Happy 1st Birthday, Daijams! Check out the Top 5 posts of Year 1!

I was raised on music. The nineties, ie the time I spent between ages of 3 and 13, were a blur of Dave Matthews, the Smashing Pumpkins, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, among many others. In 2010, my parents even started a Facebook community dedicated to posting YouTube videos of their favorite artists and songs. It's like a hereditary disease of the best variety.

A year ago today, I realized my friends (particularly my beloved but beleaguered roommates) were fed up with my constant babble about the live music videos I was collecting in my YouTube "Favorites" file. The videos were, at that time, heavily influenced by my budding Weezer obsession, and my roommate Allie took to asking whether I was going to listen to the "SWEATERRRRRRRRRR" song again tonight, or if she could go to sleep in peace. I took that as a sign that I needed some sort of outlet, beyond my parents' celebrated Facebook community. I wanted to create a searchable library, a canon of good live music, along with (of course, as I am a narcissistic writer, and this is just what we do) my own commentary.

So one year ago today, this blog was born.

In fact, the very first video posted here was a Weezer/Sara Bareilles collaboration. I began that post thus:

"The inaugural video on this blog is one that I have not been able to get out of my head for seven days. Seven. Full. Days. It's actually the reason I'm starting this blog: To try to get this song out of my head. I figure if I post a new live music performance every day, eventually, maybe in four or five years, I'll get this song out of my head."

Here's the video that started it all, in case you don't want to click through:

Happily, that song has been out of my head for approximately 11.5 months, thanks in large part to this blog. The daily chore of writing posts has turned into my favorite daily task, thanks in large part to the growing readership (YOU!) that has not only interacted with me via comments and Facebook postings, but in real life: The other day a friend texted me that she was sitting on a plane next to a woman actively engaged in a creepy vocal fry, which I'd written about a few days prior in a post about everyone's favorite white female rap-talk-singer, Ke$ha.Thank you again to everyone who has read and responded, or just read and enjoyed privately. If you've ever actually watched one of my videos all the way through, you're my best friend.

In an act of sentimentality, today we look back at the five most popular posts in this blog's first year of life. Let's dig in:

5)  Kelly Clarkson: "Express Yourself" and "Already Gone" (posted July 13, 2011)

In this post from last July, I mused over the talent of the only artist (save maybe Carrie Underwood) to have truly transcended the American Idol stamp on her career. Kelly Clarkson is wicked talented, and the post included two videos: her 2002 audition video and a 2009 live studio performance of her then-smash hit, "Already Gone." The progress was striking. Thank God her career didn't end with From Justin to Kelly.

4) The Rolling Stones: "Time is On My Side" (posted February 2, 2012)

After a run-in with Bill Murray at the end of January 2012, I felt the need to delve deep into this song and its history, as well as the Rolling Stones' start on the coattails of the Beatles, their progression of live show style (they got a LOT more outgoing), and the artists who did this song before the Stones made it famous.

3) Nikki Yanofsky: "Lullaby of Birdland" (posted May 19, 2011)

This then-17-year-old jazz singer has a voice beyond her years, and you guys seem to agree. Her phrasing and confidence still takes my breath away. Originally posted in May 2011, this song was in the lead for a long time until the next two artists completely obliterated her pageviews.

2) Hanson: "Thinking 'Bout Somethin'" (posted December 1, 2011)

The Hanson brothers are proof that if you're talented, and you stick together long enough (as family is hopefully apt to do), you're going to find not only the slow-soaking success that is the Holy Grail of the music industry, but also that people will really dig it when their favorite band from 5th grade is still awesome. More than three months after I posted this, and I'm still obsessed with this song.

1) Pink: "Bohemian Rhapsody" (posted November 29, 2011)

After only three months, and with more than three times the pageviews of the runner-up, Pink's version of "Bohemian Rhapsody" is by far the most viewed post on this blog. I'll credit Freddie Mercury's fashion sense, Pink's gusto, and our country's undying love of all things Queen.

Thanks for sticking with me through Year 1! If you're just joining us, Year 2 kicks off tomorrow with a post celebrating a bevy of my favorite musicians from all over the spectrum -- pop, blues, rock, even rap. Why? Because tomorrow is my birthday, and I can do whatever I want!

Until next time -- jam on!

Nikki Yanofsky: "Don't Know Why"

I allow the weather to affect my mood too much. Today in Chicago, the sky looks as though it's actually trying to induce Seasonal Affective Disorder. The darkness is impenetrable, and the remaining patches of dirty, wet snow do nothing to add light. It's the kind of day that can only be cured with a warm beverage and a warm voice.

Nikki Yanofsky to the rescue! I discovered this Canadian chanteuse last spring, and the post I wrote remains one of the most heavily trafficked in this blog's history, so I'm positive that I'm not just seeing things: This 17-year-old has got some seriously skills. (And in this video, she's only 15 or 16.)

Her tone, her phrasing, her moxy in tackling songs by the most talented female recording artists out there -- Ms. Yanofsky makes it look easy. If I close my eyes and listen to her voice, I can almost make myself believe that when I open my eyes, the sun will be shining and the snow will be gone and I'll be presented with a basket of puppies and a week of paid vacation. Yeah, she's that good.

Nikki Yanofsky: "Lullaby of Birdland"

This girl is captivating. She's only 17 years old and she sings like she's been listening to Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Etta James, and Louis Armstrong since the womb. Her affectation and ornamentation are just perfect. Her voice is simply beyond her years. For all my love for Norah Jones and her queenship over modern jazz, Nikki is perched on the edge of her seat, ready to take over as soon as the mainstream U.S. music audience notices her.

Nikki's career began at age 12, when she sang in the Montreal International Jazz Festival -- the youngest headliner ever. She's Canadian, so she sang at the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Two albums released (2008 and 2010), but so far she's getting way less attention in the States than in ol' Canada. I guess the music scene up there is slightly more jazz and talent than gangsta rap and Rebecca Black.

Speaking of Rebecca Black, if she's the sort of young artist the U.S. is producing, and Nikki is what Canada is producing...well, damn it all to hell, I need to learn French and move up-continent.

It's fun to find these in-studio recordings too; they feel so up-close and personal. The song itself was written in 1952 in reference to Charlie "Bird" Parker, and it charted in 1954 thanks to Ella Fitzgerald. Enjoy.