Ten Best Musical Moments of 2010

(The D Man, Rizzo, and Rip prepare for Sun Kil Moon)

Music is a private and communal experience. In 2010, The D Man, as always, enjoyed great musical moments in solitude and with others. These were the ten best.

• 10. Enjoying Fallon's spot-on version of "Pants on the Ground" as Neil Young.
• 9. Listening to LCD Soundsystem's "Pow Pow" with Rizzo and Schwarzy on the Vegas Strip.
• 8. Hearing "M79," live, two times in the same year.
• 7. Watching Conan O'Brien play "Freebird" with Will Ferrell and company during his last Tonight Show.
• 6. Listening to Beach House's Teen Dream while driving on the Pacific Coast highway after a great day at Lego Land.
• 5. Hitting the high notes on "Is There A Ghost" during the Band of Horses show.
• 4. Listening to Declaration of Dependence at least thirty times all the way through. Listening to the same while bringing my third son home from the hospital.
• 3. Introducing High Violet to Viwe Xozwa, my (much darker) South African counterpart, during a beautiful autumn drive in the mountains.
• 2. Attending the Sufjan Stevens concert, and specifically, experiencing the 30-minute existential catharsis of "Impossible Soul."
• 1. Watching Mark Kozelek play in my brother's backyard, and listening to "Salvador Sanchez" under the late-summer night sky.