Judging by how fast tickets for The Shins' and Iron and Wine's two night stands sold out, everyone loves their schmindie. So, as a public service announcement, I'm compiling some schmindie-related news stories in one neat post.

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It's a war of words between Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips and Win Butler of The Arcade Fire. Who wins? Gossip fans like us.

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The Canadian indie pop group The Arcade Fire has signed on to score the new movie from the producer of Donnie Darko. The Box is based on the short story "Button, Button" by Richard Matheson and stars Cameron Diaz and is produced by Richard Kelly.

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2007 was the first year I really got into shooting live music. Its a great form of photography that you cannot fully apreciate until you have shot it. Every show is a challenge. You often cannot be sure of how much time you will have, lighting conditions, how many other photographers are shooting, where you will be able to shoot from, etc.

That being said, I have seen countless amazing Live shots from our talented NW Photogs. I decided to include five shots from other photographers and five of my personal favorites I shot from the past year. Aww the memories. In no particular order...

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I normally listen to music while driving/riding my bike/working. During any of these activities, my mixes are super random and I'm a big fan of Shuffle mode on the iPod.

Instead of listing off albums, I decided to share ten of my favorites songs from 2007, both local or otherwise. It was a great year for music, one that expanded my musical tastes. Attending festivals and shows to shoot photos exposed me to some bands I would never have known otherwise, ones that are now in constant rotation.

In no particular order (and with photos I've taken this year, where applicable):

The Arcade Fire - "Antichrist Television Blues"

Brother Ali -"Walking Away"

Japanther -"River Phoenix"

The Lonesome Rhodes - "Sunshine"

Siberian - "Belgian Beers and Catholic Girls"

Mewithoutyou - "Messes of Men"

Andrew Bird - "Imitosis"

J Tillman - "Steel on Steel"

Kevin Drew - "TBTF"

One Be Lo - "Gray"

Every December I go through over 80 albums and try to codify them some way. Though it may take until after Christmas before my final top list (and mix cd) is ready, my favorite albums of the year are always fairly obvious to me by now. These are the ones that meant the most to me.

Top NW Albums

1) Grand Archives - s/t
2) Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
3) Menomena - Friend & Foe
4) Tullycraft - Every Scene Needs A Center
5) Shake Some Action - s/t
6) Blitzen Trapper - Wild Mountain Nation
7) The Cave Singers - Invitation Songs
8) Welcome - Sirs
9) Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank
10) Awesome - Beehive Sessions
11) Carolyn Mark - Nothing Is Free
12) Grand Hallway - Yes Is The Answer
13) The New Pornographers - Challengers
14) Ghost Stories - Quixoticism
15) The Shins - Wincing the Night Away

Overall Top 10 Albums of 2007

1) Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
2) Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
3) Emma Pollock - Watch The Fireworks
4) Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala
5) Feist - The Reminder
6) Menomena - Friend & Foe
7) Blonde Redhead - 23
8) Shellac - Excellent Italian Greyhound
9) Apostle Of Hustle - National Anthem Of Nowhere
10) Radiohead - In Rainbows

It's a wonderful annual tradition: The kind folks at Merge Records put together a fine trunk of goods perfect for the holiday giving and they auction them off in the name of charity.

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OK folks, figure this one out ...

The Arcade Fire are telling us "Be oNline B October 6th".

I didn't know being a music fan was so rapidly becoming cryptography ... 

Today the blogosphere is all abuzz that a couple of members of the Arcade Fire made their way into the studio audience of a taping of the Price is Right.

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http://arcadefiremighthavestolenbasketball.blogspot.com is still up.

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