Lady Cady & Her Slim Shady Crazy (The Best Of 2011)

Much like with spirituality, everyone has their own version of what they believe to be true.

It's what makes the human condition unique by allowing shades of perception to colour what is seen, heard, tasted or ingested in a myriad of ways. And don't get me started on the many delicious shades of smelt.

So, when I emphatically endorse Cady Groves and her slingshot brand of cray cray as the 'Best of 2011,' it's only my recollection of the events which may or may not have been affected by direct trade Nicaraguan java, abnormal levels of mercury from high-grade sashimi and trace amounts of resveratrol originating from Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

Objects in the rear view mirror may appear to reign, dear

I first heard her at the beginning of the year as a guest vocalist on the Secondhand Serenade track "You & I" and soon downloaded her two EPs from 2009 and 2010. Both became ingrained like a marinara stain.

As much as I like her sangin' talents, it's her completely inappropriate, yet highly entertaining, sense of humor that takes the cake and devours it.

From ceremoniously contemplating living the life of a pirate to her one-eyed "wink and a nubby nudge" social media seduction of fellow Oklahoman Blake Shelton (he soon appeared in her video for "This Little Girl") to her rendition of Miranda Lambert's "Famous In A Small Town" while literally brushing her "teefs" to releasing demos recorded in hotel bathrooms to salaciously answering physical fan mail via You Tube clips to randomly adding suffixes like "Groovestein Jr the III" to her name to making strange videos with her older brother Kelly, Ms Cadence reminds me of a young Dolly Parton.

With a pristine voice that effortlessly delivers achingly honest introspection and a knack for telling it like she sees it and meaning it like she says it, Cady has a larger-than-life personality laced with a sweet-as-peach-pie girl-next-door countenance that's solicitously sauteed with a steep heap of slim shady crazy.

It's the perfect formula to sew a technicolor coterie of grandiose proportions.

Can I get a MEEEEEELER ova here!!!

FAVORITE ALBUMS OF 2011
18. Cady Groves The Life Of A Pirate/A Month Of Sundays/This Little Girl
88. MeTalkPretty We Are Strangers
18. Britney Spears Femme Fatale
88. The Pretty Reckless Light Me Up
18. He Is We My Forever
88. Kaskade Fire & Ice
18. Skrillex My Name Is Skrillex
88. Ke$ha (I Am The Dance Commander + I Command You To Dance)
18. Christina Perri lovestrong.
88. Evanescence Evanescence
18. New Years Day The Mechanical Heart
88. Picture Me Broken Wide Awake

FAVORITE TRACKS OF 2011
18. Ke$ha "Blow" [Circuit Remix] (I Am The Dance Commander)
88. Cady Groves "The Life of A Pirate" (The Life of A Pirate)
18. Kaskade "Turn It Down" [Ice Mix] (Fire & Ice)
88. MeTalkPretty "Strangers" (We Are Strangers)
18. Picture Me Broken "Echoes Of An Empire" (Wide Awake)
88. Kaskade & Skrillex "Lick It" (Fire & Ice)
18. The Pretty Reckless "Make Me Wanna Die" (Light Me Up)
88. Britney Spears "I Wanna Go" [Deluka BS Remix] (Femme Fatale)
18. Skrillex "My Name is Skrillex" (My Name Is Skrillex)
88. Skylar Grey "Invisible" (Dirty South Remix)
18. Valora "I Like What You're Doing" (I Waited For You)
88. Plug In Stereo "Oh, Darling" (feat. Cady Groves)

From seeing Skylar Grey's first-ever LA show to the US debut of the "Big 4" metal titans to shouting the outro to "Killing In The Name" with 50,000 homies at the historic Coliseum to being front row for RATM, LIGHTS, Evanescence, Ke$ha (twice) and The Pretty Reckless (on three occasions) to dancing till the world ends with a frenzied fan base of femme fatales to sweating in a small glass house rafted through by an inflatable canoe to singing with Versa Vultures during a midday heatwave to hanging with Hayley Williams at the Alt Press booth before their triumphant set at Warped Tour Cleveland, it was an upper hemisphere kind of year but the show that spearheaded my list didn't actually exist.

For as supremely cool as it is to get media credentials to the most-coveted sold-out shows and festivals, getting an invite to a private rehearsal, soundcheck or showcase often trumps the ante. Especially when it's a world-renowned superstar.

I got a call late one night inviting me to a "Family & Friends" show the following afternoon at the Wiltern Theatre in LA. Amongst an intimate gathering of about 50 people, we politely sat in rows of folded chairs and watched a fully staged dress rehearsal for an impending world tour launching the following week in Southeast Asia.

Afterwards, as people chatted with the green-streaked "Black Star" of the show, I found myself flanked by Brody Jenner AND Deryck Whibley. Rather than Screaming Bloody Murder, I found my thoughts engulfed by the syncopated strains of "Bizarre Love Triangle".

Living a life that I can't leave behind...

FAVORITE CONCERTS OF 2011
18. Avril Lavigne - Wiltern Theatre, Los Angeles, CA (4/19/11)
88. Britney Spears - Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA (6/20/11)
18. Deadmau5 - Palladium, Hollywood, CA (8/25/11 & 8/28/11)
88. Metallica/Slayer/Megadeth/Anthrax - Polo Grounds, Indio, CA (4/23/11)
18. L.A. Rising (Rage Against The Machine/Muse) - Coliseum, LA (7/30/11)
88. Paramore (Warped Tour) - Blossom Music, Cuyahoga Falls, OH (7/20/11)
18. VersaEmerge (SXSW) - Emo's, Austin, TX (3/19/11)
88. Skylar Grey - Roxy Theatre, Hollywood, CA (11/1/11)
18. Evanescence/The Pretty Reckless - Palladium, Hollywood, CA (10/11/11)
88. MeTalkPretty/New Years Day - Key Club, Hollywood, CA (12/6/11)
18. Ke$ha - Gibson Amphitheatre, Universal City, CA (9/17/11)
88. Skrillex/Porter Robinson - Glass House, Pomona, CA (6/24/11)

FAVORITE TV OF 2011
18. Breaking Bad
88. Homeland
18. The League
88. The Killing
18. Boardwalk Empire
88. True Blood
18. Southland
88. Dexter
18. Californication
88. Louie
18. Secret Circle
88. Awkward.