29

Today is my birthday. The Big two nine. Whoopi-di-doo, right? For those of us under 30, 29 is probably the birthday least looked forward to. I mean, that's it, your last year of being twentysomething. I was talking to my cousin Matt (who is exactly 1 year and 364 days older than me) last night and he reminded me that 29 doesn't really mean anything. It's just a number. But that didn't really make me feel any better, I mean it means something, right?

Well, 29 must have meant something to Ryan Adams. As kind of a strange coincidence, Adams released a CD at the tail end of last year chronicling his twenties called, appropriately enough, 29. Why 29, you ask? Well, as I said before 29 is the last year of your twenties. So, it's a concept album containing 9 songs, each symbolizing a year in his twenties. Get it?

29 is the third in a series of releases put out by Adams in 2005. Last year also saw the release of the double-disc Cold Roses as well as the superb Jacksonville City Nights. From what I understand, Adams took Conor Oberst's release of 2 albums in 2005 as a challenge and decided to do him one better. Other than that, I have no idea why he decided to make an album about his twenties, especially since he was born in '74. But, I'm glad he did.

Which is not to say that 29 is a great album. It's not. Sure, it's got some great tracks on there, like Strawberry Wine and Carolina Rain, but it's not really that fun to listen too. Most of the songs are overlong and full of melancholy navel-gazing. So, why am I glad that I own it? Because it makes me feel much better when I listen to it.

Look, Ryan Adams is a star. Maybe not a huge star, but he dates actresses, has groupies, and makes a fair amount of money. And you know what? He's still crying about his twenties. Now listen, I really like Ryan Adams, I listen to his music a lot, but Jesus, get over it! There's no way your twenties were that bad. And even if they were, well, that makes mine look even better by comparison. And that makes me feel pretty good.

So far in my twenties, I graduated from college, got a design job, got married, and got a house. Yeah, maybe I didn't release any critically acclaimed albums, but I've still got Adams beat. Why? Because I'm pretty happy. Sure, there are things that I'd like to change, but I've got time to change them. If not in my twenties, then so what? I'm not planning on going anywhere for a while.

So, to my friends who are already 29 or will be shortly, I say don't sweat it. It's not "just a number." It means you've made this far. And if you feel like there's so much more you could or should be doing, being 29 just means there's still time to do it. Even if your twenties sucked, and are still sucking, just make sure that your takes steps to be happier by the time you're say, 32. Because if you're not any happier by then, you may just end up making a concept album about them.