With a quarter of a century behind us, we POmpous and OPinionated types have gone back to the well to haul up the usual buckets of blather and bile. While the world around us rages, we 26 would-be music critics prattle on, sharing our self-important musical observations with one another and exercising our Constitutional right to bear snark . After America got its ass kicked first by Sandy the Storm and then Sandy Hook the Elementary School, sometimes it’s the trivial stuff that keeps us keeping on. Sort of like a National Trifle Association. If you are among the already…

Dear Poopster Shoot off the fireworks. Pop a bottle of your best champagne. Bang a gong. Get it on. It’s the silver anniversary of POOP: our 25th annual rite of self-important pontification. Perhaps a deluxe edition is called for, with bonus lists. After a year marked by the tsunami in Japan, tornadoes in Joplin, an economy in the crapper, and a Republican field that might as well be called the Committee To Re-Elect Barack Obama, it’s time to kick 2011 to the curb. And what better way to do that than to bloviate about our favorite music of an otherwise…

January 2011 In a year marked by the earthquake in Haiti, Elvis-impersonating Chilean miners and the end of Lost, we are reminded that in the greater scheme of things, it’s only POOP. But while Tea Partyers, one JetBlue flight attendant and Cee Lo explored new ways to express their ire and frustrations, we 29 POmpous and OPinionated patrons of the musical arts embraced the new era of civility in our annual rite of peaceful pontification. No POOP libel here. If you’ve been here before, feel free to skip this paragraph. As usual, I’ve attempted to tabulate the entries and, as…

February 2010 Dear POOPster: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. So said Darles Chickens . . . or something like that . . . as well as a few of this year’s contributors in their various musings. In our perennial January rite, 34 POmpous and OPinionated self-righteous musical hedonists have contributed their usual critical flatulence to this, the 23th Annual POOPlist. After all these years, I think it’s fair to say that our serious love/fascination/addiction for/with/to music of every variety might now qualify as “a pre-existing condition,” not that that will have any future…

Dear POOPster: You’ve got POOP. The Fifteenth Annual POmpous and OPinionated List is now official and in your hands. As acknowledged in many of this year’s responses, this was not your average year and the pursuit of music has never seemed as trivial as it did during the second half of 2001. Perhaps our annual celebration of good music is a bit muted this year but it does get us one step closer to remembering what life was like on September 10th and that includes being cranky and clever. Enter POOP. As usual, I’ve attempted to tabulate the entries and,…