GL.24.14: Desa Warner

 

100 Songs: Aaron Bergstrom

GL.24.01: Ilana Bergstrom

GL.24.02: Isabel Vermaak

GL.24.03: Megan Swidler

GL.24.04: Curt Trnka

GL.24.05: Erik Kristjanson

GL.24.06: Caseysimone Ballestas

GL.24.07: Nora Tang

GL.24.08: Tony Schoenberg

GL.24.09: Ben Evangelista

GL.24.10: Kevin Wyckoff

GL.24.11: Jem Stirling

GL.24.12: Dillon North

GL.24.13: Marisa Plaice

GL.24.14: DESA WARNER

GL.24.15: Mario Sanders

GL.24.16: Carl Anderson

***

My mother-in-law died in October. It was expected but still felt like a punch in the stomach. The night we heard the news, my husband, kids, and I played a Dolly Parton song marathon - one of Charleen’s favorite singers. We sang to “9 to 5” and cried to “I Will Always Love You” and “Coat of Many Colors.” It was sad and fun; devastating and healing.

Music has that power. It brings you a little time capsule whenever you hear a song that reminds you of someone or of who you were the first time you heard it. It can bring light to a complicated year. Our guest list does not mirror what the year was like with its words or beats, but rather what Katie, Kellen, and I turned to as we traveled the ups and downs 2024 brought each of us this year.

So, cheers to the pop queens, who had a stunning year. Cheers to the hip hop/country collabs. Cheers to the indie artists and all their poetic emotions. Cheers to the music that accompanied us though 2024, the people who danced beside us, and for the songs that will continue to bring us those who can only dance with us in our memories.