance at their shows is progressively higher...
Kristin Hersh at Iota. Her newest CD is definitely worth a listen, but live, really an experience. This is one intense and gutsy woman.

Worst shows:
Sigur Ros. Geez-o-pete, what's with the hype? Listen to it at home as background music if you will, but what an endurance test. I've never been out on my feet at any show before, and I have a pretty good attention span even on a weeknight.

Query: Did you attend the Tori Amos show? Because you don't offer any grounds for your slam... personally, I like her music, and here's one facet of the appeal: her classical training comes through in her music. Much as I love indie rock, it isn't known for its virtuosos. I'm surprised anyone with "purist" inclinations wouldn't recognize that she's pretty good...

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Washington D.C.: Best Shows-

The Strokes: 9:30 Club
Spiritualized: 9:30 Club
Weezer/Tenacious D: 9:30
David Sedaris/Sarah Vowell: Lisner Auditorium

Best CD's-

The Strokes - Is This It?
Travis - The Invisible Band
Spiritualized - Let it Come Down
Weezer - The green album
Macy Gray - The ID
Gorillaz - Gorillaz
Soundtrack - O'Brother Where Art Thou?
Pulp - We Love Life
Ryan Adams - Gold
Whiskeytown - Pneumonia
Johnny Cash - Solitary Man
Stephen Malkmus - Stephen Malkmus

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U Street NW: Best Cd's
1. Bjork, Vespertine
2. Tori Amos, Strange Little Girls
3. Garbage, Beautiful Garbage
4. Emm Gryner, Girl Versions
5. Kristin Hersh, Sunny Border Blue
6. Suzanne Vega, Songs in Red and Gray
7. Curve, Gift
8. Stereolab, Sounddust
9.No Doubt, Rock Steady
10. New Order, Get Ready

The very best concert was P. J. Harvey at the 9:30 club on 9/10. Stereolab and Quasi also at the 9:30 club was a close second.

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Washington, DC: Best/Worst Music

Best Concert:
Deep Dish - buzz (Nation). DC's boys have returned with a residency at buzz and are pushing the limits of electronica and deep soulful house.

St. Germain - 9:30. Absolutely incredible.

Madonna - MCI. An overproduced glitz-fest. It was exactly what we all knew it would be and we loved it.

Best Album:
The Politics of Sound (Scott Henry). Another DC boy who is creating a new sound in progressive house. The driving beats in tracks 2-6 blow you away.

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runawaycorpse in DC: Best Sounds:

1. The Shins - Oh, Inverted World
2. Superchunk - Here's to Shutting Up
3. Markus Guentner - In Moll
4. Sigur Ros - Svefn-G-Englar (just the single, the album is a snoozer and I realize that it didn't really come out in 2001, but that's when the hype hit us and I first heard it)
5. Making your own music, at home, it's the best - DO IT,NOW!

Best Shows:

1. Modest Mouse and The Shins - Black Cat
2. Cry Baby Cry - Velvet Lounge
3. Calexico - Black Cat
4. The Shins (headlining)- Black Cat
5. The guy with the harmonica and cymbal outside the liquor store at the corner of Q St. and Connecticut
6. Tarbox Ramblers - Iota

Worst:

1. Somebody PLEASE ban the Gypsy Kings, forever.
2. Somebody stop the Rolling Stones, NOW!
3. The fact that I heard some young guy say, "How's George Harrison anyway?", I cried.

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Las Vegas, NV: Best concert I saw this year was Aerosmith at MGM on August 18, 2001. Tyler & Perry still have the energy of 20 somethings on stage. Also, they seemed to get the new stuff out of the way quickly, so they could concentrate on their older, and in my opinion, better material. Of course, being a 40 something myself and having lived in the Boston area (home of Aerosmith members)I am somewhat biased.

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Arlington, VA: Best shows
1. Stephen Malkmus at 9:30 in March, November
2. Magnetic Fields at 9:30 in April
3. Rainer Maria at Black Cat in September

Bad shows:
1. Oasis, Black Crowes in June at Merriweather
2. Radiohead's non-shows in August

Best CD's
1. Stephen Malkmus - s/t
2. The Strokes - Is This It?
3. Radiohead - Amnesiac

Bad CD's
1. Creed - anything they've ever released
2. Britney Simpson Aguilera
3. Did I mention how bad Creed is?

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Adams Morgan, DC: FAB shows:

Dismemberment Plan at Ft. Reno
Fugazi at Ft. Reno

Fab CD's:

Fugazi "The Argument"
Burning Airlines "Identikit"
Dismemberment Plan "Change"
Bootleg Series, Vol. 1: The Quine Tapes

Worst:

WHFS

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N. Arlington, VA: Best Shows:
U2, MCI - still energetic and inspiring after all these years.
U2, Baltimore Arena, Oct. 19 - not as long or good as at MCI, but still moving and appropriate after 9/11, lots of compassion expressed by the band
Go-Go's, 9:30 - So much better live than on the CD, and SO much fun!
Lyle Lovett (sans His Large Band) - Birchmere Nov. 20 - kind of like a VH1 Storytellers show. He is amazing, funny, and an incredible musician.

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DC: Best Shows:
Trey Anastasio, Merriweather Post
Oysterhead, Constitution Hall
Widespread Panic, Merriweather Post

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Silver Spring, MD:
Best concert: Catherine Wheel at 9:30 club
Worst concert: didn't really see a bad one, including David Gray, which was pretty good.

Best CDs: Gorillaz, Spiritualized, The Strokes
Worst CDs: Bare Naked Ladies greatest hits (blame the wife on that one)

CDs I can't stop...: Public Enemy's "Apocalypse '91", The Strokes

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Alexandria, VA: Best Shows:
Travis - 9:30 Club
PJ Harvey - 9:30 Club
U2 - MCI
David Gray - Constitution Hall

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Manassas, VA: Best Shows :
U2 - Elevation Tour - 6/14(MCI), 6/15(MCI), and 10/19(Balto Arena) - what can i say...i love that band

Travis - 930 - October 6(?) - a great live band, such a happy show, i smiled the entire show, and the whole day after(tho a lot more highschoolers than i had remembered at prev shows)

Ranier Maria - Black Cat - February 10?? - check em out..they rule

Monkees - July - Wolftrap - hey hey, they're the monkees..who doesn't like the monkees??

Worst Shows:

David Gray - May 5 - I past up going to see U2 in Pittsburgh for this show...i'm still kicking myself..i dont' think i've seen a more boring show

Guided By Voices/Strokes - Black Cat - February(can't recall the date) - the Strokes ruled the school...GBV bored me to death..i wasn't amused watching old men get intoxicated on stage

Stereophonics - 930 - Some saturday in February - Maybe it was because i had the flu, or maybe it was because they were playing an acoustic set...either way..they all out sucked it live!

I didn't buy many albums this year...so no opinion on that

best post 9/11 album:
U2 - All That You Can't Leave Behind...listen to the words..its erie

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DC: Best concert, bar none - U2, at the Baltimore arena in mid-October - such a small venue for such a tremendous group. Also an incredible post sept.11 vibe - everything the RFK benefit mess tried to be but was not.

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Concert Queen of DC...: Best Concerts of 2001
1. Sade at Nissan Pavilion
2. Bebel Gilberto & Cesaria Evora at Wolftrap
3. O'Jays at Essence Music Festival in N.O.
4. Ibrahim Ferrer & Buena Vista Social club at Beacon Theatre in NY
5. Buju Banton at DC Live (in a wheelchair)

Worst Concerts of 2001
1. Maxwell at Constitution Hall, simply because Alician Keyes didn't show up.

Best CDs of 2001
1. Sade - Lover's Rock
2. Maxwell - Now
3. Bilal - 1st Born Second
4. OM Lounge 5
...this is hard, because i buy more old stuff than new

Worst CDs of 2001
...i like something about all the cds i buy..I'm biased.

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arlington, va: best show of the year

wilco at the 9:30 club. intense and real. the first show i've ever been to where everyone LISTENED to the music. you could hear glasses clinking on the bar in between songs. the crowd was hanging on every word and every note. fabulous.

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this so-called blues town: By far, Marcia Ball's "Presumed Innocent" was my favorite CD of the year and has moved into my top 5 all-time. Her shows at the State Theatre were amazing! Finally, after all these years (of her playing the Birchmere), we can move our whole bodies while listening to the best blues band in the world!!!

Live show runner-up: Nields/Kennedys at the Birchmere in April. Man. They rock.
Miss Folk America, at the Somerville Theatre in Cambridge, MA. Totally worth the road trip. Truly subversive concert theater.

Other good CD's this year:
Suzanne Vega - Songs in Red & Gray
Gillian Welch - Time (the Revelator)
Whiskeytown - Pneumonia
Janine Wilson - Blue (she's local)
Americana Motel (more local)
Voices on the Verge - Live from Philadelphia
Catie Curtis - My Shirt Looks Good on You

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Richmond VA: Best show:

Ryan Adams (w/ the LAX): Played so long (3 hours +), that the 9:30 staff had to start grabbing beer bottles from people in the audience. Rough, muddy, shambolic show, with Mr. Adams in his glory.

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Salisbury, NC: Best of 2001:
-Deepcut to Nowhere-Graham Parker-Great return from the guy who never left.

-Love and Theft-Dylan-This guy could be the next Bob Dylan.

-Better Days-Continental Drifters-Power pop for 40-somethings.

-1533 St. Phillip St.-Kermit Ruffins-Next stop, New Orleans, man!.
-The Radiators-New Orleans dinosaurs who have miraculously continued to find nourishment.
-Driving Rain-Paul MCCartney-The logical successor to Band on the Run.
-The Hot 5 and Hot 7 Reissues-Louis Armstrong-...and on the 8th day, God sent Satchmo!

-Live at from the American Ballroom-Donna the Buffalo-America's best touring band.
-Creole Moon-Dr. John-Deja-vudu all over again.
-Notepad #38-Don Dixon-leftover tracks from America's most famous unknown songwriter

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Silver Spring, MD/ Adams Morgan: best album of the year: the
dismemberment plan "change"

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Cleveland Park: Best Concert--Quasi at the Black Cat

Runner up, Built to Spill, 9:30 club, the saturday night show--but only because I left as they started playing Free Bird.

Musician I haven't listened to since 9-11:
PJ Harvey--Up until the all new material, five song encore it was an amazing show. But all the next day her electric, melencholy songs of cities, skies, and New York became forever blended with the news coming from the master city.

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West Haven, CT: Best Show: Only saw one this year -- Jay Farrar at Iron Horse in Northampton, MA. Sitting in w/ him on this acoustic set was Mark Spencer of Blood Oranges. Solid offerings of tunes from Sebastopol.

Best Albums:
Dylan: Love and Theft
Lloyd Cole: The Negatives
Jay Farrar: Sebastopol
Gillian Welch: Time (The Revelator)
Shelby Lynne: Love, Shelby

White Stripes: hmmm? I get it but don't see the point after a couple of listens; softer stuff sounds like throwaway Kinks.

Worst Albums:
Robert Earl Keen: Gravitational Forces (should have stopped after Gringo Honeymoon)

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Silver Spring, MD: Best shows:
Jeff Tweedy, 9:30 Club
Great Big Sea, Baltimore's Artscape
Beausoleil, Wolf Trap

Best CDs:
Jay Farrar, Sebastopol
Ryan Adams, Gold
Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros, Global a Go-Go
Stephen Malkmus, Stephen Malkmus
The Strokes, Is This It
O Brother, Where Art Thou?

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Virginia: Things that brightened my musical life this year:

Dismemberment Plan, Change
The D'Plan do not stop rocking.
Radiohead, Amnesiac
Just when you thought they couldn't get any cooler.
Bjork, Vespertine
Strikingly beautiful.
Built to Spill at 9:30 Club
The opening act was unbearable, but it was a small price to pay for seeing one of the most talented and innovative bands around.
Blonde Redhead at the Black Cat
The chemistry, the tension, the magic. Blonde Redhead will never cease to amaze me.
Dismemberment plan and Q and not U at Ft. Reno
Great venue, and the people were so cool. Two very enjoyable shows.
Sigur Ros- Perfect for sunday drives and rainy days.
Tenacious D, Tenacious D
The prospect of a Breeders reunion

Biggest disappointments:

Weezer- green album. Mary-Kate and Ashley did a cover of "Island in the Sun." I am so ashamed.
HFStival. at least i didn't pay for it. But Tenacious D rocked my socks off!
Radiohead at Bull Run. Sitting for hours in the car, soaking wet, and then going to Red Lobster after losing all hope and declaring Radiohead to be "the worst band ever"

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Germantown, MD: Best CD for me this year is really a "best of" album: Eva Cassidy's, "Songbird." Many locals in MD/DC/VA area are familar with this voice. But the sound of her beautiful voice was a first for me this year. I remember heading to a book store one evening on Rockville pike and stopping in the music section. I came to her album on a listening station and decided to give it a hear. I stood there mesmerized and listened to the entire album. I couldn't stop. Such a beautiful, sweet, and powerful set of songs song by an amazing gifted voice. Definitely check out her cover of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." It weaves magic. And sadly I found out from the liner notes that she passed away, and I immediately felt what an amazing loss to the world. If you get a chance, give it a hear, you want be disappointed. TJA

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Herndon, VA: Best Shows:

Jeff Tweedy Solo, 9:30 Club. I love this man with Wilco, but DAMN does he do a fine job all by himself.

Spiritualized, 9:30 Club. Too damn loud, too damn meandering and a great way to wear off a drunk buzz after the drag races in Dupont.

Built to Spill, 9:30 Club. Doug is just faboo and played all the hits from yesterday and TODAY!

Best Albums:

The Strokes - This is it! I can't stop listening, its just too mindless and happy.

Worst Albums:

Anything by Creed. For the love of God, why won't someone stop that self righteous, sad sack of a human from making music!

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Arlington: Absolutely I agree that U2 was the best show in the area this year, but I'm surprised no one here has checked in to say how great Living Colour was at 9:30 this year. They can still bring it. Vernon Reid stage diving during the first song was one thing, but when Cory Glover leapt from the speaker tower to sing "Cult of Personality" from the balcony, it send shivers up my spine. As time passed, I forgot how great they are as a live band...

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Toronto On: BEST OF 2001
1 The Strokes -Is This It?
2 The White Stripes - White Blood Cells
3 Radiohead -Amnesiac
4 System Of A Down- Toxicity
5 Gorillaz
6 Bjork- Vespertine
7 Mercury Rev -All Is Dream
8 Tool -Lateralus

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Sterling, VA: Best Shows-
Travis-9:30 Club
U2-MCI Center
Pat McGee-Wolf Trapp
Flickerstick-State Theatre

Worst Shows-
Black Crowes & Oasis-Merriweather

Best CD's-
Travis-Invisible Band
U2-ATYCLB
Rubyhorse
Robbie Williams-Sing When You are Winning

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Adams Morgan, Washington D.C.: Favorite Albums:

Essence, Lucinda Williams
Trouble in Shangri-La, Stevie Nicks
Love and Theft, Bob Dylan

Favorite Shows:
Dylan, MCI (unfortunately, I missed Lucinda Williams at the 9:30 club due to the conflicting date and wanting to see Dylan)
U2, Baltimore (missed the MCI show)
and
Stevie Nicks, Merriweather Post Pavilion.

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Alexandria Virginia: Best Concerts
Nikka Costa - 9:30 Club 12/11/01

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Foggy Bottom - D.C.: Best CDs of 2001 -
where the lyrics and music matter
1. "Morning View" - Incubus
2. "Welcoming Home the Astronauts" - Flickerstick
3. "musicforthemorningafter" - Pete Yorn
4. "Odyssey #5" - Powderfinger
5. "The Clarks: Live (rereleased)" - The Clarks

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Washington, DC: "STING" performance at the MCI Center was marvelous.

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College Park MD: Best CD of the year- Ben Folds's Rockin' the Suburbs. Despite the commercial liability of the title track, an excellent, poignant look at our suburban culture- love, loss, alienation, angst, even moments of bliss appear on this album- the best of the year and the best of Fold's career. John McCrae's back up vocals on the waltz "Fred Jones Pt. 2" are worth the 12.99 alone.

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Newport News, Va.: Best Show:
The Strokes at The NorVa (Norfolk, Va.) -- An absolute blast. In a nutshell, it was 40-minutes of me hopping around like a doofus, singing the lyrics I knew, approximating the ones I didn't.

Best Records:
The Strokes "Is This It"
The Shins "Oh, Inverted World"
The Webb Brothers "Maroon"
Spoon "Girls Can Tell"
Stereolab "Sound-Dust"
The Dismemberment Plan "Change"
Pernice Brothers "The World Won't End"
Spiritualized "Let It Come Down"
Guided by Voices "Isolation Drills"

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Nowhere, DC: Best shows:
Midnight Oil at the 9:30 Club
the Ex at Lithuanian Hall in Baltimore:
These forty-somethings put on shows with more passion and driving rhythms than anyone else I saw.
Drums and Tuba at Black Cat & Iota: always incredible musicians, they keep improving as songwriters

Worst shows:
Rainer Maria at the Black Cat:lame, pretentious, boring
Badly Drawn Boy at the 9:30: I kept waiting for something truly interesting to happen in this self-indulgent endurance contest, but it never did. His contempt for the audience was the winner.

Best song of the year:
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum -- (Tonight We're Gonna Party Like It's) 1997. Savage kick-ass costume-rock.
Runner-up:
Ted Leo, St. John the Divine.

Best album:
Yann Tiersen, Amelie soundtrack. Music for a better world.

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Fort Washington, Md: Best Shows
Ozomatli at the State Theater.
Perhaps I am a bit biased as this is one of my favorite bands, but anytime they come around they rock the house. A bit odd losing Chali 2na to Jurrasic 5, but Kanetic Source did a good job. (However it was a bit odd that the lyrics to all of the old songs were changed on accoutn of this)

Ben Folds at 9:30
Never got to see the five, but this was a good show, especially after the first night was cancelled due to 9/11. Solo performance of old Ben Folds Five stuff at the end before bringing back the whole band were great.

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Singapore: Bob Dylan: Love & Theft. Best CD by a country mile.

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College Park, MD: Best shows:

The SPOON, rocking crisp as a figure-eight, and blowing the drunk, crude, and increasingly stupid Guided By Voices (and, hey, I'm a fan) off the 930 stage.

Best Records:
Gillian Welch, 'Time (the Revelator)'
Beauty Pill, 'Cigarette Girl'
Spoon, 'Girls Can Tell'
White Stripes, 'Red Blood Cells' or whatever it's called

Worst:
Listening to WHFS blows my mind. Is it possible to suck so hard that there's nothing left?

Modest Mouse. Ugh.

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Greenbelt, Maryland: Best show of 2001:
Casey Chambers at Wolf Trap as the lead act for Lucinda Williams back in May. It was like seeing a young Loretta Lynn. She had this touch of innocence that contrasted so sharply with the maturity of her words. And her dad was the lead guitarist. You think she's from West Virginia but it turns out she's from New West Wales in Australia.

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Dupont Circle: saw Rainer Maria at the Black Cat, but Ted Leo & the Pharmacists stole the show for me.

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Washington, DC: Shows that reminded me why rock is wonderful and why rock stars deserve to be worshipped:

Built to Spill - 9:30 Club
Modest Mouse - Black Cat
Ryan Adams - 9:30 Club

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Washington, DC: The best CD for this year is Mary J. Blige; and Jill Scott.

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washington, dc: Best Show:
Janet Jackson/MCI Center
Best CDs:
Isley Brothers
Maxwell

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Arlington- Wayne St.: Best Shows:
1. Sigur Ros, 9:30 Club- breathtaking, absolutely gorgeous music, even the new stuff sounded great.
2. Jimmie Eat World, 9:30 Club- they played the first 3 or 4 songs off the new album to start the show, the crowd loved it.
3. honorable mention: Weezer.

Worst Show:
1. Radiohead, Bull Run Park- after all the anticipation to get rained out both shows absolutely bit.

Best Albums:

1. Radiohead- Amnesiac
2. Sparklehorse- It's A Wonderful Life
3. Remy Zero- The Golden Hum
4. N.E.R.D.- In Search Of...
5. Weezer- Green Album
6. Gorillaz
7. The Strokes- Is This It
8. Travis- The invisible Band
9. Tool- Lateralus
10. I am sure I forgot some albums, this spots for them.

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bethesda,md: Best shows 2001
Mudhoney
Tenacous D
Cake
Tomahawk
Fantamas

Worst Show

folk implosion
Tool
U2-image of once a ok musicans
Roger Waters edgy concept that has grown tired

Best CD

Tenacious D
Fantamos Directors Cut
Pink Floyd Best of

worst
Roger Waters
In the Flesh: What is missing? Floyd perhaps

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KT in Silver Spring MD: Best Concerts:

- Doves at the 9:30 (early February with the Strokes; June with the Webb Brothers-- both concerts rocked)
- U2 at the MCI Center (June 15th-- it was a religous experience)
- Travis at the 9:30 (October 2nd-- just what I needed after 9/11)
- The Strokes at the 9:30 (October 29th with the Moldy Peaches-- Moldy Peaches almost stole the show)
- Pete Yorn at the 9:30 (November 26th-- very tight show. I was impressed)

Worst Concerts:

- Radiohead at Bull Run (August 11th and 12th-- Now I love Radiohead, but it was a real drag to get all the way down to VA and have it canceled. Ended up at Pizzeria Uno instead)
- Stereophonics at the 9:30 (September something-- totally canceled on me!)
- Charlatans at the 9:30 (September something-- another victim of terrorism)

Now I love David Gray and saw him last year at 9:30-- the Constitution Hall gig (May 5th) was ok, but just not a good venue for him. The show previous had rocked out.

Best CD's:

Turin Brakes-- "The Optimist LP"
Strokes-- "Is This It"
Basement Jaxx-- "Rooty"
Radiohead-- "Amnesiac"
Travis-- "Invisible Band"

Worst All Around:

WHFS-- amazing how a once cool and cutting edge station could become mainstream and crap. I recommed listening to XFM out of London over the Internet, then you will realize that all the cool music went overseas.

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WASHINGTON, D.C.: BEST CONCERTS, MAXWELL AND JANET JACKSON
BEST CDS ALICIA KEYS, MAXWELL, AALIYAH
WORST CONCERTS BRITNEY SPEARS (STILL LOVE YA GIRL)

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DC: KRS-ONE February-9:30
KRS-ONE October-9:30
And also managed to put the fattest hiphop album of the year...sorry J but this year it was K to the IZZO N EE
The Herbie Hancock Roy Hargrove tribute to Miles and Trane was, despite crappy seating at constitution hall and the always painful michael brecker, kicked a$$ as well

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Dupont: Best Shows:

1. U2 in baltimore on 10/19, hands down. I was at the 6/14 MCI show, and this topped it completely in emotion - Bono was phenomenal. They were all phenomenal. Definitely worth the drive and the three-hour wait in line to stand five feet from Bono and the Edge.

2. Rene Marie at Blues Alley - still amazing to me why the world doesn't know about this incredible talent yet. Best contemporary jazz singer we have going right now.

3. Patty Griffin at Birchmere - she's just amazing. Great music, great lyrics, great personality. Very entertaining show altogether.

Best album:

Since U2 actually came out last year, I can't list that, but it's a phenomenal work.

I heartily recommend Rene Marie's <i>Vertigo</i> for any jazz afficianados.

Billy Joel's <i>Fantasies and Delusions</i> is an amazing classical effort, especially for a debut album. It's a pleasure to listen to - wonderful melodies, romantic lines. Very enjoyable.

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Washington DC: Best DC shows of the year:
1. Barcelona with the Ocean Blue - Metro Cafe in March
2. Madonna at MCI center

Best Albums:
1. Barcelona: TransHuman Revolution
2. Weezer: (green album)
3. Lloyd Cole: The Negatives

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washington, dc: best concert:
PJ Harvey, 930 club, 9/10

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wdc03: all things music related that made me smile this year:

- jeff tweedy, solo at 9:30. like his days at lounge ax again. crowd did hang on every line....
- pete yorn, at 9:30 and musicforthemorningafter. some of this year's best pop rock - he's selling out shows with only one album to his name. show was tight, impressive, but set list was obviously expected.
- wilco at 9:30. and perhaps yankee hotel foxtrot - even though it hasn't -officially- been released yet...
- built to spill at 9:30. freebird. right on.
- and all things ryan adams. especially gold. takes my words away. i won't even try to write how amazing this album is...
- highlight: ryan adams and lucinda williams at the riv in chicago, 12/8.
- other honorable mentions: shelby lynne, love shelby; the white stripes, white blood cells, bob dylan, love and theft; and the 9/11 benefit show with neil young, ect...

all things music related that did not make me smile this year:

- DC RADIO. in general. stinks.
- and the strokes. i refuse to jump on that wagon. perhaps my ears are naive, but they're pretty content with everything else i've been subjecting them to...

rock on.

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Cleveland Park: Best shows: Joe Jackson at The Warner; Nields & Kennedys, John Hammond, Richard Thompson, The Flatlanders, all at the Birchmere.

Best CD's: John Hammond's Wicked Grin; Paul Cebar's Suchamuch; and John Hiatt's Tiki Bar.

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washington, dc: Best Show:
Janet Jackson/MCI Center

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Arlington, Va: Best show/CD for 2001 bar none:
St. Germain. Every song on Tourist is phenomenal. I can only hope they return in the near future.

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Alexandria: Best show(s): Will Hoge. True honest rock and roll; these guys opened for acts ranging from Of A Revolution (blah) to Midnight Oil (yeah), plus The Wallflowers and Mellencamp. Great songs, tons of energy and personality, and their first studio album came out this year, too.

Best out-of-town show was Nickel Creek and Vince Gill doing an all-bluegrass show at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. Some of the best pickers in the world, all on the stage of the Mother Church of country music.

My favorite CDs:
"Carousel", Will Hoge
"Here's Luck", Honeydogs
Nickel Creek

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Fairfax, VA: Best Shows of 2001
U2 at the MCI Center 6/15 - missing the chance to see them live ought to be a crime!

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Takoma Park, MD: Best concert - Danced my butt off at Robert Walter's 20th Congress & Charlie Hunter at the State Theatre.
Other Best Concert - Nikka Costa at 930 Club
Worst Concert - None, very selective about my tickets.
Best CD - Jazz Mandolin Project "After Dinner Jams"
Worst CD - All of the crap by pretend artists who in reality have good PR people, not talent.

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Adams Morgan: Best Albums:
Bill Frisell- Blues Dream
Bob Dylan- Love and Theft
The Avalanches- Since I Left You
Cannibal Ox- Cold Vein

Biggest Disappointment
De La Soul- Bionix
Radiohead at Bull Run. What a drag

Best Shows:
Dylan at MCI Center
Olu Dara at the Metro Cafe

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U St. DC: Best concerts--
Natalie MacMaster at the Birchmere. One concert where I wish the Birchmere let people up to dance.

Dar Williams at the 9:30 Club. I've never seen Dar give a bad show and she always has new and interesting stories to go with her songs.

Worst concert--
Dwight Yokum at Wolf Trap. Would it have killed him to address the audience? Boring and disappointing.

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Cincinnati, Oh: Best CDs: tie between Res "How I Do" and Bilal's "First Born Second"

Best Concert: Erykah Badu at Taft Theater; it was the first time came close to crying at a concert

Worst Concert: Musiq Soulchild at Taft Theater; he opened Erykah Badu and did what seemed to be a 50-minute version of his over-rated song, "Love."

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Dupont Circle: Best Concerts:

Richard Ashcroft - 9:30 Club
Guided By Voices - 9:30 Club
J Mascis w/ Mike Watt and Ron Asheton - Black Cat
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - 9:30 Club
American Analog Set - Metro Cafe
Strokes - 9:30 Club
Spiritualized - 9:30 Club
Built to Spill - 9:30 Club (Friday night)

Best New Music (that I heard)

Strokes- Is this it?
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Pete Yorn- Musicforthemorningafter
Gorillaz
White Stripes- White Blood Cells
American Analog Set- Know By Heart
Guided By Voices- Isolation Drills

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Pittsburgh, PA: Best Show - Roxy Music in NYC - Bryan Ferry is a god!

Surprise - Cousteau in Pgh - decent show! And really nice guys!

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Washington, D.C.: Best Album

Karsh Kale, Realize
six degree records

played with babaa maal at the 9:30 club

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Alexandria, VA: Best Shows
1. Tarbox Ramblers/Last Train Home, Birchmere (VA)
(it's fun to watch when the opening band outshines the main act...no slight on LTH at all, but Tarbox stole the show and had everyone moving and dancing)
2. Fidel, BBQ Battle(DC)
(surprisingly strong guitar and bass...I never thought I'd like a band that scratches!)
3. Danny Morris Band/The Grandsons, State Theatre (VA)
(all of DMB's shows are stunning to watch as those guys are fantastic musicians, but this one was especially good in this venue...we're lucky to have these guys in the local scene)
4. Seldom Scene, Barns at Wolf Trap (VA)
(it's hard to beat these guys for simple beautiful music and vocals...and this anniversary show was recorded to boot!)

Worst Shows
1. Willie Nelson & Family, Wolf Trap (VA)
(horrible show...if he didn't want to play he should've just canceled!)

Best CDs
1. The Golden Prize, Danny Morris Band
(best CD I've heard in a long time...searing guitar, and amazing drums and bass)
2. Tarbox Ramblers, Tarbox Ramblers
(brilliant mix of blues and bluegrass)
3. Essence, Lucinda Williams

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logan circle, DC: best shows:

PJ HARVEY, 930 club, 9/10
whether you dig girls or boys, she will MAKE you fall in love with her.

BJORK, radio city music hall, 10/5
you can't even fathom the beauty of her voice until you hear it live.

SLEATER KINNEY, 930 CLUB, earlier this year
some kick-ass girls right there.

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Bowie, MD: Best Concert

U2, in Washington June 15 and Philadelphia November 2
Two fantasic concerts which inspired very different emotions in the audience because of the events of September 11th. Only U2 could do it this well.

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NYC: Best albums:

Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire -- The Swimming Hour
Scott Miller -- Thus Always to Tyrants
Rufus Wainwright -- Poses
Ron Sexsmith -- Blue Boy
Sam Phillips -- Fan Dance
Kelly Hogan -- Because Iit Feel Good
Citizen Cope -- September rlease was delayed until January because of terrorist attacks
Sarah Harmer -- You Were Here
Erin McKeown -- Distillation
Nickel Creek
(the last 3 may have been released in 2000)

Best Concerts:

Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire at the Bowery Ballroom, NYC
Martha Wainwright at Mercury Lounge, NYC

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Arlington, VA: Best Albums of 2001:

Superchunk: Here's To Shutting Up
Great show at the Black Cat last month too - acoustic Superchunk?
Whiskeytown: Pneumonia
Finally here!
Ryan Adams: Gold
Incredible, followed by an incredible shambolic show at the 9:30 club...
Stateside: Twice As Gone
Also known as "The Pink Hearts," Ryan Adams backing band for his next album...
Preston School of Industry: All This Sounds Gas
Spiral Stairs wins the post-Pavement prize.

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Del Ray: Best Shows:
Tarbox Ramblers w/ Tandy at IOTA - I'd seen the TRs before before Tandy was a revelation --tremendous show
Fugazi at the 9:30 in the Spring
Wilco at the 9:30 in Sept

Best CDs:
Tandy - "Bloodroot Transcriptions"
Tommy Keene Live - "Showtunes"
Beauty Pill - Cigarrette Girl of the Future EP
Old 97s - "Satellite Rides"
Love Tractor - "The Sky at Night"

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Potomac MD: Worst show this year
Pete Yorn - 8x10. (Pete, get rid of the sequencer)

Over rated hype
Pete Yorn (Some people will follow anything)

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Arlington, VA: Best shows I saw in 2001:

Spiritualized
Dismemberment Plan
Stephen Malkmus
Metropolitan
Tenacious D
Will Oldham/Bonnie Prince Billy

Best records released in 2001:

Stephen Malkmus
Silver Jews
Bonnie Prince Billy
Calibos
Ryan Adams
Fugazi

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Fells Point: Some of the best albums. . .
Spoon "Girls Can Tell"
MiniBar "Road Movies"
Nick Lowe "The Convincer"
Anything by Calexico.

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I'm not in the United States so i can't submit show: BEST CDs
Linkin Park -- Hybrid Theory
Travis -- (cd's my friends and i didn't cathc the title)
Coldpaly -- Parachutes
Enya -- A Day Without Rain
Garbage -- Beautifull Garbage

-and al though U2's ATUCLB came out last year it still qualifies

WORST CDs
Britney Spears -- (Whatever her cd is called, do u know how painfull it is having to sit though that entire record)
Jennifer Lopes -- J.lo (puh-lease)
Glitter Soundstrack

BEST SONGS OF THE YEAR
U2 -- Walk On; elevetion; stuck in a moment
Cold Play -- Trouble; Yellow
Staind -- It's been a while
Enya -- Only Time
Travis -- Side; Sing
Usher -- U got it bad
No Doubt -- Hey Baby
Weezer -- Island in the sun
GOrillaz -- Clint eastwood
Usher -- U got it bad

Worst SOngs
I thinks most peopl already know them

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Alexandria, VA: Worst CD: Anything by Macy Gray. What is it that the critics see in her anyway?

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Mechaniscville, MD: Best lp's:

Dylan - Love an Theft

John Hiatt - The Tiki Bar is Open, Hiatt emerrges from his slump.

Dwight Yoakum - Tomorrow's Sounds Today, and last year's dwightyoakumacoustic.net. In spite of his limited mainstream success, Dwight is no 'radio country' artist. This is the real thing (and we know that because radio won't touch it).

Alejandro Escavedo - A Man Under the Influence. Damn this guy's good.

Worst music in DC:

Anything on the radio, it's truly pathetic. With all these colleges aroung here why can't we get some decent, non-commercial music on the airwaves??

DC gets a lot of great live shows, but we really need some fresh-air radio.

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Downtown DC: Best albums of 2001:

Ryan Adams -- Gold
Cactus Patch -- Cactus Patch
Coldplay -- Parachutes
Ben Folds -- Rockin' the Suburbs
Alicia Keys -- Songs in A Minor
The Strokes -- Is This It
Pete Yorn -- musicforthemorningafter

Best shows of 2001:

Bob Dylan at MCI Center
Cactus Patch at Metro Cafe
Kenny Wayne Shepherd at Nissan Pavillion

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Tenleytown DC : Best Records:
-The Dismemberment Plan "Change", been in my cd player for over a month
-Fugazi "The Argument", proves that this band still is vital
-The Max Levine Ensemble "Cache Rules", DC ska/punk by a bunch of wiseass teens from MD
Worst Records:
-Anything played on the radio here
- Staind "Break the Cycle", what did my generation do to deserve this piddling crap?
- Weezer "The Green Album" I'm sorry, but this is really bad, they could do so better
Best Live Shows:
-The Dismemberment Plan - Fort Reno, absolutly the most majestic show I've ever seen, the Plan rocked my ass like a cradle
-Q And Not U - Fort Reno, on the hottest day of the year, the hottest band in DC rocked the park in pants, best live show yet
- The Last Wilson Center Show, aside from some horrible bands playing (ie Virginia Black Lung) Crispus Attucks, Strike Anywhere, Del Cielo, Q And Not U, and Trial by Fire saved the night, a touching tibute to a important venue

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Washington, DC: Clearly SADE's concert at nissan pavilion was the best concert of the year!!! She came back for three encores!!

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Huddersfield, England: Best CDs:
India Arie
Garbage
Saves the Day
Jimmy Eat World
Benton Falls

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Washington, D.C.: Best concerts:
Sade at Nissan Pavillion
Sting at MCI (in spite of Jill Scott's no-show)
Jill Scott at Constitution Hall
Janet Jackson at MCI
Nikka Costa last week at 9:30 Club

Best CDs:
Angie Stone
India Arie
Maxwell
Missy Elliot

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Washington, DC: Best Show-
The International Noise Conspiracy - Nov. 19 Black Cat

Best Album
Fugazi - The Argument

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takoma park, maryland: Sure, I loved The Strokes and of course Jack and Meg White Stripe, as well as these:

The Fall, "Are You Are Winner"
Lali Puna, "Scary World Theory"
Mr. Bird, "Eats Worms"
Garlic, "The Murky World of Seats"
The Zephyrs, "When the Sky Falls Down, It Falls Down on Your Head"
Camera Obscura, "Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi"
Detroit Cobras: "Life, Love and Leaving"
plus 2 great compilations: the Charlie Patton box set, and John Duffey, "Always in Style"

Best show: The Fantasy Four (Galaxy Hut)

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Bethesda, Maryland: Best Concert: The Crystal Method - 9:30
Club

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Clevalnd Park, Washington DC: Best Concert: MADONNA in Madison Square Garden in July; quite sadly, I didn't see anything this past year in DC that stands out. Pathetic social year!! How sad!

Worst Concert: Not that I went, but I am sure Britney Spears and N'Sync sucked eggs.

Really Good CDs: Nelly Furtado (sp?), surprisingly good listen from start to finish. Ditto for Train, Drops of Jupiter. Almost Famous soundtrack. Blues Traveler, Bridge. Moulin Rouge.

Bad/Disappointing CDs: Janet Jackson, JLo...

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Illadelph, PA: Cannibal Ox - Cold Vein

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richmond,va: Best concerts...
- nothing comes to richmond. Except for Patrick Phalen and occasionally -- the Dismemberment Plan.

Best albums:

Enon - the new one, crazed nyc rock band hitting beckish hightones to sultry stuff.

Pete Yorn - Music for the morning after; surprisingly good music out of Jersey. Hope he can continue the storytelling on another album

Erin McKeown - Distillation; more good things from this rhode islander. Stylish guitar licks from a 23 yo.

PJ Harvey - Songs of the City. WOW!

O Brother Soundtrack - never has bluegrass sounded so nice than on this compilation; Allison Krauss and Union station um rock.

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Arlington: Best Show--

Cake - 930 club. John McRea is clearly not a whole lotta fun, but he runs a great show.

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D.C.: Best/Worst of '01:
Best:
Gorillaz - album - good; live - the best show I've ever seen, bar none. July, Paris - big screen in front of the band live, but you never saw the players. Instead - and this only works because of the music - they play animated stuff on the screen that covered the stage - narrative-type animated shorts, imagery of colors/lights, cartoon characters based on the band members doing all sorts of strange circus/psychedelic/swirling things. The only time I've ever spent significant time staring at the audience at a show because for many of the songs images were projected out onto the public - BRILLIANT! A 360 degree experience.

Radiohead - because they are the "big" (sales) bands that actually pushes themselves into unknown territory.

Shins - agree with the virtual consensus.
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (BRMC) - for same reasons Shins "rule" - great use of rock and retro.

"Alt-country" - how can you not like Lucinda Williams - Essence; Wilco - Yankee Foxtrot Hotel (see below re: live show); Ryan Adams; Gillian Welch. Expand your horizons - rock, but relaaaaaaax.

Modest Mouse - "Everywhere...."
Elton John, Paul McCartney - VERY decent efforts (in that order).
Nick Lowe - Convincer
Clem Snide - Ghost of Fashion
Los Super Seven - Canto - not as good as the first one, but better than most "world" melanges out there.
White Stripes - because ..... because we all need to rock and not ask "why"?

Worst:
U2 - really good album, very lame tour not because they didn't entertain and play a good mix of songs but because you can get that kind of performance for 1/10th the price - do they really need to charge that much for a ticket?

Moldy Peaches - Sorry folks - you were mismatched opening for Strokes at 9:30, but you made me sick to watch.

Wilco - I don't know whether I was more annoyed by the way they sloooowed down all the songs, or that this was not mentioned in any of the press coverage of their 9:30 show (you guys at the same show?). Kudos, though, for their facilitating the release of their new material via Internet after they lost their label.

Radiohead - rainout at the Plains - 2 days in a row. I'm one of the unlucky to have also been at the Tibetan Freedom Concert several years ago where their performance was cancelled after lightening struck an audience member.

-gb

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princeton,nj: Best cd's
fugazi - The argument
The Slackers - Wasted Days
Radiohead - Amnesiac
Saves the day
Worst Cd
Live - V
What the hell was that?
Best Concerts
Radiohead - Liberty State Park, MSG, Philly
(I have a slight problem)
Leftover Crack/King Django/Slackers- the now defunct Wetlands
For The Moment - NJ

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pgh pa: best show:
fugazi: carnegie mellon university

best discs:
gillan welch/david rawlings: time the revelator
velvets: quine tapes

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SOUFWES DC: albums that worked:
-4Hero "creating patterns" EL GRANDE MASH
-jill scott, "experience..." MASHABLE
-squarepusher, single-"my red hot car" dope
-BBE Beat Generation Series (all of 'em) crucial

albums that didn't work:
-suv, "desert rose" YAWN
-far too many to mention...

live shows:
-fertile ground: pick a show, any show...
-POEM-CEES at 9:30 club: full flavor spectrum
-fishbone at 9:30 club: angelo=dust freak (in a good way)
-kornheiser radio show: hey- it is a live show...
-meshell n'degeocello at birchmere: round here jont...

bad shows:
-i can't even force myself to give gumps publicity off of their wackness...thus- fagehtabboudit.

next:
-the 5 and Dime...one-stop shopping for your live music needs.

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K, MD: Best records (in order, - = highest rating possible):

-Is This It
-Change
-Love and Theft
-White Blood Cells
Vespertine
The Argument

Biggest disappointment:

Amnesiac (really makes you wonder why they didn't put out one ~60 minute record and leave throwaways such as Like Spinning Plates and Hunting Bears as b-sides)

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Washington DC: Worst concert in dc
D-12 at the 930 club

Best Concert:

Mos Def at Howard

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Chicago, Illinois: Best CDs of the year:
Bob Dylan "Love and Theft" A masterpiece and a brillaint synthesis of his (and America's) musical roots, ranging from sweet (for Bob) sentimentality to ranging viscious blues. He has been called "a voice of every generation;" well, this is music of every genre.

Remember Shakti "Saturday in Bombay" This is a "return" of sorts by John McLaughlin of Mahavishnu Orchestra fames to the legitimate, serious Indian influences in his music. This is rapturous Indian music, spiced with McLaughlin's incredible acoustic guitar work. Because McLaughlin does not steal the spotlight, this is not a John McLaughlin CD, rather it is a true ensemble, and a breathtaking one, too.

Worst CDs of the year:
Britney Spears (and any of those other no-talent, lip-synching, cookie-cutter little twerps)- do I have to say more?

David Gray - what's all the hype about? This is dull, boring. A music tar pit.

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Rockville, MD: Best Show:
Spitkicker Tour featuring De La Soul, Talib Kweli, Hi-Tek, Common (- 9:30).

Best CD's:
New Order - Get Ready
Gorillaz
Jay Z - Blueprint
2Pac - Until the End of Time
Dungeon Family - Even in Darkness

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choctaw, ok: Best Cd-Love and Theft hands down....

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Arlington, VA: Best shows:

Equation, way up in Hagerstown--got to see Kate Rusby at Iota last year, and this was EVEN BETTER.

OK, yeah, the Go-gos at 930. That rocked.

Best CD:

dunno if it's a 2001 release, but I've been listening to Sarah Azzara on the jukebox at my bar. Excellent stuff. Hope she makes another.

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Rhode Island Ave, NW, D.C.: Best CD's: I make no apologies for my love of r&b/hip-hop/soul with a little bit of pop thrown in. Having said that the Best CD's of 2001: Aaliyah-Aaliyah; Destiny's Child-Survivor; Mary J. Blige-No More Drama; Jay-Z-The Blueprint; Faith Evans-Faithfully; Lil Mo'-Based on a True Story; DMX-The Great Depression; Petey Pablo-Diary of a Sinner Pt.1; Missy Elliott-Miss E, So Addictive; Jakdakiss-Kiss the Game Goodbye;Kelly Price-One Family, A Christmas Album; Jill Scott-Experience; and last but not least, Mariah Carey-Glitter. I am not a Mariah fan, but her remakes of classic r&b tunes and a couple of new slow songs are on point!
Worst of 2001: Destiny's Child-8 Days of Christmas; made me remember why I didn't like them in the first place; Angie Martinez-Up Close & Personal,great dj in NYC, worst female rapper ever; Foxy Brown-Broken Silence, one great cut, the rest is garbage. I can't remember anything else as bad or I must have blocked it out of my memory.

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San Diego. California: Best album of the year was Love and Theft by Bob Dylan. Head and shoulders above the current crop of trivial junk.

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JDogg, Alexandria, VA: Best Acts -

Green Day at the WHFStival
Aerosmith at United We Stand

Best CDs -

Shakira - "Laundry Service"
Moulin Rouge - Soundtrack

Best Video -

Anything with Britney Spears set on mute

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Sterling, VA: Best CDs I've heard this year but not necessarily released this year

Amy Correia - Carnival Love
Patti Griffiths - Flaming Red
Lucinda Williams - Essence
Paul McCartney - Driving Rain
Bill Kirchen - Tied to the Wheel
Equation - Hazy Days
Glimmer - Kim Richey

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Clifton Forge, VA: Best Concert:
The Residents at Harper's Ferry

Best Albums:

-Life's Halt/What Happens Next? (split)
Start Something
-Bjork
Vespertine
-Tenacious D
Tenacious D
-Fugazi
The Argument

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Fairfax, VA: Best Concerts:
Dwight Yoakam at Wolf Trap - finally caught him and he is even more amazing live.
Duke Robillard at the State Theatre - Coco Montoya opened the show, you can't find two finer guitarists.

Best Albums:
Dwight Yoakam - Tomorrow's Sounds Today - Not his best, but the best country out there.
Jimmy Smith - Dot Com Blues - A legend still kickin.

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Richmond, VA: Best CD's of the year:
The Damned- Grave Disorder
Tenacious D- Tenacious D
Daft Punk- Discovery
Gorillaz- Gorillaz

Best Live:
The Damned at the Black Cat in late October.

Worst CD:
Anything by Creed, Limp Bizkit, etc.

Worst Live:
Everyone at the Concert for New York (I'm looking at you Paul M.) with the exception of David Bowie and the Who.

Worst of 2001:
The deaths of Joey Ramone and George Harrison.

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Alexandria VA: Best concerts:
Joe Jackson at the Warner; U2 at MCI in June and Notre Dame, IN Oct 10

One I wished I hadn't missed:
Bjork anywhere she played

Soothing to listen to since Sept 11 (though not new)
Bjork's Selma Songs; U2 ATYCLB; Talking Heads greatest hits; Saw Doctors Songs from Sun St

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Burke, VA: Best CD - Yuma House "Future Perfect" (local popsters make great, scruffy noise)

Best show - Burning Airlines - Black Cat - Wasn't a fan before the show, now I'm hooked. J. Robbins has invented something we should all pay attention to.

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PH in VA: Best shows were:
(1) U2 -MCI - Even with all the political views Bono was spewing, they still rock. When Edge hits the first strings to "Bad" and Adam follows with the simple bass - just awesome.
(2) Jimmy Buffett - Greensboro, NC in Feb. and Nissan in Sept. - I don't care if you see any show, his are by far the most fun - would be better if you left the drunken high-schoolers home though.
(3) Alison Krauss - Wolf Trap - Soothing mellow Bluegrass - nuff said
Worst? Too picky with who I go see to go to a bad show

CD's
Best: U2 "ATYCLB" - The new Ozzy has it's moments - plus many more to mention all

Worst: see "worst" above.

Best song since 09/11 - an old classic by Bob Marley "One Love"

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Washington, DC:

"Tuff Luck" by the Dangertones (Dangertunz)
"All the Things I Got" is about the bluesiest thing to hit the streets in a long time; and Deana Bogarts feature keyboards on "Swinging Back and Forth" really hit a groove. A great new band - local flavor, national appeal!

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Burtonsville, Maryland: Best Albums: Who is Jill Scott and Experience: Jill Scott, No More Drama by Mary J Blige, Songs in A Minor by Alicia Keys, Everyday by Dave Matthews Band

Best Show at MCI Center: Family Values Tour

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Germantown, MD: Best Shows: Marilyn Manson, Tom Petty, Aerosmith- all - Nissan. Linkin Park -MCI

Worst Shows: Ozzy/Black Sabbath-he is way too old to even think he is still scary. Retire buddy! Train - Baltimore Arena-put me to sleep, need to work on live performance

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Memphis, TN: Best CDs:
Maxwell
Janet Jackson

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Md girl in college down south: Best performances:

- Incubus at hfstival... made me cry

- OAR w. virginia coalition - ziggys in Winston salem NC.... they can Jam. in the middle of every song they just broke it down..

-keb mo at wolftrap.... another guy who just put me in awe of his skills ....

worst concerts:
-five for fighting at ziggy's in winston salem nc.... oh my god.... please make him stop. never have i seen so much fake emotion in my life.

best cd's:

Pully.... new band all over college radio check em out.

charlitans UK.... also all over college radio

linkin park ...before they became commercialized

worst cd's;

i swear if i hear that nickelback song anymore i'm gonna scream.. it was good the first couple times but now it's SOO worn out.

incubus morning view.. what happend?? where'd the hard incubus go that we know and love??

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Washington D.C: The best show and C.D for the year 2001 are Janet Jackson both show and C.D and Jill Scott both live C.D and show and Sade I love
all my black women in music. These are my pick.

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Kensington, Maryland: I guess he's not as recognizable when he' s not leading Dire Straits but Mark Knopfler's show at Constitution Hall in April showed he still has a lot of creativity and can still crank out the beginning of Money for Nothing. That guitar intro is something that needs to be heard live to truly appreciate. Romeo and Juliet never sounded so good.

Sailing to Philadelphia was one of his better solo works.

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Smithsburg, MD: Best concert of the year - Eric Clapton at
the MCI Center.

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College Park, Maryland: Tenacious D and Weezer was hands-down the best concert that I have ever attended. It was Dec. 9th (I had to drive up to Baltimore Arena), but I'm still humming the tunes from it.

Jack Black is hysterical and Weezer has a perfect niche between punk and mainstream. I would have paid the admission price for either of these bands alone. Seeing them together was just awesome.

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Washington, DC: Best CDs:
Various-Studio One Roots
Big Youth-Natty Universal Dread
Various-Darker Than Blue: Soul From Jamdown
Burning Spear-Spear Burning

Best Shows:
Sugar Minnot at Crossroads
Spiritualized at 9:30
PJ Harvey at 9:30

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dc: Best Shows:

Bob Dylan - MCI
Fugazi - Ft. Reno

Best cd:
Fugazi - The Argument
Runner up: Fugazi - Furniture

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Bridgeport, PA: Best CDs: I think Bush's "Golden State" and Rollins Band "Nice" should be on a list somewhere

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Washington, DC: Best CDs:
1. Les Savy Fav - Go Forth
2. Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - Tyranny of Distance
3. Guided By Voices - Isolation Drills
4. Toulouse - New Points New Lines
5. The Shins - Oh, Inverted World
6. Dismemberment Plan - Change

Best Performances:
1. Les Savy Fav - The Black Cat
2. Guided By Voices - 9:30 Club
3. The Cynics - The Metro
4. The Factory Incident - The Black Cat
5. The Strokes - 9:30 Club
6. Q & Not U - Fort Reno

Worst stuff? Sigur Ros. Ugh.

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McLean, VA: The best CD of 2001 was Suzanne Vega's "Songs in Red and Gray."

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Arlington, Va: Best CD-Andrea Bocelli, blind and bearded with a great tenor voice, every girl's dream. Best concert, although not in Dc, Harry Connick Jr. still a wunkerkind at 35, my parents who have never been to a concert swore he's the best musician who ever lived. But for the ears, I'd have to agree with em.

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Fairfax, VA: Best CD's

Juniper Lane - don't know title
CarbonLeaf - Echo
Jay Z - Unplugged
N.E.R.D. - about time Asian Producers break into the mainstream

Best Concert

Without a doubt SADE at Nissan Pavillion

Worst CD's

David Gray - overhyped
Nsync - their playing on urban stations now? Geesh....what's the world coming to?
Mariah Carey - Glitter....can she do anything new? What happened to her voice?

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Falls Church VA: Best Shows:
Madonna
BB King

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Alexandria, VA: Tori Amos as worst concert? Are you SERIOUS? I was there and it was amazing! Rarely....very rarely does an artist achieve the intimacy that Amos does with her audience whether it's just her and a piano or her and a whole band. Her rendition of 'Over the Rainbow' was completely heart breaking and beautiful. Also, she played things from her entire career (including the ill-thought of Y Kant Tori Rede days) I'll tell you what her appeal is....she was honest and open long before it was popular, she continues to expand and stretch her musical boundries with every single album. She also is socially aware and conscious about women's issues with out having to scream and yell. Her appeal is apparent and perhaps you should give her half a chance.

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Arlington, Va.: Best CD
Spoon -- "Girls Can Tell"

Best performance
Rose Polenzani -- Iota Club & Cafe

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Dupont Circle/Adams Morgan, Washington DC: Best album: ohGr - wElt
Skinny Puppy on laughing gas. Absolutely brilliant. A incredible high point in a mostly disappointing year.

Best album that someone who listens to mainstream radio would know of: Gorillaz.

Biggest disapointment: Garbage - beautifulgarbage.
I used to really love this band...

The "what's the fuss all about" award. Theivery Corporation - The Mirror Conspiracy. I just don't get it. I really just don't.

Best Single: VNV Nation - Genesis (c92 version)
Bombastic, with a rhythm that carries one along, and lyrics that are inspirational but not cheesy or repetitive. The only flaw with this song is that the original version doesn't come anywhere close to the power of the c92 version.

If there is any fairness in the world, VNV Nation will hit it big within the next two years. They're just that good.

Best mainstream single: Gorillaz - "CLint Eastwood" with a close second to DMX's "Who We Be" (though I half suspect I like the DMX track so much only because it borrows its structure so heavily from Nitzer Ebb's "Join In The Chant").

Best concert: Covenant at The Cage.
Close seconds to VNV Nation at Nation, oHgr at the Cage, and the Cruxshadows at the Cage.

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NW: Best Concerts:

Victoria Williams, at Iota August 11
Steve Earl at 9:30 Club January 24
Ryan Adams at 9:30 Club October 12 (Damn he puts on a killer show!)

Worst Concerts:

David Gray at Constitution Hall, May 5(I agree, totally boring!)
Last Train Home at Iota December 15 (I know you guys seem to love these guys and I did give want to give them a chance but I think they just an irritating bar band that does an occasional decent cover.)

Best cd's:

Lucinda Williams, Essence
Old 97's, Satelite Rides
Whiskeytown, Pneumonia
Varnaline, Songs in a Northern Sky

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Crofton, MD: Best albums:

Radiohead, Amnesiac (yes, it's been said, but it needs to be said again)

David Byrne, Look Into The Eyeball
Skilled, funky, intelligent, disparate, and surprisingly -catchy- songs.

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Baltimore, Maryland: Best Concert- Social Distortion 9:30 Club Still Punk after all these years.

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Herndon VA: Best shows:
Soulive - 9:30 club
String Cheese - WolfTrap
Roy Hargrove - Blues Alley

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Chocolate City, Mt.Pleasantville: Ear friendly 2--2=

Tarwater-Not The Wheel
StereoLab-Sound Dust
Bjork-Vespertime
StereoTotal-Musique Automatique
The White Stripes-White Blood Cells
Dymaxion-4+3=39.21
The Dandy Warholes-13 Tales From...

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Arlington, VA: Best Concerts
Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals-Constituion Hall
Jack Johnson-Iota

Best CD
'musicforthemorningafter'-Pete Yorn

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Raleigh, NC: BEst CD's

Rodney Crowell: Houston Kid
Patty Loveless: Mountain Soul
Lucinda Williams: Essence
Buddy Miller: Cruel Moon

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