There was the stroll through the historic graveyard with Jeremy Messersmith. The hike through the woods in southwestern Wisconsin with Cloud Cult. The quest for a Wi-Fi signal with an Owatonna High School janitor to cover Owl City. The visit to Ax-Man in search of a missile shell for Marathon 3 with Mark Mallman. And the 10 minutes on the phone to Austin, Texas, police in the quietest place I could find to give them the correct spelling of Gayngs: a portojohn.

Who says covering local music doesn't take you to interesting places?

The stories out of the Twin Cities music scene similarly were all over the place in 2010, running the gamut from the elated to the tragic, and the laughable to the legal. Here are the ones that stand tall at year's end. Kind of like I did in that Satellite toilet.

BIGGEST NONSTORY OF THE YEAR

The repainting of First Avenue's mural of stars. Even Menudo retained its place on the wall.

  • Runner-up: Lady Gaga hung out at the Turf Club following her second of two sold-out Xcel Center shows at the end of August. Instead of the promised influx of hot pants, fishnets and outerwear bras among patrons of the Turf, though, it's still mostly just ratty rock tees and flannel.

WORST REASON FOR A RHYMESAYERS ALL-STAR SHOW

The Minneapolis hip-hop crew flexed its organizational, scene-rallying muscle by putting together a stellar lineup on the fly to raise more than $25,000 for Haiti earthquake relief at First Ave in February, during which a winter-clad Slug earned the nickname MC Snowpants, and Brother Ali talked about how the calamity struck close to home.

  • Tie: Tragedy struck at home with Eyedea's death from opiate toxicity on Oct. 16, which was followed by a moving First Ave tribute on what would have been Mikey Larsen's 29th birthday, Nov. 9. Terrible circumstances, but commendable shows.

BEST REASON TO GET IN THE VAN

Ryan Olson and the Gayngs crew clearly should have found a different mode of transportation than the tour bus they rented from a Nashville company in September. The bus was repossessed by its owner over a contract dispute -- with all of the band's musical gear in tow -- hours before Gayngs was to play the biggest gig of its brief, bizarre life at the Austin City Limits Festival. The name of their replacement on the bill, Lance Herbstrong, did not help quell rumors that it was all a baked-up ruse. But court papers certainly did.

Dave Braunger, Star Tribune
"The Relucatant Graveyard" by Jeremy Messersmith

WORST NAME CHANGE

Forced to change its name when a certain pizza chain came to town, Sauce Spirits & Soundbar took the easy route in re-lettering its signage to Cause over the summer. Trying to get the new name to stick has been a fruitless cause.

  • Runner-up: Adam Young, aka Owl City, became aka Sky Sailing with an album in July, but fans didn't really buy it.

BEST NAME CHANGE

Sure, the UnBank was handy if you needed to cash a check from your bookie, but its June replacement, the Depot Tavern, proved to be a much better use of the space next to 7th Street Entry and First Ave.

MOST WELCOME COMEBACK

Johnny Solomon missed the last gig by his previous band, Friends Like These, because he was in jail. After he holed up and healed up in Prescott, Wis., his new band, Communist Daughter, released a redemptive debut album to raves.

  • Runners-up: Christy Hunt and Arzu Gokcen were both on the verge of hanging up their rock 'n' roll heels, but then they hooked up via virtual friendship to create Pink Mink.

MOST WELCOME NEW FESTIVAL

The Dakota Street Fest outside the Nicollet Mall jazz haven in July helped fill the gaping hole left by the demise of the Macy's Day of Music at nearby Peavey Plaza.

LEAST WELCOME NEW FESTIVAL

Either the West Bank Music Fest or Nordeast Music Fest, which fell on the same weekend as the already popular Red Stag Block Party in mid-August. The cap on terrific block parties per weekend per city simply must be set at two.

BEST RIVER GIG WHERE NO ONE DROWNED

The Stnnng's gig on the Mississippi in May wasn't the first time a band had performed on a "barge" for Art-A-Whirl, but it seemed the most dangerous. The band teetered off the edge as it thundered through its generator-fueled amps.

BEST RIVER GIG WHERE SOMEONE DID DROWN

Too bad the revamped Taste of Minnesota left its new owners in over their heads financially, because the opening-day lineup was rich in talent -- including Atmosphere, P.O.S., Retribution Gospel Choir, Haley Bonar and Communist Daughter.

MOST POPULAR SUBJECT MATTER

Death. Jeremy Messersmith, Roma di Luna and Cloud Cult all covered it in eloquent, elegant and surprisingly nondepressing ways this year.

  • Runner-up: Birth. Roma di Luna and Cloud Cult again. It was a good year to be reminded that life carries on in beautiful ways.

RIEMENSCHNEIDER'S TOP 10 LOCAL ALBUMS OF 2010

  1. Jeremy Messersmith, "The Reluctant Graveyard"
  2. Roma di Luna, "Then the Morning Came"
  3. Retribution Gospel Choir, "2"
  4. Dessa, "A Badly Broken Code"
  5. Cloud Cult, "Light Chasers"
  6. Communist Daughter, "The Soundtrack to the End"
  7. The Stnnng, "Smoke of My Will"
  8. Ben Weaver, "Mirepoix and Smoke"
  9. Various artists, "Minnesota Beatle Project, Vol. 2"
  10. Charlie Parr, "When the Devil Goes Blind"