IN THIS ISSUE OF COSMIK DEBRIS: We begin with our annual Top Fives, the mega-article in which each of our writers picks his or her five favorite albums of the last year. Elsewhere in this issue, we talk to Pablo Martin and Sue K of The Beeps, New York City hip hop artist Pete Miser and Jake Burns of the legendary punk band, Stiff Little Fingers. Shaun Dale takes a look at the race to chair the Democratic National Committee (because it's not just The Howard Dean Story, you know), and Melanie Campbell has a conversation with The Freeway Blogger. The 13 O'Clock News tears into the Bush's and finds the Pepsi Challenge going out on a limb. The CD Review section has over 80 titles in the usual "all over the #&!#%# map" style that is oh so Cosmik, and Everything Else In Review is loaded with our opinions on DVDs, movies, concerts and books. Plus columns by Gary Pig Gold, Eric Steiner, Rusty Pipes and Darren Paltrowitz. It's all in the January 2005 issue of Cosmik Debris, so get to it!

COSMIK RADIO!: A brand new Cosmik Radio is on the way, but here's an encore performance of CR from the vaults to tide you over until then. You just need a RealAudio Player to listen. If you don't have one, go pick one up. Cosmik Radio is just the kind of Net-Only audio that radio station program directors don't want you getting hooked on. So go ahead. Inhale!

TOP 5s - Every year our writers sit down and agonize over the long list of titles they've reviewed in the previous year, narrowing it down and again until only their five favorites remain. Then we get everyone's lists and put them in one mega-article for your enjoyment. It's that time again. Here are our picks for the best music of 2004.

STIFF LITTLE FINGERS - No Shillelaghs for these Stiff Little Fingers: SLF is not usually recognized as an Irish band, because they never flaunted any of the commercial symbols, but Irish they are. Holly Day discusses with this and other topics in her chat with lead singer and songwriter Jake Burns.

PETE MISER - NY MC Goes 3 For 3: The New York City hip hop artist is back with his third album, Camouflage is Relative, and like the two before it, this one is packed with intelligent, funny and sometimes politically charged songs. In his second Cosmik Debris interview, Pete discusses the new album with Jeremy Barker, was well as his role in Dido's touring band, his views on file sharing and more.

THE BEEPS - Keeping The Peace In NYC: Pablo Martin and Sue K on the importance of words, sharing the workload in an indie band, international components, barbed religious imagery and more. Interview by DJ Johnson.


FREEWAY BLOGGER - Riding Shotgun with the Freeway Blogger: We can all learn something from the Freeway Blogger about Free Speech and not lying down and letting the government do whatever they want. Melanie Campbell interviews the Freeway Blogger.


DNC - Battle for the DNC: Having lost the Presidential election, the Democratic party is readying itself for 2008. First they have to decide upon a figurehead to help lead them there... Article by Shaun Dale.


TIME FOR THE THIRTEEN O'CLOCK NEWS - Tipsy Pressy, special Pepsi, Tucker in the Crossfire, Colin in the mask and more.


CD & RECORD REVIEWS - Just as diverse a group of reviews as you can ever hope to see.

EVERYTHING ELSE IN REVIEW - Lots of book, concert, DVD and movie reviews to check out as you plan how to blow what entertainment dollars you have left these days.



CLOSET PHILOSOPHY - Religious Correctness is upon us. Rusty Pipes expands and expounds on the theme; believe him, you haven't seen anything yet! Wiccans beware...

COSMIK BLUES - Eric Steiner shares his top 5 Blues albums for 2004.

PIGSHIT by GARY PIG GOLD - Gary runs down his list of top 10 albums of 2004.

MOVING IN STEREO - Are you sensing a theme? Darren gives us his top 5s for 2004 before letting you in on the newest from the Stage, Stereo and Long Island.



CREDITS - The names and e-mail addresses of the people responsible for this thing.

COSMIK RADIO - Want an hour of music that fits the personality of Cosmik Debris Magazine? That's right, Sinatra segues into Megadeth into Peter Tosh into Man Or Astro-Man into... well, you get the picture. It's a little something we like to call Genre Whiplash. Or maybe you're in the mood for a trip into The Fog Machine, our mix of music of the ethereal variety. All you need is a RealAudio player. Come on in.

OUR OWN WEBSITES - Many of the Cosmik Debris writers have websites of their own. We have some links right here.



Happy New Year!

Just a quick note to let you know that we'll be taking February off while we bring in new hardware and deal with some other long-running computer issues. We'll also be working on a few new regular features for you, including a monthly connection to important petitions and organizations doing important work you'll probably want to know about and maybe even participate in. We're going to try to make it easier for all of you to stay well-informed and involved in the political process.

See you in March.

DJ Johnson
Editor

Did you miss an issue? We now have many of our back issues online, including sound clips and extras. Check out interviews with The Witches, Electric Frankenstein, the Vampire Beach Babes, Jeff Berlin, Curve, Michael Shermer, Steel Pulse, Transglobal Underground, Mark Helm, The Southern Rock All-Stars, Ottmar Liebert, Jason Noble of Shipping News, Phil Vassar, Joel Dorn, Mark Cline of Love Tractor, Texas Terri (of Texas Terri & The Stiff Ones), Mike Keneally, Chris Shinn of Unified Theory, Alley of Wise Monkey Orchestra, Mario Escovedo of The Dragons, The Clarks, Big Ass Truck, Richard Cheese, Paul Krassner, Tony Iommi, Ron Dante...