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AC/DC, which plays the St. Pete Times Forum on Sun. Dec. 21, is one of the few classic rock acts that steadfastly refuses to peddle the obligatory “greatest hits” CD — or offer their music as digital downloads, for that matter. And I’m proud of my hard rock heroes for not selling out … Well, for not selling out to anybody except Walmart, with which the band did do a most dirty deed.

Anyway, if AC/DC ever OKs a best-of CD, I want to produce the compilation. Here’s how it would go: 18 tracks in chronological order spanning the years 1976 to 2008, with nine songs each for singers Bon Scott and Brian Johnson. The disc has been quite popular with my friends and coworkers — yes, I’ve made several. The Johnson tracks and greatest 1970s promo music video ever(!) after the jump.

AC/DC: Greatest Hits

1. “It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘N Roll)”
2. “T.N.T.”
3. “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap”
4. “Big Balls”
5. “Let There Be Rock”
6. “Whole Lotta Rosie”
7. “Rock ‘N Roll Damnation”
8. “Highway to Hell”
9. “Girls Got Rhythm”

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Check out Robert Reeves perform at Church of the Redeemer. Church of the Redeemer, 222 S. Palm Ave., Sarasota (955-4263 or redeemersarasota.org). 12:10-12:40 p.m. Dec. 17. Free admission.

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Former Smith and indie boy icon Morrissey will bring his melodramatic croon and hopeless romanticism to Jannus Landing on March 4. Tickets go on sale Friday, Dec. 19 at 10am through Ticketmaster, or charge by phone at 800-745-3000. Moz will begin the U.S. leg of his world tour in support of his new album, Years of Refusal, this February. Morrissey will be backed by his longtime band including Boz Boorer, Jesse Tobias, Matt Walker and Solomon Walker. Video clip after the jump.

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— “Sarasota legalizes spitting.” Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

— The Orioles package still not coming together. A funding gap of $23 million might be the reason why.

— AC/DC lead singer (and Suncoast resident) Brian Johnson gets a new music therapy room at Sarasota Memorial named after him. Don’t know about you, but an AC/DC-affiliated music room doesn’t sound all that soothing to me. (Kudos to the guy, though, of course.)

— Red County wants teachers’ salaries in Sarasota County slashed immediately. Whose fault is the budget difficulty? Why, unions, of course!

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Billy Joel and choreographer Twyla Tharp have joined together to create this Broadway musical. Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, 777 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota (953-3368 or vanwezel.org). 8 p.m. Dec. 16, Tickets are $50-$80.

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The numbers on diabetes in America are pretty astounding: More than 24 million citizens suffer from it, and nearly 57 million are at risk. It was those statistics that convinced Andy Mandell — that’s Mr. Diabetes® to you, stranger — to spend nearly a decade walking the entire perimeter of the U.S. raising awareness. Yep, the entire perimeter, all 10,000 miles of it. This Sunday, Mandell makes a stop at the first ever Florida Orange Festival, which benefits the Defeat Diabetes Foundation and features live music and health screenings. Don’t wait till the weekend to get involved, though. Visit the event’s website today and submit an entry in the orange recipe contest. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sun., Dec. 14, PAL Sailor Circus, 2075 Bahia Vista St., Sarasota, $3 per person or $10 for a family of five, 362-7632 or popsextras.org.

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A.C. Newman: \”Submarines of Stockholm\”

(Courtesy Matador Records)

Despite a gazillion positive reviews out there, The New Pornographers have never won me over. In the past, I’ve found the indie power-poppers’ music to be impeccably constructed, flawlessly performed… and almost entirely forgettable. But I do admit to a soft spot for New Pornos frontman A.C. Newman’s 2004 solo disc, The Slow Wonder, a tight little collection of admittedly slight, but nevertheless pleasant tunes.

Matador Records is now gearing up to drop a second Newman bomb this January (Get Guilty arrives on the 20th), and is teasing us with “Submarines of Stockholm.” The track is about what you’d expect: cheery, thigh-slapping pop-rock with plenty of “La la la”s sprinkled throughout. Is it gonna’ change your life? Probably not, but it’s great to hum along to.

(Bonus info: Head here to download a free 13-track sampler with songs from a bunch of Matador artists, such as Mr. Newman himself, much-love-getting post-hardcore act Fucked Up and Bradenton-connected Jennifer O’Connor. The most intriguing song, though, is the entry by Condo Fucks, being debated in the indie world as a possible nom de rock for indie stalwarts Yo La Tengo.)

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Ed. note: This post comes courtesy of Eric Snider.

The Loaf music staff, Snider and Tatangelo, will be issuing our Top 11 albums of the year later this month, but the ball is already rolling. Here are the year-end best-of lists from Time, New York and England’s The Guardian. Click on the name of each mag and it’ll take you directly to their survey.

Time
1. Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III
2. TV On The Radio, Dear Science
3. Metallica, Death Magnetic
4. Girl Talk, Feed The Animals
5. Vampire Weekend
6. Kanye West, 808s And Heartbreak
7. Santogold
8. Portishead, Third
9. Lucinda Williams, Little Honey
10. Duffy, Rockferry

New York
1. Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III
2. TV On The Radio, Dear Science
3. Bon Iver, For Emma, Forever Ago
4. Portishead, Third
5. Hercules & Love Affair
6. Santogold
7. Fleet Foxes
8. Erykah Badu, New Amerykah, Pt. 1: 4th World War
9. Beck, Modern Guilt
10. Vampire Weekend

Guardian
1. Bon Iver, For Emma, Forever Ago
2. Amadou and Mariam, Welcome To Mali
3. Elbow, The Seldom Seen Kid
4. Glasvegas
5. Kings Of Leon, Only By The Night
6. MGMT, Oracular Spectacular
7. Vampire Weekend
8. Kanye West, 808s And Heartbreak
9. Portishead, Third
10. TV On The Radio, Dear Science

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If you feel even the slightest affection for the electric guitar and all the wonderful varieties of noise it can produce, you basically owe it to yourself to run out tomorrow (or log on to your computer thing-y) to purchase the latest double-disc Pavement reissue, Brighten the Corners: Nicene Creedence Ed.

Yep, Matador Records is pulling out all the stops yet again, taking Pavement’s fourth studio disc and ladling on the goodies: remastered sound, a 62-page luxe booklet, 32 bonus tracks culled from session outtakes, B-sides, radio performances and live dates. For Pavement fetishists (i.e. yours truly), picking this guy up is a no-brainer, but these two discs deserve wider renown, for the original 1997 album’s innate quality, sure, but also because all those accumulated extra songs reinforce the conclusion that this is the album where Pavement just decided to fucking shred.

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Ed. note: This piece, by Eric Snider, will run in next week’s issue of Creative Loafing.

I thought I had reached the point of no return with Kind of Blue. Having listened to the classic 1959 Miles Davis album so many times, having owned it in so many of its reissued iterations, I suspected, feared even, that I might never desire to hear it again.

What was once my go-to platter for midnight mood music had slipped considerably down the list — and for no other reason than burnout. I hardly thought that yet another reissue of Kind of Blue — this time a deluxe 50th Anniversary Edition — would rekindle my passion for it. But somehow it did.

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