6 Cactus kiss and make-up: Cactus-Rockets-Hell Drivers guitarist Jim McCarty was pissed with us after we called the Hell Drivers a "bar band" in 2010. We made friends, however, following our glowing assessment of the magnificent Cactus.

7 RockStar: We couldn't resist writing about this '80s hair metal cover band after seeing them at some Garden City dive. We weren't wrong. We had some fun with them, and some of their fans took offense. But, c'mon, let's have a sense of humor about this.

8 Kory Clarke hates us: When we printed a largely glowing column on the Warrior Soul main man calling him an "amazing song writer" but under the headline "Who the fuck is Kory Clarke?" Clarke wrote us a letter calling us just about every name under the sun and using every expletive. Of course, we printed the letter and sat back, enjoying the warm glow of controversy.

9 City Slang's birth: This column and blog was born in 2011 and has never looked back. Named after the awesome Sonic's Rendezvous Band song, our quest to cover Detroit music of all genres from all eras is ongoing.

10 Dylan Callwood's birth: When this writer's son was born in November, I couldn't resist blogging it. Sorry, but even the most hardened rock music writer is allowed to get sappy from time to time.

> Email Brett Callwood