Drunk Uncle Has Some New Year's Resolutions

As the curtain comes down on 2022, many of us will be making resolutions with an eye toward improving our lives in 2023. SNL personality Drunk Uncle (Bobby Moynihan) has some resolutions of his own, which he tries his best to describe to Weekend Update's Seth Meyers:

Philomena Cunk on the Wonders of Christmas

I'm crazy about Diane Morgan, the British actress who plays Philomena Cunk, the dim-witted and ill-informed host of a series of outrageously funny mockumentaries. I've just discovered one dealing with the origins and evolution of the celebration of Christmas. Enjoy!

This Year's Boxing Day Horror Show Makes You Feel Worse than a Trip to the Gym

It's December 26 — the day after Christmas, or what the nations that formerly made up the British Empire (and a number of other countries, too) call Boxing Day. The holiday is named for the custom among the British aristocracy of providing service workers and the underprivileged boxed gifts of household items to clear room for the many new gifts that had been received the day before on Christmas. Over time, Boxing Day became less about gift-giving and more about an extra day off. Stores and other businesses remain closed on December 26, and people tend to stay home with their families to enjoy the good feelings kindled during the preceding two days. There's lots of laughter and fellowship and plenty of leftovers to share, and everyone benefits from an extra day away from the cares of everyday life. Boxing Day never quite caught on here in the United States, Here, the 26th of December typically means a trip to the mall to return the gifts we didn't like, and maybe picking up an extra helping of fried dough or something.

I like the idea of extending the Christmas holiday myself. Families should be allowed to stay together an extra day as the food and refreshments run out and the fun of opening presents has ended. Let everyone stay cooped up together as they're running out of clean clothes and the hangover of overspending on gifts begins. In that spirit, we started a fun little tradition ten years ago called the Boxing Day Holiday Horror Show. It involves posting a perfectly dreadful holiday movie to allow folks to really wallow in the after-Christmas blues. There's no better way to double-down on the feelings of guilt and angst that typically overwhelm us anyway on the day after Christmas.

This year's horror show is called Santa with Muscles, a 1996 feature starring Hulk Hogan and (sadly) Ed Begley, Jr. (whom I usually like). Hogan plays a conceited millionaire with a fitness business who runs afoul of the law and dons a Santa suit at the mall in an effort to evade the police. Ordinarily in movies, this is where the fun begins, but there's no fun to be had here. As one of the more favorable reviews of the film explains, this movie is

[b]ad, bad, bad, BAD. With the possible exception of Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny, Santa With Muscles is not only the worst Christmas movie ever made, but it is one of the worst that could be made … ever. Weighing in at a whopping 2.4 at IMDB and ranked in the bottom 100 movies of all time, you know it is going to be beyond terrible, and it was. Nothing other than actually watching this 97 minutes of Hell can prepare you for how incompetent this movie actually was.

So find a comfortable place to sit, grab a big hunk of fruitcake and do your best to endure this year's Boxing Day Horror Show:

Need still more punishment? Why not revisit some of our previous horror shows, But be advised that Santa with Muscles is a five-star Academy Award winner compared to most of the films below:

Watch Our 2012 Boxing Day Horror Show, "Santa Claus"

Watch Our 2014 Boxing Day Horror Show, "Santa Claus and the Ice Cream Bunny"

Watch Our 2015 Boxing Day Horror Show, "The Magic Christmas Tree"

Watch Our 2016 Boxing Day Horror Show, "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians"

Watch Our 2017 Boxing Day Horror Show, "A Visit to Santa"

Watch Our 2018 Boxing Day Horror Show, "Santa and the Fairy Snow Queen"

The Time When a Draft Dodger Visited the Bunkers for Christmas Dinner

As a child of the '60s and '70s, I've always appreciated Nick at Nite and TV Land for celebrating the television fare I grew up with. I don't watch much TV of any type these days, and I didn't watch a whole lot after about the 10th grade. But I do enjoy the old shows, which take us back to a simpler time and provide a virtual escape from today's challenges. 

A few years ago, TV Land put together its Top 10 Holiday Moments from the shows of the classic television era. Included in the list were moments from The Andy Griffith Show, Sanford and Son, Cheers and several TV specials including The Andy Williams Christmas Show and A Charlie Brown Christmas. The list also included an especially emotional episode of All in the Family, which featured a Christmas visit from a friend of Mike Stivic's who was dodging the draft in Canada:

It's worthwhile remembering that the deep divisions we see among Americans today are not wholly new. We've had divisions before. However, we seemed to have enough in common to overcome or at least overlook the divisions of the past. It seems different somehow, today. Perhaps we can look to the holiday spirit to put things in some perspective and agree that there still is much more that unites us than the things that divide us.

Watch TV Land's Top 10 Holiday Moments 

Hey! You! Get Off of My Roof - Part 14 and Out

Well, we've made it to the eve of another Christmas holiday, and I've got a few parting thoughts to share about the three remaining tracks on my latest mix for 2022. As I type this from Los Angeles the weather is balmy and pleasant. It's supposed to be 80 degrees and sunny for Christmas tomorrow. The rest of the country is facing below-zero temperatures and in many places it's looking to be a white Christmas. I'm just fine with our warm California forecast, frankly. A green Christmas is just fine with me

On Christmas Eve I like to imagine what's going on in homes around the world — the anticipation, the warmth, the reverence and the memories being honored and made. I hope everyone is feeling at least some kind of magic in the air tonight. It's a magical evening, and a wondrous world.

Track 42
A Spaceman Came Traveling, Chris de Burgh (1975)

I've been aware of this song almost since it was first released, and I guess I'm of two minds about it. On the one hand, it's got a certain amount of emotional punch to it — that's undeniable. On the other hand, as a song it  suffers from a little of the same sort of heavy-handed pretentiousness that plague so many of de Burgh's songs. Many people know him only through his one big hit, 1986's "The Lady in Red," which has topped several surveys as the public's most hated popular song ever. I suppose there are several songs I dislike even more than "The Lady in Red," but I can't put my finger on any of them at this moment. 

By contrast, "A Spaceman Came Traveling" has a number of redeeming features, and I think it's the sort of thought-provoking tune that fits awfully well as the final track on a holiday compilation. I understand de Burgh wrote the song after reading Erich von Däniken’s best-selling book Chariots of the Gods?, which suggests that the technology and religions of many ancient civilizations on Earth may have been brought here by interstellar visitors. According to de Burgh, this led him to wonder, "what if the star [of Bethlehem] was a space craft and what if there is a benevolent being or entity in the universe keeping an eye on the world and our foolish things that we do to each other?"

The lyrics of the song are as follows:

A spaceman came traveling on his ship from afar
'Twas light years of time since his mission did start
And over a village, he halted his craft
And it hung in the sky like a star, just like a star

He followed a light and came down to a shed
Where a mother and child were lying there on a bed
A bright light of silver shone round his head
And he had the face of an angel and they were afraid

Then the stranger spoke, he said, do not fear
I come from a planet a long way from here
And I bring a message for mankind to hear
And suddenly the sweetest music filled the air

And it went la la la la la la la la la
La la la la la la la, la la la la la la la la la
Peace and goodwill to all men and love for the child
La la la la la la la la la, la la la la la la la, la la la la la la la la la, oh

This lovely music went trembling through the ground
And many were awakened on hearing that sound
And travelers on the road
The village they found by the light of that ship in the sky
Which shone all around

And just before dawn at the paling of the sky
The stranger returned and said, now I must fly
When two thousand years of your time has gone by
This song will begin once again to a baby's cry

And it went la la la la la la la la la
La la la la la la la, la la la la la la la la la
This song will begin once again to a baby's cry
And it goes la la la la la la la la la
La la la la la la la, la la la la la la la la la
Peace and goodwill to all men and love for the child

Oh the whole world is waiting, waiting to hear the song again (la la la la la la la la la)
There are thousands standing on the edge of the world (la la la la la la la la la)
And a star is moving somewhere, the time is nearly here (la la la la la la la la la)
This song will begin once again to a baby's cry

I don't know if there's anything to the thoughts that gave rise to the song, but I've always felt that we know only the tiniest fraction of what there is out there and how things work, and it's comforting to think that a benevolent force has the upper hand somehow.

 
Watch Chris de Burgh performing "A Spaceman Came Traveling" with choir and orchestra

Track 41
All Your Christmases, Santa's Little Helper (1998)

This little clip's been in my voluminous "miscellaneous clips" file for what seems like forever, It's an excerpt from a longer piece that I seem to recall finding somewhere on the WFMU-FM "Beware of the Blog" site that I've written about previously. WFMU is a New Jersey community radio station that specializes in the unusual and offbeat, and while "Beware of the Blog" is no longer updated regularly, the older postings still available are a treasure trove of interesting material. The original version of the track is a seven-minute montage that lifts the word "Christmas" out of a long list of holiday tunes and then pastes the results together to form a lengthy string of holiday madness. For my mix, I figured a much shorter version would suffice. 

In the interests of full disclosure, I've taken certain liberties with the name of the responsible artist as listed above. The actual name of the artist reorders the letters in the first word of the group's title so that instead of "Santa's Little Helper"  it forms the name of "he who cannot be mentioned" — or at least "he whose name maybe shouldn't be mentioned on Christmas." I trust you can figure it out!

Track 40
A Great Big Sled, The Killers (2006)

Last year, I included an awesome song by The Killers on my 2021 compilation Be A Santa! The song was "I Feel It In My Bones," and it was probably my favorite track on last year's mix. It was also the seventh of the 11 annual Christmas tunes The Killers released each year from 2006 through 2016 to benefit Product RED, and its fight to battle HIV, AIDS and other preventable and treatable diseases. This year, I've chosen another holiday song from The Killers' collection — in fact, it's the song that kicked off the tradition, "A Great Big Sled" from 2006.  

I like this one a lot, too. The Killers ended their series of holiday releases in 2016, which is disappointing, but certainly understandable. All told, the 11 holiday songs they released raised over $1 million for Product Red, and dramatically improved the quality of rock's holiday library. And since I've only used two of The Killers' Christmas songs on my compilations to date we still have nine great tracks to use on future mixes.

Purchase one or more of The Killers' 11 Holiday Classic Tunes on amazon.com

Well, ladies and gentlemen, that concludes our presentation of background information on the tracks of this year's mix. A reminder that you should be able to access all of my previous compilations on my holiday music website, HERE.

For those who celebrate the Christmas holiday tomorrow, Merry Christmas! 

SNL Goes Home for the Holidays with Eddie Murphy, Maya Rudolph and More

It's Christmas Eve, and we know that many families across the globe are enjoying time with their families and trying to stay positive in the face of what might be described as challenging circumstances. In this sketch from 2020, Eddie Murphy, Maya Rudolph, Kenan Thompson, Mikey Day, Chris Redd, and Ego Nwodim gather around the holiday dinner table to reflect on the holiday experience. 

Merry Christmas everyone!

Hey! You! Get Off of My Roof! - Part 13

Time is short, so please allow me to share just a little background on two additional tracks from my 2022 holiday mix:

Track 39
Another Christmas Story, The Howling Diablos (1993)

I stumbled across this track late in the process of assembling this year's mix and was immediately taken by both the story and the sound. The Howling Diablos were a Detroit-based blues band that got their start in the late 1980s and maintained a steady schedule of live dates through the 1990s and well into the 2000s. (I say "were" because it's not entirely clear whether the band is still a going concern, but I couldn't find any evidence that they've disbanded either.)  Their sound included heavy doses of rock, funk, blues and gunge, and in addition to their solo shows in clubs and smaller venues they opened for a variety of acts including Alice Cooper, Parliament Funkadelic, Ben Harper, NRBQ and The James Gang. Kid Rock played with the band for a spell, although his current politics seem incongruous with the band's overall style.

Written by Tino Gross, "Another Christmas Story" looks at Christmas Eve from the perspective of a homeless city dweller trying to survive in the face of below-zero weather of the sort that is plaguing cities throughout the nation this year. It features Jim McCarty on lead guitar and guest vocals by Thornetta Davis.

 

The version of the song that I used features a short introduction by legendary activist and blues musician John Sinclair, former manager of the MC5, and founding director of the Detroit Artists Workshop (among dozens of other activities). Sinclair relocated to New Orleans in 1991 and later settled in Amsterdam.

Track 38
Christmas Song, The Raveonettes (2004)

This song is by the Danish indie rock duo The Raveonettes, which formed in 2001 and placed seven consecutive albums on Billboard's Hot 200 from 2003 to 2014. Their music is known for its two-part harmonies that are reminiscent of The Everly Brothers, but many of their tunes include harder edged guitars and lyrics that don't shy from gritty urban issues and the problems of modern life. There's none of that in this track, however — just a lovely, sweet song:

See The Raveonettes' Tips on How to Write a Christmas Song

I'll be back tomorrow with a few thoughts on our final three tracks of this year's mix. Only one final shopping day before Christmas. Bundle up and enjoy the season!

Rod Serling's "Carol for Another Christmas" Offers Different Take on the Dickens Classic

In honor of the impending Christmas holiday and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's visit to Washington this week, I thought I'd share the film A Carol for Another Christmas, directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and broadcast on ABC television just days after Christmas in 1964. The movie was written by Rod Serling of The Twilight Zone fame. It was sponsored by Xerox with the goal of promoting the United Nations. It stars Sterling Hayden, Peter Sellers, Ben Gazzara, Britt Ekland and James Shigeta. 

The film is based on the Charles Dickens classic A Christmas Carol. Hayden plays wealthy industrialist Daniel Grudge, an America-first isolationist who is sitting at home alone on Christmas Eve when he's visited by his nephew, Fred (Gazzara), a liberal educator. Grudge holds his nephew in contempt for his "bleeding-heart" views and his interest in seeing the United States work with other nations to reduce the risk of war. Yet Fred seems to touch something in his uncle by reminding him that Grudge's son, Marley, was killed in battle on Christmas Eve during World War II.

After sending his nephew away, Grudge appears shaken to hear the sound of an old song start playing. He is then visited by a series of ghosts who lead him to reconsider his narrow-minded lack of concern for those outside the U.S. and his former refusal to acknowledge issues beyond this country's borders. In the film's final scene, Grudge's butler is shouted down by a rabid group of selfish America First types when he urges the survivors of a future nuclear holocaust to cooperate. This sorry spectacle seems, at last, to affect Grudge's thinking. Following the last of the three ghostly visits, Grudge shows evidence of a serious change of heart.

The film's message is somewhat heavy-handed to be sure, but a heavy hand is sometimes required to reach people like Matt Gaetz, Donald Trump, Jr. and Lauren Boebert. I for one am proud of the United States for supporting Ukraine against the unprovoked attack of Putin's Russian forces. This will be a difficult Christmas for too many millions around the world but we must remain engaged and committed to helping others as best we can.  

Hear E.G. Marshall's "A Christmas Carol" from the CBS Radio Mystery Theater

Sound Opinions Hosts Andy Cirzan for Its Annual Holiday Spectacular

Andy Cirzan

Each year at this time hosts Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot of the Sound Opinions podcast welcome offbeat holiday music enthusiast Andy Cirzan for the show's annual holiday music spectacular, and this year's terrific show is now available for your listening enjoyment (see link below). Cirzan's main gig is as a concert promoter for Jam Productions, but after hours he searches the thrift shops and used record bins looking for rare and long-forgotten holiday records to feature on his legendary annual Christmas compilations. Yes, Andy's been circulating his holiday mixes far longer than I have, and his mailing list includes some of the biggest names in entertainment. In fact, it was Andy and fellow enthusiast Eddie Gorodetsky who inspired my own foray into holiday mixing nearly 20 years ago.

Sound Opinions is a weekly discussion about pop culture for music lovers that appears online and on various NPR and other radio stations throughout the country. The show is distributed by PRX. and part of the Patreon community. 

The annual holiday spectacular is typically a friendly, laid-back affair and this year's episode doesn't disappoint. Cirzan's mix for 2022  is titled "The Reindeer Sessions: Further Adventures in Holiday Obscura," and he shares six super tracks on the podcast. Andy's mixes are a highly anticipated part of my holiday celebrations. Hope you enjoy them, too!

Hear the 2022 Sound Opinions Holiday Spectacular, featuring Andy Cirzan 

Hey! You! Get Off of My Roof! - Part 12

We're definitely in the home stretch of our review of the 42 tracks on my latest holiday compilation, Hey! You! Get Off of My Roof!  Today we look at Tracks 35-37, which leaves just five more to review between tomorrow and Saturday. Believe it or not, I think we might just make it, so do check back as you scramble to complete your own holiday preparations. 

Track 37
White Christmas, Patti Smith Group (1978)

Patti Smith

The other day, my Twitter feed included an interesting question among the recent flood of lunatic MAGA posts and increasingly pathetic messages from Elon Musk — namely, what female musician would you most like to spend an hour with over a nice meal? An impressive list of talented and interesting women quickly came to mind, but for me there was one clear favorite:  Patti Smith. 

I've been a big fan of Smith's going back to at least 1978, when she had her first and biggest hit single with "Because the Night," a song she wrote with Bruce Springsteen. Since then, she's released eight amazingly great albums, completed numerous successful tours (I'm grateful to have seen her on four of them), written over a dozen books of prose and poetry, and appeared in several films, including a cameo in Jean Luc Godard's Socialism (2010). She's also recorded a couple of great Christmas songs.

The track I've included on this year's mix, "White Christmas," was recorded with the Patti Smith Group on December 20, 1978, at Bearsville Sound Studio in Bearsville, New York, while she was recording what would be her 1979 album "Wave." Longtime band member Lenny Kaye first played this song live that year while guest hosting a Christmas show on WNEW-FM in New York.

Smith will continue her tradition of playing a couple of year-end live dates in New York with shows in Brooklyn on December 29 and 30, followed by shows in Germany and Scandinavia next June. Earlier this month she completed a short run of appearances reading excerpts from her latest book "A Book of Days," which included one date performing songs with her band in Los Angeles. Sadly, that show sold out before I could get tickets. I sure hope she'll be back.

Heat Patti Smith sing "We Three Kings" from the album "A Very Special Christmas 3"

Hear Patti Smith's beautiful rendition of "O Holy Night"

Hear Patti Smith's Compilation "Land (1975-2002)"

Watch the Polyphonic Short "How Patti Smith Saved Rock n' Roll"

Track 36
Deck the Halls, The Dixie Chicks, featuring Sandra Bernhard (2008)

This short track was produced as part of The Gap's 2008 holiday "Merry Mix It" promotional campaign, which included six TV commercials and a series of musical clips that customers could mix, match and send to friends from the store's holiday website. This particular clip featured The Dixie Chicks (now known simply as "The Chicks") who were just finishing a busy few years. In 2003, group member Natalie Maines had sharply criticized President George W. Bush and the planned U.S. invasion of Iraq, which resulted in a sharp backlash against the group, particularly on their home turf in the American south. After a brief hiatus, the group released the album "Taking the Long Way" in 2006, in which they essentially stood their ground. By then, the tide had turned against the Bush administration and their album and its lead single, "Not Ready to Make Nice" were not only top sellers but swept the Grammy Awards, too. Thus, in 2008, The Dixie Chicks were popular enough to star in national ad campaigns.

Track 35
Holiday Greetings, Sandra Bernhard

Appearing with The Chicks on Track 36 and all alone on Track 35 is Sandra Bernhard, one of my favorite entertainers since I first saw her with Robert De Niro and Jerry Lewis in Martin Scorsese's 1983 film The King of Comedy. Her 1989 film Without You I'm Nothing, based on her one-woman show of the same name, is an outrageously funny look at American culture. It features an especially funny bit known as "Sandra's White Christmas" in which she imagines herself as part of a traditional American Christian family on Christmas Eve. One of these days I may use it on one of my mixes.

While it's not as well known as it should be, Bernhard wrote and performed a beautiful Hanukkah song called "The Miracle of Lights," which I included in my 2008 mix, "Home for the Holidays." Known primarily for her outrageous comedy and personality, Bernhard has a wonderful singing voice that is on display in the two clips that appear by way of the links below.

Hear Sandra Bernhard's Beautiful Holiday Song "The Miracle of Lights"

Watch Sandra Bernhard's Beautiful Tribute to Fleetwood Mac's Christine McVie

I'll be back soon with background on our five remaining tracks, including one of the annual holiday songs from The Killers.

"A Very Special Christmas" Jump Starts Rock Music's Christmas Connection

Back when I was growing up, our family had a stack of Christmas albums that we kept in a special section of the bin beneath our stereo console. I'd guess there were maybe 30 holiday albums of various different styles including a couple by the Boston Pops, one by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and another by organist E. Power Biggs, a favorite of my Dad's. Many of the albums were picked up from various gas stations where you could often score free Christmas albums, cutlery, or glassware with every fill-up. One thing you wouldn't find in our collection was anything by the bigger stars in pop music. Sure, a few pop groups released their own holiday albums back in the 1960s and '70s; we later added one by The Partridge Family to our collection. But few of the rock groups that were regularly topping the charts back then had much of an association with the holiday genre. That all changed 35 tears ago, however, with the release of "A Very Special Christmas" in 1987. Within several years, nearly every serious rock fan who was also into Christmas music had this album or one of the nine later records in the series in their collection.

(l to r) Jimmy Iovine, Patti Smith and Bruce Springsteen

Today's Washington Post features a terrific article about the first "A Very Special Christmas" album, which was coordinated by famed rock producer Jimmy Iovine to benefit the Special Olympics. Iovine, who had  produced records for such performers as John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, Patti Smith, U2 and Stevie Nicks, conceived of the idea shortly after the sudden loss of his father in 1985. Starting with Springsteen, he approached a number of his rock contacts with the idea of a charity Christmas album. There was immediate and enthusiastic support. Finding a beneficiary took a little more time. Iovine was insistent that all of the proceeds go to a respected charity, and as it happened his girlfriend knew Bobby Shriver, the son of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who founded the Special Olympics, the world's largest sports organization for developmentally disabled persons. Over the past 35 years, Iovine's vision has not only raised $145 million for the Special Olympics but also helped establish that organization's high profile and worldwide reputation.

As the Washington Post story explains, "A Very Special Christmas" and its progeny encouraged artists from a variety of musical genres to create holiday songs of myriad styles and removed whatever stigma may have existed about making Christmas records. 

"This is such a huge album in terms of its impact, just because there hadn’t been anything like it. It changed the place of Christmas in pop culture,” says music critic and author Rob Sheffield, who believes “A Very Special Christmas” represents “a before-and-after moment in the history of Christmas in pop culture. It’s a thing that had never existed before, and afterwards was never going to not exist again. Pop stars now all want to do Christmas albums."

The article is by features writer Travis Andrews, and it's a great reminder of the quality and diversity of the music on this iconic record. 

“There’s just something about those songs, man,” Iovine says. “When you sing them, you can’t be the Grinch.” He adds, “It was my least favorite time of my life, and I did something positive with it. When I see that album, I see one guy, and that’s my father. That’s all that mattered.”

Iovine and the other artists who contributed to "A Very Special Christmas" deserve a lot of credit for their work.

Read "How a 1987 Christmas album changed the way the holiday sounds" from the Washington Post, December 20, 2022 (Subscription or free preview account may be required)

Purchase "A Very Special Christmas"

Visit the website for the "A Very Special Christmas" series

SNL Salutes Departing Cecily Strong with "Blue Christmas"

Cecily Strong, one of the most talented regular members of the cast of Saturday Night Live, announced last night that she is leaving the show after 11 seasons. Strong played a variety of popular characters including Fox News' Judge Jeanine Pirro, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Arizona gubernatorial candidate and full-blown nutcase Kari Lake, The Girl You Wish You Hadn't Started a Conversation With at a Party, Claire from H.R. and Cathy Anne, the drug-addled neighbor of Weekend Update Co-Anchor Michael Che. She was given a warm send-off by the cast on last night's show, including a rendition of the Elvis Presley's "Blue Christmas" led by guest host Austin Butler, who stars in the 2022 biopic "Elvis."

Strong's exit follows the recent departures of a number of other talented cast members, including Pete Davidson, Kate McKinnon, Chris Redd, Aidy Bryant and Melissa Villaseñor. Sadly, most of last night's show was on par with previous shows from this season, which is to say it sucked. Cecily will be missed.

See Cecily Strong's Appearance at the 2015 White House Correspondents Dinner

See a Collection of Cecily Strong's SNL Clips

Watch MsMoJo's Top 10 Cicely Strong Performances

Hey! You! Get Off of My Roof! - Part 11

Here's some background on the next three tracks on my latest holiday mix, Hey! You! Get Off of My Roof!

Track 34
My Green Christmas Tree, The '60s Invasion (2012)

This year's mix includes two tunes from the New England-based group The '60s Invasion whose album Incense and Chia Pets is chock full of holiday parodies made from hit songs from the 1960s. In a previous post I offered some information about the band and the first of these two songs, "Christmas in New England," based on the Mamas and Papas' hit "California Dreaming." The second is a parody version of "My Green Tambourine," by The Lemon Pipers, called "My Green Christmas Tree":

Hear The Lemon Pipers' Greatest Hits

Watch The '60s Invasion perform "Love Potion Number 9"

Track 33

Ring Out the Bells, Norm Burns and Singers (1970)

This year's mix includes only one true "song poem," which I suspect a good many will say is one song-poem too many. What are song poems? Well, as the old saying goes, if you have to ask you probably don't want to know. Basically, they're just lyrics written by everyday people and set to music by commercial artists for a fee. I've included more than a few of these little gems on various previous mixes and I've written about them here several times, too, including a post from 11 years ago about the song "Santa Claus Polka," Track 31 from my 2011 mix "Gee Whiz . . . It's Christmas (Again)!" 

This year's entry is "Ring Out the Bells," performed by Norm Burns and featuring lyrics by some unknown but no doubt earnest soul who paid a few hundred dollars to Sterling Records to have their poetry turned into a song. You can hear the result just as I did on Bob Purse's wonderful website The Wonderful and the Obscure. Bob's site is a treasure trove for song poem enthusiasts, featuring several hundred different song poems and lots of colorful background and commentary. Heck, there are more than 40 entries on Norm Burns alone, and Norm is just one of the many folks who made a living setting poems to music for regular folk like you and me. 

For those who would like to know more about the wonderful world of song poems, the following video is a playlist that includes 22 different selections. It is not for the faint of heart, and it includes a couple of tunes that may not be safe for work because of adult language. Aw, who am I kidding, none of these tunes is safe for work unless you want your coworkers to think you've lost your damned mind!

Watch the Trailer for the documentary "Off the Charts: The Song Poem Story"

Track 32

Give Me Your Heart for Christmas, Dora Hall  (1965)

This is the second holiday song I've used by aspiring entertainer and corporate trophy wife Dora Hall following "Kissin' by the Mistletoe,"  which can be found on my 2016 mix Let It Snow. Hall is a former vaudeville performer whose dreams of stardom were rekindled when her husband took over the Solo Cup Company and started promoting her records on every package of Solo Cups. I previously provided some background on Hall, which you can find HERE. I love Dora's story and she brings a refreshing enthusiasm to her work as the spouse of a successful corporate executive. And I salute her husband, too. He used his position to advance his wife's singing career and singlehandedly created one of entertainment's greatest supplies of kitsch.

Watch the "Dora's World" TV Special 

Hear Dora Hall sing "I Like It Like That"

It's been mighty cold in Los Angeles lately, at least by Southern California standards. Hope you're keeping warm wherever you are. I'll be back with more sometime soon.

SNL Celebrates Hanukkah

Every Saturday from Thanksgiving through New Year's Eve we dig deep into the vaults of NBC's Saturday Night Live and select a classic holiday sketch to share. Tomorrow is the first night of Hanukkah, and in honor of the festivities this week's SNL flashback is a collection of clips about Hanukkah. Best wishes to all those who celebrate this holiday.

We'll be back with another SNL clip next Saturday on Christmas Eve!

Hey! You! Get Off of My Roof! - Part 10

My latest holiday mix for 2022 is called "Hey! You! Get Off of My Cloud," and it's available for you to listen to or download on my holiday music website. This year's mix contains 42 audio tracks, which range from short celebrity greetings to fine-sounding holiday tunes to purported songs that sound anything but fine. My aim in creating thee mixes is to assemble a grab-bag of noises that will entertain and intrigue a wide range of jaded and open-minded listeners. The main purpose of this blog is to provide some interesting background on the various tracks. Mission accomplished with respect to the first 28 tracks, and today we're going to look at three more. Let's get started.

Track 31

A Lot of Talk About Jesus Christ and Love, Bill Macy as Walter Finley from "Maude" (1975)

Walter and Maude Findlay

I watched a fair amount of television when I was growing up in the 1970s, and as I recall some of it was pretty good. I especially liked the shows created by famed producer Norman Lear, who is still active at age 100. Remarkably, Lear produced, wrote, created or developed more than 100 different shows, many of which were phenomenally successful. His most iconic series, All in the Family, was launched in 1971 and dominated both the Neilson ratings and awards shows throughout the decade. Moreover, it spawned seven additional shows, including the hit series Maude. Maude starred Bea Arthur as Maude Findlay, Edith Bunker's feisty liberal cousin. I don't recall watching Maude during its original run but in recent years I discovered the show on Hulu and binge-watched a couple of seasons' worth. It's not exactly high-brow fare, but it sure brought me back in time. There were more than a few Walter and Maude Findlay types  in our neighborhood in the late '70s.

Stephanie

In any case, the very short clip I've used as Track 31 this year is from Maude, Season 4 Episode 14, "The Christmas Party," which first aired on December 22, 1975. With Christmas approaching, an old school friend of Maude's named Stephanie is staying with Maude and Walter. Stephanie, like Maude is an ardent feminist, although she insists on injecting her views into every conversation to the point where even Maude is put off. Walter and Maude are hosting a Christmas party for Walter's employees and Walter is worried that Stephanie's dogged determination to push her agenda might put a damper on the festivities. This leads to the following exchange:

Walter:    Tonight's not a soapbox, it's a Christmas party!

Stephanie:    Good, what better place? Don't you realize Jesus Christ was the first feminist? He taught the world that love begins with equality.

Walter:    My employees are coming here to have fun. It's Christmas and that's no time for a lot of talk about Jesus Christ and love!

So many of us have conflicting thoughts about the true meaning of Christmas. Part of this is no doubt because we use the holiday for so many purposes. It's a time to express our feelings for those we love and to separate what's important from the trivia of daily life. We're encouraged to think of the plight of the poor and the needy while at the same time being urged to splurge on lavish and showy gifts and parties. We're told it's a time to be joyful and happy to the point where too many feel the need to find relief in the bottle or by way of other drugs. Walter's misguided frustration is as understandable as it is preposterous, and while I don't have any simple solution to the conflicting pressures so many of us face at this time of year, it's probably worthwhile to remember that you're not alone in facing such challenges. Why not play something awful by Red Sovine and count your blessings?!

Watch the Maude episode "The Christmas Party" (1975)

Track 30

Out on the Road for Christmas, Red Simpson (1975)

Red Simpson

Regular listeners will recall that my previous mixes have featured multiple tracks by a trucker named Red — Red Sovine, creator of some of the most depressing songs in music history. Well, believe it or not there's another guy named Red who sings sings songs about truckers and has his own album of Christmas-themed trucker songs around and his name is Red Simpson. His holiday album includes a song called "Out on the Road for Christmas," which is about a poor guy alone behind the wheel on Christmas with only the promise of a quick meal at some some truck stop to look forward to. While this may sound rather poignant at first, Simpson's song sounds like "Happy Days Are Here Again" compared to Sovine's standard fare. There's none of the exaggerated pathos of Red Sovine here. Red Simpson's got a job to do and while his work isn't always easy he's going to take whatever solace he can from the satisfaction of doing it well.

The youngest of 12 children, the Arizona-born Simpson was raised in Bakersfield, California. He was interested in music from a young age and started playing piano in the local music clubs right out of high school. Country music was all the rage in Bakersfield at the time, and a number of local musicians led by Buck Owens were pioneering a style of music that became known as the Bakersfield Sound. Buck was impressed by Simpson and the two wrote a number of songs together in the early 1960s. In 1965, a Capitol Records producer who was looking for someone to put together an album of songs about truckers was introduced to Simpson and his first album release, Roll Truck Roll, was released the following year.

The truck thing seemed to work for Simpson, who followed up his first LP with another 10 albums of truck-related tunes. He enjoyed the business of making music, and didn't mind the extensive travel that was required. He didn't mind being typecast either, although he acknowledged some frustration at being continuously mistaken for Red Sovine. As he noted in his song "My Name Is Simpson," from the album "I Am a Truck":

My name is Red Simpson, not Red Sovine,

So don't ask me to sing "Phantom 309,"

I don't know "Giddy up Go,"

And I won't change my mind

My name is Simpson

Not Sovine.

Check the links below to hear this track. Here's Track 30 from this year's mix:

Join Merz Mark as he pays "A Visit with Country Legend Red Simpson"

Watch Red Simpson Sing "Runaway Truck" and more on the Buck Owens Show

Hear Red Simpson's "My Name is Simpson"

Track 29
Riding Unarmed in a One-Horse Open Sleigh, Jaston Williams (2010)

Texas is an awfully big state with an incredibly diverse population, and one of the few things bigger than the state itself is its reputation among the residents of the other 49 states. Back in the days when the governor of the state was a liberal Democratic woman, at least a small part of its reputation was built on the work of Jaston Williams, Joe Sears, and Ed Howard, creators of a series of comedic plays about the fictional town of Tuna, purportedly Texas' third smallest town. "A Tuna Christmas" was the second of these plays, following "Greater Tuna" and "Red, White and Tuna." The plays have been described as an affectionate look at small-town southern life and feature more than 20 eccentric characters played by two very busy actors.

The plays were performed in cities and towns across the country from 1981 through 2012, and recorded versions of the performances were produced and sold on videotape and DVD. "Greater Tuna" and "A Tuna Christmas" were performed at the White House at the request of President and Mrs. George H.W. Bush, both of whom gave every indication that they enjoyed the shows.

Track 29 is a short clip from "A Tuna Christmas" featuring Jaston Williams as Didi Snavely, owner of Didi's Used Weapons, a store with the motto "If we Can't Kill It It's Immortal." 

You can enjoy "A Tuna Christmas" in its entirety below:

We've got 11 more tracks to review between now and Christmas, so I'll be back soon with more. Stay warm and dry 'til then!

Hey! You! Get Off of My Roof! - Part 9

Two weeks from today is Christmas Day, and we're well past the half-way mark in our look at the 42 tracks on my latest holiday mix, "Hey! You! Get Off of My Roof!" Today I've got a little background on three more tracks including a new one by an old if somewhat out-of-tune friend. Without further ado, it's up, up and away . . .

Track 28
O Come All Ye Faithful, Johnny "Bowtie" Barstow (2005)

Few artists better typify the sound of my annual holiday mixes than the inimitable Johnny "Bowtie" Barstow, whose unique stylings have been featured on eight of my previous compilations. Sadly, there's not a whole lot of information out there about Barstow and his music, and I've already reported on most of it in previous posts on this blog. But while little of what I offer today is new, it's certainly a pleasure to repost some of the most relevant items again today.

Barstow was discovered in the early 1990s at an open mic night in a New York City neighborhood bar by keyboardist Larry Goldings. Goldings instantly knew that he'd found something special, or at least unique. What is it that separates Barstow from the rest? I guess that depends on your own individual taste and musical sensibilities. But from where I sit, jazz journalist John Kelman captured the magic of Mr. Barstow's oeuvre pretty well in his oft-cited 2005 review of Barstow's classic first (and, to date, only) album, published in All About Jazz:

Every now and then an artist emerges whose vision is so unique that it creates an entirely new musical paradigm. Stretching the realm of technique by introducing harmonic or rhythmic contexts far removed from the norm, they’re often unappreciated in their time, but the passage of years can ultimately bring recognition for their genius. Ornette Coleman was one such artist. Now we have singer Johnny "Bowtie" Barstow.

In the years following his chance discovery of Barstow at some low-end dive, Goldings worked tirelessly to capture the musical essence of this heretofore hidden talent for the enjoyment of a wider audience. The result, recorded in Goldings' home studio, was an album of Christmas classics and non-holiday standards called Johnny "Bowtie" Barstow:  A Bowtie Christmas and More.

The following 2008 infomercial gives the uninitiated a little peek at what they were in for:

As Kelman explained in his groundbreaking review:

Some musicians spend years on technique, working hard to hone accepted skills like pitch and time. Barstow dispenses with such limitations. His interpretive sense is so unorthodox that once you hear his renditions of classic Christmas tunes including "Joy to the World," "The First Noel," and the tongue-in-cheek "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer," you’ll never see them the same way again.

This year's "Bowtie" track offers a one-two punch combining his renditions of "O Come All Ye Faithful" in both English and Latin. It's not for the faint of heart, but if you can appreciate the occasional offbeat gem by the likes of Florence Foster Jenkins or Mrs. Miller, Johnny might well be for you, too. (Warning, there are still a couple of Barstow tunes I haven't yet shared, so there may be more to come.)

Hear Johnny "Bowtie" Barstow's "O Come All Ye Faithful"

Track 27

Jingle Bell Rock, University of Michigan Children's Psychiatric Hospital Band (1978)

Way back in 2007, one of my first holiday compilations featured a rather unique version of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," the classic holiday song introduced by Judy Garland in the 1944 film "Meet Me in St. Louis." The version I used in my 2007 mix "Let's Trim the Christmas Tree" was performed by patients in the Inpatient Music Therapy Program of the University of Michigan Medical Center's Children's Psychiatric Hospital. I'd found the song on the album "Christmas at C.P.H.," a 1978 release that contained 15 holiday songs performed by young psychiatric patients as part of their musical therapy. Track 27 of this year's mix is another of the 15 songs on that 44-year-old album, "Jingle Bell Rock."

In the 44 years since "Christmas at C.P.H." was recorded, music therapy has become more widely recognized within the medical community. In short, it uses music therapeutically to address physical, psychological, cognitive and/or social functioning for people of all ages. It is typically practiced by credentialed professionals that use clinical and evidence-based music interventions to help set and achieve individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship. Because Music Therapy is a powerful and non-invasive medium, unique outcomes are possible. I suspect that holiday music therapy can be particularly helpful, and it's certainly pleasant to hear.

Track 26

Holiday Greetings, Michael Caine

I've used these short little holiday greetings on pretty much all of my annual mixes as a way of breaking up the longer tracks and giving some quick recognition to various celebrities. But it isn't always easy to find as many of these clips as I'd like. I found a few more about a month ago, including one by famed English actor Michael Caine. Caine has been making movies since 1956, and while he's scheduled to turn 90 years old in March, he isn't ready to retire yet. To date, he's appeared in over 75 feature films, winning Academy Awards as Best Supporting Actor in Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) and The Cider House Rules (1999).

Caine relocated to the United States for nearly a decade in the 1980s due to escalating British income tax rates, but he has spent most of his life in the United Kingdom and is often cited as one of his native country's archetypical actors and cultural icons. In fact, Caine is frequently parodied for his speaking style and his habit of citing interesting but useless trivia in general conversation. His friend Peter Sellers often did impressions of Caine that frequently included the phrase "not many people know this," which has now become something of a catchphrase for him. 

I'm sure many Americans would happily return Caine's gracious holiday greetings and wish him the very best for 2023.

Hear Michael Caine's Raw Commentary on his film "The Muppet Christmas Carol"

I'll be back with more sometime soon. When will you be decorating your Christmas tree this year?

Serial Investigates the Legend of Kris Kringle

 

This week's SNL Holiday Flashback is from Season 40 of Saturday Night Live (2014) and features Cicely Strong, one of my favorite SNL cast members, in a parody of the investigative podcast Serial. In this clip, Serial looks at the story of Kris Kringle, who, according to legend, circles the globe each December 24 to leave presents for hundreds of million of children. But what evidence is there to back up this longtime story?

As luck would have it, tonight's episode of SNL will be hosted by Steve Martin and Martin Short, whose successful Hulu series Only Murders in the Building features its own parody of the Serial podcast stylized as "All Is Not OK in Oklahoma" with Tina Fey playing the role of Serial host Sarah Koenig that Cicely Strong plays in this week's flashback. I've just about given up on this season of SNL but as a longtime fan of Martin and Short I'm planning to tune in at 11:35 tonight. Whether I'll still be awake by the time Weekend Update begins is anybody's guess!

Watch the Classic 1986 SNL Sketch "Steve Martin's Holiday Wish"

Cicely Strong on Christmas as The Girl You Wish You Hadn't Started a Conversation With

Watch Martin Short's Classic 1984 Synchronized Swimming Sketch

Hey! You! Get Off of My Roof! - Part 8

With just over two and a half weeks to go until Christmas we've already looked at a liuttle more than half of the 42 tracks on my latest holiday mix, Hey! You! Get Off of My Roof! You can access this year's mix on my holiday music website, HERE. Today, I've got some background on three more tracks. Let's get started!

Track 25
Dead Cowboys Love Christmas, Too, Simons and Cameron (2008) 

Simons and Cameron are a songwriting team founded in 2002 by Gordon Simons and Lane Cameron. Currently based in Reno, Nevada, the group writes and produces music for television and radio and specializes in Halloween- and Christmas-themed music. Both members have impressive resumes. Simons graduated from UCLA in 1990 and got his start creating jingles for Los Angeles radio station KLA, where he also served as an advertising executive. Cameron, who plays guitar, piano, bass and blues harp, attended Boston's prestigious Berklee School of Music. He has played with Steven Stills, the Allman Brothers Band and former Jefferson Starship lead guitarist Craig Chaquico. 

Hear "Dead Cowboys Love Christmas, Too," by Simons and Cameron

Track 24
Goin' Up to Bethlehem, Bob Rivers as John Fogerty (2000)

A former on-air radio personality who worked primarily in the northwest United States, Bob Rivers is perhaps best known for his recorded parodies, many of which involve holiday-related themes. This is the fourth Bob Rivers parody I've used on my annual mixes. Two of the previous three were send-ups of well-known rock tunes that were remade by Rivers with a holiday twist. In 2015, I included Rivers' song "Sled Zeppelin (D'yer Santa)" on my mix "Deck Those Halls." It was a holiday version of the Led Zeppelin hit "D'yer Mak'er" from their 1973 album "Houses of the Holy." Two years ago, I used a Rivers send-up of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" called "Smells Like the Night Before Christmas" on my mix "All Alone on Christmas." My 2016 mix "Let It Snow" included a comedy bit by Rivers about Elvis Presley called "A Message from the King."

Rivers got his start as a radio DJ in Connecticut where he worked for a number of different stations. From there he went to work on WAAF in Worcester, Massachusetts, a station I used to listen to growing up in suburban Boston. It was there that Rivers started creating parody and novelty songs both for his own shows and the "American Comedy Network" syndication service. In 1987 he released his album Twisted Christmas, which contained a variety of holiday novelties and ultimately went gold. It was followed by five additional albums:  I Am Santa Claus, Twisted Tunes 1994, More Twisted Christmas, Chipmunks Roasting on an Open Fire, and White Trash Christmas.

This year's Bob Rivers tune is a set-up of the Creedence Clearwater Revival hit "Up Around the Bend," called "Goin' Up to Bethlehem":

Track 23
Silent Night, U.C. Berkeley Free Speechniks (1964)

This is the third of the short holiday tunes I've included in this year's mix prepared by participants in the Free Speech Movement at the University of California at Berkeley. Background on these songs is available in the write-up from December 1, above, and the lyrics for todays entry are as follows:

Hear "God Rest Ye Free Speech" and Other FSM Carols by the U.C. Berkeley Free Speechniks

I'll be back with more holiday cheer within the next few days. I've nearly finished with all of my holiday shopping and I'm as proud as I can be.