We've all talked about our favorite in-studio sessions from our first year here at The Current ... this list is not exactly that. I thought it'd be fun to recount some of my biggest memories, good, bad, ugly, quirky, and just funny from the past year. The top ten is below-the-fold.

In most cases, the described sessions can be heard in our "In Studio Appearances" archive.

10) Apostle Of Hustle: You should have seen the look on Mary's face when one of the group members -- who we all assumed was a backup singer or something -- started clogging. Priceless.

9) Annie Hayden: As she played guitar and sang, one of her bandmates produced ... a spice container, for a shaker. I don't know if it was ginger, garlic salt or what, but It made for the nicest little maraca you can imagine.

3) The Shins: Everybody, regardless of jadedness, can appreciate an impromptu Van Halen cover.

7) Troubled Hubble: Probably the first time Studio M (for decades a hub of genteel classical music activity here at MPR) had barefoot muscians standing atop the parquet flooring. We should have made a toast or something.

6) Aimee Mann: the woman's just in fantastic shape, so I told her so. I will never, ever live this down around here. I swear to God, people, I didn't mean to sound like a lecherous creep.

5) Mercury Rev: Rarely is the question asked, "Do you guys have any red wine around here we can drink?" Uh, sure, right over here in our membership-funded cocktail lounge.

4) Skeletons and the Girl-faced Boys: Poor ol' Studio P has never, ever been so crammed full of people, instruments, effects boxes, cables, sound-baffles, and microphone boom-stands sprawling everywhere to record every crazy sound a band makes. Our engineers must have worked for two hours to set up this band and get the mix right. So imagine our surprise when, in the middle of a song, live on the air, the singer produced ... a trumpet. Seemingly out of nowhere.

3) Lou Barlow: Rarely is the question asked, "Can you guys provide us with some vegetarian sausage when we get there?"

2) Kings Of Convenience: Okay, follow me here. First of all, they're a duo -- who's sound comes from the interplay of the guitars and the vocal harmony. So, we immediately knew we were in trouble when only one of them showed up. That would be Erland Oye, the tall one with the funny glasses. Next, Erland was a little, uh, tired. It was the end of the tour, and he was in a sour mood. He proceeded to declare that he was sick of the band's music, and so he would only play covers. He then played the most depressing Simon & Garfunkel cover ever, followed by AC/DC's "Bad Boy Boogie" in the style of sadcore maven Mark Kozelek. Also, loooong silences between Mary's questions and Erland's answers. We'd given him coffee, but it didn't seem to be working. Finally, Erland apparently forgot that he was on live radio. In America. Where, generally, you can't drop the effenheimer. All I can say is, thank heavens for the 30-second delay we employ on our air signal. Nope, this one's not in the archive.

1) Halloween Alaska: Listen to the edited version to hear the most giddily hilarious interview that has ever taken place here. Then, contemplate the fact that you haven't even heard the half of it. Or the fourth of it, for that matter. These guys are the most gut-bustingly funny people on the face of the earth. Seriously, they could have their own radio show entitled Making S**t Up In The Studio With Halloween Alaska.

Ah, memories. Here's to a 2006 that's just as crazy and unpredictable.