Poker Face

In the realm of music, Lady Gaga took the nation by storm in 2009. By coincidence her hit song describes Obama's successful strategy for moving health care reform through Congress this past year, especially during this past summer.

Sweetheart Taylor Swift reportedly was the biggest seller of 2009 when you combine sales via downloads and bricks & mortar. I'd like to think Kanye West went onstage with Swift when she was receiving an award in order to get her more publicity, which the brouhaha did, in an act which reminded me of when Derek Zoolander went onstage to accept a fashion award which in fact Hansel had won. Not exactly the same thing and the latter took place in a movie, but that's what came to mind. Obviously Kanye doesn't care what people think. No doubt he lost a few fans when he opined on live TV that Bush hates black people (In reference to Hurricane Katrina). (Yes I'm taking all of January to reminisce about 2009).

Also in 2009 we had the French band Phoenix's album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. The band's vocalist Thomas Mars is married to Sophia Coppola and the two had a baby in 2009. (Sophia's brother Roman made a great movie CQ starring Jeremy Davies which is set in France and contains lots of wonderful French '60s pop music. The Coppola family tree.)

Some of my favorite tunes that came out in 2009 include "Percussion Gun" by White Rabbits (Missouri by way of Brooklyn), "Mykonos" by Fleet Foxes (from Seattle), and "Cheerleader" by Grizzly Bear (Brooklyn). It was strange spending my time in 2009 as a cheerleader for the President of the United States and arguing against unrealistic critics. I didn't really like Bill Clinton as President, although his work getting the government to budget surpluses certainly helped out his Democratic successor. So credit where it's due.